Minority ethnic women's experiences in Scotland 2024: intersectional evidence review

5. Education

This chapter focuses on understanding minority ethnic women’s access to and experiences in education through exploring evidence on student demographics, completion rates and performance, experiences in certain sectors of education, and trust and satisfaction in education.

5.1. Student Demographics

This sub-chapter examines demographics in education. A mix of quantitative and qualitative evidence was considered to understand demographic information and how this translates to service provision.

Based on summary statistics for schools in Scotland, female minority ethnic pupils^[16] in primary, secondary and special schools made up 9% of all pupils (61,912 of 705,528) in 2023. Among the minority ethnic groups, ‘white other’ was the largest group (1.8% or 12,822 female pupils), followed by ‘white Polish’ (1.2% or 8,382 female pupils) and ‘Asian Pakistani’ (1.1% or 7,609 female pupils). The smallest ethnicity groups were ‘Caribbean/Black other’ (0.04% or 314 female pupils), ‘Caribbean/Black Scottish/British’ (0.07% or 514 female pupils), and ‘white Gypsy/Traveller’ (0.1% or 703 female pupils)^[17]. Female white Scottish and white other British pupils (275,192) significantly outnumbered female minority ethnic pupils (61,912) in 2023. These statistics are not currently published by age so comparisons to Census 2022 demographic statistics cannot be made. These comparisons may be useful in order to, for example, assess if these student populations are fully representative of the appropriate proportion of the population (see section 4.1).

Skills Development Scotland data on Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) offers single characteristic breakdowns, but not intersectional. According to the Skills Development Scotland Quarter 4 publication (1^st April 2023 – 31^st March 2024), females represented 37.6% of all MA new starts, including all MA progressions, by the end of the quarter. This was 0.5 percentage points lower than the same point last year. However the publication suggests that this might be due to increase in starts to male-dominated areas such as Automotive and Engineering. In terms of ethnicity breakdown, the data shows there was an increase in the number of starts self-identifying as minority ethnic, but this only represented 4.5% of all MA starts in 2023/24 compared to 3.3% in 2022/23. As was the case in the evidence highlighted in the NACWG Race Equality report, these statistics highlight that both minority ethnic communities and women are underrepresented in MAs, however intersectional statistics is not available publicly.

While it is useful to see how many minority ethnic women and girls are enrolled in education, it would be valuable to consider qualitative evidence alongside the figures to deepen understanding of the experiences of these groups in education services. However, no intersectional evidence about the specific experiences of minority ethnic women/girls in Scottish primary and secondary schools or MA roles were found. More general information provides some useful insight. Specific to schools, evidence indicates that racism and racist bullying in school is a problem facing children from minority ethnic backgrounds across Scotland. This is unlikely to provide a full picture of the extent of the issue, particularly given evidence published by CRER analysing local authority data, which suggests that there is generally an under-reporting and under-recording of racially motivated bullying within schools. For MAs, a lack of intersectional data may reflect the underrepresentation of this group and, perhaps, a lack of research in this area generally.

5.2. Completion and Performance

This sub-chapter focuses on performance, completion of education and resulting qualifications.

Intersectional statistics on completion of education were not easily available among published evidence. Instead, intersectional statistics from the Scottish Surveys Core Questions^[18] (SSCQ) were produced to assess any differences in the highest qualifications held between equality groups. SSCQ data indicated that in 2022 there was a higher proportion of minority ethnic female^[19] respondents (57.1%) whose highest qualification was above SVQ level 4, compared to white female^[20] (35.5%) and white male^[21] (34.4%) respondents. There was no statistically significant difference between the proportion of minority ethnic female and minority ethnic male^[22] respondents whose highest qualification held was above SVQ level 4 (57.1% and 56.4% respectively). At the same time, there was a higher proportion of white female and white male respondents whose highest qualification was held at SVQ level 4, SVQ level 3, or SVQ level 1 or 2^[23] when compared to minority ethnic female and minority ethnic male respondents.

All other statistics reviewed for this sub-chapter did not include intersecting results for female ethnic minority pupils and students/graduates. However evidence was able to point to sex or ethnicity specific trends, which offer helpful insights.

