School leadership teams should reflect the diversity of the pupils they serve, according to a new report examining the issue in academy trusts.
It also warns that there has been widespread experience of discrimination among leaders and trust senior management teams, and that while overt discrimination was rare, “many in academy trust leadership believe that hidden bias is widespread”.
The report from the consultancy Forum Strategy reveals that in a poll of 115 academy trust chief executives, 69 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that leadership teams should reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
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“We would argue the objective for trusts should be for schools’ leadership to be roughly as diverse as school staff, and similarly for both to be as diverse as the populations that schools serve,” the report , Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Amongst Academy Trust CEOs, says.
It adds that this should be academy trusts’ target rather than staff diversity meeting national benchmarks.
Improving diversity in school leadership
It adds: “On staffing, we argue this because anything else suggests a bias and barriers in promoting staff...
“On comparing to the populations schools serve, we argue this because it is what will inspire and empower subsequent generations to achieve, and break the cycles of discrimination and hidden barriers which hold those who identify with protected characteristics back.”
The report also says that “there is a feeling that many new teachers, and especially those taking part in high potential graduate schemes, tend to adhere to a certain ‘type’”.
Over half - 53 per cent - of survey respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that “the education sector is an equal playing field for people like me”, while 58 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that “some barriers to progression for people like me are hidden”.
The report cites a report prepared for the NASUWT teaching union, which says that over half of all teachers and headteachers had experienced discrimination during their career, with 44 per cent citing ethnic discrimination.
The report also highlights school leaders’ experiences of discrimination.
A headteacher in London said: “I was in the playground with members of my leadership team. And a contractor came and started talking. I was looking right at him, because I knew what he wanted. But he just dismissed me - I could see it, because I’ve seen it so many times before - assuming ‘she can’t be the headteacher, it’s got to be the white women who are wearing suits’.”
