More than half (53%) of BME teachers have reported being subject
to verbal abuse at school in the last twelve
months, Chris Keates, the General Secretary of the
NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, told a conference of BME
teachers today.
At the NASUWT BME Teachers’ Consultation Conference in
Birmingham, the largest gathering of BME teachers in Europe, Ms
Keates told the delegation:
“BME teachers continue to be subjected to racist remarks,
negative comments, and threats of disciplinary action because of
their racial origin.
“Teachers are continuing to face misery, humiliation, ill-health,
loss of confidence and blighted careers as a result of this
abuse.”
The General Secretary also recounted that 42% of BME teachers say
they are not supported by senior management to deal with pupil
indiscipline.
“This unacceptable failure to act is indefensible and
reprehensible.
“It is a failure of the employer’s legal duty of care to
employees. Too often, schools are condoning behaviour that is
leaving BME staff, and indeed pupils, isolated and vulnerable,
setting an appalling example to our children and young people.”
Ms Keates also raised the top concerns of the teaching
profession, which workload remains the number one issue. She said
many BME teachers were “buckling under the weight of more and
more administrative tasks.
“Teachers are being crushed by punitive assessment and working
policies, designed to hold them to account rather than support
pupil progress.
“They are trapped in the seemingly permanent revolution of
curriculum change, invariably ill-thought through,
under-resourced, and badly executed.”
Ms Keates highlighted the NASUWT’s “outstanding” success in
fighting for the rights of BME teachers, which has secured
“positive change”.
“The NASUWT has stood alone for what is right, often against the
prevailing views of the day, on pay, workload, the teachers’
contract, pupil indiscipline and equality.”
