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BME teachers face significant barriers to progression-NASUWT and National College research reveals

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Over half of all black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers feel that they have been discriminated against during their careers, according to new research from the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, and the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services (the National College).

The Report Leadership Aspirations and Careers of Black and Minority Ethnic Teachers, compiled by researchers from the University of Manchester and Education Data Surveys, looks at the career experiences of over 500 BME teachers and senior and middle leaders working in maintained schools across England.

It found that while most are keen to progress into leadership positions and develop their careers, issues of workload, a lack of self-confidence and discrimination are blocking the paths of many aspiring teachers.

Key findings from the research include:

  •  over four fifths of respondents considered themselves to be ‘very’ or ‘reasonably’ ambitious;
  • when asked to identify barriers to overall leadership aspirations, respondents to the survey cited ‘workload’ as by far the greatest barrier;
  • lack of ‘self-confidence’ was ranked second overall and was cited in the top four barriers for all groups of respondents except for men and African teachers, where it dropped to eighth;
  • ‘discrimination’, ‘my ethnicity’, ‘recruitment policies/procedures’ and ‘attitude of senior colleagues’ all featured in the overall top ten barriers and were almost all cited by all groups of respondents. Male BME teachers perceived discrimination as their greatest barrier compared to their female counterparts who ranked it sixth;
  •  ‘caring/family responsibilities’ were cited as the third most important barrier for women, but did not feature in the top ten for men;
  • BME senior leaders were found to be disproportionately concentrated in urban schools with high proportions of BME pupils and BME staff;
  •  fifty four per cent of all respondents felt that they had experienced discrimination during their career. Forty four per cent felt they had experienced discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity; 11 per cent on the basis of their gender; ten per cent on the basis of their age and ten per cent on the basis of their faith. Four times as many Pakistani teachers felt they had experienced discrimination in respect of faith than any other ethnic group;
  •  seventy per cent of BME teachers and school leaders said they believed it was harder for BME teachers to secure leadership posts than for other teachers;
  •  there were significant ethnic differences in the degree to which teachers felt they had experienced discrimination in the selection process: 65% of African teachers said they had been discriminated against, compared with 40% of Pakistani teachers and 34% of Indian and Caribbean teachers; and
  •  the greatest enablers to career progression were felt to be ‘qualifications and experience’, ‘self-confidence’, ‘availability of suitable posts’, ‘attitude of senior colleagues’ and ‘access to CPD (continuing professional development) opportunities and leadership programmes’.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:

“This report reveals the true extent of the problem of racism and discrimination that, regrettably, is still all too pervasive in our schools.

“Systematic ethnic monitoring at local authority and national levels must be undertaken to enable BME teachers’ career paths to be tracked and the barriers to their progress on the leadership scale to be identified and removed.

“This research is an important start in unlocking the way in which discrimination operates and should help in identifying what needs to be done to create greater fairness and transparency in the way that teachers’ skills and potential are recognised and rewarded.

“Institutional discrimination must not be allowed to flourish. It is robbing the schools of too many talented and dedicated teachers and potential leaders.

“The Union will be using this report to press for urgent action to tackle this serious issue and allow all teachers, irrespective of background, to realise their full potential.”