Recruitment of teachers does not happen in a vacuum and there are many factors at play.
One of the reasons for the lack of recruitment of black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers across the UK is that they have not grown up in classrooms with BME teachers.
Their children are not surrounded by BME teachers so it is not a profession that necessarily sends strong signals saying BME teachers belong.
We would argue there has to be a national campaign to say we need more teachers from these backgrounds, but there is no evidence of that.
A lot of the experiences of people from BME backgrounds in schools is around the colour of their skin and our studies have shown how profound and pernicious that experience in school can be.
It is the subtle and insidious ways they were not promoted, the slights and micro aggressions which held them back or damaged their confidence.
Teachers from all backgrounds, regardless of ethnic group, want to be teachers for the same reasons – because they have a commitment to the pupils, a passion to be a mentor and so on.
It is not a lack of commitment that wears them down, but a reflection of those everyday experiences of being racially discriminated against.
That comes on top of everything else that teachers are having to deal with, from an increasing workload to being undervalued in terms of pay.
You also have to ask about retention and evidence from surveys we have been involved with suggest people are leaving the profession because they are being ground down. There are issues with BME teachers dropping out in the first three years of teaching.
Equality issues in schools in general do not seem to be a strong enough focus and that is a particular case in terms of race.
We have evidence that Muslim teachers are particularly struggling with racism in schools, and that can be from pupils or subtle messages from other teachers.
Another key issue is that teachers talk about how racism in school has become more of an issue in the context of Brexit. Pupils feel emboldened to say racist things. When teachers raise this with senior members of staff it is downplayed.
Dr Zubaida Haque is deputy director of the UK-wide Runnymede Trust ethnic equality think tank
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel