School diversity stalling

Progress towards diversity in the classroom is stalling, according to a University of Warwick study. More than half of UK primary schools have no ethnic minority teachers and 30% no male teaching staff.

A quarter of UK schools only have white female teachers. Overall progress towards diversity in the classroom was “highly limited”, in the words of Joshua Fullard, assistant professor at Warwick Business School.

The proportion of primary schools with no ethnic minority teachers fell by only 1% in 2023 compared with the year before, while almost 87% did not have a senior leader with an ethnic minority background, and 46.5% did not have a male leadership team member.

Professor Fullard said pupils are “missing out by not having teachers that represent them”, and “will worsen existing gaps in attainment and inequality in adulthood”.