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Racism in schools must be challenged
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Research carried out by the Institute for Policy Studies in Education (IPSE) and commissioned by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, details the experiences of black teachers in London’s Schools.
Results show that black people comprise of a very small minority of teachers and that they face discrimination from their colleagues. According to the study, they also claim to
suffer racial abuse on a daily basis, and feel that they are not subject to equal opportunities in terms of status and pay.
When the research was undertaken two years ago, the need to recruit more teachers from minority ethnic communities to reflect the fact that more than a third of London pupils come from minority ethnic communities was clear. |
Although the last two years has seen a progressive recruitment process of black teachers, ‘at the current rate it will take far too long to have a truly reflective workforce.’
The study also correlates the imbalance of black teachers to the ongoing under achievement of black pupils.
In 2005, 41.7 per cent of black Caribbean students and 48.3 per cent of black African students gained five or more GCSE passes at Grade A to C, which shows continued improvement since 1993 but still below the national average of 62.4 per cent. The study says that this can only be redressed if racism in schools is ‘stamped out.’ In turn, this will encourage more black people to go into the teaching profession.
Mr. Livingstone said: ‘we need our schools to reflect the community the serve.’ He also said: ‘It cannot be right that in some of our boroughs 48 to 50 per cent of the pupils are black yet only 16 to 18 per cent of the teachers that teach them are of similar heritage.’
At present, black people account for seven per cent of teaching staff in London and 1.5 per cent in England. Only four per cent go into head teacher or deputy head roles. Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Diane Abbott said of the research: ‘this report reveals the depth of the institutional racism that teachers face. It is an important issue because good black teachers have a vital role to play in raising educational achievement.'
The project was commissioned following IPSE contributions to the 2002 Mayor of London’s Conferences on London Schools and the Black Child (March) and on Black Public Sector Workers Conference (June). The report brings together information from a wide range of sources, including the General Teaching Council (England)’s survey of teacher views (December 2002), data from the Department for Education and Science and the Teacher Training Agency, and materials from a range of IPSE surveys of the teaching profession in various London LEAs between 1998.
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