‘I didn’t know how bad the lack of BAME staff was’

Bristol has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. The city has rapidly become more diverse place to live, with a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) population that more than doubled between 2001 and 2011. However, it seems that our culture is not changing as quickly as our demography.

In September, a BBC report found that of the 1,300 teachers in Bristol, only 26 are black, equating to less than two per cent. Compare this to the 16 per cent of Bristol’s population who self-identified as non-white British in the 2011 census and it becomes clear that significant numbers of young people aren’t getting an accurate representation of what their city looks like through their teaching.

This is especially problematic in schools like City Academy in Lawrence Hill, where more than two thirds of its pupils are from BAME backgrounds.

Aisha Thomas is assistant principal at City Academy and says she has been surprised to find out the true extent of the lack of BAME teaching staff in Bristol

Aisha Thomas is assistant principal at City Academy and in September presented the BBC One Inside Out West documentary which shed light on the lack of black teachers in Bristol’s schools. While she knew from personal experience that there wasn’t a lot of diversity among teachers, she was surprised by what she learned.

“Often I will go into a room and I’m often the only black person in the room,” Aisha says. “This happens to me on a regular basis. I knew that there was a lack of BAME staff, but I didn’t know just how bad it was. More than anything else, there was a real lack of awareness about how bad the crisis is.”

For Aisha, raising awareness of the lack of teaching diversity in Bristol is important, but in order to make a change, she feels that first there needs to be recognition that for many young people this is an issue.

“I used to hate school,” Aisha says. “I had an excellent educational experience, but I had a poor holistic experience. I struggled to develop socially and I didn’t understand my place in the world.” Growing up in Bristol, Aisha’s school in Kingswood only had one black teacher. She went on to say she feels that she would have benefitted from more representation at school.

While the colour of a teacher’s skin can help students see themselves reflected in successful professional people, Poku Osei, chief executive of Babbasa, argues that “diversity of thought” amongst existing teachers is equally important.

Poku Osei of Babassa, an organisation that has run events for Bristol’s young people to get into teaching

His organisation works with Bristol’s disadvantaged young people and helps them to bridge gaps by accessing education, employment, and self-employment. Poku explains that, in the case of schools or groups of schools that are mostly comprised of white teachers and white leaders, it’s hard to expect them to know how best to nurture a diverse group of students without help or advice.

However, there are things that can be done in the short term to alleviate racial inequalities in schools and this includes improving cultural training and understanding among teachers. Poku and Aisha both comment on a distinctive lack of cultural learning in teacher training that could be addressed right away. There’s also a need for leaders in the teaching profession to understand their student make-up. “Leaders need to be humble enough to make sure that they’re getting advice or other voices to direct them in a way that is representative,” Poku says.

Recent reports have raised further concerns about a general problem of inequality for BAME groups and particularly black people, in all levels of Bristol’s society. The Runnymede Trust, a race equality think-tank, and the Centre on Dynamics and Ethnicity looked at how BAME groups are at a disadvantage in education, employment, health, and housing in regions across England and Wales and presented their report in January 2017.

Bristol ranked as the worst major city in the country for racial inequality and the seventh worst of 348 districts studied. Health and education were noted as two of the key areas where BAME groups are at a disadvantage when compared with their white peers.

Young people from diverse backgrounds were given the chance to consider a career in teaching at a recent Babassa event

Poku believes that the inequalities in teaching reflect the general racial inequalities in Bristol, but they also present a bleak view of how things are changing. “When you talk about closing that gap, education is talked about being the key but there isn’t representation,” he says. “A good education is one of the most significant factors for progression and right now it’s a root of the problem.”

School is one of the first places that people of all backgrounds gain their understanding of the world around them. For Poku, teaching is not placed in the conversation of racial inequality frequently enough. He says that young people who are not understood or who experience racial discrimination can feel apathetic towards teaching as a profession, and towards school in general.

Aisha adds that many parents who have had negative experiences in school are unlikely to promote the profession towards their children and so the cycle continues unless something is done to make all children feel more included at an earlier age.

One of the most important factors in attracting more black teachers to Bristol schools is through increasing the numbers entering teacher training schemes. However, current figures suggest that the number of black teachers in Bristol schools is on its way down: 1.2 per cent of people training to become teachers locally are black, while amongst the current teaching staff that figure is 1.9 per cent.

Worse still, Aisha says that she has friends from BAME backgrounds who have trained to become teachers in Bristol but have left the city in favour of places such as London and Birmingham, where they have felt like there would be more diverse staff and more opportunities for progression.

Only 1.9 per cent of Bristol’s current teaching staff are black; a figure that drops to 1.2 per cent among current trainees

Alison Fletcher is the director of the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF), which provides training and professional development for teachers and sponsors 15 academies across the South West, including Bristol Brunel Academy in Speedwell, Bristol Metropolitan Academy in Fishponds and Wallscourt Farm Academy in Stoke Gifford.

Alison says that teacher recruitment is going through a difficult time, but they are actively looking for teachers from all backgrounds to begin training through recruitment events. They also encourage people in learning support roles to consider training to gain teacher status.

CLF are currently working to help existing teachers get to higher level positions through their BME Leadership development programme. Funded by the National College for Teaching and Leadership, the programme provides opportunities including mentoring, networking and support applications and interviews for leadership positions. The programme acknowledges the need for a greater diversity among leaders in education, and the potential for diverse leaders to inspire others, but others of its ilk are needed to have a meaningful impact on the small number of black teachers currently employed in Bristol.

“Schools are absolutely committed to diversifying their work force,” Alison says, but adds that it’s difficult to target recruitment towards people from diverse backgrounds because of the risk of “generalising” their approach. “People each have unique experiences that lead them to become teachers and it’s hard to target recruitment towards one group without making assumptions,” she says.

For children and young people, seeing people from a similar background in leadership positions is a powerful force for good

Poku says he believes that educational institutions need to work alongside local organisations like Babbasa, who are speaking to disadvantaged and diverse young people on a daily basis, for advice on how to change their recruitment strategies and create initiatives to promote increased diversity.

One of Babbasa’s regular events is its Spotlight Sessions, which brings in professionals from different industries to talk about their careers with young people. A recent session focussed on teaching, and, from advice given at the event, one student who was on the fence between business and teaching decided that they wanted to become a teacher. Poku accepts that this is a small example, but says it shows that honest and open discussions about teaching as a career prospect can help bring in people from all backgrounds.

Looking to the future, Aisha said that she has “hope, but realistic hope” that the situation will change in Bristol. Even though her research showed that diversity in Bristol’s teaching is severely lacking, she has had an outpouring of support from her own faculty, authority figures, and celebrities including Lenny Henry and former Cotham School pupil Maya Jama. Students have even stopped Aisha in the street to talk about how they didn’t realise that a black woman could be an assistant principal.

It’s all shown that people are listening and starting to have conversations about the problem of race in Bristol. As a successful black educator in Bristol and a role model, Aisha says she’s happy with the example she’s set so far, but is now hoping for change. “It’s important that we trigger conversation and raise awareness that something needs to be done, but I am fed up of talking,” she says. “It’s time for action.”

On Saturday, December 8 2018, Bristol City Council and The Mayoral Commission on Race Equality are running an event for people from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds who are interested in getting into teaching. It takes place at City Hall from 10am to 1pm. Register for your free place by visiting www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/teach-diverse