Towards a Representative Profession: Teachers from the Ethnic
Minorities
Alistair Ross
Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan University
This paper examines the position of ethnic minority teachers within the
teaching profession. It begins by posing the question, does it matter if
the teaching profession reflects the ethnic composition of society or not?
Why do we need to have more teachers from the ethnic minorities? It
then examines the current proportions of ethnic minorities in teaching
(as far as this can be determined), and the way in which future members
from these groups are being recruited into training (or not). Some
demographic and professional characteristics of the current ethnic
minority teaching force are examined, as are the perceptions of ethnic
minority teachers themselves.
From this data, I conclude that there are insufficient teachers from these
backgrounds in the profession; that insufficient people from these
backgrounds are entering training; and that ethnic minority teachers
appear to suffer discrimination in terms of promotion in their career in
teaching. Barriers to change are then analysed, and reference made to
some current initiatives that are being attempted. Policy outcomes are
suggested.
Does it matter to have a teaching profession that represents the
ethnic diversity of British society?
Why should the teaching profession be more representative of the ethnic
minorities in the UK? We do not expect all professional (or all other
workforce groups) to represent the ethnicities in the population. We have
anti-discriminatory laws and policies on recruitment, training places and
appointments, which should of course be upheld and enforced: but if this
is done, and the teaching profession then has a smaller proportion of
teachers from the ethnic minorities – does it matter?
There are several arguments that suggest it is important. Most of these
arise from some particular characteristics of the nature of education, and
of the way we organise learning in our schools.


Learning is a formative activity conducted through a variety of
processes, some of which are explicit and very visible (for example,
through the formal prescribed curriculum), and some of which are
subtle, almost invisible and barely understood, even by practitioners.
The processes of learning thus convey a wealth of meanings to young
people at an impressionable and formative period in their lives: who
conducts this process in an important part of the process.
Learning is a social process: it takes place in the interactions between
teacher and learner, and learner and learner. The people who take on
the role of teacher play a critical part in determining the social
1
relationships under which learning occurs.
They are put very
prominently inn a position of authority, trust and power. Who teaches
is thus critical for the learning process (and is as critical in its own
way as who learns). Designating a person as a teacher is not
undertaken lightly by any society, and important messages – to society
and parents, and above all to children - are conveyed in deciding who
shall be given the accolade of teacher.


Learning is undertaken by all children/young people. Many of our
other social provisions are episodic and accidental. We do not all use
the health service, for example, and the use that most of us make of it
tends to be transitory and intermittent. We do not expect in our lives
to experience a health service in the same way that we experience
educational provision.
Learning is conducted over a long period of time. Disregarding
notions of life-long learning, it is a process that we require all our
young people to undergo for a period of at least eleven years.
Making sure that the teaching force is simply ‘representative’ could be
seen as simple tokenism - making sure that there are enough black faces
around. But these four characteristics of education make it very
important as to whom we entrust to teach. Having a more representative
proportion of teachers is critical because of the character, ubiquity,
pervasiveness, duration and importance of teaching as a social activity.
There are three specific reasons why we need more teachers from the
ethnic minorities:
Firstly, teachers as a profession must have the capacity to reflect the full
spectrum of cultural and social traditions and systems in their collective
professional practice. Each individual teacher brings to her or his work a
set of cultural norms and expectations. Good teachers are reflective and
self-critically aware of this, but none of us can recognise all the culturally
and socially determined mores that we carry. It is important the teaching
profession as a whole can match the range of cultural and social varieties
that our society contains. We have a diverse population, with a very wide
range of cultures, customs, languages, faiths and beliefs. Our educational
system needs to be delivered by teams of professionals who can match
that range, in their explicit practice and in their subconscious behaviour
and attitudes. Both the formal and the hidden curriculum need to be
managed and delivered in a way that reflects the varieties of social
practice in our society, and this in turn demands that the teaching
profession is drawn fully and explicitly from that range of cultures and
ethnicities in our society. With such a range of teachers, we can aspire
towards delivering an education that has the subtlety and the nuance to
make each individual feel that her or his cultural set is acknowledged and
valued, thus empowering her or him as a learner. Without such a range
of teachers, this cannot even be an aspiration.
2
Secondly, racism and xenophobia – individual, institutional and otherwise
– continue to be major issues in contemporary society. Racism in schools
needs to be very explicitly and forcefully challenged – partly because this
is the moment in the development of personal value systems that it can be
stopped and challenged, and secondly because of its effects on both
minority communities and the majority community. Minorities will be
disempowered and disenfranchised as learners, with all the social and
economic wastage that this implies. The majority groups will develop
attitudes of intolerance and an inability to value diversity. Tackling
discriminatory behaviour is important in classrooms and schools: but
racism is not always explicit and obvious - or even intentional. Racism is
very properly an important concern for all teachers, but some of the
subtleties of racist practice and behaviour may be more obvious or more
capable of recognition, by teachers who have themselves some direct
experience of having suffered from racist behaviours themselves.
Teachers from the majority community, however well intentioned,
trained and experienced they are in anti-racist work, will still be unaware
of and unable to identify and analyse much of the xenophobia, chauvinism
and racism in society.
Thirdly, we need aspirational role models for our pupils, particularly our
ethnic minority pupils. We know that our ethnic minorities are generally
poorly represented in positions of power, authority and prestige in our
society.
We clearly need more police officers, social workers,
accountants, politicians, senior civil servants, captains industry (and so
on), from the ethnic minorities. But teachers are a particular and special
category: they are the one face of civil society that every child will meet,
every working day, through the whole of their formal education. It is
therefore particularly critical that this ‘face’ of civil power be seen,
visibly and explicitly, to represent all of our society. This is where such
inclusiveness is essential. The presence of teachers drawn from all the
ethnic groups of our society (and equally, from all the ranges of
disability, from all the sexualities, from all social classes) will mean that
firstly, all pupils – white majority just as much as ethnic minority – will
recognise that members of the minorities have as much power and
prestige as any other citizen, and secondly, that pupils who themselves
come from the ethnic minorities will recognise that they too can and
should aspire to excellence, esteem and authority.
How representative is the current teaching force of ethnic minorities?
12.9% of the school population in England is of children who may be
described as coming from an ethnic minority background (DfES, 2001)
(Primary 13.4%, Secondary 12.3%), but it is not known how many of their
teachers come from such a background: it is probably less than 5%. There
have been concerns for many years at the low numbers of people from the
ethnic minorities who are entering the teaching profession. A survey of
eight LEAs in 1983-4 by the Commission for Racial Equality found that 2%
of the teachers in its sample were from the ethnic minorities (Ranger,
1988). The sample was of LEAs that were in areas of fairly dense
3
settlement by minorities, and might therefore perhaps be expected to
have a higher proportion of ethnic minority teachers than the national
level. Statistics have not been collected nationally on the numbers and
distribution of ethnic minority teachers (Mahony and Hextall, 2000, p
110, reporting conversations with the CRE and the DfEE). Joint regional
conference of the TTA and the CRE in 1998 promised that ethnic minority
data would be collected (TTA/CRE, 1998, p 6), but this has not been done.
