Breaking Barriers: The Transformative Effect of Black Educators in Leadership

Krystian McInnis portrait

Written by Krystian McInnis

Krystian McInnis is a Religious Education consultant, advisor, and researcher specialising in decolonising and diversifying Religious Education. With a career that spans the public, private, and charity sectors, he brings extensive national and international experience in curriculum diversification and decolonisation. As the Co-Founder of Reimagining Education, Krystian is dedicated to creating a more inclusive and equitable educational system where everyone feels seen, heard, and that they belong.

One percent. This is the stark figure of Black Headteachers in England with a slight  increase to 1.3% for Deputy Headteachers, compared to 92.5% and 90.8% respectively  for White British equivalent (DfE, 2023). With many of the positions held by Black senior  leaders highly concentrated within inner London, the figures decline as we venture  further afield from the capital, with the northeast of England the worst affected, where whilst children of Black-African origin make up 1.3 per cent of the student population,  just 0.1 per cent of the region’s teachers identify in the same way (Gorard et al. 2023). 

The data is there for all to see, and whilst the conversation about change has been  ongoing for many years, with copious localised initiatives to address the issue, the  results appear the same, with little momentum or genuine centralised government  appetite for structural or transformative change. Whilst the implementation of short  

lived ‘successful’ localised responses to this historic problem has led some to herald  this as progress, worthy of celebration, I think it pertinent that we ask ourselves the  following questions: 

  • How much work, dedication and strategic planning did it take for us to reach this  mere one percent? 
  • What are the systemic barriers contributing to the underrepresentation of Black  Headteachers and Deputy Headteachers, and how can they be effectively  addressed? 
  • If achieving racial equity is a sincere aim that we are striving towards, why have  we become comfortable with tokenistic adulations, for results that quite frankly  fall below mediocre?  

Navigating the Leadership Ladder: Obstacles for Black Educators in Advancing 

The underrepresentation of Black educators in senior leadership roles is not due to a  lack of eNort or ambition among teachers. In fact, Black teachers have repeatedly  demonstrated a strong desire to attain leadership positions. Evidence shows that Black  teachers nationally are able to successfully navigate to middle leadership, but the cliN  that appears in front of them when stepping into senior leadership, is one that many fall  oN (NfER, 2020). It seems there is little room for their presence around senior leadership tables, with many only able to sit on the periphery in newly formed roles such as secondee, associate assistant head or under the guise of being part of an ‘extended’  leadership team. The illustrious title of Assistant Headteacher or Assistant Principal, as  the first step in senior leadership, appears for many, out of their reach. The actuality of  one step forward, two steps back is far too apparent. Good enough to take on additional  workload, but not good enough to be part of the substantive team.

Teacher Diversity and Its Impact on Student Experiences 

Underrepresentation of Black teachers has been disproportionately low for decades in  the UK and despite Black people making up 4.6% of the working age population, only  2.5% of teachers identify as Black (Glowach et al. 2023). The issues that arise however,  are plenty. Gorard (2018) found that one of the downsides to a lack of ethnic minority  teachers is the real possibility that this underrepresentation is not only having a  negative effect on educational processes but on student outcomes too.  

Beyond just students outcome however, what is interesting to note, is that ethnic  minority students with similarly ethnic minority teachers are often less likely to be seen  as disruptive (Dee, 2005), be referred for disciplinary reasons, be excluded (Grissom et  al., 2009, Lindsay and Hart, 2017), or suspended from school (Gordon et al. 2023,  Wright, 2015). With suspension rates at an all-time high (Busby, 2024), along with the  fact that Black children are up to six times more likely to be excluded from school than  their White peers (McIntyre et al. 2021), it appears clear that the recruiting of teachers  from racially diverse backgrounds, might in fact help with this current crisis we find  ourselves within. 

Furthermore, even more intriguing, is that students with teachers from similar ethnic  backgrounds to their own are also less likely to be classified as requiring special  education (Stiefel et al., 2022) and in fact, where ethnic minority students have teachers  of a similar ethnic minority to their own, they are more likely to be referred to a gifted  programme (Grissom and Redding, 2016, Grissom et al., 2017, Ofori, 2023, Egalite and  Kisida, 2016). Please note, this is not to suggest that students are being wrongly  diagnosed by professionals, but rather creates a space for questions to be further  explored. Historically however, the misdiagnosis of students from ethnic minority  backgrounds was certainly the case, specifically those of Caribbean ancestry. The seminal work by Bernard Coard, ‘How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System’, written in 1971, explored the educational  inequalities within the British educational system and found that West Indian students  were disproportionately represented and often wrongly enrolled in ‘educationally subnormal’ schools. 50 years on, it appears this legacy continues. 

