Trainee teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to drop out of their courses before qualifying than their white counterparts.
Figures from the Teacher Training Agency show that in 1999-2000, 5 per cent of white candidates, or 1,080, left before achieving qualified teacher status - a percentage unchanged from the previous year. But 9 per cent of ethnic-minority candidates, or 139 individuals, left before qualifying - a rise of 2 percentage points on 1998-99.
The figures refer to college courses such as the postgraduate certificate in education and do not include in-service training.
An agency spokesman said there was no indication of what caused the disparity. “We haven’t got any solid research that itemises the differences behind these trends,” he said. “We may well study this in greater depth later on.”
But Professor Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Education and Employment Research, said pupil behaviour could be a contributory factor.
“One of the things that puts trainees off is poor pupil behaviour,” he said. “It may be that the children assert themselves even more with trainee teachers from ethnic minorities.”
Research commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills into why qualified teachers leave the profession will look at whether the drop-out rate varies with personal characteristics including race. The study, being carried out by Professor Smithers’s centre, will report early in 2003.
