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Black teachers paid less than white counterparts, report finds
EB News: 28/10/2024 - 10:17
New figures from the National Education Union (NEU) show that Black teachers are paid less than white teachers, remain underrepresented at leadership level, and are more likely to be pushed from the profession through workplace discrimination than their white peers.
The report showed that Black classroom teachers outside London earned 4.5 per cent less on average last year than white counterparts.
It also found that 12 per cent of classroom teachers are from Black backgrounds, but among deputy and assistant heads this figure is only eight per cent, falling further to just five per cent of heads.
Retention problems are greater for Black teachers – each year around eight to 12 per cent leave the English state school system before retirement, compared to around 6-8% of white teachers.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “The ethnicity pay gap among England’s teaching workforce has stayed stubborn for a decade, and this must not go on. The urgent recruitment and retention crisis, in which teachers leave the profession just a few years after qualifying, is contributing to a shortage of Black teachers in senior positions. As well as pay and high workload, these teachers are also leaving because of workplace discrimination.
“As part of the Department for Education’s efforts to solve the recruitment and retention crisis, their strategy must address the loss of Black teachers at every career stage. We must, together, tackle the barriers facing Black teachers. There are so many upsides for students from getting the chance to learn from, and be inspired by, teachers with different backgrounds.”
Additionally, almost 60 per cent of Black teachers described workplace discrimination as a major or minor cause of stress, compared to less than 30 per cent of white teachers.
The NEU has set out several recommendations for the government.
This includes addressing the loss of Black teachers at every career stage including recruitment and retention, a national strategy to address the specific additional barriers faced by Black teachers, and a commitment to goals around building a diverse teaching profession.
They also recommend that employers need to maintain a pay policy which sets out how pay decisions are made and which is compliant with the Equality Act 2010.
The NEU said employers need to give teachers ready access to this pay policy and review it annually in consultation with the teachers and union representatives at the school, as well as set out clear information about their pay structure with transparency over all pay decisions – pay progression, payment of allowances such as TLR payments, and pay for leaders.
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