Tackling ethnic disparities in teacher recruitment and retention could significantly contribute to the government’s manifesto pledge to recruit and retain an additional 6,500 teachers, a report has found.
There are “significant ethnic disparities” in initial teacher training (ITT) rejection rates, suggesting that “discrimination has a role”, according to a report published today by the National Federation of Educational Research (NFER).
The report, funded by charity Mission44, found that if UK-based teacher trainees from ethnic minority backgrounds were accepted on to training courses at the same rate as their white peers, the system would train around 2,000 more teachers per year.
It also estimated that 1,000 additional teachers would remain in the state education system if ethnic minority teachers were retained at the same rate as white teachers.
Labour pledged to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers as one of its planned first steps before last year’s General Election.
Tes revealed last week that the Department for Education is not including primary schools in this target.
Ethnic disparity in ITT rejection rates ‘not explained’
Ethnic minority refers to all ethnic groups except white British, including white minorities such as Gypsy, Roma and (Irish) Travellers, NFER said.
This is not the first time warnings have been raised about the position of ethnic minority teachers in schools.
Analysis by the National Education Union (NEU) last year found that Black teachers are paid less than white colleagues, underrepresented at leadership levels and more likely to leave the profession as a result of workplace discrimination.
The NFER research found that there are significant ethnic disparities in ITT rejection rates among UK-based applicants that are “not explained by differences in applicant and application characteristics”.
“This suggests that discrimination has a role, but limitations with the available data mean we cannot definitively rule out other factors such as being below the quality standards set by ITT providers,” the report continued.
DfE needs to embed diversity in teacher training
It called on the Department for Education (DfE) to “embed equity, diversity and inclusion within programme frameworks and within selection criteria for appointing providers”.
This would include ITT, the early career framework (ECF), national professional qualifications (NPQ) and teaching school hubs.
The report also advised ITT providers to “audit and evaluate their selection criteria and processes for equity, diversity and inclusion”.
NFER said that this should particularly consider “disparities in admission by ethnicity, socioeconomic background and ages”.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the union would like to see “more work done to better understand why some ethnic groups continue to be underrepresented in teacher training as well as leadership roles.”
”There must be equitable recruitment across all the different routes that lead to a career in teaching,” Mr Di’Iasio continued, calling on the government to set out a ”long-term plan for how it is going to fix the recruitment and retention crisis”.
Lack of diversity is ‘an uncomfortable truth’
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “It is an uncomfortable truth that a lack of equality and diversity remain issues in education.
“Having positive role models from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities encourages young people to broaden their horizons and ambitions, while breaking down stereotypes and prejudice. While last week’s latest school workforce figures again show a small increase in the ethnic diversity of teachers and school leaders, there is still a long way to go.”
