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

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Asif Chishti (Co-Chair), Senior Education Officer (National Race Diversity Lead), General Teaching Council Scotland
• Marla Baird, Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Manager, SQA
• Selma Augestad, National Officer (Equality), EIS
• Andrea Reid, ADES
• Louise Barrett, SCDE
• Sara Medel Jiménez, NASUWT
• Lesley Whelan, Head of Professional Learning and Leadership, Education Scotland
• Mélina Valdelièvre, Professional Learning and Leadership (Race Equality), Education Scotland 
• Keya Raksith, Workforce Planning, Scottish Government
• Emma Bunting, (Secretariat) Scottish Government Equalities in Education Team
• Judith Ballantine, Scottish Government Equalities in Education Team
• Pauline Hendry, Scottish Government Equalities in Education Team

In attendance

• Joanna Shedden, Scottish Government Analytical Services
• Keith Dryburgh, Scottish Government Analytical Services

Apologies

• Nuzhat Uthmani (Chair), Principal Teacher
• Kevin Brack, Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Moray House School of Education and Sport
• Jehan Al-Azzawi, SAMEE
• Judith Mohamed, Head Teacher
• Navan Govender, Anti-Racist Educator

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

Asif chaired the meeting in Nuzhat’s absence. He welcomed members to the twentieth meeting of the subgroup and noted apologies as above.

Minutes and actions update

There were no comments on the minute of the May meeting of the subgroup and as such these were agreed as final. 

Actions Update:

• chair and Secretariat to organise a small working group to develop a response to the GTCS consultation as it relates to the equivalence between ESOL and English Higher. – Remains open. A small group has been constituted, this includes Nuzhat, Andrea (and colleague Laura Goff) and Louise. They will meet shortly to discuss next steps and to formulate a draft response ahead of the August meeting of the subgroup
• Emma to liaise with Education Analysts to ask UCAS along to a future meeting. – Remains open. Emma is engaging closely with Alan Sloan to organise for UCAS to attend a meeting of the subgroup
• Janice to check if granular information related to promoted posts can be shared with the group. Action closed. This information was circulated with the papers and will be discussed under agenda item 4
• add item to June agenda to discuss data related to promoted posts, as shared by Janice from Scottish Government analytical services. Action Closed. As above
• secretariat to ensure that review of actions is scheduled for 6 months’ time. Action remains open
• invite Keith and Joanna to June meeting to discuss ToC Model. Action Closed. To be discussed under agenda item 7
• Pauline to draft an FAQ document to sit on the DiTPEW/AREP webpage. Action Closed. To be discussed under agenda item 

Frequently asked questions document

Asif thanked those that had been involved in developing an initial draft of an FAQ document relating to the work of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme (AREP). This document, once complete, will sit on the AREP website as a resource that members can direct people towards. 

Member’s comments and reflections were as below:

• with regards to the issue of whether the AREP’s scope includes both visible and non-visible minorities, members reflected that its not always clear within the Annual Data Report what is included within the scope of ‘minority ethnic’ and thus the group’s 4% target
• under the section related to whether the AREP benefits individuals of all ethnic identities, members felt it might be helpful to reference the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly with reference to promoting rights for all
• members felt that the glossary was unnecessary, particularly given the ever evolving nature of terminology related to anti-racism work
• members felt that some parts of the document were quite lengthy and suggested that more concise text might make it more accessible
• members reflected upon requests for consistent terminology throughout, there was a consensus that consistency would be ideal but that it does not reflect the reality of the work. As such the most suitable terminology for each situation should be used

Action: Secretariat to redraft the FAQ to reflect members comments from June meeting of DiTPEW and circulate for comment. 

Discussion on circulated data related to promoted posts

Asif advised members that, following the last meeting, the secretariat circulated data related to the ethnicity of teachers within promoted posts. 

Members reflected that it’s helpful to know where these teachers are employed in order to understand what different Local Authorities are doing, along with the impact of their actions. However, members were clear that any engagement with individuals needs to be considered and not tokenistic. There may also be reasons that they have chosen to remain ‘under the radar’. 

Action: Secretariat to circulate data on promoted posts as disaggregated by Local Authority. 

