Year: 2024
Author: Amelia Hawkins, Jane Wilkinson, Jo Lampert, Fiona Longmuir
Type of paper: Individual Paper
Abstract:
The teaching workforce in Anglophone nations such as Australia, the USA, Canada and UK remains overwhelmingly white and in Australia, predominantly Anglocentric in origin. This is problematic for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the Anglo-Celtic whiteness of the teaching workforce fails to reflect the multicultural nature of these nations, and in Australia and North America, its First Nations Peoples. Secondly, research suggests that a diversified workforce can support Indigenous and children of minorty backgrounds' educational achievement, engagement and retention, by reducing levels of direct and indrect racism and systemic bias experienced from non Indigenous and majority ethnicity educators.
Relatedly, employing a culturally and ethnically diverse workforce provides role models, higher expectations for children and youth from Indigenous and minority backgrounds, whilst acting as potential bridge builders between groups of students, communities and school.
The USA and UK collect data on the ethnic and racial backgrounds of its teaching workforce, including principals. Thus, they can render visible the ethnic and cultural profile of their workforce and whether goals towards increasing diversity are being met. In contrast, except for crucial data about Indigenous teachers and school leaders, thanks to the large More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Techers Initiative (MATSITI, 2011-2016), data on the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of Australian educators is extremely hard to come by with no systematic collection.
What data is avaialble is either dated or fragmented.
This paper attempts to go some way to redressing this gap. It examines the ethnic and racial diversity of the Australian teaching workforce - including prinicpals - drawing on the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2021 census. It asks the following:
What does this dataset reveal in terms of the ethnic diversity of schoolteachers and principals?
What are the limitations of this data set?
What are the learnings from this dataset when it comes to informing and progressing the goal of attracting and retaining a culturally and ethnically diverse teaching workforce?
At a time of crisis when it comes to teaching shortages,these are crucial questions to raise.
Firstly, the Anglo-Celtic whiteness of the teaching workforce fails to reflect the multicultural nature of these nations, and in Australia and North America, its First Nations Peoples. Secondly, research suggests that a diversified workforce can support Indigenous and children of minorty backgrounds' educational achievement, engagement and retention, by reducing levels of direct and indrect racism and systemic bias experienced from non Indigenous and majority ethnicity educators.
Relatedly, employing a culturally and ethnically diverse workforce provides role models, higher expectations for children and youth from Indigenous and minority backgrounds, whilst acting as potential bridge builders between groups of students, communities and school.
The USA and UK collect data on the ethnic and racial backgrounds of its teaching workforce, including principals. Thus, they can render visible the ethnic and cultural profile of their workforce and whether goals towards increasing diversity are being met. In contrast, except for crucial data about Indigenous teachers and school leaders, thanks to the large More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Techers Initiative (MATSITI, 2011-2016), data on the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of Australian educators is extremely hard to come by with no systematic collection.
What data is avaialble is either dated or fragmented.
This paper attempts to go some way to redressing this gap. It examines the ethnic and racial diversity of the Australian teaching workforce - including prinicpals - drawing on the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2021 census. It asks the following:
What does this dataset reveal in terms of the ethnic diversity of schoolteachers and principals?
What are the limitations of this data set?
What are the learnings from this dataset when it comes to informing and progressing the goal of attracting and retaining a culturally and ethnically diverse teaching workforce?
At a time of crisis when it comes to teaching shortages,these are crucial questions to raise.