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BME teachers facing endemic racism, says NASUWT…

Twice the number of black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers (31ย per cent) compared to their white counterparts areย reportedย toย have experienced discrimination in the workplace in the last 12 months, according to research fromย NASUWT.ย 

The union states theirย ‘Annual Big Question’ย survey showsย “widespread inequality ofย treatmentโ€ and affirms that such discrimination isย riskingย BME presence in the teacher workforce, which isย already under-representedย in terms of the numbers of BME pupils they teach.

79 per centย of BME teachers compared to 64 per centย of white teachersย believeย they are notย paid at a level โ€˜commensurate with their skills and experiencesโ€™;ย 64 per centย have experienced โ€˜verbal abuse by pupilsโ€™ compared to 51ย per centย ofย their white peers;ย 52ย per centย feel that their work is not valued as professionals by the school management compared to 38ย per centย of white teachers; andย 64ย per centย stateย their opinions are not valued by school management teams, compared to 53ย per centย of their white peers.

Speaking at theย BME Consultation Conference in Birmingham on December 3, the union’s deputy general secretary, Dr. Patrick Roach, brands the lack of BME teachers being given the opportunity to progress into leadership roles as a “scandal and a shame on our education system”:ย 

“The discrimination is wearing BME teachers down and putting at risk the future BME presence in the teacher workforce.ย There is already a stark level of under-representation of BME teachers in comparison to the BME pupils that they teach.

“We are proud as a union to have BME leaders in our membership and to have some of you here today.ย But it is a scandal and a shame on our education system that BME teachers are being systematically denied the opportunity to progress and to lead.

ย โ€œAnd, what is even more shocking is that this is the context of there being a national crisis in terms of recruiting sufficient numbers of headteachers.โ€

The inequality of treatment in schools is impactingย the wellbeing of BME teachers outside of school, with fourย out of 10 BME teachers reportingย poor health because of their work in the last year, compared to around twoย in 10 white teachers.ย 

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