Moving Beyond Tokenism: The Role of White Allies in Educational Reform 

Now, allow for there to be no confusion to the argument being made. An increase in  Black teachers and leaders is no silver bullet. It will not solve the abundance of issues  within the educational system nor is there a golden percentage to be achieved. What it  required, however, are meaningful steps in the right direction, the removal of barriers,  and for many more White leaders and allies to go beyond mere rhetoric and delve into  the world of action. 

Whilst reviewing recruitment policies are fundamental, these are often used as a delay  tactic to consciously, or subconsciously, buy time before genuine action is taken. With  continuous delays and excuses, the cultural masquerading in many schools is far too prevalent. One of BHM celebrations, the monotonous assembly being delivered year  after year on MLK Jr or Rosa Parks, where the only information changed is the date, or posters scarcely scattered about the school building pinned up, only to be pulled down on the Friday before the half term break, shoved back into a dark cupboard for another  year. This must change. Note, I am not suggesting that these celebrations should not  take place, but rather, they must be part of wider school initiatives instead of a plaster,  attempting to cover over a gushing wound. 

From Rhetoric to Reality: Creating Pathways from Middle to Senior Leadership 

Delay tactics must be abandoned. Whilst many schools move towards actively considering the diversity of their workforce and have a staffing body that reflects the  community they serve, much more work is required than to add a tokenistic phrase ‘we  encourage applications from diverse candidates’ within job advertisements or the belief  that by removing names from CVs all issues are solved in eliminating biases within  recruitment processes. Schools must step out of their comfort zones on how they have  always done things, a way which is no longer working (and arguably never has), and actively seek and develop talent. The time has come for leaders to go beyond providing  a mere TLR to the only ethnic member of staff in the school to oversee all things  diversity, as they are ‘the best fit’, and ensure it becomes part of the larger conversation  around the leadership table. 

For substantial and sustainable change to take place, leadership teams must  collaborate with teachers and external organisations who in many instances, with the  greatest of respect, are more knowledgeable than they are in areas such as this.  Peaking over the horizon however, help is on the way. Through forward thinking initiatives such as the Leaders Like Us programme and Aspiring Heads programme to  name a few, the current landscape supporting senior leaders from GMH backgrounds is  shifting. 

Therefore, as we move towards a brighter and more equitable future, I leave the  following questions for you to ponder: 

  • In what ways does your organisation address and dismantle barriers that may  hinder the advancement of minority ethnic teachers into leadership roles?
  • What partnerships or collaborations do you have in place to support the  leadership development of teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds?
  • How are you ensuring your organisation is not pushing diverse talent of the  middle leader to senior leadership cliff, but rather building a bridge for them to  cross?

References: 

Busby, E. (2024) Exclusions and suspensions hit record high as warning issued to all  schools, Independent, Available at:  

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/school-exclusions-suspensions figures-record-b2581943.html 

Dee, T. F. (2005) A Teacher Like Me: Does Race, Ethnicity, or Gender Matter? The  American Economic Review 95(2): 158–165. 

DfE (2023) School teacher workforce, Available at: https://www.ethnicity-facts figures.service.gov.uk/workforce-and-business/workforce-diversity/school-teacher workforce/latest/#full-page-history 

Demie, F., Kulwinder, M., Race, R. (2023) Ethnic inequality in the teaching workforce in  schools: Why it matters, BERA 

Egalite, A. J., Kisida, B. (2016) The Many Ways Teacher Diversity May Benefit Students,  Education Next 24(3)  

Glowach, T., Richards, M., Mitchell, R. (2023) More ethnic minority teachers are needed  in UK schools – but teaching can affect their mental health and wellbeing, School of  Education University of Bristol 

Gorard, S. (2018) Education Policy. Bristol: Policy Press 

Gorard, S., Chen, W., Tan, Y., Huat See, B., Gazmuri, C., Tereschchenko, A., Demie, F.,  Siddiqui, N. (2023) The disproportionality of ethnic minority teachers in England: trends,  patterns, and problems, Routledge Open Research, 13(2) 1-28. 