Statistics reviewed from published sources reveal outcome differences between female and male pupils and graduates. The Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels 2022/23 publication provides information on the national performance of school pupils on literacy (reading, writing, listening and talking) as well as numeracy. This information covers Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7, and Secondary 3 pupils in publicly funded mainstream schools and special schools/units. It includes breakdowns for gender and breakdowns for ethnicity, but not intersectional breakdowns. In terms of gender, this publication shows that female pupils generally outperform male pupils in literacy at all stages as well as in numeracy at Primary 1, Primary 7, and Secondary 3. Summary statistics published in 2024 for attainment and school leavers shows that a higher percentage of females (69.7%) than males (61.8%) leave with 1 or more qualification at SCQF Level 6^[24] or better. Specific to higher education, OECD statistics reveal that 59.7% of women compared to 56% of men aged 25 to 64 in 2022 held a higher education qualification. In terms of ethnicity, the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels 2022/23 publication also revealed differences for specific minority ethnic groups. For example, in Primary 1, Primary 4, and Primary 7, pupils with an Asian Chinese background performed highest in numeracy compared to their peers. Additionally in Primary 1 pupils with a mixed or multiple ethnic, Asian Chinese, or Asian Indian background performed highest in literacy. The summary statistics for attainment and school leavers also show that the percentage of minority ethnic groups^[25] leaving school with one or more qualification at SCQF Level 6 or better was higher than white Scottish and white non-Scottish groups. While we are lacking intersectional data, this evidence presented may give some insights into educational performance for female pupils from certain minority ethnic backgrounds.

As will be shown in the Work chapter, it is important to note that known positive performance figures in education does not appear to translate into advantages in the labour market.

5.3. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Barriers appear to exist for minority ethnic women in types of qualification that are often dominated by men and white ethnic groups, however lack of intersectional breakdowns limit the understanding of these issues. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has been explored for this sub-chapter, based on the previous NACWG Race Equality report.

In 2022, Billy Wong and Meggie Copsey-Blake, academics at the University of Reading specialising in educational inequalities, published research examining how women from minority ethnic backgrounds navigate identity as students in STEM education.^[26] The authors highlight research that suggests STEM is often thought to be “male and masculine dominance” and that there is an “underrepresentation [of] minority ethnic women”, impacting their overall “sense of belonging” in STEM subject areas. Although this research was set in England and focuses on the in-depth experiences of only three women, the themes that the researchers highlight may be important to consider in a Scottish context. The researchers commented on their participants using pragmatism, staying persistent, and being aware of the precariousness of their future careers in STEM. These challenges are implicitly and explicitly impacted by sexism, racism, microaggressions and other forms of social inequalities or discrimination, which in turn impact perception of ability, self-worth, and identity attempting to remain in STEM careers. The authors argue that structural inequalities of gender and ethnicity must be “exposed and dismantled” and creation of a “diverse and inclusive curriculum and environment” via strategies and policies at “different levels and contexts” which will require support from senior staff at universities. These barriers to participating in STEM education extend to minority ethnic women entering STEM-related employment, which will be discussed in the work chapter.

5.4. Trust and Satisfaction in Education

This sub-section examines trust in education as it may provide insights into how supportive and respectful learning environments are. Statistics explored for this sub-chapter were unable to detect any differences between minority ethnic women and white Scottish/British women.

Intersectional analysis of SHS 2022 data conducted for this report shows that minority ethnic^[27] women and white Scottish/British^[28] women trusted the education system to a similar extent (67% and 69% respectively). In a separate question regarding satisfaction with local schools, less than half of minority ethnic women and white Scottish/British women were satisfied with local schools (46% for both groups). However, no qualitative evidence was found that explores reasons why trust and satisfaction were similar among these groups. Equally, the level of experience or contact those respondents had with schools and whether respondents had children in attendance, or were simply giving their opinion of local schools, is unknown. In addition, this information doesn’t include what young children think of school services as the SHS only surveys people aged 16 and over.

Summary of evidence:

• Aside from intersectional sex and ethnicity student demographic data in primary and secondary education, intersectional data on completion and performance rates and representation in MAs and STEM were limited or not available.
• Limited qualitative evidence is available about the experiences of minority ethnic women and girls in Scottish schools and higher education contexts, as well as in specific educational areas such as STEM.
• Improving the availability of both quantitative and qualitative evidence together would enable a better understanding of minority ethnic women and girl’s experiences, especially when relating educational outcomes and experiences to employment opportunities.

Based on this chapter, what lessons can we learn about analysis and publication of intersectional evidence?

• While we can draw on individual statistics on ethnicity and statistics on sex and gender to provide some insights into intersectional issues, this may not be a more sufficient alternative to fully understand educational inequalities faced by minority ethnic women and girls.