Shocking figures about black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers have been highlighted this week.

Currently, just 1.4 per cent of the Scottish teaching workforce comes from a BME background. That’s equivalent to just 672 teachers. BME teachers are also less likely to gain a promotion, holding just 0.6 per cent of promoted posts in Scotland (equivalent to 75 teachers).

This lack of “promotion prospects” is discouraging many from joining teaching, according to a government working group.

Clearly, there’s a problem, so what’s the Scottish government doing about it?

Well, the same government working group - led by Professor Rowena Arshad, the head of the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education - is calling for the country to be “bold and aim high”. She wants to ensure that, by 2030, BME teachers are well represented in Scottish schools.

The group wants everyone involved with the profession - from the universities that offer teacher training, to the councils employing teaching staff - to be educated about what diversification is and how it can be supported.

But how? The group has published a report setting out 18 recommendations - all of which have been accepted by the Scottish government.

“One group member, General Teaching Council for Scotland chief executive Ken Muir, said that he was sickened by the “shocking” and “blatant” racism in schools”.

The group has also called for a national mentoring network for BME staff to be set up by March, and urges local authorities to ensure that the need to recruit and support a diverse workforce is understood by all.

Professor Arshad, speaking to Tes Scotland, said that the racial inequality “awareness gap” was so sizeable that it “stunned” the working group.