The TTA does monitor ethnic minority teachers starting Initial Teacher
Education courses (TTA, 2001), but there are no figures from any official
source on the current level of teachers in post.
A recent survey conducted by the Institute for Policy Studies in Education
for 22 LEAs found some 879 teachers who described themselves as one of
a number of Black categories, or one as a number of Asian categories, or
as of mixed ethnic origin (a total of 8.9%) (McCreith, Ross and
Hutchings, 2001). These LEAs were not a random sample – 18 were in
London, two in the north west and two in the south east. Given the
known distribution of ethnic minority pupils (DfES, 2001), it can be
estimated that these 22 LEAs would include about 30% of all the ethnic
minority pupils in GB, and that about 48% of the pupils in these LEAs
would be from the ethnic minorities.
Respondents were asked to identify specific ethnic categories using the
UK 2001 Census categories, but for the purposes of much of this paper we
have aggregated the Black responses and the Asian responses into two
categories. Finer-scale categories would have led to some very small
groups. In all the discussion and analysis that follows, information is
generally limited to the longer established ethnic minorities - various
Black groups (of Caribbean origin, of African origin, and others), of
various Asian groups (Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and other),
and groups variously defines as 'other' and 'mixed'. There is no Englandwide accessible data on teachers from other important ethnic categories
found in our population - Somali, Eritrean, Cypriot, Kurdish, Turkish,
Vietnamese, from former Yugoslavia or Irish. All of these group have
sizeable populations in our schools, and discussions on representation of
particular ethnic minorities need to address these populations as well as
the more established communities. Where possible, this paper has used
the 2001 Census categories. There are, however, many difficulties with
these, and there is often much 'missing data' from individuals who have
'hyphenated identities' (Carrington et al, 1999).
The distribution of teachers of ethnic minority origin is uneven across the
LEAs that we surveyed (Figure 1), and uneven in terms of particular
minorities. The highest concentration of all the various groups of ethnic
minority teachers were found in Inner London, and the lowest in the
North West, but teachers of Asian origin were more widely distributed
than those who described themselves as Black, who were found
predominantly in Inner London.
Figure 1:
Ethnicity profile for all areas: percentage composition of each region
4
Ethnicity
Inner Outer London North
London London LEAs
West
South Total
East
White
Black
Asian
Mixed
Other
86.2
6.0
5.2
1.6
1.0
91.6
2.0
4.6
0.7
1.1
88.7
4.2
4.9
1.2
1.1
98.3
0.5
0.8
93.6
1.0
4.1
1.4
1.4
90.0
3.5
4.4
1.0
1.0
N
4378
3686
8064
1042
732
9838
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
8.9% of our respondents categorised themselves in ethnic minority
groups: this represents some 349 teachers who define themselves as
Black, 434 who define themselves as Asian, and 96 who describe
themselves as of mixed ethnicity. Figure 2 shows the distribution of each
ethnic group between the four areas.
Figure 2: Distribution
Area
Inner London
Outer London
North West
South East
of
ethnic
White
42.6
38.1
11.6
7.7
minority
Black
75.4
21.2
1.4
2.0
teachers
Asian
52.1
39.2
1.8
6.9
by
region,
Mixed
74.0
26.0
percentages
Other
45.0
40.0
5.0
10.0
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
Are more members of ethnic minorities entering the teaching
profession?
The Teacher Training Authority is making nation-wide attempts to recruit
more teachers from the minority communities, but it is noticeable that
there are wide variations in the proportions attracted to different
institutions. In 2000, only 6% of primary student teachers, and 7.5% of
secondary student teachers, were from ethnic minority backgrounds: the
TTA's target is for 9% of recruits to be from such backgrounds by 2005-6.
The 6.7% of student teachers should be compared with the 15% of all
(home) undergraduates who are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
8.57% of the GB population between 15 and 24 are from ethnic minority
backgrounds: figures for ethnicity in England by age are not published,
but it is possible to calculate that about 9.45% of the English population
of 15 - 24 years olds are from ethnic minorities (Schuman, 1999).
Recruitment to full-time Higher Education courses (figure 3) is
predominantly from the 18 - 22 year old group, but the figures for the
population in this slightly wider age range are sufficiently accurate for us
to be able to point to the higher participation of ethnic minorities in HE
than the white population. This does rather confirm that the conception
of ethnic underachievement is in part mythical (Osler, 1998, p 19): some
ethnic minority pupils can achieve relatively higher standards that their
White counterparts. However, this current analysis does not take account
of which Higher Education Institutions were admitting these students: it
5
may well be that many of the ethnic minority students in Higher
Education are concentrated in the less prestigious institutions.
Figure 3: Recruitment to First Degree courses in Higher Education for Ethnic Minority
Groups
FT Degree enrolment, 2000
GB Population 15 - 2 4
1%
2% 5%
White
2%
10%
3%
Black
Asian
Other
85%
92%
Source: ONS (Schuman, 1999); UCAS: First degree acceptances 2000 (2001)
This level of participation is not matched in participation in Initial
Teacher Education courses. The overall under-representation of the
ethnic minority population is about 70% of what might be expected
(Figure 4).
Figure 4: Recruitment to Initial Teacher Education courses for Ethnic Minority Groups
Teacher Education enrolment, 2000
GB Population 15 - 2 4
1%
2% 5%
White
2%4%1%
Black
Asian
Other
92%
93%
Source: ONS (Schuman, 1999); TTA, Performance Indicators 2000 (2001)
Figure 5: Distribution of Ethnic Minority categories: England population of HE age;
enrolment on HE FT degree courses of England residence home students 2000;
enrolment on Initial Teacher Education courses at English institutions 2000
6
16
14
percentage of population
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
England Population
Black
Other
University FT degree
Asian
ITE entrants 2000
All Ethnic Minorities
not known
Sources: TTA Performance Indicators 2001; UCAS admission data 2000; Population data for 15 – 24
year olds based on QLFS data (as analysed by Schuman, ONS, 1999)
Figure 5 shows the percentage of ethnic minority categories, grouping
them together into 'Black', 'Asian' and 'Other' (and all ethnic minorities)
for a number of populations. The first set of bars (on the left) show the
proportions of these categories in the approximate university-age
population (15 - 24 year olds). The middle set show the proportion
enrolling on HE courses in autumn 2000: these are all substantially
larger than the figures for the whole population. The final set, on the
right, show the proportions starting Initial Teacher Education course in
the same year: these are all substantially lower that the figures for the
whole population.
