'More diversity' call for top teaching roles in Scotland

Just a handful of top teaching roles in Scotland are filled by people from ethnic minorities, it has emerged.

Scottish government data and Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information requests show that there were only two BAME head teachers and two deputies in the 19 councils which replied.

The party's education spokesman Tavish Scott has called for action.

The Scottish government said it had established a working group on diversity in the teaching profession.

The Liberal Democrats contacted all of Scotland's 32 local authorities. The figures relate to 2017.

Mr Scott said: "There are in the region of 1,700 primary school head teachers and 350 secondary heads.

"The Scottish government needs to understand why there aren't then dozens of heads from a BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) background.

"Our outlook on life is shaped during our school years. The lack of BAME role models in schools, and the long-standing lack of diversity amongst teaching staff, is therefore concerning."

Burdensome workload

He added: "There's a broader need to attract more people to the teaching profession and to lighten the burdensome workload and bureaucracy that's repelling teachers and prospective teachers at a rate of knots.

"In the process of boosting the profession and addressing the vacancies that exist across Scotland, there needs to be an emphasis on improving diversity at all levels of teaching, but particularly among school leaders."

A Scottish government spokesman said: "We want BME groups to be better represented in teaching and have engaged with a number of charities, local authorities, ITE providers and other groups to get their views on how to make that happen.

"Although teacher recruitment is a matter for local authorities, we want to encourage action to address this issue and have established a working group on diversity in the teaching profession.

"The group, chaired by Prof Rowena Arshad, is expected to make recommendations around the factors which impact on under-representation in teaching in the coming months.