Grissom J., & Redding C. (2016) Discretion and Disproportionality: Explaining The  Underrepresentation of High-Achieving Students of Color In Gifted Programs, AERA.  

Grissom J., Nicholson-Crotty J., Nicholson-Crotty, S. (2009) Race, Region, and  Representative Bureaucracy Public Adm Review; 69: 911–919. 

Grissom J., Rodriguez L., Kern E. (2017) Teacher And Principal Diversity And The  Representation Of Students Of Color In Gifted Programs, The University of Chicago  Press, 117(3). 

Lindsay, C. A., & Hart, C. M. D. (2017) Exposure to same-race teachers and student  disciplinary outcomes for Black students in North Carolina, Educational Evaluation and  Policy Analysis, 39(3), 485–510. 

McIntyre, N., Parveen, N., Thomas, T. (2021) Exclusion rates five times higher for black  Caribbean pupils in parts of England, The Guardian, Available at:  

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/exclusion-rates-black caribbean-pupils-england

NfER; Kettlewell, K., Lucas, M., McCrone, T., Liht, J., & Sims, D. (2020) School and trust  governance investigative report: October 2020, London: Department for Education 

Ofori, M. (2023) Lack of diversity in teaching in England means minority ethnic pupils  miss out, The Guardian, Available at:  

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/29/lack-diversity-teaching-means minority-ethnic-pupils-england-miss-out 

Stiefel L., Syeda S., Cimpian J., O;Hagan, K. (2022) The Role of School Context in  Explaining Racial Disproportionality in Special Education, EdWorkingPaper: 22-661. 

White, N. (2024) No Black or Asian teachers in more than half of English primary  schools, report finds, Independent, Available at:  

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/no-black-asian-teachers-england primary-schools-b2544072.html 

Wright, A. (2015) Teachers’ perceptions of students’ disruptive behavior: The Effect of  Racial Congruence and Consequences for School Suspension, Association for  Education Finance and Policy Annual Conference.

by Hannah Wilson

Inclusive Recruitment: 20 Tips to Consider

Hannah Wilson portrait

Written by Hannah Wilson

Founder of Diverse Educators

‘Diversifying Recruitment’ and ‘Inclusive Recruitment’ are two terms that we often hear being mentioned frequently in education circles, but what is the difference in approach?

Diverse or diversifying suggests the focus is on finding diverse candidates. Inclusive or ‘inclusifying’ (phrase coined by Professor Paul Miller which we have adopted) suggests the focus is instead on including diverse candidates. A subtle and nuanced difference which makes the commitment more authentic and meaningful for all parties.

As fans of Simon Sinek’s ‘Golden Circle’ from his TED Talk: ‘Start With Why’, we would suggest that you start in your thinking and in your discussions as an educational employer, by using the model (Golden Circle = Why > How > What) to map out and align the purpose of recruiting differently. 

Example 1: 

  • Why do we want to diversify our staff body?
  • How diverse is our community and how does this compare to our various stakeholder groups?
  • What impact/ legacy are we striving for by diversifying our staff?

Example 2:  

  • Why do we want to make our recruitment process more inclusive?
  • How inclusive are our existing policies, processes and practices?
  • What is the impact of a more inclusive approach to our recruitment and to our workplace?

The clarity of understanding what we are trying to change and why we are trying to change it, is an important starting point in transforming how we do things. Moreover, becoming more conscious, confident and competent in identifying and removing/ reducing existing barriers facing candidates in the recruitment process is an ongoing training priority.

A shared understanding, a shared language and a shared approach will lead to a greater consistency in experience for all.

Some key language to consider and explore:

  • ‘Unconscious bias’ – have we discussed this in advance of starting a recruitment process and have key stakeholders had training?
  • ‘Glass ceiling’ – are we aware of where this sits above the women in education in the system and in our own organisation?
  • ‘Concrete ceiling’ – are we aware of where this sits about the people of colour in education in the system and in our own organisation?

Moreover, have we discussed, are we values-aligned and do we have a strategic approach when it comes to topics such as flexible working and the pay gap? 

