From our Knowledge Bank Black Teachers Matter
Over the past decades, race in and equality in education in the UK have been merged into broader debates on ‘diversity'. Although the merger of race equality debates points to an environment in which various issues affecting minoritised groups and individuals are to be identified, the merging of race and ethnicity issues under a broad diversity banner has led to an invisibility of the everyday experiences of minority ethnic staff and students in educational institutions.
Despite regulations and policy initiatives, the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) teachers has not significantly improved as institutional practices appear to lag behind policy positions and official intents, thus creating a gap between intent and outcomes. An area of concern regards that the implementation of current regulations on racial equality in schools is not being adequately and appropriately monitored by government (Miller, 2016), which undermines any intent to change, through the creation of an environment in which schools and other educational institutions are let off the hook for not fulfilling or where they can renege on their racial equality duty.
Despite the fact the numbers of BAME students in schools is trending upwards, there is also evidence that the participation of BAME teachers remains disproportionate. This is the same for schools serving majority white and/or majority BAME students. For, despite the unquestionable value and necessity of having teachers and school leaders from BAME backgrounds in schools, schools operate as sites of whiteness (Matias, et al. 2015) – where, despite the ethnic makeup of the student population, almost invariably, teachers and school leaders are predominantly white (Feistritzer, 2011); and where leadership is primarily concentrated in the hands of white teachers (Earley, et al. 2012). The research is consistent that BAME teachers tend to occupy mostly entry level and junior positions, and this has nothing to do with lack of aspiration or ambition, but more to do with discriminatory institutional level practices.
BAME students and teachers
BAME students and teachers make up an important part of the overall school population in England. They are an important group of individuals from non-white descent, and, although not a homogeneous group, their experience of the education system in terms of race/ ethnicity-based discrimination is broadly consistent. Whilst this may make our task of understanding race/ ethnic based discrimination in education easier; it also raises questions about the espoused versus the actual role of education and educational leaders in promoting or ensuring race-equality. To support our understanding of these matters, it is important to bring ourselves up to date with the position and status of BAME students and teachers in English schools.
BAME students
As at January 2017, there were 8.67 million pupils enrolled in state-funded and independent schools in England. This is an increase of just under 110,000 pupils, or 1.3%, since 2016. Of the 4,689,660 enrolled at primary schools, 32.1% are from minority ethnic origins; and of the 3,223,090 enrolled at secondary schools, 29.1% are from minority ethnic origins (DfE, 2017a). The proportion of students from minority ethnic origins has been rising steadily since 2006, and makes up 66.3% of the increase in primary school students between 2016 and 2017. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) suggests that there are an estimated 1,829,200 UK-domiciled students in higher education. Of this number, there are 33,290 whose ethnicity is unknown. Of the 1,795,910 whose ethnicity is known, there are approximately 21% or 377,225 students from BAME backgrounds (HESA, 2016). Despite the relative numbers of BAME students enrolled in UK educational institutions, it should be noted that numbers for BAME staff and leaders do not always reflect the ethnic makeup of the student body as a whole.