TTR0045

Written evidence submitted by the Muslim Teachers Association (MTA)

About Muslim Teachers Association (MTA)

The MTA is a body of professional teachers established in 1979 in mainly state schools. We seek to create a platform to share ideas, ambitions and values. Our vision is to support Muslim professionals and students in the Education sector enabling them to have a successful career whilst practising their faith.

Background Information on Muslims in the UK: Further to the most recent 2021 Census data approximately 6.5% (1 in 15) of Britons identify as Muslims, compared to 4.8% in 2011. Muslims are the second largest faith group in the UK. The black & minority ethnic (BME) population in 2021 standing at 18% of the overall population, compared to 14% in 2011. Compared to the overall population, British Muslims are on average younger.

Looking ahead in the next decade, an increasing proportion of Muslims are now second and third generation, completing their and entering the workforce.

However, anecdotal evidence suggests that take-up of teaching amongst British Muslims is low.

This questionnaire was shared with members of the Muslim Teachers Association and the responses are a collation of the responses from the responses given, some comments for one question may be contradictory for this reason.

Response to call for evidence for Teacher recruitment, training and retention

The current situation regarding teacher recruitment and retention

1 What are the main factors leading to difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified teachers?

• Pay needs to be on par with industry
• Conditions in industry are much better and pay more, particularly for individuals with good degree qualifications
• Retaining qualified teachers is an issue, due to poor behaviour of pupils in school and lack of discipline
• High workload of teachers and expectations from senior leaders and headteachers
• Pressure of constantly being expected to improve results and pressure from OFSTED
• Lack of time and resources to do everything that is required
• Too much assessment and marking so that time is not available for producing high quality lessons
• More quality time is needed with pupils to focus on the teaching rather than all the administration that is required
• Subject teachers are expected to know everything about a range of topics e.g. safeguarding, mental health, drugs, cyberbullying and a lot more. The list keeps increasing.
• Working in schools in Outer London is a disadvantage as other inner London schools nearby are offering higher salaries
• Lots of entry level jobs now offer more than a starting teacher’s salary
• Teaching is seen to be a job with high levels of stress and lots of work so it is not seen as an attractive option
• Not enough remuneration compared to inflation
• Post Covid, teachers want flexibility to work from home -one school has started a system where teachers work from home for one day per week
• Younger teachers want shorter hours with less stress and tend not to see teaching as a vocation
• Experienced teachers are worn out after Covid and are now dealing with increased behavioural and mental health issues.
• Behaviour and attendance have decreased post Covid,
• Pupils and parents have less respect for teachers now.
• Mental Health has been promoted to a level where it is not teaching resilience to individuals
• Pay needs to be on par with industry
• Conditions in industry are much better and pay more, particularly for individuals with good degree qualifications
• More quality time is needed with pupils to focus on the teaching rather than all the administration that is required
• Subject teachers are expected to know everything about safeguarding, mental health, drugs, cyberbullying and a lot more. The list keeps increasing.
• Experienced teachers are worn out after Covid and are now dealing with increased behavioural and mental health issues. Behaviour and attendance have decreased and pupils and parents have less respect for teachers now.
• OSTED puts unnecessary pressure on headteachers, they put pressure on senior and middle leadership teams who then put pressure on heads of departments who then put a lot of pressure on individual teachers -this then translates to pressure on pupils to achieve.
• Workload and pay are the two main issues.
• The unnecessary scrutiny from OFSTED puts people off the profession.
• Schools are picking up a lot of issues that should be picked up by social services.
• A teacher is no longer a teacher as they have no work/life balance. A quality provision for education needs to look after teachers particularly from Ethnic Minorities. There is an increasing number of teachers from Ethnic minority groups, but their progression into leadership is negligible. Teachers are asking themselves – Why work here when we can earn more with less pressure in industry or in a different country?
• Retaining qualified teachers is an issue due to

1. Poor behaviour of pupils in school and lack of discipline
2. High workload of teachers and expectations from senior leaders and headteachers
3. Pressure of constantly being expected to improve results and pressure of OFSTED
4. Lack of time and resources to do everything that is required
5. Too much assessment and marking so that time is not available for producing high quality lessons

2. Which subjects are most affected?

At secondary level: Mathematics, Science particularly Physics and Chemistry, Modern Foreign languages, History, Computer Science, Geography, SEND and Music.

All subjects are being affected, as good quality individuals are not coming into the profession and too many are disillusioned and leaving the profession, or even worse, burnt out disillusioned teachers are remaining in post in order because it is more financially viable.

If schools cannot recruit specialist teachers, teachers with slack on their timetable will be asked to teach non-specialist subjects. The greater the recruitment problem, the more this will happen making schools not happy places to be.

