COVID 19 and BAME teachers

With some controversy, schools in the UK are due to reopen next week for a limited number of age groups. These measures were outlined as part of the governments new stay alert strategy. Councils are currently going through the process of deciding whether to follow the governments timeline and open schools, or delay until further safety measures can be put in place.

The top priority for the schools and councils is to ensure practical safety measures around social distances are implemented upon re-opening, and then convincing the parents that the schools are safe for the children to attend.

However, with these re-openings, there is concern that no-one is talking about race.

Black people are 4 times more likely to die from corona virus than white people. These shocking numbers also extend to other ethnic groups (1.3 for Bangladeshi and 1.4 for Pakistani heritage males). The reason for this is still unknown.

So far, there has been no guidance for BAME staff or pupils by the department for education, and according to government figures, BAME people are underrepresented in leadership roles in schools such as headteachers.

Many schools have over 90% black and Asian students, and as for staff, a recent NEU survey reported 70% of black staff feel “very unsafe” about returning to work.

Headteachers need to take a more inclusive approach to their BAME staff, and like many hospital trusts, provide a tailored approach for BAME members of staff.

Looking at the post Covid world, BAME representation needs to be increased at the top of schools. This can be achieved through using an inclusive recruitment practices framework such as the one provided in the recently launched Accreditation for inclusive recruitment.

At Ohcul jobs, we promote diversity within the workplace through removing the opportunity for people’s unconscious bias to reflect in the recruitment process.

Employee diversity provides a number of benefits to any organisation (large and small). Ethnically diverse companies perform 35% better than their industry median and gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to haver returns above the industry median. With the national customer base becoming more diverse, it is important that a company is representative to fully understand its clients’ needs and, according to the latest research, 67% of employees cite a diverse workforce is a key factor when looking at a role.

At Ohcul, we remove the opportunity for hidden bias from a CV review stage. Our unique tool removes identifying data from a clients CV allowing a recruiter to progress the best candidates.

If you would like some more information you can contact us on info@ohcul.com or visit the web site www.ohcul.com