However, participation by ethnic minority students is not evenly
distributed between the minority groups. Table 6 shows the number and
percentages of the GB population between 15 and 24 by ethnic minority,
and then the figures for admission to full-time first degree study by each
group (taking only home students with England as their country of
domicile) in 2000, and then the figures for admission to Initial Teacher
Education courses in England for 2000.
7
Table 6: Ethnic minority groups in the GB population of normal university age,
enrolments in HE FT undergraduate courses, and enrolment in Initial Teacher
Education courses
total population GB
(15-24)
000s
%
Black Caribbean
60
0.89
Black African
48
0.71
Black Other (non mixed)
51
0.75
All Black
159
2.35
Asian Indian
143
2.12
Asian Pakistani
115
1.69
Asian Bangladeshi
41
0.61
Asian Chinese
29
0.43
Asian other (non mixed)
26
0.39
Other - (non-mixed)
53
0.79
All Asian
354
5.24
All EM
580
8.57
White
6351
93.92
Total population
University FT
degree 2000
n
%
2,609
0.93
4,604
1.63
1,697
0.60
8,910
3.16
12,253
4.35
6,486
2.30
2,051
0.73
2,746
0.97
3,453
1.23
5,112
1.81
26,989
9.58
41,011
14.55
222,046
78.79
18,752
6.65
ITE entrants 2000
n
219
178
124
521
360
261
83
50
122
304
876
1701
22822
934
%
0.86
0.70
0.49
2.05
1.41
1.03
0.33
0.20
0.48
1.19
3.44
6.68
89.65
3.67
Sources: TTA Performance Indicators 2001; UCAS admission data 2000; Population data for 15 – 24
year olds based on QLFS data (as analysed by Schuman, ONS, 1999)
Figure 7: Percentage divergence in University entrance and in Teacher Training
entrance rates from the distribution of ethnic minorities in the population (2000)
Light band: University degree entrants 2000
-100
-50
Dark band: Teacher Training entrants 2000
0
50
100
150
Black Caribbean
Black African
Black Other (mixed and non
mixed)
Asian Indian
Asian Pakistani
Asian Bangladeshi
Asian Chinese
Other - Other (non-mixed and
mixed)
All Black
All Asian
All Ethnic Minorities
Sources: TTA Performance Indicators 2001; UCAS admission data 2000; Population data for 15 – 24
year olds based on QLFS data (as analysed by Schuman, ONS, 1999)
8
Note of explanation: If the proportion of any ethnic minority group that entered either University or
Teacher Training was the same proportion as that group is found in the population as a whole, then the
representation would be zero in the diagram. If a higher proportion enters than expected, then a
positive percentage is shown - twice as many as expected would be 100%. Conversely, if a lower
percentage enters, then a negative figure is shown.
From this data, it is possible to calculate the degree of over- or underrepresentation that a particular ethnic group has in Higher
Education/Initial Teacher Education, based on the variance in
participation rate from the representation rate in the population of HEgoing age. Figure 7 shows this: the dark bands show University
enrolment, the light band ITE enrolment. Note that for almost every
ethnic minority group, a higher proportion than might be anticipated are
enrolled in HE fulltime courses. Conversely, they are nearly all underrepresented in Initial Teacher Education courses. This data has not been
analysed for gender effects within this (the TTA goes not publish crosstabulated data for ethnicity and gender; UCAS does, and the effect is
considerable).
Predicted rise of ethnic minority children
The most recent work from the Office for National Census (Schuman,
1999) does not include predictions of population growth.
However,
inspection of the data on the current age-distribution for each ethnic
group can be used to make broad inferences about likely potential
growth. Such analysis suggests that the school population of Black
Caribbean, Black African, Indian, Chinese and other groups will not rise
greatly over the next 15 years, while the population of Black Other, Black
Mixed, Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups will rise by a significant amount
(Schuman, 1999, Figure 3).
It should also be noted that the distribution of ethnic minority pupils in
the school population is very uneven across the various English regions.
Figure 8 shows the number and distribution of pupils in maintained
schools by ethnic group and Government Office region in January 2001
(DfES, 2001: tables 47 a and 47b).
This shows the concentration of
ethnic minorities generally in the London region, and, to a lesser extent,
in the West Midlands. Figure 9 shows the same data, plotting the
percentage of the school population in each group by region: this shows
rather more dramatically the very uneven distribution of ethnic
minorities generally, and of particular groups, by region. For example,
while only 9.4% of the White pupils in England are found in London
schools, 61% of England's Black Caribbean pupils are in London schools
and 83% of all Black African pupils. Inner London - with about 5% of all
pupils in England - has 46% of all Bangladeshi origin pupils. Outside
London there are other particular concentrations: Yorkshire and
Humberside have 22% of the Pakistani-origin pupils (but less than 5% of
Indian pupils), while the West Midlands have 25% of the Pakistani and
21% of the Indian pupils. Some regions the North East and the South
West - have very low numbers of pupils from ethnic minority groups (the
9
entire North East of England, for example, has a total of just 120 pupils of
Black Caribbean origin).
10
11
Figure 8: Number and distribution of pupils in maintained schools by ethnic group and
Government Office region, January 2001
12000
hundreds of pupils
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
White
Black Other
Bangladeshi
W
es
t
st
So
ut
h
So
ut
h
Ea
do
n
do
n
ut
er
Lo
n
O
In
n
er
Lo
n
Ea
st
M
W
E
M
um
id
la
n
id
la
nd
s
ds
be
r
es
t
W
Yo
rk
s/
H
or
th
N
N
or
th
Ea
st
0
Black Caribbean
Indian
Chinese
Black African
Pakistani
Other Ethnic Minority
Source: DfES, 2001: tables 47a and 47b
Figure 9: Percentage of pupils in each ethnic group in each Government Office region,
January 2001
South West
South East
Outer London
Inner London
East
W Midlands
E Midlands
Yorks/Humber
North West
North East
England
0%
10%
20%
30%
White
Black Other
Bangladeshi
40%
50%
Black Caribbean
Indian
Chinese
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Black African
Pakistani
Other Ethnic Minority
Source: DfES, 2001: tables 47a and 47b
12
Are there demographic and professional differences between teachers
from the ethnic minorities and White teachers?
