New group to encourage ethnic minorities into teaching

Networking and events group BAMEed will launch in January with the aim of encouraging more black, Asian and ethnic minority candidates into teaching and leadership roles, Schools Week has reported.

BAMEed has been created to raise the status of teaching among communities from ethnic minority backgrounds by encouraging career progression.

The 2015 school workforce data showed 93.4 per cent of headteachers were white British, and 87 per cent of white British were classroom teachers.

Teachers with Pakistani heritage made up 1 per cent of all teachers in England, as did those with black Caribbean backgrounds. In contrast, 3.8 per cent of teaching assistants have a black Caribbean background, and 4.3 per cent have Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Indian backgrounds.

Meanwhile, just 1.3 per cent of headteachers are from south Asian backgrounds overall, and 0.9 from a black African or Caribbean background. Yet 30.4 per cent of primary students and 26.6 per cent of secondary students are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Co-founder Allana Gay, deputy headteacher at Lea Valley primary school in north London, said: “When we looked at the census, to be honest, we began to wonder about our chances of headship. And for me that’s also an issue of representation for students. It limits an understanding of diversity. If I’m an ethnic minority child inside a school, and most of the diversity I see is among assistants and cleaners, that’s a problem.”

In the new year BAMEed will launch an annual conference and networking events, as well as provide support with applications for teaching and leadership roles through a new website and coaching scheme.