Recruitment drive to close teacher representation gap in South West
A recruitment drive in the South West aims to increase the number of minority ethnic teachers to better reflect the pupil population.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A recruitment drive in the South West is aiming to close a significant gap between the number of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and the teachers who represent them. New figures show that almost a quarter of school pupils in the region are from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, but only 6% of teachers come from those groups, creating a 16% representation gap.
The campaign, run by the career change charity NowTeach, seeks to attract more people from minority ethnic backgrounds into the profession. The charity says many barriers exist, including marketing materials that do not help potential candidates see themselves in teaching, a lack of diverse leadership teams, and structural issues around finance and academic qualifications. These factors, it argues, can lead to a sense of marginalisation and poor retention.
One teacher who has already made the switch is Sujan Ganguly. After growing up in India and moving to England for a corporate job, he decided after 15 years to change careers. He said his background as a brown, openly gay person from a modest background makes his role more powerful for students. "It becomes more powerful because it's coming from a brown, an openly gay person, somebody from a very modest background, and who has navigated the corporate career successfully. So all of a sudden, success becomes more achievable to all those students who otherwise would not have thought about being into those places."
Students at the school also highlighted the importance of representation. Marnesha and Aisha said it creates a community where they feel safe, accepted and confident. "Teachers become role models for students and if you can see yourself in your teacher, I think you can see yourself aspiring to do great things," one of them said.
The recruitment campaign is being run through the National Institute of Teaching, which offers an anti-racist initial teacher training curriculum. It is hoped that closing the representation gap will open more doors for both students and those hoping to become teachers.
Separately, the report also noted that Haygrove School in Bridgewater was found to be structurally unsafe during an inspection in 2023. A new school is due to open in 2028, and the company that built the condemned school has since been dissolved.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | ITV |
|---|---|
| Haygrove School in Bridgewater was found to be structurally unsafe in 2023, with a new school opening in 2028 and the original building company dissolved. | |
| In the South West, almost a quarter of pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, but only 6% of teachers are from those backgrounds, a 16% gap. | |
| NowTeach says there are many barriers preventing people from minority ethnic backgrounds from becoming teachers, including marketing materials, leadership diversity, and structural issues around finance and qualifications. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The report leads with a local school safety issue before pivoting to the teacher representation gap, giving the story a strong regional and personal angle. It features a detailed interview with a teacher who changed careers to increase diversity, and includes student voices to underscore the impact of representation. The tone is supportive of the recruitment drive, highlighting barriers and the charity's efforts.
- “It becomes more powerful because it's coming from a brown, an openly gay person, somebody from a very modest background, and who has navigated the corporate career successfully.”
- “It creates a community where you feel safe, where you feel accepted and you feel confident in coming to school every day.”
- “We're running a recruitment campaign to try and inspire more individuals to kind of see themselves in the profession and then to come in and be trained by the National Institute of Teaching and experience an anti-racist initial teacher training curriculum.”
Broadcast Timeline
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