Quality first teaching cannot be delivered to pupils, if we cannot recruit specialist teachers at secondary level who are passionate about their subject and want to share their passion with pupils.

3. How does the situation differ across the country and across different types of schools and colleges?

In academies, teachers feel that there is unfair pressure placed on teachers, particularly from Ethnic minorities. There are few checks and balances in some academies and headteachers feel that they can ‘do whatever they want’. An example is of teachers being sworn at in public and everyone laughing as the culture in the school was toxic-eventually the teacher resigned and left the profession and would never return again.

Academies have more flexibility to pay teachers more so are getting the best teachers.

In the New opportunity areas (like Blackpool), schools are not attractive areas to live so they do not attract teachers, more incentives are needed to address this issue.

There is more stability in MATs, as they are larger and more corporate. Stand-alone academies and schools are struggling at the moment, particularly in terms of making the finances work in the present climate.

According to the Times Educational supplement, attendance has been down to 85%[1], thus impacting pupil attainment. There are pressures on teachers to do well in high stake examinations and low attendance will have a negative impact on this.

The Sutton Trust research has shown a gap in outcomes between lower income young people and their wealthier peers is a significant factor affecting social mobility today, limiting access to leading universities, the best apprenticeships and the most competitive careers[2]. Inequalities in access to formal schooling and to wider education and enrichment experiences all contribute to this gap.

4. What impact does this have on pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND?

Disadvantaged pupils are not getting the best teachers as there is such a high turnover of staff. It takes more time for SEN and disadvantaged pupils to develop relationships with new teachers, so the disadvantage gap will be widened.

The National Strategies which was a working arm of the DfE made a significant impact on closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils in London. Unfortunately, now this gap is again widening.[3]

In schools with a high level of disadvantage the challenges are acute – schools are dealing with aspects of Domestic Violence, Family breakdown. Schools with a high level of white working-class children face the extra challenge of resistance to education. There are issues of feeding pupils properly, some families face issues of living in overcrowded accommodation or families where siblings are from different fathers. Parents are working several jobs to make ends meet- the social problems are getting worse with time, parents and children are facing more emotional and financial challenges which spill over into schools. Pupil premium money is useful in addressing some of these issues but more money, time, effort and resources are needed to even the playing field in this two-tiered education system.

Schools need the flexibility and resources for headteachers to have a vision for their pupils, so that adjustments can be made in terms of training staff to address their individual needs.

One Hackney school has a staff SEND briefing every Friday so that the needs of SEND pupils is kept high on the agenda – consequently the SEND pupils in the schools are performing really well.

In 2019 four of the top ten performing schools for progress 8 in the country were Muslim faith schools – Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School, Bolton Muslim Girls School, Eden Girls’ School Coventry, and Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School – perhaps lessons could be learnt from these successful schools.

Evidence from the Educational Endowment Fund[4] shows that pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) have the greatest need for excellent teaching and are entitled to provision that supports achievement at, and enjoyment of, school. The attainment gap between pupils with SEND and their peers is twice as big as the gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers.

Their guidance for Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools has five recommendations on special education needs in mainstream schools-two of them are:

• Ensure that all pupils have access to high quality teaching
• Complement high quality teaching with carefully selected small-group and one-to-one interventions
• In the present climate in most schools -this is impossible.

6. What action should the Department take to address the challenges in teacher recruitment and retention? 

The Department for Education needs look at the starting salaries for teachers. If you want more teachers, salaries have to be competitive or more incentives need to be in place to make teaching an attractive and viable option.

The whole education system needs a radical re-think to make it fit for the future. Review the stipulation for 1265 hours of directed teacher time for teachers each year and the 90% maximum teaching ratio for teachers to find new ways in which workload can be managed in a creative way –

Stability is required- schools need time to set up and develop systems and procedures which need time to embed, constant change is not good. Changes come from the government, DfE, OFSTED and examination boards in terms of assessment.

Education is out of step in the modern world. Schools are not teaching skills for the modern world eg Artificial intelligence

The DfE need an awareness campaign to encourage people with a strong moral drive to ‘make a difference’ to join the profession and to show the ‘beauty of teaching’.

Young teachers need to be supported financially and with housing so that they can have a good quality of life-young teachers are really struggling to make ends meet.

Review OFSTED

Recruitment needs to start at an earlier stage and support needs to be provided.

6. What has been the impact of the new bursaries and scholarships announced in October?

N/A

7. How well does the current teacher training framework work to prepare new teachers and how could it be improved? 

There are some strengths to the Teacher Training Framework-it is uniform across the board, so the training in one school is the same as the training in any other school.

