Policy and practice in increasing BME teachers’ access to ITE and a leadership career in the teaching profession in England

In 2018 the Department for Education (DfE) in England published its “Statement of Intent” to make the teacher workforce more diverse. This included increasing the number of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) teachers and those in headship/principal positions in English schools (DfE, Statement of intent on the diversity of the teaching workforce. DfE. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-of-the-teaching-workforce-statement-of-intent. Accessed 2 Sept 2020, 2018). Through critical analysis of the “Statement of Intent” policy initiative, this chapter explores the policy implications for making the teacher workforce more ethnically diverse and what this means in practice for schools and teacher education and focuses on policy enablers and inhibitors in this process. To understand the ethnic makeup of the teacher workforce the chapter provides insight into the numbers, positions, and experiences of BME teachers/leaders in England together with how BME teachers are conceptualized in English schools. An integral part of the discussion concerns the recruitment strategies employed by governments with different political perspectives vis-à-vis ethnic diversity in teaching and learning. This framing facilitates understanding of British government efforts to foster an ethnically diverse teacher workforce, and changes in initial teacher education (ITE) set out for the preparation of new preservice teachers. Contextualizing the ethnicity of the teacher workforce in England is salient to understanding any implications for the recruitment and development of future BME teachers and senior school leaders. Equally important, the chapter considers what does the UK government’s desire to produce “brilliant teachers” through “high-quality initial teacher training” mean in practice for BME preservice teachers.