Improving the retention of minority ethnic teachers in England

Figures from 2019 show that 85.6% of all teachers and 65.4% of pupils are currently from a White British background; in comparison, 78.5% of the working age population of England were recorded as White British in the 2011 census (UK Government, 2020). 

Efforts to recruit new teachers from minority ethnic groups are important but these alone will not solve shortages. Nationally, retention is lower for minority ethnic teachers than for White British teachers (DfE, 2018b). Teachers from minority ethnic groups also experience unique problems linked to racial inequality and racism in their careers (Haque & Elliott, 2017).

Yet, there has been little empirical investigation of how the ethnic character of the English teaching workforce has changed over time, where minority ethnic teachers tend to be employed, and what happens to these teachers once they are employed that causes lower retention.

Findings

Our study ‘Retention of teachers from minority ethnic groups in disadvantaged schools’ used the 2018 School Workforce Census and related administrative school census datasets to explore the patterns of employment of non-White British teachers (c. 65,600) across all state-funded English schools.

To explore factors shaping teachers’ decisions to stay in or leave teaching, we conducted 24 interviews with teachers from different ethnic backgrounds, including 14 Black teachers, 2 mixed White and Black heritage teachers and 8 teachers from different Asian backgrounds. Thirteen of these teachers were in the profession for over five years and nine for five or less years. Nine participants worked in primary and 15 in secondary schools, all of which were urban diverse schools.

These type of schools tend to have higher proportions of minority ethnic or disadvantaged pupils and experience higher rates of teacher turnover. 

Key finding 1

The analysis of census data found that teachers from minority ethnic groups are concentrated in London schools and in ethnically diverse schools. This pattern of employment has implications for their retention. 

Teachers from minority ethnic groups are not equally distributed across schools in England. We found that at the national level, 46% of schools have no minority ethnic teachers, while 16% of schools employ over 20% of teachers from non-White British backgrounds. However, 77% of schools in London employ over 20% of teachers from minority ethnic groups. Schools are more likely to have minority ethnic teachers if they also have high numbers of minority ethnic non-teaching staff. Schools with a relatively high proportion of minority ethnic teachers also have a large proportion of English as an Additional Language pupils.

Finally, more minority ethnic teachers work in those London schools that have a higher proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and those located in deprived areas. 

Key finding 2 

The interviews suggest that teachers from minority ethnic groups are motivated to teach in urban diverse schools, but the ethnic diversity of senior leadership teams (SLT) in such schools is important for the retention of minority ethnic teachers. 

Minority ethnic teachers value diversity in the workplace and relate to pupils from non-dominant ethnic communities. However, all the teachers we interviewed disapproved of the near universal whiteness of the SLT in otherwise diverse schools. We found that this issue plays a role in teachers’ decisions to move schools because of a perceived negative impact on the organisational culture.

Key finding 3

Stalled opportunities for career progression are the key retention factor for experienced minority ethnic teachers. 

The analysis of the interview data found that experienced teachers interested in senior promotions felt unfairly passed over for such opportunities. This left many experienced teachers in pursuit of opportunities outside of the state school sector. Most interviewees said that this glass ceiling was not obvious to them at the early stages of their career.

Images

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