Simply comparing the levels of ethnic minority teachers located in the
1983/4 CRE survey (Ranger, 1988) and the IPSE survey in 2000/2001
(Ross, 2001), it is clear that there has been a rise in the number and
proportion of ethnic minority teachers in areas where there are large
numbers of pupils (from c 2% to around 9%). This change, over a period
of 17 years, has resulted in a population of teachers from these ethnic
minorities that differ in certain characteristics from the White teaching
force. The following analysis focuses on the results of the most recent
survey: it must be borne in mind that this data has a strong London
orientation.
The age profile of the four major ethnic groups show some startling
differences in the age distribution of teachers (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Age profiles of teachers in each ethnic group
Asian group
30
30
25
25
percentage
percentage
White group
20
15
10
20
15
10
5
5
0
0
21- 25- 30- 35- 40- 45- 50- 55- 60+
24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59
21- 25- 30- 35- 40- 45- 50- 55- 60+
24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59
age
age
Mixed ethnicity group
30
35
25
30
percentage
percentage
Black group
20
15
10
5
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
21- 25- 30- 35- 40- 45- 50- 55- 60+
24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59
21- 25- 30- 35- 40- 45- 50- 55- 60+
24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59
age
age
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
The White teachers (90% of respondents) show the typical bi-modal
distribution of the teaching force that has been demonstrated in earlier
13
reports (Hutchings et al, 2000). Black teachers display a single-mode
distribution, in which 69% of all Black teachers are aged between 30 and
45. This distribution is almost inverse to that of the population of White
teachers. Black teachers comprised a mere 3.5% of the total teaching
population in our sample, but amongst those teachers aged between 35
and 39, 8% are black. Part of this distribution is probably the result of
teacher training recruitment policies in the past, where there were very
few black teachers trained until about 20 years ago (such teachers now
being aged 45 or more). But the low numbers of young Black teachers
also suggests that there could now have been a recent fall in the
recruitment of Black entrants to the teaching profession. While nearly
25% of all White teachers are under 30, only just over 10% of Black
teachers are in this age range. But another contributory factor may be the
age at which teachers qualify. Taking only those teachers who have
qualified post 1989, the average age of qualification is shown in Figure 11.
The average age of qualification for Black and Asian teachers is thus
between 1 and 2.3 years later than that of White teachers: this will have a
marginal impact on the position of the age distributions shown in Figure
10 (shifting them approximately half a column to the right), but not on
the shape of the distribution.
Figure 11:
Ages on qualification of post 1989 qualified teachers; average ages of
all teachers
White
Black
Asian
Mixed ethnic origin
All
average age on
qualification
(post 1989 qualified only)
26.4
28.7
27.4
27.0
26.5
average age of group
(all teachers)
39.7
38.6
38.2
36.8
39.5
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
Teachers from an Asian background show a third pattern. This appears to
show a concentration of younger teachers - indeed, 28% are under 30
(compared with only 24% of the White teachers) - but it also shows
more older teachers. 11% of all Asian teachers are aged over 55, while
only 7% of White teachers are in this age band. While the average age
of all these groups of teachers is remarkably similar (Figure 11), this
conceals significant variations in distribution.
The gender ratio within each ethnic minority group is also uneven. Figure
12 shows a similar overall ratio - 23.2% of White teachers are male,
23.9% of black teachers, 22% of Asian teachers, and slightly fewer for
mixed origin teachers, 17%. But the gender - age interaction is different.
[Note that the figures for gender ratios given in Hutchings (2001) are for
all England, while these are for the 22 LEA sample only.)
There is a higher proportion of males among older teachers in all groups,
and all groups have experienced a declining proportion of men as younger
14
cohorts have been recruited. These figures are of currently employed
teachers only: there is some circumstantial evidence that males may leave
the profession at a rather higher rate than women, so these figures may
underestimate the increasing feminisation processes.
However, the
relative lack of males is found in all ethnic groups, whether teachers are
in their 20s or in their 50s: for both these age groups, the group with the
highest proportion of males is Black, and the groups with the lowest
proportion of males are Asian and teachers of mixed ethnic origin.
15
Figure 12: Age-Sex Pyramids for each ethnic group
Asian group
White group
60+
55 to 59
50 to 54
45 to 49
40 to 44
39 to 35
30 to 34
25 to 29
21 to 24
-10
0
10
male
20
female
30
-10
0
10
20
30
femal
e
male
Mixed group
Black group
60+
55 to 59
50 to 54
45 to 49
40 to 44
39 to 35
30 to 34
25 to 29
21 to 24
-10
0
male
10
percentages
20
female
30
-10
male
0 percentages
10
20
30
female
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
Ethnic minority teachers tended to have qualified relatively recently.
48.4% of the White teachers qualified after 1989, but 63% of all Black
teachers qualified in this period, 69.2% of Asian teachers and 62% of
mixed ethnic origin teachers. There has been a particular increase in
female Asian teachers over the past 11 years, and particularly into the
primary phase. The patterns of when teachers qualify appears to be
related more strongly to ethnic group than to gender.
Proportionally, more White females entered the profession recently, as
part of the general process of feminisation that has been apparent over
the past decade. Black teachers are more evenly distributed by gender
than the White group, with the exception that there were proportionally
many more male teachers qualifying in the early 1970s, the females
having a rather similar surge in the late 1970s. But in terms of the total
numbers of Black teachers currently in service in these LEAs, the intake
in the 1990s dwarfs the 1970s intake. Asian teachers show a rather more
uneven gender pattern in terms of date of qualification. There is very
clear recent tendency (1990s) towards Asian females joining teaching: of
all the Asian females now teaching, 70.5% qualified since 1989 (Asian
males, 68%). But the number of Asian males gaining qualifications was
much higher in the early 1970s (probably qualifying in the sub-continent,
16
Ghuman, 1995), with a smaller female surge in the late 1970s, in a
pattern very similar to that of Black teachers.
The survey asked respondents to indicate their intentions towards
maintaining a career in teaching. Did they intend to leave teaching
within the next five years, to leave in the more distant future, or to stay
in teaching for all of their working life? It was found in our earlier study
(Hutchings et al, 2000) that generally younger teachers were more likely
to consider leaving teaching than older teachers.
More Asian teachers say that they may leave the teaching profession early
in their careers, but White and (to a slightly lesser extent) Asian teachers
are also more likely to say that they stay in teaching for all their
professional lives (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Expectations of remaining in teaching as a career
percentage of ethnic category
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Leave within 5 years
White
Leave after 5 years
Black
In teaching all career
Asian
Mixed
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
The differences at this level are significant but not large, however: we
can expect the Black teaching force to shrink by about 6% more than the
White teaching force.
