35% of pupils in England are from an ethnic minority, but these underrepresented groups make up only 15% of teachers, government data has revealed.
Now Teach, a charity helping older career changers become secondary school teachers shared a case study with Asian Voice which gives an insight into bridging the ethnic minority gap between teachers and pupils.
The approach of recruiting older people into the classroom means 32% of Now Teachers are from an ethnic minority. Almost all of the teachers are over 45 and have decades of experience working in other fields. Traditional teacher recruitment, focussing on young graduates, is baking in this ethnicity gap between pupils and teachers. Changing tactics to attract older trainees could double representation.
This inequality may also be having a wider impact. The UK has one of the youngest teaching workforces in the OECD and data shows the most economically deprived schools have the youngest teachers, meaning those children are taught by people with the least life and career experience.
Kharuz Zaman, 47, is a former lawyer and now a Maths teacher at Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich, London. Kharuz spent two decades working in the City of London as a corporate lawyer for firms such as Barclays and Slaughter and May, specialising in mergers and acquisitions in the banking and financial services sector.
He was born in Bangladesh and moved to the UK aged 8. Learning a new language and adapting to a completely different environment in the process.
Kharuz attended a ‘failing’ comprehensive school in Smethwick, Birmingham, which was later shut down. However, he sees it now as a golden opportunity: “I’ve been very privileged to have had such life chances, which provided me with strong foundations for adult life”. After taking law at King's College London, his career flourished.
Then, in his mid-40s, after being made a partner at his law firm, he read a newspaper article about Now Teach, a charity that helps professionals change their careers and become teachers. Eager for a new challenge, he signed up, took a new degree and has fully devoted himself to inspiring and helping young people to thrive and realise their full potential, as a Maths teacher. A few years later he accepted a position as Teaching and Learning Responsibility lead for Careers.
Kharuz has drawn on his personal life experiences to build a strong connection with students.
He said, “I believed I could make the biggest difference by teaching at a school where a large proportion of the students are from disadvantaged backgrounds. It was important for me to do it at the peak of my career, rather than waiting until I was closer to retirement.”
He is passionate about developing and promoting talent from diverse backgrounds. He said: “From a diversity perspective, I think it’s important to have a balanced representation in all professions - including teaching.
“Young people need role models from all backgrounds. It’s a good thing that Now Teach is succeeding in getting more professionals from ethnic minorities to change careers to become teachers. One of the reasons for this could be a healthy shift in attitudes among professionals working in e.g. the City, with more people being motivated by having a clear sense of purpose and a desire to make a contribution to society.
“Having said that, we must not lose sight of the fact that - despite being better represented, there is a marked reduction in the proportion of ethnic minorities in leadership positions. This suggests that, as with many other professions, we still have a long way to go before we can say that the world of education has fully embraced diversity and is truly meritocratic”.
BOX
- The FTE of teachers has increased by 4,400 since last year.
- The rate of entrants to teaching continues to be higher than that of teachers leaving the profession, meaning an overall increase to the number of teachers in England.
- Entrants to and leavers from teaching are up from last year, but down compared to pre-pandemic levels.
- School workforce ethnic diversity is increasing, but the teaching workforce continues to be predominantly female.
- Pupil to teacher ratios are similar to last year: 20.6 pupils per teacher in nurseries and primary schools, 16.7 in secondary schools, and 6.3 in special and PRU schools.
- 3 in 5 teaching hours were spent teaching English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects of mathematics, English, sciences (including computer science), history, geography and modern languages.
Source: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/