Update from Asif Chishti, GTCS

Asif updated members about changes that have been approved for the flexible route into teaching. He explained that the flexible route offers an alternative for provisionally registered (aka probationary teachers) to the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS). Up until now the minimum number of days required for registration have been more for the flexible route than for TIS. Changes take effect as of 1st August 2023 to bring the two into alignment. Asif suggested that there may be interest for the DiTPEW in understanding the differences for minority ethnic educators in terms of support between going through the TIS and the flexible route. 

Secondly Asif updated members about work underway within the GTCS to extend the range of equality data that is gathered for registrants. The work will start with a ‘pilot’ type exercise aimed at provisionally registered teachers. Within this these individuals will be asked to voluntarily provide their ethnicity data via an anonymous survey. This exercise is planned for Autumn 2024 after which the data will be processed and may be useful to the DiTPEW. 

Asif was clear that the GTCS will only collect data that they can use but that this should include a range of intersectional data. After the process is complete, the success of the pilot will be evaluated. If it is deemed to be successful it may be rolled out to other groups of registrants.

Update from Andrea Reid, ADES/Glasgow City Council

Andrea updated members about a recent session with Directorate and Senior Leaders in Glasgow City Council (GCC), and Mélina on race conscious leadership. This session was attended by just under 40 senior Education leaders including the Directorate, Quality Improvement Officers, Head Teacher leadership workstream leads and HR officers. GCC’s anti racism charter was discussed and will be launched in August 23 across the Estate. It is closely aligned to the curriculum principles. There was a focus on racial literacy, with material from the Building Racial Literacy Programme being used for the session. Mélina reflected that there was some really positive work being done.

Secondly, Andrea updated members about a new Head Teacher mentoring programme underway, which Dr. Khadija Mohammed has fed in to. It is being researched by University of Glasgow and is part of ongoing work to ensure race conscious leadership is a key professional learning element of each leadership programme in the city.

Finally Andrea advised that recent interviews for the 23 month Principal Teacher posts have been successful, moving from 5 to 7 posts. Each PT will be sponsored by a member of the Directorate.

One incumbent has left the programme after successfully securing a departmental head role. Members reflected that this was really positive. Andrea also reflected that they are seeing individuals that have completed the programme coming through a range of leadership workstream programmes.

Positive action has been taken on Into Headship recruitment this session. 

Theory of change

Keith and Joanna spoke to the most recent version of the Theory of Change document. They advised that they are happy to take forward further changes but are also keen that the group take ownership of the document. 

Members offered some verbal feedback, with suggestions that individuals would follow up in writing. Those comments included:

• under the ‘Training and Leadership’ section it would be good to see more references to collaboration
• could the ‘Training and Leadership’ section be set out in a way that maps the journey from ITE to permanent employment?
• the ‘Training and Leadership’ section has a strong focus on ITE, which is right given that there is the Anti-Racism Framework now in place however it would be good to include other things such as the ‘Into Headship’ scheme
• the ‘Practice/Data and Research’ section focusses heavily on employment, could there be more in there about ITE and student teachers?

Action: Members to send comments in writing on the Theory of Change. 

Any other business

National Discussion: Asif noted that the National Discussion has now concluded and that the final report contains strong themes of diversity and equality. It is clear where the AREP and DiTPEW contributions have influenced this report. 

ITE Framework and SCDE Self-Reflection Day: Khadija’s key note went well. Development of action plans is underway. It is planned that the Sept SCDE meeting will contain an agenda item on taking this work forward. 

Monitoring Equality in ITE Report: There have been concerns raised about the recent MQuite report and the lack of representation from minority ethnic educators. The Secretariat advised that they have flagged this up with Workforce colleagues who sponsor the report and will meet with those who produced it ahead of the August DiTPEW meeting to find out if there is any additional data that wasn’t used in the report but that could be helpful for the DiTPEW to see. 

Mélina update: Mélina’s post has now been filled following her moving on. The successful candidate should be in post by Aug/Sept. Applications for the next BRL cohort will open in August, at present there are far more people on the waiting list than there will be spaces for, so thinking is underway about how to prioritise. 

Mélina also updated members that the Curriculum Reform subgroup’s Anti-Racist Curriculum Principles will be soft launched on 27 June 2023 on Education Scotland’s website. She will share these with members.

Anti-Racist employment progress survey: Members were updated about a progress survey for public sector employers that will be issued shortly. The data collected from this will likely be useful to the work of the DiTPEW.

Saroj Lal Award: Nominations are open until 01 September 2023. Note that there is a self-nomination process this time.