Diversity in the Teaching Profession and Education Workforce Subgroup - minutes: February 2023

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Nuzhat Uthmani (Chair), Principal Teacher
• Asif Chishti (Co-Chair), Senior Education Officer (National Race Diversity Lead), General Teaching Council Scotland
• Mélina Valdelièvre, Professional Learning and Leadership (Race Equality), Education Scotland 
• Louise Barrett, SCDE
• Kevin Brack, Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Moray House School of Education and Sport
• Andrea Reid, Glasgow City Council and ADES
• Simon Cameron, COSLA
• Lesley Whelan, Head of Professional Learning and Leadership, Education Scotland
• Keya Raksith, Workforce Planning, Scottish Government
• Pauline Hendry, Equality in Education Team, Scottish Government
• Judith Ballantine, Equality in Education Team, Scottish Government
• Janice Blanc, Analysts
• Alan Sloan, Analysts

Apologies

• Zemeta Chefeke, SAMEE
• Navan Govender, Anti-Racist Educator 
• Emma Bunting, Equality in Education Team, Scottish Government
• Scott Sutherland, Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

Nuzhat welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies.

Minutes and update on actions from the previous meeting

There were no comments on the minutes from the fifteenth meeting of this subgroup and these were agreed.

Actions update:

• Asif to follow up with university ethics committees around ethical data collection processes. Carried forwards – Asif asked for some further time to discuss with Navan. Update to be provided at next meeting
• Emma to speak to data colleagues about why there isn’t an “other” category in census for minority ethnic other. Closed – information received from data colleagues on this topic (see Annex A). Comments from members welcomed in advance of next meeting

Action: Members to submit comments around disclosure categories for the census in advance of next meeting.

• secretariat to circulate AREP response to Hayward Review to DITPEW members for information.  Closed
• secretariat to circulate Katherine’s slide and accompanying documents with the January minute. – Closed
• Emma to pick up with Katherine Ross and identify where there are links between her work and that of the DITPEW. Carried forwards - Emma has ongoing engagement with Katherine and her team
• Asif to pick up with Simon Cameron to discuss how best to contact Local Authorities relating to the issue of enhancing data disclosure. Ongoing – Will meet on 27 Feb, and provide an update at the next meeting
• chairs and Secretariat to draft response to GTC Scotland, on behalf of the group, regarding the merit of equivalence between ESOL and English Higher for primary teaching. This should be circulated to members for comment. Remains open -  Emma and chairs engaging and next steps to be shared shortly

Further discussion was held around the final action point.

• Professor John McKendrick in his new role as commissioner for widening access to Scotland’s universities will attend the next DITPEW meeting to discuss how the group’s work might intersect with his
• the group agreed to discuss how to contribute to GTCS’ consultation on the Memorandum for Understanding on Entry into Initial Teacher Education, , specifically on the admissibility of ESOL as an equivalent of SCQF Level 6 English for primary courses 

Actions:

• Asif: clarify whether GTCS can meet with groups, such as this one to discuss the MoU or whether they only accept written submissions
• secretariat: Include topic of MoU consultation on next DITPEW agenda for discussion after which an initial draft response will be pulled together, including real life examples which members should send to the Secretariat

Action: Kevin Brack and Louise Barratt to feedback on discussions relating to available data. 

Developing the young workforce session - update

A second meeting of the working group was held on 17 February. Further details were discussed and agreed, and names were attributed to some sections of the proposed first session. Actions agreed at the meeting are underway, and a further meeting has been set for 13 March.

The panel of teachers for the session currently includes Nuzhat Uthmani, Asif Chishti, Katie D’Souza, Carrie McWilliams, and Rukhsana Ali. In addition, one of the teachers on the working group is liaising with a probationer colleague who may also wish to be involved. The group agree it would be useful to have the perspective of someone new to the profession.

It is currently intended for the sessions to be held at the end of April/beginning of May.

Annual data report

Judith introduced Janice Blanc and Alan Sloan from the Scottish Government’s Education Analytical Services to introduce the emerging data on Black and minority ethnic teacher numbers for academic year 2021-22.    

Members were reminded that the data being discussed is restricted prior to publication and should not be shared more widely.

Alan presented findings on entrants and qualifiers into ITE, both under and post graduate. The numbers are broadly comparable to last year and the number of entrants and qualifiers from minority ethnic backgrounds have not changed significantly.