It is of concern that ethnic minority teachers, who remain hard to attract
into the profession, say that they are less likely to stay in teaching. Two
factors may be contributing to this. Firstly, it is possible that some of
those from the ethnic minorities may perceive teaching as a step on the
occupational hierarchy, and intend to be upwardly mobile, advancing to
careers seen as more prestigious or better rewarded than teaching. If
this is an explanation, it would suggest that more Asians are intending to
move on out of teaching relatively more quickly than Black teachers, but
that more Black teachers intend to move onwards and upwards after five
years. The second factor - which may be related to the first - is that
ethnic minority teachers feel that they may not be able to achieve
promotion within the hierarchies of teaching, and therefore intend to
17
leave the profession for occupations in which they might feel less
discriminated against.
But in terms of the particular LEAs that were included in this survey,
there is another demographic characteristic that acts against this
propensity for ethnic minority teachers to consider leaving the
profession.
There is a tendency for those from ethnic minority
backgrounds not to move out of their local communities, where they often
feel a higher level of community support, have a greater sense of security
and safety, and may have more supportive family networks that they
might have in a different area, with a lower proportion of ethnic minority
inhabitants. This has been characterised by theories of 'choice' and
restraint' (Lakey, 1997; Ratcliffe, 1999). A recent survey on rates of
racially-motivated crime suggested that the areas of highest levels of
racist attacks, per member of the ethnic minority population, was in
those areas in which ethnic minorities were least well represented If
there is a tendency for movement not to take place, this may be greater
than the number of ethnic minorities leaving the profession, so these
particular LEAs may in fact maintain their ratio of ethnic minority to
White teachers.
Respondents were asked about their intention to remain in the locality
(defined as either London, or in the case of non London LEAs, their
existing LEA and those contiguous to it): within five years, in the more
distant future, or during the rest of their working life.
Analysing only the responses from teachers in the London area, Figure 14
shows that Black and (particularly) Asian teachers are more likely to see
themselves as staying in the locality.
Figure 14:
Expectations of remaining in London throughout working life (London
LEAs only)
percentage of ethnic category
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Leave w ithin 5 years
White
Leave after 5 years
Black
In London all career
Asian
Mixed
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
Black and Asian teachers appear to be more firmly rooted in London, and
less inclined to move from London than White teachers. However, this
18
may – at least in part – be simply a reflection that a higher proportion of
Black and Asian teachers were recruited from a London childhood, and/or
trained in London, and are thus more likely to stay in London. What the
figure above may be showing could simply be a reflection of life-histories,
rather than any characteristic of ethnicity.
One of the reasons that teachers may leave the profession is lack of
opportunities for promotion and progression, or a feeling that promotion
would not be possible (see examples of this in Osler, 1997, Ghuman,
1995, and - at a much earlier time - Ranger, 1988).
We analysed our data to see how ethnic minority teachers were
represented in the various stages of career development that are open to
teachers. The first point to examine was what proportion of each ethnic
group filled the various levels in the teaching hierarchy - headteacher
posts, deputy headteacher posts, the various "posts of responsibility" (i.e.
posts that have additional points attached to them, for specific
responsibilities within the school), and mainscale posts. Figure 15 shows
this distribution, and Figure 16 shows the position for headteachers and
deputy headteachers more clearly. These graphs show the percentage of
each ethnic group that is found at each level in the hierarchy: for
example, of all the Black teachers, 48% are on mainscale posts, 45% in
posts of responsibility, 4% are deputy heads, and 2% are heads. The
corresponding figures for the White teacher population are 41%
mainscale, 48% posts of responsibility, 6.4% deputy heads and 5.2
heads.
Figure 15: Proportion of teachers within each ethnic group by grade
70
60
50
White
Black
40
Asian
30
Mixed
20
10
0
Head
Deputy
Post of
Responsibility
Mainscale
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
Figure 16: Proportions of each ethnic group who are Headteachers or Deputies
7
6
5
White
4
Black
Asian
3
Mixed
2
1
19
0
Head
Deputy
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
It is is clear that there are a preponderance of teachers from the ethnic
minorities on the mainscale grades. Disparity is also found at the higher
levels of responsibility. It should be noted that these percentages are of
the particular ethnic group: because there are generally so few ethnic
minority teachers, the actual disparity is much greater; our survey found
442 White headteachers, 7 Black headteachers and 7 Asian headteachers.
These disparities are not evenly distributed. Examining the figures on
the basis of gender, it appears that the lower proportion of ethnic
minority teachers in promoted posts is particularly evident amongst male
teachers. Figure 17 shows that 53.5% of White males hold posts of
responsibility, while only 47.9% of Black and 47.6% of Asian teachers do
so. Conversely, while only 31.1% of White male teachers are on the basic
main grade, 46.3% of Asian male, and 43.8% of Black males are in this
lowest category. Amongst female teachers, the distinctions are much less
evident. 45.7% of White females are in posts of responsibility, 43.4% of
Asian females and 44.2% of Black females. A higher proportion of female
ethnic minorities are on the mainscale grade – 50.8% of Black females,
and 52.2% of Asian females, compared to 43.9% of White females – but
this is a much smaller margin than found in the male teaching force. It
appears that, in respect of these two levels, male ethnic minority teachers
are disadvantaged to the same degree as White female teachers are
disadvantaged in comparison to White male teachers. At headship and
deputy level, while the numbers are small, White males and females
dominate, with a much higher proportion of teachers in these positions.
Figure 17: Proportion of teachers at each grade: gender and ethnicity
Female teachers
Male teachers
60
60
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
Head
Deputy
Post of
Responsibility
Mainscale
Head
Deputy
Post of
Responsibility
Mainscale
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
There are also disparities within the different sectors of education are
analysed. Figure 18 show that there are fewer available posts of
responsibility in primary schools than
20
Figure 18: Proportion of teachers at each grade: sector and ethnicity
Primary teachers
Secondary teachers
60
60
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
Head
Deputy
Post of
Responsibility
Mainscale
Head
Deputy
Post of
Responsibility
Mainscale
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
there are in secondary schools. Less than 35% of all secondary school
teachers are on mainscale grades; while 50% of primary school teachers
are at this grade. But in both
sectors, there are more ethnic minority teachers at this basic grade than
there are White teachers. The exception is that Black primary teachers
are slightly more likely to be in positions of responsibility than their
White colleagues. But 55.9% of Asian primary teachers are on the
mainscale grade (47.4% of White primary teachers), and 43.6% of Asian
secondary teachers and 44.7% of Black secondary teachers are at this
grade (32.9% of White secondary teachers). Again, at the headship and
deputy headship levels, a far higher proportion of White teachers can be
found in these grades than can ethnic minority teachers.
