Creating a Space for Race in English Schools is a collaborative endeavour between ARU and the University of Bedfordshire, with parallel projects running at both Universities.
The aim of the project is to investigate the barriers to recruitment, retention and progression for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)* trainees, teachers and leaders in schools in the East of England and beyond. There are currently two strands to the project: data collection and knowledge exchange.
The data collection part of the project is administered by Prof Uvanney Maylor and Prof Andy Goodwyn from the University of Bedfordshire (UoB), and involves interviewing serving teachers, trainees and school leaders from BAME backgrounds.
The knowledge exchange element is led by Dr Steve Connolly and Dr Samson Tsegay from ARU. This work involves building up a picture of recruitment, retention and progression for BAME teachers with a view to developing an online knowledge exchange event in the autumn term of 2022, and a wider knowledge exchange network of schools, local authorities, universities and other stakeholders.
The data collected by the team at UoB will feed into this knowledge exchange, with the outcome of this activity being used to compile a substantial bid for a funded project in autumn 2023. It is hoped that this project will develop a range of tools and resources which will help BAME teachers to challenge and ultimately remove some of the barriers that they face.
We are very keen to hear from BAME trainees, teachers and school leaders who would be willing to be interviewed for the project, and tell us about their experiences. If you would be interested in taking part, please email [email protected] or fill in our short form.
* The project team acknowledges that BAME is a problematic term and discussion of these problems will form part of the knowledge exchange event.