The teaching profession cannot afford to scale back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work as others have in response to political shifts. Addressing our recruitment and retention crisis demands that we acknowledge the experiences of global majority teachers and leaders.
Government data from June 2024 shows that 37.4 per cent of primary and 36.6 per cent of secondary school pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
However, 2022 research from the NFER found that while people from Asian, Black, mixed, and other ethnic backgrounds are over-represented in ITT applications, they are disproportionately likely to be rejected. This higher incidence of rejection continues throughout their careers, as is reflected in their under-representation in promoted posts.
Despite this clear trend, there is no system-wide approach to tackling racial inequities in education.
Institutional silence
In the third meeting of the Teaching Commission, research from Professors Vini Lander, Heather J. Smith, and Dr. Alison Wiggins highlighted a systemic failure to address racism at all policy levels. This significantly impacts recruitment, retention and racial literacy within the profession.
Key sector policies such as the teacher standards, the core content framework, the early career framework and the inspection framework all fail to mention race, racism or anti-racism. As Professor Smith noted, this omission signals to institutions that racism is not a priority, making it less likely to be addressed.
In addition, racism is often framed as an individual issue rather than a structural one, meaning systemic barriers remain unchallenged.
A comprehensive anti-racism framework, such as the one commissioned by the NEU with Newcastle University, could guide ITT providers in embedding anti-racist practices. Schools and training providers should adopt such frameworks to ensure meaningful change.
Prejudiced from the start
Global majority trainees frequently experience racism and microaggressions during their training, including being treated as second-class citizens, subjected to harmful assumptions and having their experiences dismissed.
Some report racist incidents only to be told by course tutors that nothing can be done and that it is “part of the experience.”
If new entrants are treated this way, it is no surprise that long-serving global majority teachers experience similar discrimination, limiting their career progression. The issue is not a shortage of global majority teachers but a system that fails to support and retain them.
To combat this, Dr. Wiggans recommends that schools and universities explicitly commit to anti-racism in partnership agreements, ensure clear reporting mechanisms for racist incidents, and involve race equity specialists in handling complaints.
The burden of illiteracy
Those from Black and global majority groups bear the burden of exposing and challenging racism. I have experienced this myself, and it is an exhausting and often thankless job.
Professor Lander highlighted that the under-representation of global majority teachers has been a “pervasive and perpetual issue for at least 40 years”. And yet, the profession has failed to tackle the issue in a meaningful way.
Why has the profession tolerated this for so long? Why does institutional racism in teaching and ITT remain unaddressed? Simply put, our profession privileges whiteness, and challenging that requires white teachers and leaders to recognise their role as allies and advocates.
Racism in ITT must be tackled, and I am honoured to lead a project for The Chartered College of Teaching, Chiltern Learning Trust, and Being Luminary, funded by Mission 44, to do just that.
Our goal is to increase the proportion of global majority teachers, and we are working with schools and training providers to deliver expert coaching and personalised training to identify and address explicit and implicit racism.
But the responsibility for this does not and cannot lie solely with global majority teachers. They are not missing from the ranks of applicants. They are dealing with systemic barriers that exclude them from the profession and hamper their opportunities to thrive.
We must address the daily microaggressions, career roadblocks and institutional failures that perpetuate this situation. Failing to do so harms them, harms our schools, and ultimately harms our pupils.
We need to listen to the thoughts of those caught up in these experiences and learn from them.
Perhaps more can be done to tailor an approach that is inclusive to ensure equity in delivery.
I for one would be keen to support any initiative that helps people to stay in a profession that is so impactful on the lives of all our young people.