The information required is bureaucratic for example the mental meetings need to be referenced.

In theory it is a good idea to have a mentor in a different subject, but different subjects have very different pedagogies, so this is not as useful as having a mentor in the same subject area.

The teacher training framework is good, the problem is that the profession is not attractive.  The provision is not a problem, the issue is not attracting good calibre candidates.

It needs a good mentor to make it work and this takes time to do effectively.

Millennials have a poor attitude to hard work and want a 9-4 job with little commitment

The Pedagogy works well and it is a fair starting point.

6. What has been the impact of the Early Career Framework implemented in September 2021?

It is positive to train teachers, however where student teachers are not well led, it leads to a workload issue.

Where young teachers are living at home with their parents (as they cannot afford to buy a home of their own) and do not have a mortgage, they are less likely to take a job that causes a lot of work and stress. ‘I always wanted to be an English teacher, I was passionate, wanted to make a difference and was always there for the pupils.

It is good and comprehensive and has more classroom practice. The mentoring must be of high quality with support.

7. Are there ways in which teacher training could be improved to address the challenges in recruitment and retention?

It needs more of a focus on subject knowledge, behaviour management and the multicultural nature of pupils in schools. The framework is good

8. How does teacher training in England compare internationally, and what are the benefits and disadvantages of the English system?

Teachers in countries doing well in PISA and other international comparisons only select potential teachers with high level degrees

In France, teachers go into class to teach their own subject then go home to plan their lessons for the next day – no pastoral responsibilities.

In Finland and Singapore teachers are well remunerated and respected.

It is not good that individuals can become teachers with a minimal 2 grade 4’s at GCSE for English and Mathematics -this will produce a lower standard to teachers.

It is not the training that is an issue, it is the attractiveness of the provision

The quality of provision in the Teaching Framework is the best in the world and is recognised internationally.

8. How do challenges in teacher recruitment, training and retention compare to those being faced in other professions/ sectors of the economy, and is there anything that can be learned from other professions/ sectors of the economy? 

 Teaching and Medicine are similar in many ways and both facing issues of remuneration. The public sector can learn a lot from the Private sector.

9. What particular challenges exist in teacher recruitment, training and retention for teachers from different demographic backgrounds? 

Teacher recruitment and retention has always been an issue for teachers who are from Black and Global majority communities - Uncomfortable and disturbing: Report reveals substantial disparities in career progression for ethnic minority teachers – Sec Ed -Secondary Education[5]

“Teachers from all ethnic groups other than white are also under-represented at each subsequent stage of the profession from NQT through to headteacher, compared to their representation in the population in 2021.”

Uncomfortable reading: The representation of ethnic groups in the teaching profession in 2020/21. Over-representation of black, Asian, and other ethnic backgrounds in ITT applications quickly turns into under-representation across “all stages of the teacher career pipeline” (Source: Worth et al, 2022).

Yes, potential teachers from Black and Global majority groups need to be more actively recruited at an earlier stage (while still doing their degrees and even A level). Mentoring and support structures need to be set up to support teachers-before during and post training.

Institutional Racism

Muslim women face many challenges – being a woman/ being Muslim/wearing a Hijab – the MTA has supported many individuals over the years facing discrimination of different types.

There are low numbers of individuals from Ethnic minority groups applying for teaching, once in post they face institutional racism. The majority of Ethnic minority teachers are on the lowest grades and find it takes much longer to gain promotion. There are very few at leadership level.

Ethnic minority teachers are an asset to any school as they are hardworking, loyal even when they have no recognition.

Many schools with a majority of pupils form Ethnic minorities still have all white headteachers and senior leadership teams. It is important for pupils to see positive role models reflected at all levels-particularly at headship level. Not just main professional grade teachers or teaching assistants, the cleaners or midday staff in the school.

11. How well does the demographic makeup of the teaching workforce reflect that of the pupils they teach?

No, it does not

It is NOT reflected -particularly at leadership level.

Pupils particularly in inner city schools with a high level of Ethnic Minority pupils often have headteachers and senior leadership teams who do not reflect the diversity of pupils. It is essential for pupils to have positive role models in school -who look like them.

The Investing in Diversity programme did a lot to change this in London schools. Investing in Diversity in London Schools was a Leadership Preparation for Black and Global Majority Educators was a program run at UCL Institute of Education 20 years ago, run by Rosemary Campbell-Stevens where 1,000 Black and Global Majority teachers went through the programme over 6 years as a part of the London Challenge initiative[6]. Many teachers gained promotion and it doubled the number of Back and Global Majority headteachers in some London Local Authorities. The programme had a very strong Moral purpose which was a foundation for this successful programme.

April 2023