We get asked a lot to support schools, colleges and trusts in their approach to recruitment, but the request is often too late in the process to make a real difference and to make changes meaningful. There are some quick wins you can make in the short term to create a more inclusive recruitment  process and experience, but really this needs to be a medium to long term project and we need to be planning for Summer 2025 and Autumn 2025 activities to get us better prepared for the Spring 2026 recruitment.  

Here are 20 tips to reflect on and discuss with colleagues: 

Tip 1: Review the JD & PS – particularly look at what  is down as being ‘desirable’ v ‘essential’ as some people will not apply if they do not meet all of the criteria. We are creating false barriers e.g. you must have the NASENCO or NPQH award to apply for this job is incorrect – they can be working towards it or start it once appointed.     

Tip 2: Review the Job Advert – screen the wording for bias and especially review any gendered language. Some language choices will suggest only a certain type of candidate should apply e.g. for headship a leader ‘with gravitas’ might lead to more male candidates applying.

Tip 3: Articulate your DEIB Commitment – consider where in the initial documentation would a candidate know that you are on a DEIB journey and truly committed to change as an organisation.  Do you have a DEIB statement that can be lifted and included? A policy and/ or a DEIB action plan that can be hyperlinked? 

Tip 4: Share your Commitment to Flexible Working – research shows us that by mentioning an openness to flexible working you get an increase in applicants. Since the Flexible Working Bill was passed the system has had to consider flexible working as a recruitment tool as well as a retention tool. Make it explicit from the beginning of the process what might be possible so candidates do not waste your time and you do not waste their time either!

Tip 5: Consider where to Advertise – if we keep doing the same we will keep getting the same. Some Jobs Boards are very expensive and draw a certain audience. Diversifying where you are advertising can also lead to you finding more diverse candidates. E.g. for governance you can post adverts in special interest Linkedin groups and networks such as Black Governors Network.

Tip 6: Consider who is Sharing the Advert and where / to who – recruitment needs to  become a team sport and not just the work of HR. If your staff are outward facing and are on socials, ask them to share opportunities with their networks. Push it beyond the immediate network around the organisation to find people beyond that. 

Tip 7: Review the Application Form – you might already be doing all of the above and wondering why it is not working, but have you looked at the fields the candidate has to complete at application level and the information they have to read as often forms are out of date and undermine the DEIB work that is happening e.g. asking a question like What is your gender? With binary answers like M/F. How would someone trans or non-binary complete this question? How might this put off trans allies from applying too?

Tip 8: Review your ‘Shop Window’ – your organisation’s website and your social media accounts also need reviewing and updating so everything is harmonised. If you are saying in the call to action you are interested in hearing from diverse candidates who reflect the diversity of the local community, but your website imagery does not reflect this it creates dissonance. If the person running the social media accounts has not been briefed and is only amplifying white, male thought leaders and people who share exclusionary content online, this will contradict the DEIB commitment you have articulated and this will lead to further self deselection.

Tip 9: Create a ‘Blank’ Selection Process – lots of organisations pride themselves on running ‘blind’ recruitment processes. Consider how ableist this language is and how it might undermine your commitment to DEIB. Is there another way of sharing what you are doing to try to remove bias in the process from blanking out names, race, age, salaries and institutions candidates have worked/ studied at?

Tip 10: Diversify who is Involved in the Long and Short Listing Process – bias creeps in as soon as applicants start arriving. Different people reviewing and handling the applications will have their own biases around spelling, punctuation and grammar, around font choice and formatting, around language choices before you even start digging into the details. Consider who is involved in creating and applying the selection criteria and how you score the application.  

Tip 11: Articulate in the Invitation to Interview what Support is Available – instead of waiting for diversity to wave at you and say ‘hey, I am different and need this from you…’ consider leading with what you can offer as adjustments and support, and share this with all candidates. E.g. On the day you will have access to allocated parking, a lift, a quiet room, a prayer room… we serve Halal food in our school kitchen. People will feel more comfortable confirming what they need to thrive at the interview, but this will also show all candidates that you are fully committed to inclusion.    

Tip 12: Send out Interview Questions out in Advance – many institutions are now sending questions out in advance to support neurodivergent applicants with processing time. But this approach also benefits other candidates including those who are less confident, introverted or who have had some time out of the system. Everyone will perform better! There are concerns that people will cheat and use ChatGTP to craft responses but we will be able to identify a contrived response and interrogate further.   

