TAKING THE LEAD

Recent reports have shown a shocking shortfall in the number of ethnic minorities in Headteacher positions or in leadership roles in our schools. Many local authorities are now taking steps to address the issue.

In September 2008 a report into Diversity in School Leadership reported that: “At the moment there’s not enough data available to say with certainty exactly what percentage of all school leaders come from non-white backgrounds, but the research that has been done doesn’t look good. For example, 1 percent of primary heads and 3 percent of secondary heads appointed in 2005/06 came from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.”
Many Local Authorities are now looking seriously at what can be done to increase the numbers of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic [BAME] teachers who move into senior leadership positions in their schools. One such LA is Wandsworth Borough Council.

Brendan Ryan, recruitment manager for Wandsworth wrote in The Times in June 09 that: “Although 29 per cent of teachers in the London borough of Wandsworth come from black and minority ethnic [BME] backgrounds, the number who go onto Headship is very low – only 8.7 percent of Headteachers come from these backgrounds. If you compare the number of Headteachers with the population in Wandsworth it is not representative – about 65 percent of the pupils in Wandsworth schools come from BME backgrounds. These communities should be represented at the highest level. But in teaching, the further you go along the leadership spectrum the fewer the number of people from BME backgrounds.”

In a bid to find a positive solution to this, Wandsworth Borough Council partnered with Integrity Coaching, a company which specialises in the provision of coaching services for BAME teachers and school leaders.

Integrity Coaching works with Local Authorities to enable them to put in place successful strategies for enabling BAME teachers to achieve their career hopes and aspirations. In Wandsworth, Integrity Coaching delivered its ‘Learning for Leadership Transformation Programme’, with a mixed group of aspiring BAME school leaders and social workers.

As testimony to the impact of this programme, Colette Morris, who was appointed to her first headship whilst on the programmes said; “With the ongoing support from highly skilled and qualified BAME coaches who were sensitive and understood the challenges of professional development within the BAME context, I was able to increase my awareness and confidence. I really feel that the coaching I received has allowed me to constructively break down barriers that had previously felt insurmountable and progress my personal development with confidence, alongside my career as a teacher in Wandsworth.”

About Integrity Coaching Ltd
4Integrity Coaching, is an ILM [Institute of Leadership & Management] approved centre and was founded by former head teacher Viv Grant in 2007.The company specialises in providing personal performance coaching for leaders and managers in the education sector and other parts of the private and public sector. It is also London’s leading coaching company for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals working across the Children’s Workforce.Web: www.integritycoaching.co.uk. Email: enquiries@integritycoaching.co.uk. Tel: 0208 767 7664

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