Chapter16Opportunitiesforteachersfromminorityethnic.docVIP

MINORITY ETHNIC TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES Further evidence from the Teacher Status Project Mark Cunningham and Linda Hargreaves University of Cambridge Faculty of Education Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 7 The context 9 Chapter 2: FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CAREER ASPIRATIONS OF TEACHERS 13 The ambitions of minority ethnic teachers 13 Tackling decades of under-achievement 16 Intrinsic reasons for choosing a teaching career 17 Gaining access to the teaching profession 18 Overseas teachers’ entry to the teaching profession 19 Exclusion zones 20 Chapter 3: CHALLENGES TO PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENT 24 A curriculum in support of teacher professionalism 24 Appreciating socio-cultural differences 28 The diminishing role of EMAG 32 Chapter 4: CONCLUSIONS: RAISING STATUS TO RAISE STANDARDS 35 REFERENCES 40 Appendix 1 Summary of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) – Standards Fund 43 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to express our gratitude to all the teachers and teaching representatives from local authority support services, ethnic minority achievement (EMAG) teams and diversity and inclusion teams. We’re equally grateful to the gatekeepers who were instrumental in providing access to teacher networks. With particular appreciation to Maurice Galton and Donald McIntyre for their advice, and the remainder of the Teacher Status Project research team for their patience during the course of this research.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction This study of minority ethnic teachers’ professional experiences extends the findings of one strand of the Teacher Status Project (Hargreaves et al., 2007a). The Teacher Status Project was a four-year study of public and individual teachers’ perceptions of the status of teachers and the teaching profession, conducted by the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education and funded (following a process of competitive tendering) by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). This report summar