No Black or Asian teachers in more than half of English primary schools, report finds

Nadine White
Updated ·3 min read
“There is still a long way to go before the school workforce becomes representative of the pupils they teach.” (PA Wire)
“There is still a long way to go before the school workforce becomes representative of the pupils they teach.” (PA Wire)

More than half of England’s primary schools don’t have any Black or Asian teachers, according to new analysis.

The study, from the University of Warwick, found 55.4 per cent of state-funded primary schools do not have classroom teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Across all state schools in England, the figure stood at 46.1 per cent.

This is lower than the 55 per cent recorded in 2010, but the rate of change has slowed in recent years, as issues around staff shortages in the education sector continue to mount.

The report’s author, Assistant Professor Joshua Fullard of Warwick Business school, said: “While ethnic representation in schools is improving year on year, the rate of change is slow – today over half of primary schools in England still do not have a teacher from a ethnic minority background.”

“Almost 1 in 5 schools in England have no gender or ethnic diversity among classroom teachers as they are staffed by white women.

“There is still a long way to go before the school workforce becomes representative of the pupils they teach.”

The study also found that 87.8 percent of English state schools do not have any Black or Asian senior leaders.

There are six local authorities where more than 80 per cent of schools do not have a teacher from an ethnic minority background: County Durham, Cumbria, Isles of Scilly, North Yorkshire, Shropshire, and York.

The Isles of Scilly is the only local authority where no primary schools have a teacher from an ethnic minority background.

The proportion of male classroom teachers from an ethnic minority background is at a record high in both primary schools and secondary schools, the study found, while the proportion of teachers from an ethnic minority background is increasing year on year, though slowly.

(University of Warwick study)
(University of Warwick study)

Almost 1 in 5 schools in England are solely staffed by white women (18 per cent), while 23 per cent of primary schools do not have any male classroom teachers.

There are 16,783 primary schools in England, according to Department for Education (DfE) statistics.

Researchers analysed the latest available data from the School Workforce Census (SWC) along with DfE statistics obtained via Freedom of Information requests.

Each year roughly one in ten state school classroom teachers leave the profession in England, while there are not enough educators joining the profession to replace those that leave.

The government has “persistently failed” to recruit enough teachers to meet rising demands and must do more to attract more teachers to the profession, Mr Fullard, who tracks this data annually, added.

A pay rise of over 10 percent and policies related to reducing teaching working hours and improving school leadership quality would be a good place to start in tackling the issue, he added.

A 2022 survey by the National Education Union revealed that 44 per cent of state school teachers in England plan to leave the profession in the next five years and some educators have decried racial discrimination within the sector.

In October, the National Association of Head Teachers union called for anti-racism training to be mandatory for school staff, acknowledging that racism continues to exist within the education sector.