Changing Lives: What Schools Can Do to Prevent Young People Turning Towards Crime

Tanayah Sam in conversation with Dr Margot Sunderland

Tanayah Sam: ex-gang member, 13 prisons later now dedicates his life to helping young people to take their GCSEs and/or follow their particular dream for what they want to do with their life instead of joining gangs.

We are so privileged to have Tanayah Sam in conversation. From Tanayah's own lived experience he is in a unique position to know what schools can do to prevent young people turn towards crime and violence.

Tanayah fired his first gun age 14. His father gave it to him. In year 8 he was a top student in Maths and English. In year 9 he was violent in school and shouted at to “Get out of my classroom”. He was, In his own words, “Still reachable then”, and he had key teachers who meant a lot to him. But tragically no teacher ever sat down with him and asked him to help them understand about the dramatic change in both his learning and behaviour. No one took the time to listen to his story. Instead, he was excluded from school for stabbing a schoolmate with a screwdriver. As a young person, Tanayah spent years running with gangs, carrying guns and knives, and dealing drugs. He served time in 13 different prisons.

In the webinar Tanayah explores how gangs and county lines are superb at meeting all of the vulnerable young person’s fundamental emotional needs. He talks about how schools need to get far better at doing this so that gangs are not such an allure. He will also talk of the essential importance of engaging vulnerable young people at school in meaningful relationships with key adults who must be culturally informed.