Many ethnic minority teachers are relatively recently qualified. It could
be argued that this is why there is the promotion disparity, and that when
these teachers had acquired more experience, they too will be promoted
to more responsible posts. To test this hypothesis, the following analyses
select only those teachers who have had substantial experience since
qualification, excluding the more recently qualified teachers.
Figure 19 shows teachers who qualified before 1986. Amongst even the
youngest of these, we would expect to see teachers moving into deputy
headship and even some headship positions. Indeed, we find that of the
White teaching population, some 10.7% are headteachers, and 10.1% are
deputy head teachers. But only 4.9% of Asian and 3.9% of Black teachers
are heads. There are a further 7.9% of Black teachers who are deputy
heads, and 8.6% of Asian teachers are deputies.
Figure 19:
Pattern of positions in school hierarchy held by teachers with fifteen or
more years teaching experience
21
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
White
Black
Asian
Mixed
Mainscale
Resp
Deputy
Head
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
It is still possible the groups being compared differ in terms of
experience. Some of the white headteachers may have had considerably
more experience – given the age profiles shown in Figure 4, a higher
proportion than is so for the ethnic minority teachers. Figure 20
therefore compares the positions in the hierarchy of only those teachers
who have had between 15 and 25 years experience, that is, teachers who
qualified between 1976 and 1986.
22
Figure 20: Pattern of positions in school hierarchy held by teachers who qualified
between 1976 and 1986
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
White
Black
Asian
Mainscale
Resp
Deputy
Head
Source: IPSE survey of teachers in 22 LEAs, 2000 - 2001
The position is the same for those teachers who qualified between these
two years. 7.1% of all White teachers are Headteachers compared with
only 3.7% of Black and 4.8% of Asian teachers.
This parallels the
situation discovered by Ranger in the early 1980s (1988).
We do not know how many teachers from each ethnic group apply for
posts of responsibility. It is possible – though unlikely – that Black and
Asian teachers only apply half as often for posts of Head and Deputy that
do their White peers (the evidence from Ranger in 1988 was that they
applied for promoted posts more often that their White peers). If they do
apply for promotion less often, it is a serious cause for concern that they
do not feel that they can take on management roles in our schools. It is
more probable that that are applying, and not being appointed.
Appointments were largely made by the 932 school governing bodies
represented in our survey, and even if it were possible to collect any
ethnic monitoring data on applicants, there would be insufficient cases of
appointment to the positions of Head or Deputy in any one school to show
that discrimination had taken place.
It is most unlikely that there is such a substantial difference in the rate of
applications between White and ethnic minority candidates for these
posts to an extent that would explain the differences noted above. The
conclusion has to be drawn that, taken as a whole, the appointment
process in a proportion of these schools works in such a way that Black
and Asian teachers are significantly less likely to assume positions of
authority than White teachers. This outcome arises despite the fact that
all the LEAs concerned have Equal Opportunity policies that require their
schools to manage appointments in a non-discriminatory manner.
Although there may be no conscious policy on the part of governing
bodies to operate in a discriminatory way, the outcome that can be
observed by aggregating all their individual acts of appointment must
suggest that we are observing institutional racism in the career
development process. It must be emphasised that institutional racism
23
does not mean that conscious or deliberate acts of racism are necessarily
taking place, but that the systems operate in such a way that the
outcomes are discriminatory.
The experiences of ethnic minority teachers
This quantitative analysis can be supplemented and confirmed from the
growing literature based on qualitative evidence from ethnic minority
teachers. One of the first such accounts was the biographical narrative of
Beryl Gilroy (1976), who described her personal encounters with the
English educational system as a black teacher. More recently, Osler has
conducted a series of detailed case histories of ethnic minority teachers
(1997), and Ghuman has presented an analysis of the careers of Asian
origin teachers (1995).
The narratives that are recounted present evidence of the difficulties
teachers from ethnic minorities face in schools. For example, some
report that they feel that they have to be better than their White
counterparts in order to be equal to them (Osler, p 80). Ethnic minority
teachers are often called in to 'deal' with parents or children from ethnic
minority backgrounds, and find themselves being expected to legitimise
school decisions, or the actions of White colleagues, which they suspect
may have discriminatory origins. Another remarked that they were
expected to translate at parents' evenings in what they felt was an
exploitative and tokenistic manner. Promotion may take longer: one has
to "serve time" to be promoted, and this time is longer than White
teachers are perceived to serve. Many of Osler's sample found that
promotion was not possible in their specialist subject: they did achieve
promotion if they were willing to take up posts in multicultural
education, or in English as an additional language - although some
reported that they then met hostility from some White colleagues when
they were in such advisory units.
Both Black and Asian teachers
remarked that they were expected to specialise in certain areas - Asian
teachers in particular are sometimes disproportionately found in teaching
science and mathematics in secondary schools.
Promotion may be
possible in those departments, but promotion out of them - to year head
or deputy level - is much more difficult (Ghuman).
Such subject
stereotyping to the sciences and mathematics was also noted by Ranger in
the early 1980s (1988).
Barriers to joining the profession have been examined from two broad
perspectives. There has firstly been several analyses of the TTA's
objectives and processes (Mahony and Hextall, 2000; Carrington et al
2000; Hextall et al 2001).
The TTA's objective to increase the
proportion of ethnic minority recruits has always been qualified: for
example, the Agency's chief executive referred in her annual lecture to
the Agency's desire "to increase the diversity of entrants to teaching and
teacher training, consistent with maintaining quality" (Millet, 1996, p 7:
24
emphasis added), The implicit assumption appears to be that if more
ethnic minority recruits are admitted, somehow the overall quality of the
profession will be diluted. Mahony and Hextall quote one of the higher
education lecturers they interviewed who was asked at interview 'How do
you recruit more black students without affecting quality?"
... I really wanted to say to her, think it through, how would you
feel ..., say we can't recruit enough men so let's recruit women, but
that will reduce quality. Wouldn't you feel that as an insult?
(in Mahony and Hextall, p 110)
Similar TTA barriers are suggested in an investigation of the way in
which the Agency's 'skills tests' in mathematics and English apparently
discriminate against ethnic minority recruits (Hextall et al, 2001) : the
investigators conclude by cautiously suggesting that "the outcomes of the
1999/2000 numeracy test suggest that the effect will be particularly
undermining of the Agency's aspiration ... to increase the proportion of
entrants into the profession from minority ethnic groups (p 236).
