The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, , has officially launched an
incentive to attract more people from Black, Asian and Minority
Ethnic backgrounds into teaching.
The Ethnic Minority Incentive Scheme provides up to £5,000 to
eligible individuals to ensure the education workforce reflects
Wales’ diversity.
A total of £5,000 is available to eligible Black, Asian or
Minority Ethnic student teachers. £2,500 is available on award of
Qualified Teacher Status and a final payment of £2,500 once they
complete their induction.
The scheme is one of three incentives currently available to
eligible student teachers, a total of £25,000 is available to
those that meet the requirements of all three schemes.
Alongside this new incentive the other two schemes are:
- The Priority Subject Incentive Scheme: £15,000 for those
undertaking secondary subject specialism most needed in the
teaching workforce.
- The Iaith Athrawon Yfory: £5,000 for studying to teach
secondary subjects through the medium of Welsh.
Minister for Education and Welsh Language, said,
“This incentive is an important part of the work we are doing to
attract more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants into the
teaching profession.
“Currently less than 2% of our teaching workforce are from a
Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background. That simply isn’t
good enough. I am committed to increasing representation within
our education workforce. Our young people need to recognise
themselves and their own experiences within their leaders.
“We are moving into an exciting new era with the roll out of our
new curriculum and this incentive will help ensure the diversity
of Wales is better reflected.”
The scheme is part of the broader work in the Welsh Government is
undertaking as part of the Anti-racist Wales Action
Plan.
Alongside the incentive, all of our Initial Teacher Education
(ITE) Partnerships have developed recruitment plans designed to
attract ethnic minority students onto teaching programmes. The
Partnerships are based at Aberystwyth University, Bangor
University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University,
University of South Wales, University Wales Trinity St David and
the Open University.
Supporting the Partnerships are a group of Community Mentors who
use their knowledge and lived experience of the differential
impact of racism within education, recruitment, employment,
marketing and leadership to increase diversity in the teaching
profession.
One of the mentors, Khudeza Siddika, who is based at Swansea
University, said,
“The new incentive demonstrates the Welsh Government’s commitment
to building a more diverse workforce. Individuals who enter
teaching will find that schools are making strides towards
becoming anti-racist organisations, with actions such as
embedding Black history into the curriculum.
“I hope this incentive will encourage talented, passionate
individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to join the
profession and be part of the wider changes taking place in
education right now.”
Notes to editors
Khudeza Siddika an Initial Teacher Education Community Mentor at
Swansea University is available for interview.
Please contact educationpressoffice@gov.wales
for more information.
More information on the Ethnic Minority Initial Teacher Education
(ITE) Incentive Scheme: https://www.gov.wales/ethnic-minority-initial-teacher-education-ite-incentive-scheme-2022
The Anti-racist Wales Action Plan: https://www.gov.wales/anti-racist-wales-action-plan
Data Sources
Pupils:
9.1% of pupils aged 5+ identified as Black, Asian, Mixed or Other
ethnicity at February 2022.
Source: Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) https://www.gov.wales/schools-census-results-february-2022-html
(Table 3)
Workforce:
The latest Annual Education Workforce Statistics for Wales 2022
published by the Education Workforce Council:
https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/research-and-statistics/workforce-statistics.html#school-teacher
92.0% of schoolteachers declared their ethnicity as White and
1.5% declared a Black, Asian or minority ethnic group. (5.2%
unknown). In respect of national identity, 63.0% identify as
Welsh and 23.6% as British. (4.9% unknown).
