If ethnic minority groups are increasingly encouraged to enter teaching, there need to be complementary actions to support them to progress in their careers, a report has said.
Despite being overrepresented among applicants for initial teacher training in England, ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in teaching, especially at senior levels, according to the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER).
Sixty per cent of schools in England had an all-white teaching staff in 2021/22 and 86% had an all-white senior leadership team.
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The report says: “Most teachers and school leaders from White
backgrounds believe their school values an equal, diverse and inclusive workforce, but significantly fewer of their colleagues from Asian and Black backgrounds agree.
“The government wants to build an inclusive environment where teachers of colour can ‘be themselves’ but evidence suggests teachers of colour need to suppress parts of their identity in the workplace in order to fit in.”
There is a lower acceptance rate of ethnic minority groups into teacher training than their white peers, with the report suggesting this could be due to white candidates having higher qualifications or more relevant experience, or underlying bias..
The report says: “The barriers to ethnic diversity in teaching, although multiple, tend to coalesce around the unequal treatment of teachers of colour in a system that was not designed with either ethnic or intersectional diversity in mind.
“To capitalise on the fact that people of colour are increasingly encouraged to enter teaching there must be complementary actions to support teachers of colour already in the profession to stay in teaching and progress in their careers.”
It also points to regional disparities in diversity. Despite the relatively high ethnic diversity of teachers in London, the diversity gap between the
teacher and pupil population is larger in London than elsewhere. Regions with the fewest pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds, such as the South West and North East, have the most proportionate workforce because both teachers and pupils are predominantly white.
The Ethnic diversity in the teaching workforce evidence review makes several recommendations to ensure the teaching profession becomes more inclusive of ethnic minority groups including:
- Increasing the number of ethnic minorities accepted onto initial teacher training by promoting the attractiveness of the career through advertising, events and job experience; providing alternative pathways for those who do not currently have the relevant qualifications; investigating the causes of the low acceptance rate for applicants of colour; and considering the use of name-blind applications, contextualised recruitment and conditional offers
- Properly investigating and reporting on claims of racism, with school leaders encouraged to review whether their practices negatively affect teachers and staff of colour
- Ensuring that training for senior leaders and governors includes promoting equality, diversity and inclusion
- Introducing training programmes to help ethnic minority groups reach senior leadership positions, tailored to their needs
- Widening access to professional support networks of same-race aspiring and practicing leaders, and mentoring support. Mentors should be paid, the report adds.
NFER’s report urges the government to devise an action plan to improve diversity in teaching and move away from its current “race-blind” approach.
Unlike Scotland and Wales there are currently no government targets, programmes or funding to improve ethnic diversity in the teaching workforce in England.
Margaret Mulholland, inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said the lack of a single government initiative to nurture teachers of colour was not good enough.
“A diverse workforce enriches pupils, schools and colleges, and wider society and we support NFER’s call to make sure schools are supported in improving ethnic diversity among teachers and leaders. We’re committed to making school and college leadership more diverse, and have set up equalities networks to help members in these groups to support and empower each other and raise the issues affecting them,” she said.
“However, this report starkly demonstrates that there are problems throughout the pipeline from training onwards and all of us with a stake in education, including the government, need to redouble our efforts.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the government should not overlook these issues at a time when the recruitment and retention of teachers is challenging.
He said: “The under-representation of teachers from Black communities in the workforce has been discussed many times without being effectively addressed. Improving representation means changing school cultures. Black teachers and black school leaders are less likely to feel that they can participate in school decision-making. They are more likely to be dissatisfied with their levels of pay. Rates of teachers quitting the English state-funded system are higher among Black teachers than among white teachers.”
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