By Gavin Mackintosh And Jaymie Holland-
A stark diversity gap exists in education’s top jobs, according to a research study which suggests that just two chief executives of the 72 academy trusts with 15 schools or more are black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME).
The finding calls for more attention to address the concern, but is not full proof of prejudice in the school system. Britain being predominantly white but multi-cultural is likely to have more white applicants for top position in schools than it would minority applicants. This interpretation may be slightly different when we consider women who are also underrepresented in top jobs in the education system.
Some of the best headteachers in Britain are women, but the fact they are very few raises questions of whether more men with the tools for the post apply for those top positions, or whether women are being held back by a biased process designed to favour men from white middle class background.
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The finding comes after a pledge by the Department for Education last month to work with teachers, schools and academy trusts to increase diversity in the teaching workforce. The strive for diversity in the teaching workforce is directed mainly at leadership level in order to ensure an appropriate balance in equality levels of opportunity to prospective leaders whose appointment will necessarily benefit pupils.
Historic evidence of disproportionate exclusions of pupils from minority backgrounds have long called for a specialized approach to minimize the percentage of disadvantaged pupils from school exclusions. White pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds also exist and do suffer exclusions due to bad conduct. However, the emphasis on wider diversity among top education roles extends beyond race to a focus on bias against both women and ethnic minority groups.
REPRESENTATIVE
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Women and minority pupils need to see more top leaders they feel are representative of them since this can be a strong source of motivation and drive for them. Apart from the importance of pupils being able to identify with highly placed leaders in their educational institution, lack of diversity in top posts in education sends an undesirable message of inherent bias in the British education system. Such a message is not necessarily accurate and may depend on the percentage of female applicants and applicants from minority groups that try for top posts.
It also depends on what proportion of those who try have the credentials for the post. However, it gives a negative impression if top posts continue to be occupied by mainly white males, leaving out women and minority groups. The British government plans to set a key performance indicator for its national professional qualifications, requiring more diverse recruitment
BIAS
The study conducted by School Week found that not a single director-of-education job or equivalent in the country’s largest 20 councils was held by someone from an ethnic-minority background. The researchers also discovered that nearly three quarters of the academy-trust bosses were men, revealing a bias against women.
However at the 20 councils, more than half of the education-director posts were held by women. The findings go against a recent government commitment to address bias in the work place. The British government admitted that women and ethnic-minority leaders are underrepresented in top roles. The government has set out plans to improve diversity under a new statement of intent, but this might take a while to actually be implemented across the board.
Only three per cent of headteachers are from non-white ethnic-minority backgrounds, according to government data . This has actually fallen by 0.2 percentage points since 2012.
In research with Leeds Beckett university, Choudry found having proper appraisals to “argue their case” for a promotion particularly helped ethnic-minority women with their careers. Just 38 per cent of women are headteachers at secondary schools, although women comprise nearly three-quarters of teachers.
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