Tip 13: Create an Accessible and Inclusive Interview Experience – ensure the interview format, tasks and briefing documents are accessible for all candidates, thus removing any barriers. Build in a task or a question to check for values alignment to your organisational commitment to DEIB. Values tasks can be scenario-based but can also be sent out in advance to reflect on and prepare as a pre-task to share at the interview.

Tip 14: Consider all of the Candidate Touchstones – curate the range of people that the candidates will interact with at each point of the process from ringing up to book a visit, coming for a pre-interview tour, to the day itself and communications from the HR lead before, during and after. Where are the opportunities for candidates to see themselves and other diverse identities in the process?

Tip 15: Be Authentic and Honest, Avoid Being Performative – we get regular feedback from candidates that they appreciate transparency from prospective employers. If an organisation can identify and articulate their gaps/ shortcomings this acknowledges that they are aware of their gaps and they want to do better in representing the diversity of their community in the diversity of the staff body. We are also aware that some organisations use stock images of diverse staff and center a couple of children from marginalised identities in all of their marketing materials.    

Tip 16: Close the Training Gaps for HR, SLT, Governors and Administrative Staff –  creating a more inclusive approach to recruitment to diversify the staff, takes a lot of time and energy. This starts with identifying the training needs of all of the stakeholders potentially involved in recruitment. The DEIB training needs to be scheduled, in advance and form part of an ongoing commitment to upskilling all managers and leaders in HR matters to bring the people strategy to life. We know that we need Safer Recruitment training in place, wrap the DEIB and unconscious bias training around it.        

Tip 17: Plan for Induction – finding and securing candidates is the start of the journey of onboarding new staff into your team to ensure they are included. As new staff are oriented into your ways of working, ensure that DEIB is a golden thread. Have a standardised DEIB session for line managers to deliver to all new staff at the start of each term, or get your DEIB lead to deliver it or pre-record it so everyone gets a consistent message. 

Tip 18: Outline Development Opportunities – see the vacancy as an opportunity to showcase  how you develop and nurture your staff. Find an opportunity at interview or in the interview documentation to share the talent management strategy and what CPD is on offer. This will inspire and motivate staff, and affirm that you invest in your staff including offering coaching and mentoring to empower them to have impact in their roles.  

Tip 19: Focus on Retention as much as Recruitment – efforts are often focused on recruitment, but we also need to pay attention to staff retention. We need to regularly scrutinise and share our attrition data, identifying patterns and trends. If we are losing our mothers, how family-friendly is our school? If we are losing our neurodivergent staff, how neuro-inclusive are we? Exit interviews are too late to find out what is going on and what is going wrong, create feedback loops to listen and learn from staff surveys/ staff voice around levels of inclusion and belonging to make regular tweaks to the approach.    

Tip 20: Give and Get Feedback from all of the Candidates – we hear from so many candidates who are not offered feedback following an interview, or who receive feedback that is not specific, constructive nor helpful for their development. Build into the process how feedback will be harvested and cascaded, see this as part of the value-add to all candidates but also as an opportunity to show your commitment to staff development. Also ask for feedback, be open to what worked and did not work to consider changes in future interview activities.  

Our biggest advice is plan ahead and design for inclusion. These tips can all feed into a longer term piece of strategic work around your talent management process and people strategy. A strategic approach to inclusive recruitment and diversifying the workforce means we are focused on being proactive, preemptive and preventive instead of being reactive. 

We have worked with some trusts where the training starts in May, the summer term is spent mapping milestones out with key stakeholders. The HR and recruitment team spend the summer period whilst schools are closed to review and update documentation. Then in the Autumn updates can be shared through meetings and training sessions for all stakeholders involved in recruitment. This means that our processes, policies, practices and people will be ready for the big push on recruitment from the Winter/ early Spring. 

