A government group set up to improve the diversity of the teaching workforce is calling for Scotland to “be bold and aim high” and ensure that by 2030 black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers are as well represented in teaching, as they are in the general population.

The government has accepted the recommendation - which will mean more than doubling the number of minority ethnic teachers - and says it expects “all partners to act” and “increase the ethnic diversity of the teaching profession in Scotland”.

Official figures show that currently only 1.4 per cent of the teaching workforce comes from a black or minority ethnic background - equivalent to just 672 teachers. The 2011 census recorded that 4 per cent of the population as a whole were from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Scottish government statistics also show that BME teachers are less likely to gain promotion, with just 75 BME teachers occupying 0.6 per cent of promoted posts in schools.

According to the government working group - led by Professor Rowena Arshad, the head of the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education - “this lack of promotion prospects” is discouraging people from minority ethnic backgrounds from considering a career in teaching.

The group make clear all involved in teaching - from the universities that deliver the teacher education courses, to the councils who employ the teachers - need to be educated about diversification and how it can be supported.

In an interview with Tes Scotland, Professor Arshad said there was a racial inequality “awareness gap” in Scottish education that was so sizeable it “quite stunned” the working group.

On the one hand, the research showed that BME teachers reported their race was a barrier, said Professor Arshad, but on the other, there was a failure among schools and local authorities to recognise that racism or racial inequality was an issue.

A survey by Glasgow City Council found that 49 per cent of BME teachers felt that discrimination relating to their ethnic background was a barrier to gaining promotion, said the report. And a survey by the teaching union the EIS found its BME members had been subjected to racist comments and attitudes from parents, pupils and colleagues, as well as curriculum content that perpetuated racial stereotypes.

The working group found, however, that headteachers made comments like they had “no reason to think that promotion is more difficult for teachers from a minority ethnic background” or “I don’t see that promotion is any more challenging for staff from minority ethnic background”.

The report said that “it was clear that race/race equality was simply not on the agenda for many”.

It continued: “The working group is concerned that the depth of disparity of understanding and awareness of issues is acting as a major barrier to diversifying the teaching workforce. In our view, this disparity of understanding is present throughout the arc of a teacher’s career from their experience of school as a pupil, applying to university teaching courses, student experience within programmes, seeking permanent employment and ultimately to applying for promotion.”

According to the report the issue of race had “fallen through the cracks” in Scottish education, with each provider assuming another agency was taking lead responsibility for ensuring racial equality.

All parts of the system - the government, universities, schools and local authorities - needed to become more coordinated in their approaches to tackling the problem and everyone had “to make the teaching profession one young BME pupils think about as a go-to profession”, Professor Arshad said.

That, she said, would help address another issue highlighted to the working group: that minority ethnic communities do not value teaching as a profession.

The report said: “A concerted effort is needed by organisations involved in Scottish education to raise the profile of teaching as a valuable and rewarding career for all.”

In all the report sets out 18 recommendations - all of which have been accepted by the Scottish government. They include that quality of curricular materials and anti-racist resources be improved and that by August next year all education leadership programmes - including Into Headship which all those applying for headteacher posts must have by next school year - ensure a better understanding of racism and identify steps for addressing this.

It also calls on local authorities to ensure that the need to recruit and support a diverse workforce is understood by all relevant staff and that a national mentoring network for minority ethnic staff is established by March.

When it comes to universities the group calls for new data about application, interview and completion rates for minority ethnic students to be gathered beginning in the 2019-20 academic year

Education secretary John Swinney said that radically improving the diversity in Scottish teaching was not just good for society, but also for pupils and schools.

He added: “We must be absolutely sure there is no bias or complacency at every level, from our university admissions or teacher recruitment processes to promotion and progression within local authorities.

“We also need to find and celebrate positive role models and make a concerted effort to talk to young people from minority ethnic backgrounds about the benefits of a teaching career. I expect all partners to act on these recommendations and increase the ethnic diversity of the teaching profession in Scotland.”