New research focuses on experiences of teachers from ethnic minorities

A new research report has set out to understand how the wellbeing of ethnic minority educators compares with the wider population. The report, from the charity Education Support, drew on three focus groups. These were conducted by YouGov using its panel of education professionals. These included 26 teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders who identified as having ethnic minority backgrounds.

The research found that many of the drivers of stress for ethnic minority teachers were the same as those for the wider teaching profession, such as volume of workload, managing challenging student behaviour and Ofsted inspections. However, participants also reported experiencing distinct, additional pressures. These included barriers to progression, tokenism and microaggressions, together with incidents of overt racism on occasions.

Some teachers had experienced overt racism from their students, such as name-calling and swearing. Others experienced overt racism from the decisions made by the senior leadership teams, or their inaction in response to racist incidents at schools. Barriers to progression were often less overt but still damaging. For example, many teachers felt that a drinking culture was widespread, with their status and position within the school being dependent on participating in activities like trips to the pub. Many were frustrated as this excluded them because their personal choices, culture or faith meant they did not drink alcohol.

Those teachers who experienced forms of discrimination often did not want to highlight the issues in case it bolstered people’s perceptions of damaging stereotypes. These included a fear of being accused of ‘playing the race card’ (i.e. the discriminatory notion that someone is trying to get preferential treatment because of their race), or appearing to act differently from the expected norm.

The teachers who participated in the focus groups were in favour of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training. There was agreement across groups that proactive EDI training was needed in schools to ensure that their colleagues, and, in particular senior leaders, understood the effects of inappropriate comments, microagressions and ‘othering’ behaviour. This was viewed as distinct from reactive training that takes place after discriminatory events take place.

Participants also reported that their line management experiences are variable, but where leaders get this right it can help with managing stress. Effective line management relationships can also be useful for sharing information and discussing sensitive topics. Trust is an essential component of these relationships. A lack of trust can be a significant barrier to using the relationship to help manage stress.

Commenting on the research, Sinéad McBrearty, chief executive of Education Support, said: ‘Racism has no place in schools or colleges. We all have a responsibility to understand how racism is experienced by colleagues, and to improve the system for everyone. Discrimination serves only to demoralise and ultimately drive good teachers out of the workforce. This serves no-one, least of all children and young people. These findings point the way to simple, inexpensive strategies for improvement’

Natalie Arnett, senior equalities officer at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: ‘The impact that heavy workload, high-stakes accountability and post-pandemic burnout has had on the health and well-being of senior leaders and teachers is well documented. However, this report reflects the additional burdens that many of our Black, Asian and minority ethnic members report having to face, including micro-aggressions and barriers to progression. These findings shine a light on distressing experiences which no one should have to endure and add further weight to our calls for the government to make anti-racism training mandatory for all school staff.’

The full report is available here: https://tinyurl.com/vaetuecw