Commenting on the Mental Health and
Wellbeing of Ethnic Minority Teachers report released
today by Education Support, Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT
General Secretary, said:
“The experiences of being overworked and undervalued are
unfortunately common across the teaching profession, regardless
of ethnicity. However, it is clear from this report and from what
our Black members tell us that being from a minority ethnic
background adds an additional layer of racist and racialist
experiences in the workplace which are further undermining
teachers’ dignity and morale.
“Black teachers commonly face additional barriers to pay and
career progression, as well as overt and covert racism and
discrimination in their daily working lives.
“For example, our most recent data from members indicates that
59% of Asian teachers and 53% of Black teachers who were
expecting to move up the pay scale in 2020/21 as a result of
their performance review did so in the academic year 2020/21,
compared to 73% of White teachers.
“Our data indicates lower satisfaction levels among teachers from
black backgrounds. While four in ten of White teachers described
themselves as satisfied or very satisfied about their job, this
dropped to 34% of Asian teachers and 33% of black teachers.
“The Government could take immediate action to tackle racialised
pay gaps and discrimination in the workplace by strengthening
regulation, but they have refused to do so.
“This failure to act is exacerbating the serious problems with
the recruitment and retention of Black teachers in the profession
and undermining the basic entitlement of all workers to be
treated with respect and dignity.
“We are continuing our fight for racial justice for Black
teachers and will be holding our Black Teachers’ Consultation
Conference this coming weekend at which these and other issues
affecting Black teachers’ working lives will be discussed.”
