Race and Ethnicity in Education by Ranjit Arora

Author:Ranjit Arora [Arora, Ranjit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Social Policy, Social Science, Political Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781351150866
Google: iLlHDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 38136577
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Minority ethnic students on teacher education courses

The questions raised in the consultation document are equally valid in terms of under-representation of minority ethnic students on teacher education courses and teaching staff in teacher education colleges. The ARTEN submission also outlined the present situation with regard to the presence of minority ethnic groups as students on teacher education courses, as teachers in schools and as lecturers in teacher education institutions. It examined the reasons for their under-representation and offered strategies for breaking this cycle of under-representation.

The White Paper (DES 1983b) did suggest that recruitment to teacher education courses should include ‘people with broad and diverse backgrounds, experience and interests, including some from the minority ethnic groups’. The Government, having accepted the recommendation of the Swann Committee, that more teachers from minority groups should be recruited, urged the University Departments of Education (UDEs) to give close and sympathetic attention to applications from minority ethnic candidates and involve more minority ethnic teachers in the preparation of students as teachers. UCET NOTE 2 (1986) responded to the Swann Report’s call for ‘urgent attention and positive action’, by advising the UDEs to give close and sympathetic attention to applications from minority ethnic candidates, provide information and opportunities for discussion about careers in education to under-graduate students and to sixth-form students in schools in their area and advertise their courses in the minority ethnic press and through other community agencies. In May 1988, the Universities Central Council on Admissions (UCCA) and the Polytechnics Central Admission Systems (PCAS), agreed to reopen discussions for ethnic monitoring of applicants, as the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) had in the past been reluctant to introduce ethnic monitoring on the grounds that such information could influence the selection process.

The CRE survey (Ranger 1988) was intended to establish a nationally valid reference point against which teacher-training institutions could measure the need for and effectiveness of policy initiatives to ensure equality of opportunity and to improve the accessibility of courses to minority ethnic students. The survey showed that fewer than 300 teachers of Asian or Afro-Caribbean origin, out of a total of some 12000, are likely to emerge from the training system during 1986–87. The CRE chairman at the time commented that the figures suggest we may be facing a decline in the number of Black teachers in school rather than the increase Lord Swann and others have recommended. Overall, the minority ethnic students made up only 2.6 percent of all students in the relevant groups/courses compared with an estimated 5.3 percent in the appropriate age group in the population. The results also showed a significant difference between students of Afro-Caribbean and of Asian origin in respect of the type of course undertaken. Over two thirds (67 percent) of Asian students were in PGCE courses compared with less than half (48 percent) of Afro-Caribbean students. There was also a marked variation of minority ethnic students’ representation at an institutional level. About one third of PGCE courses and a little over two fifths of B.

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