Overall, the number of applicants from white backgrounds has fallen slightly. This means the proportion of minority ethnic applicants has marginally increased as a result. 

Of the 165 UK domiciled entrants to ITE programs at Scottish universities, 5 had an EU nationality and 25 had a non-EU nationality (with 135 having a UK nationality). This only covers UK domiciled entrants (i.e. those living in the UK prior to entering), as the data is not collected for non-UK domiciled entrants.

The data can be broken down by a number of protected characteristics, such as sex and age, if required. It can also be disaggregated by nationality, but not by language spoken, and so cannot help to address the issues with ESOL discussed earlier.  The tendency to perceive EAL as a deficit was noted, with the point being made that in Glasgow City Council, there is evidence to suggest that bilingual pupils, despite automatically being designated as requiring additional support due to English not being their first language, tend to be higher achievers.  It was suggested that it would be helpful to gather destination data where children who have EAL to establish to what extent that is the case.   

Action: Judith will speak to Support and Wellbeing colleagues who lead on EAL and establish whether there is an activity/data on positive destinations for EAL pupils. 

Members expressed that it would be useful to see the data split by nationality.

Action: Alan to ask UCAS whether their data can be split by ethnicity (it is unlikely that this will be provided for publication purposes, but can perhaps be obtained for this group’s information), and whether a representative could attend a future DITPEW meeting to discuss their data in more detail.  

Janice introduced the summary data on the number of teachers from a minority ethnic background which shows very little change since the previous year (there has been a slight increase from 1.76% to 1.83%). This differed across the sectors, where there was a decrease in primary, but an increase in secondary and special schools.

There has been a decrease in the percentage where ethnicity was recorded as ‘not known’, from 4% to 2.7%. Authorities have been working hard to ensure this data is available (work is known to have taken place in Glasgow City Council and Moray Council areas, but others may have taken action).

Minimal change was reported in the numbers of promoted posts, either at primary or secondary, with only a small decrease in numbers for primary, and a small increase for secondary (only 0.1% change).

There have not been the same trends across all local authorities, some have seen an increase in teacher numbers in primary, whereas others have seen an increase in secondary.

However, this situation is reversed for induction scheme teachers, in that there has been an increase in minority ethnic probationers in the primary sector, both in numbers and percentage, and a decrease in the secondary sector.

There has been a drop in the number of probationers employed during the year following their probation, in both primary and secondary. This is notably greater for minority ethnic teachers, in both primary and secondary.

Members considered the causes for the difference between entrants and probationers, and a point was raised around minority ethnic probationers not obtaining jobs and sitting on supply teacher registers.

Members agreed that it would be useful to see the data on promoted posts broken down in to principal teacher, deputy and head teacher categories. It is possible to split the data in this way, but the numbers are likely to be very small, and disclosure needs to be considered. It is important, however, to see that version of data, as currently there are proportionately more minority ethnic teachers at principal teacher level, compared to the proportion of minority ethnic teachers in depute or head positions. Breaking the figures down to a greater degree to reveal this would be helpful. It would also be useful to look at the trends over time, and to be able to see the local authority areas of these teachers in order to create partnerships.

Action: Janice will provide breakdown of promoted posts across Scotland as a whole, with further detail around local authority level to be carried out in future.

Anti-racism in education summit

Thanks were expressed to Melina for the great work she has done in developing a draft pledge for the summit.  Its purpose is to enable organisations to commit to embedding anti-racism, whether that is becoming an anti-racist organisation, or having anti-racism as a baseline value. 

Discussion ensued around the following aspects of the pledge: 