The second set of perspectives on the barriers to entering teaching lies in
the career motivations and ambitions of young people. Osler reports
some Asian female teachers as choosing teaching because it was
acceptable to their parents: it often involved training locally, was a
socially acceptable occupation, and did not (like, for example, nursing)
involve undue proximity to males. Another respondent pointed out that
going to train as a teacher enabled her to defer her parents' plans for her
marriage (Osler, p 86). On the other hand, there are also many accounts
that suggest that teaching is not seen as a prestigious profession - either
by the older generations of Asians recalling the status of teachers in the
sub-continent, or by younger people looking at the teaching profession in
England today. Carrington and Tomlin report similar findings: an Asian
male considering primary teaching as a career was told he was "taking a
hundred steps backwards" (2000, p 146). Carrington and Tomlin also
suggest that this attitude may be more prevalent towards Asian young
men than to young women. This would be supported by the training
figures for Asian women reported above.
Ghuman reports similar
attitudes as being quite widespread (1995, p 129). There are fewer
accounts of Black pupils seeing teaching as not having sufficient status.
Another potential reason that is offered for young people from the ethnic
minorities not wishing to become teachers themselves is their own
experiences of the English educational system. Osler reports that some
young people feel that the racist experiences that they have had at school
themselves can be a deterrent to taking up a position where they will be
part of this system, and where they expect to be racially harassed by
pupils. On the other hand, these sorts of experiences can also act as a
spur, as reported variously by Osler, Carrington and Tomlin and Ghuman.
Several of those who do select teaching as a career refer to wanting to
act as ethnic role models, or for other altruistic reasons (Carrington and
Tomlin, 2000, p 144). Another possible deterrent is the nature of the
25
curriculum which teachers are required to deliver. Some of both Osler's
and Ghuman's samples report on feeling caution about having to transmit
a highly euro-centric curriculum, which they feel does not relate
sufficiently to their own culture or to the culture of those ethnic minority
pupils they will teach (Osler, p 195; Ghuman, p 125).
Finally, there is also some evidence that students training to be teachers
encounter behaviour that they find difficulties in coping with, or in being
supported in dealing with by the still largely White teacher-training
establishments. Siraj-Blatchford's study found ethnic minority students
encountering racism particularly during teaching practice (69%) and
from fellow-students (64%).
In her study of 70 students, only 5
responses did not refer to incidents of racism during training (1991, p
40). Showunmi and Constantine-Simms found very similar perceptions,
and suggest that there is insufficient consideration of equal opportunity
issues or policy issues in this area (1996. p 165).
National and Local initiatives
The TTA have funded a series of local attempts to increase ethnic
minority recruitment. The Agency's description of these suggests that it
has taken on the rhetoric of not 'balancing' broadening participation
against quality, as was evident in Millet's speech (1996, above):
If a group is under-represented, then, by definition, we will have a
diminished pool of high quality potential new entrants. We are
developing ways in which we can encourage more minority ethnic
students into initial teacher training
(ITT). We do need to
understand the barriers, real or perceived, that exist within our
schools.
(2001: TTA website on equal opportinities)
Some of the projects that are supported, however, do appear to endorse a
deficit model of the ethnic minority communities. They include courses
for language and communication skills and numeracy, "workshops and
study guide material to enhance success at interview stage",
communication skills programmes,
"top-up courses to meet entry
requirements", support with language learning and the development of
distance-learning language support packs.
Not all projects are negative, however. For example, there are visits to
final year undergraduates in higher education institutions to promote
PGCE courses, and
individual counselling for prospective applicants,
work experience in primary schools, and the recruitment of Teacher
Fellows to improve links with local communities.
Barriers to change: policy recommendations
There is a long series of hurdles to be overcome in the attempt to increase
minority ethnic participation in teaching. This section attempts to
26
summarise the various impediments at each of the stages, and to suggest
strategies and policies that might be adopted.
To begin with questions of motivation for entering the teaching
profession. It was observed in the opening section of the paper that
schools are unique in that they are the only form of major social provision
in our society with which almost every young person comes into contact,
and that this contact is of considerable duration. Schools themselves
therefore inform pupils about the nature of the educational system and
the nature of teaching. Two factors emerge directly from this:
1. If pupils observe that behaviour in schools is racist - whether other
pupils to other pupils, other pupils to teachers, teachers to pupils, or
other forms of institutional or managerial racist behaviour - then they
are likely to conclude that working as a teacher will be personally
stressful, and that they may well be treated in the same way. Of
course, other workplaces and professions may be equally or more
racist - but the school system is the one that most pupils will know
most intimately.
2. If pupils observe that the curriculum that they receive, and that
teachers are required to deliver, is Anglo-centric to the exclusion of
minority ethnic values and voices, then pupils may conclude that it is
not a process in which they wish to take part. Many teachers would
wish to include more diverse viewpoints in the National Curriculum,
which they see as a straightjacket, and as a (continuing) imposition of
Euro-centric perspectives.
These aspects of schooling could be addressed. Many schools are already
attempting to counter racist behaviour, and have policies in place
concerning pupil and staff behaviour. Discriminatory behaviour by staff
is clearly still occurring (Siraj-Blatchford, 1999, details students'
perceptions of this on teaching practice; Osler (1998) gives various
accounts from her witnesses; and Ghuman (1995) also gives examples of
this). This could be tackled more vigorously. If schools were more
explicit in tackling pupils' racist behaviour, and in supporting ethnic
minority staff currently employed, this would convey clear messages
about how schools would not tolerate and attempted to change such
behaviour. Schools could also actively encourage pupils to explore racism
elsewhere in society, so that it became clearer to them that schools were
not the only place where such behaviour occurred, and perhaps that
schools were places where anti-racist behaviour was more explicitly
encouraged than in some other workplaces.
The curriculum also could be modified. Any serious attempt at social
inclusion should include more active and widespread acceptance of
diverse cultures. The QCA could make this a priority for all schools, not
merely for those in areas which have a higher proportion of ethnic
minority pupils. Different linguistic and cultural experiences should be
more clearly valued, welcomed and used in schools.
This would
27
encourage pupils in the ethnic minorities to recognise that they could be
part of this process if they joined the profession, and that their
background would be an important complement to education. They would
not then feel that they were being recruited to promote a 'White'
curriculum.
More generally, teaching itself needs to regain its position of esteem. If
ambitious pupils see teaching as a second-class aspiration, then the
profession will not attract a sizeable proportion of the ethnic minority
workforce. There is evidence that members of minority groups are more
ambitious and have greater aspirations to succeed than members of the
White population. If this is so, and if teaching is not seen as something
worth aspiring to, then these individuals will not be recruited. Meeting
this aim is not an easy task, nor is it one to which any one body or
organisation is responsible. There has been an endemic culture, for two
or even three decades, of a lack of value or esteem for the teaching
profession. In the last 15 years, many teachers themselves have become
disillusioned, and have felt that their ability to take professional control
of their lives, to be creative and to exercise professional autonomy have
been seriously eroded. The responsibility for reversing this is multiple,
and needs to be addressed by the Teacher Associations, the GTC, the
inspectorate (HMI, OfSTED and the LEA inspectors), the DfES, local
politicians, central government politicians and the media.
