A report recommending that every Black and ethnic minority (BME) teacher be able to request a sponsor could be “a game changer” for career progression, according to the chair of the government’s Anti-Racism in Education Programme (AREP), Professor Khadija Mohammed.
The report - called Sponsoring for Diversity in Teacher Progression and published today by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) - says: “Sponsoring should be available to any BME teacher who wishes to participate in it.”
The support is deemed necessary because “progression among BME teachers is an issue at multiple stages, both in terms of those continuing to stay in the profession in the early-career phase (during probation and the first four years as a fully registered teacher) and when moving into promoted roles”.
Making teaching ‘reflective of wider society’
The report also says Scotland’s teaching profession “needs greater ethnic diversity if it is to be reflective of wider society”.
While Scotland’s BME population is 4 per cent, less than 2 per cent of teachers are from a BME background. This figure falls to less than 1 per cent when it comes to promoted roles in school.
The Scottish government has set a goal that 4 per cent of teachers should come from a minority ethnic background by 2030. At current progress rates, the target is not on track to be met.
The report says that sponsors are more senior colleagues working in the same context who “advocate for a BME teacher”, “open doors” for them, allow them to “show their strengths” and use “their influence to help further the career of the BME teacher”.
It says sponsors would most likely be white, given that the number of BME teachers in promoted posts is small, and this would avoid “placing a burden of representation upon the few BME individuals currently in leadership positions”.
The report adds: “It is recognised that there is some uncomfortableness about sponsoring. Perhaps because for many teachers a type of informal sponsoring happens in practice without any formal acknowledgement, or even awareness, that this is the case.
“We do know, however, that BME teachers do not always experience this and that there is a need to make more explicit and intentional the type of relationship between a teacher and a more senior colleague that supports individual career progression.”
Potential to be a game changer
Launching the report, Dr Pauline Stephen, chief executive of the GTCS, said successful implementation depended on “three themes”.
“The first is that ongoing support for employers is needed,” she said. “The second is the need for sponsors to have at least a baseline level of racial literacy. The third and final theme is that all BME teachers should be able to request a sponsoring experience.”
Professor Khadija Mohammed, chair of the AREP, which funded the report, said that it has “potential to be a game changer for the career progression of teachers from diverse ethnic backgrounds”.
She added: “This should encourage proactive discussions with employers on how they can shine a light on the cultural wealth that minority ethnic teachers bring to the profession. Their diverse cultural and linguistic skills should be acknowledged and nurtured creating opportunities for them to show their strengths and grow as leaders.”
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