North West universities are hosting a conference to highlight the importance of recruiting and retaining black and minority ethnic trainee teachers in the region.
The ‘Black and Minority Recruitment and Retention Conference’ is the the firs of its kind on the work conducted by the Merseyside Black and Minority Ethnic Steering Group (MBMESG).
MBMESG is a collaboration between Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool John Moores University, Edge Hill University, The University of Chester and The Merseyside and Cheshire Graduate Teacher Programme Consortium.
It also includes representatives of Merseyside community groups with school-based input who work collaboratively to encourage the recruitment and retention of black and minority ethnic trainee teachers.
Amina Ismail, Black and Minority Ethnic Recruitment Advisor for Liverpool Hope University and Liverpool John Moores University and Conference organiser said: “It is important that young people are educated and inspired by teachers that reflect the communities that they come from.”
The conference itself will aim to look at barriers, perceptions and existing work that is being done, in addition to the importance of sharing good practice across all individuals and partner organisations, who recognise that having a diverse teaching population is at the heart of promoting cultural awareness and providing inspirational role models to young people.
Pav Akhtar, Head of Diversity at the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) will deliver the keynote address. Pav said: “In England 23.3 per cent of all primary school pupils and 20.6 per cent of all secondary school pupils are of black or minority ethnic (BME) heritage. At the same time, 5.9 per cent of teachers are of BME heritage.
“Increased recruitment of BME teachers is important to ensure white and BME pupils benefit from a more balanced representation of society and the experience of teachers from diverse groups (DfEE 1998; Ross 2002; Home Office 2005).
“However, much existing research on the impact on pupil performance has been found to be ‘limited in scope and based on unrepresentative samples’.
“TDA is committed to boosting BME teacher recruitment and in recent years has set internal targets – in 2009/10 this was 11 per cent of trainees to be BME. We support numerous initiatives to build a teaching profession that reflects society's wide range of ethnic groups – including this initiative by teacher training providers in the North West area.
“Obviously, policies developed by TDA have been in the context of this Government’s agenda of social inclusion.TDA has in the past focused on recruiting sufficient people from under-represented groups (specifically, trainees from black and minority ethnic groups (BME), those who declare a disability and males interested in teaching in the primary phase). Our rationale has been that pupils will thrive best if those working with them and teaching them are representative of broader society. The current buoyant recruitment picture has led to an increased determination to improve the quality of entrants to initial teacher training.”
The MBMESG is also working in collaboration to engage with local community groups to raise awareness and aspirations in relation to teaching as a career.
Workshops will include:
• Refugees into Teaching workshop – Isra Hussein, Refugees into Teaching Network, Guidance Officer for North of England
• Identifying and Discussing Barriers to Recruitment and Retention Mike Pope, Workforce Adviser, Liverpool City Council and Cllr Colin Eldridge (PPC for Wavertree)
• The work of the Merseyside Black and Minority Ethnic Steering Group – Peter Horsfall, Centre Leader for Secondary and Vocational Education at LJMU
• Robert Marsden, Theatre Director, Reveal Theatre Company Stoke on Trent and Alison Parr, Director of Partnerships, Keele University
• Diversity in the ITT Placement: Judith Broadbridge, Provider Link Adviser on behalf of the TDA and Amina Ismail, Black and Minority Ethnic Recruitment Advisor (Liverpool Hope University and Liverpool John Moores University)
• BRM Teacher Engagement, Employment and Retention: Our Story Gloria Hyatt, MBE, Director for Teach Consultancy Ltd and Debra Mendy, Head Teacher for Green Bank Primary School.
Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool John Moores University, Edge Hill University and the University of Chester are very keen to attract potential teachers with a wealth of experience and variety of backgrounds and cultures from within the locality, the regions, nationally and internationally.
The four universities welcome applications from those who may be considering a career change. Such applicants can often bring a rich vein of experience of skills to their teacher training programme while enriching the teaching profession.
The universities offer a variety of routes into teaching including flexible part time options in both primary and secondary and those interested can seek further information on the universities web sites.
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