Our call to action is to be brave and to commit to doing things differently. This might include:

  • Becoming more outward-facing as an organisation
  • Creating a campaign about what it is like to work/ why you should consider working at the organisation
  • Articulating your Employer’s Promise in multiple ways on your socials
  • Growing the network around the organisation
  • Holding recruitment days and open events for the organisation
  • Hosting events and training to create a buzz around the organisation
  • Keeping a pipeline of talent warm and informed about opportunities

For more information check out the following support and resources:

If you are an organisation who has already committed to using our #DiverseEd Jobs Board throughout 2025, we will be in touch regarding a free webinar to support you all in your inclusive recruitment efforts.

by Hannah Wilson

Why are we still denying part time and flexible working to those in leadership roles?

Maz Foucher portrait

Written by Maz Foucher

Maz is Regional Representative for the MTPT Project in Devon and a former Assistant Headteacher and KS2 lead, based in Devon. Having juggled full time teaching, school leadership and parenting, she has a great understanding of the challenges faced by those with a young family. After moving on from school-based roles, Maz studied for an MA in Education Leadership specifically researching teacher retention, and now works in education publishing.

While researching teacher wellbeing and retention, I have often come across the suggestion that working part time or flexibly aids both the wellbeing and retention of staff. However, I have also found that this is still not an option available to many of those working at a leadership level, so let’s look at the facts.

24% of employees in the UK work part time and these are primarily women (ONS, 2022). This is echoed within the teaching profession, also at 24% (School Workforce Census, 2022). However, while the education profession is predominantly female, fewer women work part time in education (29% – School Workforce Census, 2022) compared to the overall UK labour market (36% – ONS, 2022). Additionally, when compared to different age ranges and genders, it is most likely that those working part time are women between the ages of 30 – 39 (ONS, 2022) This coincides with the age where many women start a family, and this is also the demographic most likely to leave teaching entirely (DfE, 2022). 

If we look more closely at the 24% of teachers working part time, when this is broken down by role we can see that: 

  • 26% of class teachers work part time
  • 11% of deputy heads work part time
  • 6% of headteachers work part time.  

 (School Workforce Census, 2022).

It is clear from these statistics that, of the women in education who are working part time, the vast majority of these are not doing so at a senior leadership level. This could mean that they have decided for themselves that leadership is incompatible with part time working and parenthood. However, these statistics could also indicate that these women are not being encouraged, supported or allowed to work in senior leader roles part time. Indeed, despite ongoing headlines about the benefits of flexible and part time work, there are many schools and trusts who persist with a policy of no flex/part time at leadership level. 

It could be said that it is preferable for leaders to work full time. The need for leaders to be present to deal with staffing, behaviour and safeguarding issues is a very real and relevant argument. From my own experience, I know that when headteachers and senior leaders are not present, it can lead to additional pressures on those within middle leadership roles. In a profession where 78% of school staff are experiencing stress (Teacher Wellbeing Index, 2023), it could be argued that exposing staff to additional pressures that they are not paid/contracted to handle is counterproductive. 

Additionally, employers are within their rights to deny flexi and part-time working requests if they can prove that these will hinder business outcomes. In the case of education, I have heard arguments that part time leadership can impact on the smooth running of the school, its pupil outcomes, Ofsted ratings and pupil numbers, especially if parents consider leadership to be inconsistent and therefore chaotic. 

However, there are also many positives to having leaders work flexibly or part time. And given that women, particularly those in the 30-39 bracket, are most likely to request this sort of contract, the all-too-common policy of no flex/part time options at a leadership level could also be seen to be seriously disadvantaging aspirational women in education, forcing them to choose between their family and their career. Is not uncommon to see female education leaders step back from these roles, leave teaching entirely or indeed find themselves demoted, when family commitments require them to reduce their hours at work. 

The first question this raises is how valued these women feel within the workplace when their experience and expertise is suddenly overlooked once they become a mother and are no longer available for full time hours. I’ve heard this described as ‘Your skills are only valued if you’re there full time.’  I know many who suddenly feel like their level of competence or their commitment to their school is in question, made to feel like a burden on their workplace, that they are workshy or lazy if they can’t work in the same way that they could before motherhood. This additional pressure could be a catalyst for why these women often end up leaving education entirely.  While there are many inspirational female teacher-parents who are forging the way forwards in leadership roles, it is clear from the data that very few mothers are finding that the workload, the pressure, their school’s policies and their own family set-up are allowing them to do this full time.

