Working group on diversity in teaching: minutes January 2018

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Professor Rowena Arshad, University of Edinburgh (Chair)
• Ken Muir, General Teaching Council (Scotland)
• Khadija Mohammed, Scottish Association of Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE)
• Hakim Din, Calabar Education Consultants, former HMIE
• Maureen McKenna, Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES)
• Dr Morag Redford, Scottish Council of Deans of Education
• Reed Sweir, Fulbright scholar, with University of Edinburgh
• David Roy, Scottish Government
• Daniel Waddell, Scottish Government (SG, Secretariat)

Apologies

• Eloise Nutbrown, Migration Population and Diversity (COSLA)

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

1. Rowena Arshad welcomed members to the second meeting of the Diversity in the Teaching Profession working group. She introduced Reed Sweir to the group who was attending as her guest. She also thanked Glasgow City Council for the use of their facilities.

Agree minutes of previous meeting and review actions

2. Minutes from the previous meeting were read and approved as accurate.

Information gathering exercise – Diversity across the profession

3. The members were disappointed by the lack of responses but understand that this may be due to the timing of the request going out. A second request for information was sent in January. It was agreed that a further follow up letter should be sent to stakeholders who have not responded, with a ‘no response’ deemed suitable from stakeholders.

AP 1 – Kelly Ireland to issue a final reminder to stakeholder who have not yet responded.

4. The members discussed the responses and made the following comments:

• the sector’s on-going recruitment issues was provided by several respondents as their priority focus and the issue of the lack of BME teachers in schools was not an issue they were either focussing on
• lack of a sense of ownership of the issue by stakeholders
• some stakeholders feel that a one size fits all approach is a suitable solution

5. The members asked for clarification from Strathclyde University’s response regarding the creation of a BME group.

AP 2 – Secretariat to speak to Strathclyde University for clarification on this group.

6. Ken Muir informed the group that GTCS are currently undergoing work on identifying the reasons BME teachers leave the profession however it has been difficult to identify these people.

7. Rowena Arshad also updated the group on her use of Twitter to gather the sector’s thoughts. A summary of gathered views can be viewed at Annex A.

TES Article – update

8. Rowena Arshad informed the group that TESS will run the article later next month and are keen to publish a follow up once the report has been completed.

Next steps

9. The group discussed the need to meet a number of organisations interested in this area of work. It was agreed that only two or three) members will be required for each meeting. . The agenda for these meetings will focus on pulling materials from stakeholder meetings together and another on the formation of the report.

10. The group agreed that due to the lack of time, it would be more suitable to identify who should be spoken to individually and which stakeholders should be grouped together for the arranged meetings. The meetings will be arranged by the Scottish Government and will be primarily based in Glasgow .It was agreed that the groups should be the following; teachers, unions and lastly Local Authorities. The group listings, meeting location and group representative(s) can be found in annex B.

The group discussed and agreed that all the meetings should have a set of key questions and narrative so that each meeting has a consistent approach and allows the conversation to focus on BME issues. It was agreed that the key questions should be aligned to the key objectives of the group. It was agreed a draft of this to be sent to members before finalising the document.

AP 3 – Kelly Ireland to set up meeting with groups and create proforma in advance of the meetings.

11. The group requested that the Scottish Government provide information, if available, on how many BME teachers are currently in each Local Authority. AP 4 – SG to provide the statistics for BME teachers in each Local Authority.

12. Ken Muir informed the group about an invitation GTCS had received from an ES/BEMIS working group on Curriculum Resources Review Group. The group agreed that with a better understanding of the membership of this working group, it could be possible to liaise with them in the future.

AP 5 – David Roy to contact Nick Morgan (Education Scotland) to find out more about the BEMIS working group.

Agree date and time of meetings

13. The group agreed to meet again on Monday 26 March 1300 in Glasgow City Chambers.

Summary of actions

1. Kelly Ireland to chase up those who have not responded.
2. Secretariat to speak to Strathclyde University for clarification on this group.
3. Kelly Ireland to set up meeting with groups and create proforma in advance of the meetings.
4. David Roy to provide the statistics for BME teachers in each Local Authority.
5. David Roy to contact Nick Morgan (Education Scotland) to find out more about the BEMIS working group.

Short term working group on diversity in the teaching profession minutes January 2018.pdf

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