• 3. Anti-Racist Culture - Where openness and honesty is referred to, it was  suggested that the word ‘candour’ be used, to set the tone for unambiguous discussions
• 6. Diversifying the Workforce – Instead of ‘support’ members would prefer ‘take action’ to suggest a more proactive approach. This section should also mention the concept of sponsorship
• the final statement in the pledge is a reminder that even though the commitment lasts for a year, that is not long enough to become an anti-racist organisation. It should be clear that the progress report in 2024 will identify progress and barriers, resulting in more accountability
• comms around the pledge may need to be adjusted around prioritisation. It is important for the group not to suggest that the actions be prioritised. They are not listed in the order in which they should be progressed or completed, nor in order of importance. Organisations should be encouraged to engage without being too prescriptive. Many schools and organisations will already have measures in place for doing this work
• a balance must be struck to ensure that, while autonomy is granted to allow organisations to determine their own priorities, the pledge doesn’t allow organisations to just respond to the ‘easy’ bits. All steps must be taken, and organisations must consider and report on the impact of their anti-racist work
• a short paragraph should be included at each pledge item to exemplify each aspect, ensuring understanding across all levels, regardless of experience or knowledge of race equality work
• 2. Reflection – this should be amended to be more explicit about action as well as reflection. It should be worded in a way to ensure that organisations are committing to obtaining further information around the topic of anti-racism. An audit could be carried out, incorporating links to places of support and professional learning. Progress would be tracked throughout the year prior to an update being provided in March 2024. This would be particularly useful where the demographic of an area is not diverse, information can be provided about where support and information can be obtained
• meaningful engagement must be done with Black and minority ethnic students and learners
• longer term, a Grand Challenge could be posed to organisations, requiring significant action through co-ordinated and collaborative efforts, and making clear the expected impact from publicly making a pledge

A summit delegate pack is being created , which will be shared with members prior to finalisation. It is likely to contain:

• an overarching fact sheet
• the pledge
• the Anti-Racist Principles for the Curriculum Reform subgroup
• an expertise fact file – a paper including a short outline of all the people involved and invited to the session. This will be a starting point to sign posting people about this work

It was confirmed that some form of virtual provision will be available for delegates who wish to attend online.

Action: Members were reminded of the target audience for the summit, and encouraged to suggest the names of other attendees as soon as possible. 

Any other business

Hayward Review – Phase 2 of the consultation closed on the 13th January, to which the DITPEW responded. Responses are currently being analysed and in the coming weeks it is intended that consultation responses will be published if permission has been granted, alongside an analysis of the consultation as a whole. Professor Hayward has been clear that the input of the AREP members has been extremely valuable and will help in the development of a model for the preferred future of qualifications and assessments in Scotland. Professor Hayward has indicated that she would be keen to meet with the AREP and proposed dates will follow shortly. 

Anti-racism framework for ITE at Leeds Beckett University - this might be interesting to attend if anyone is able to do so. Anti-Racism Framework for ITE-T Conference - Leeds Beckett University

Annex A - Ethnicity categories

HESA data options

10 White
13 White – Scottish
14 Irish Traveller
15 Gypsy or Traveller
16 White - Other British
19 Other White background
21 Black or Black British – Caribbean
22 Black or Black British – African
29 Other Black background
31 Asian or Asian British – Indian
32 Asian or Asian British – Pakistani
33 Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi
34 Chinese
39 Other Asian background
41 Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
42 Mixed - White and Black African
43 Mixed - White and Asian
49 Other mixed background
50 Arab
80 Other ethnic background
90 Not known
98 Information refused

Census 2021

A White
Scottish
Other British
Irish
Polish
Gypsy/Traveller
Roma
Showman/Showwoman
Other white ethnic group
B Mixed or multiple ethnic groups
C Asian, Scottish Asian or British Asian
Pakistani, Scottish Pakistani or British Pakistani
Indian, Scottish Indian or British Indian
Bangladeshi, Scottish Bangladeshi or British Bangladeshi
Chinese, Scottish Chinese or British Chinese
Other
D Afrian, Scottish African or British African
E Caribbean or Black
F Other ethnic group
Arab, Scottish Arab or British Arab
Other

Census 2011

A White
Scottish
Other British
Irish
Gypsy/Traveller
Polish
Other white ethnic group
B Mixed or multiple ethnic groups
C Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British
Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British
Indian, Indian Scottish or Indian British
Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish or Bangladeshi British
Chinese, Chinese Scottish or Chinese British
Other
D African
African, African Scottish or African British
Other
E Caribbean or Black
Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British
Black, Black Scottish or Black British
Other
F Other ethnic group
Arab, Arab Scottish or Arab British
Other

Teacher census options - current available categories

African – African / Scottish / British
African – Other
Asian – Indian/British/Scottish
Asian – Pakistani / British / Scottish
Asian – Bangladeshi / British / Scottish
Asian – Chinese / British / Scottish
Asian – Other
Caribbean or Black – Caribbean / British / Scottish
Caribbean or Black – Other
Other – Arab
Other – Other
White – Scottish
White – Other British
White – Irish
White – Polish
White – Gypsy/Traveller
White – Other
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups
Not Disclosed
Not Known