With all this in mind, if we also consider the persistently huge gender pay in education – the third worst across all sectors at 20.4% (BBC, 2023) – alongside the knowledge that women who are mothers are the demographic who are most likely to ask for part time work, we can begin to see how the policies which do not allow part time and flexi working at a leadership level are in fact indirectly discriminatory towards women. When we know that it is illegal to discriminate against the protected characteristics of sex and maternity/pregnancy (Equality Act, 2010), it begs the question as to how long it will be before cases of this nature end up in court? 

Personally, I have often said that the teaching profession is full of intelligent and creative people who should be open and willing to rethink how we organise the workforce. Retention is always a better and cheaper option in the long run than recruiting and retraining new staff. In a teacher retention crisis, where we desperately need our experienced teachers to remain in the workforce to support and mentor the new teachers we require, we must celebrate and share examples of where flexible or part time working at a leadership level is proving to be a successful strategy for retention. There are many schools and trusts out there who are able to retain aspirational women at all levels of the profession when they become mothers by supporting them to work PT or flexibly. Imagine a world in which a mother returns to the profession with the conviction that they are still a very valued and an integral part of the workforce, even if they can only commit to part time work? Isn’t this better than losing them from the profession entirely? 

by Hannah Wilson

'Coaches Like Us': You Have to See It To Be It

Hannah Wilson portrait

Written by Hannah Wilson

Founder of Diverse Educators

‘You have to see it to be it,’ the quote from Billy Jean King, is a phrase we hear used a lot to challenge the lack of visible role models in society but also in our profession.

It is widely agreed that diverse representation is needed in every layer of the school system. 

Our trust boards and governing bodies, our CEOs and Headteachers, our Senior Leader Teams are all people spaces that need diversifying. Alongside reviewing representation in our curriculum and in our libraries, for our learners, we also need to review it for our staff. (This is why we host a #DiverseEd World Book Day event each year to amplify authors from our network).  

There is a lot of continuing work to be done to disrupt, to dismantle, to diversify these different spaces and to review who gets to occupy them. 

But there are other educational spaces for us to also review:

  • Who recruits, develops and mentors our trainee teachers?
  • Who recruits, develops and mentors our early career teachers?
  • Who recruits, develops and mentors our aspiring leaders?
  • Who recruits, develops and coaches our existing leaders?

When you review these spaces you will often find a homogenous team, a team who mainly hold majority identities.

So how are the trainers, the mentors and the coaches being trained to become conscious of their own identity, to become confident in addressing their own privilege and to become confident in disrupting bias in the many forms through which it can manifest?

How trauma-informed are the trainers, the mentors and the coaches in supporting individuals who have experienced identity-based harm?    

The Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership launched a brilliant pipeline programme to nurture leaders from a global majority background called Leaders Like Us a couple of years ago, in partnership with Aspiring Heads and the Institute for Educational & Social Equity.  This programme is a gamechanger for our education system and our future workforce.

So let’s all consider what Trainers… Mentors… Coaches … ‘Like Us’ would look like.

If we put a spotlight on ‘Coaches Like Us’ as a school, college, trust, SCITT, Teaching School Hub and localities we need to ask ourselves:

  • Who gets to be coached?
  • Who gets to be The Coach?
  • Who gets invested in?  
  • Who gets nurtured to flourish? 
  • Who gets supported to progress?

And most importantly, do people get to choose their coach? Or what has become a common phenomenon – does a coach get chosen for them? 

Coaching is about creating a safe space. About having a confidential conversation. About exploring how one is feeling. About being vulnerable and open. If your coach is your line manager or someone you work closely with – someone who might appraise your performance or sit on a promotion panel – we are in muddy waters.   

What difference would it make for an aspiring leader to self-select a coach who resonates with them? A coach who shares their identity? A coach who has walked their walk?

Some final thoughts:

  • How might being coached or becoming a coach help diverse educators stay in the system?
  • How might being coached or becoming a coach help diverse leaders climb up the leadership ladder? 
  • How might being coached or becoming a coach help us tackle the glass ceiling and the concrete ceiling in the education system? 

To help our clients, who have asked for our support in diversifying their coaching pools, we have created a #DiverseEd Coaching Directory:

  • You can find 25+ coaching profiles here.
  • You can meet our coaches through our video gallery here.
  • Get in touch if you are a coach who would like to be added or if you are looking for a coach and would like to be connected here. 

         

by Hannah Wilson