Ethnic minority pupils are attaining sufficiently high qualifications to
enter Higher Education at a higher rate than their White peers. However,
they are not entering teacher training at the same rate. There are four
factors here that can be addressed:
1. The TTA needs to consider how its entry requirement policies may be
discriminatory in their practice. There are several points where this
may occur. The Skills Tests need to be carefully monitored to ensure
that they do not operate in a racialised way. Entry requirements
should, of course be high: but many Higher Education Institutions
have developed alternative criteria to assessing students' potential to
benefit from Higher Education in areas other than teaching. If such
applicants can go on to receive good quality degrees, it is possible that
the same processes could be adopted in teacher education. The
Teacher Training curriculum itself needs to be revised so that ethnic
minority cultures are more centrally included: this would encourage
applicants from the minority communities to see that they were
welcomed, valued and respected. Potential students with community
languages should be particularly welcomed, and courses should not
only show how their skills are valued, but actively encourage them
and train them to use these skills in school settings where there are
multi-lingual pupils.
2. The TTA needs to consider its targets for attracting ethnic minorities
to the profession. If there is an apparent propensity not to move far
from the home for initial teacher education on the part of ethnic
28
minorities, then we should expect Higher Education institutions in
areas where there are large proportions of ethnic minorities to attract
equally large numbers of ethnic minority students. Thus, for example,
such institutions in Inner London might reasonably be expected to
recruit about 50% of their students from the ethnic minorities. The
TTA should actively make such expectations known, and investigate
why institutions in such areas which cannot or do not attract such
proportions are failing their local communities.
3. The Higher Education Institutions that provide teacher education need
to address their working practices to ensure that, just as schools
should do, they promote anti-racist behaviour.
Incidents where
schools visited by students on school practice are a case in point:
when such incidents occur, institutions need to adopt a more overt and
public manner of dealing with these. These might include, after some
proper investigation to establish a prima facie case, reporting such
schools to the Local Education Authority.
4. Higher Education Institutions need to address how the ethnic
minorities are represented in their own teaching staff.
Most
institutions have a teaching force and a management structure that is
very predominantly White, and do not represent the proportion of
ethnic minorities in their own localities. This is not a welcoming
signal to potential recruits from these minorities. The current agestructure of most institutions means that there could be very
significant changes made in this respect over the next ten years, as
relatively large numbers of existing lecturers reach retirement age.
(Such recruitment would, however, be a further drain on the low
numbers of these minorities who are teaching in schools.)
In the current situation of shortages, most newly-qualified teachers,
whatever their ethnic origin, are able to find a first appointment. Many
LEAs in areas with a high proportion of ethnic minority pupils actively
seek to attract teachers from an ethnic-minority background. However, it
was argued much earlier that many of the important reasons for
attracting teachers from such a background were not simply for the
benefit of ethnic minority pupils, but for all pupils. It is not simply a
question of 'Black teachers' for 'Black pupils'. LEAS in areas where there
are low proportions of ethnic minority peoples need just as actively to
seek to attract newly qualified teachers from the ethnic minorities.
When it comes to teachers' career development, there are many areas
that need to be addressed.
1. Ethnic minority teachers should not be given curriculum ghettos, or
expected to specialise in areas of 'race'. If they feel that their only
opportunities for career development are in the areas of multi-cultural
education or English as an additional language, then they will either
become socially constructed into such roles, or they will leave the
profession. Both alternatives are bad. Asian teachers need to be
29
encouraged to be in a range of disciplines, and not stereotyped as only
mathematics or science specialists.
2. Staff development should be actively promoted for ethnic minority
staff. If these staff continue to feel marginalised, they will either not
seek professional advancement, or feel constrained to specialise in
areas that appear to be 'reserved' for minorities.
3. In particular, ethnic minority staff need to be encouraged to develop
middle management skills at an early stage of their career. They need
to be developing demonstrable skills and qualifications to take up
posts of responsibility as soon as they are able, rather than feeling
that they have to demonstrate that they are better than their White
counterparts, or that the need to 'serve their time' before applying for
such posts.
4. LEAs could actively seek to encourage and support black networking
groups amongst their teaching staff, to offer self-support in career
development (Osler, 1998, gives evidence of the success of some of
these).
5. Training for leadership is critical. The National College for School
Leadership needs to have clear targets to ensure that a representative
proportion of ethnic minority students are taking part in and
succeeding on courses of training for headship and leadership.
Mahony and Hextall imply (2000, p 110) that more needs to be done
in this area.
6. School Governors and Heads may also need explicit training in nondiscriminatory appointment techniques. Any one group of Governors
will make very few appointments at headship level, and monitoring at
the level of the individual school is unlikely to be helpful. But LEAs
should take the responsibility for ensuring the appointment panels for
senior posts are properly trained, understand the need for an nondiscriminatory system of appointments, and recognise how
inadvertent discrimination can take place.
7. Finally, we need a far better system for ethnic monitoring across all
stages of the profession. The DfES and the TTA should actively seek to
require ethnic monitoring to take place in applications for training
places, in appointment and promotion processes, and in employment
statistics. Without this, it is very hard to show how progress is taking
place.
Necessary principles underlying recruitment and retention
This paper has argued that the teaching force needs to be more
representative in terms of ethnic minorities. It has suggested policy
initiatives that will address this. It has also argued why this is an
30
important issue: and it is argued the case in terms of the needs of all
pupils, not only for the needs of pupils from the ethnic minorities.
It is therefore just as important that schools in the north east of England
have a representation of ethnic minority teachers as do schools in Inner
London. Indeed, it could be argued that, for the future health of our
society, the need is greater in such areas.
Given that we currently do not even have enough ethnic minority teachers
to match the range of ethnic minority pupils in areas of high
concentration of minorities, such a sinner London, this creates a certain
dilemma. How can we simultaneously address the issues in areas where
there are high levels of ethnic minorities (from which we will recruit
most of our future ethnic minority teachers, and in which areas most of
such recruits will probably chose to work), and at the same time ensure
that pupils in areas where there are very few ethnic minorities see ethnic
minority teachers in their schools?
The answer will have eventually to be that we recruit more than their
proportion in the population into the profession. We probably need to be
attracting ethnic minorities to be filling 15% to 20% of the places for
teacher training, over a sustained period of a decade or two, in order to
effectively address this situation. This would allow both the areas where
there are many ethnic minority pupils to have a teaching force that
attempts to represent their local community, and areas where there are
few ethnic minority pupils to have a teaching force that represents the
national community.
31
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