Question reference: S5W-08540
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 31 March 2017
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure that initiatives aimed at increasing the number of teachers are targeting people from ethnic minority backgrounds and other groups that are currently under-represented in teaching.
Answer
The primary objective of the current ‘Teaching Makes People’ recruitment campaign is the recruitment of STEM undergraduates into Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) teaching courses. While the current campaign does not specifically target graduates from ethnic minority backgrounds into teaching we have been conscious to ensure that our campaigns are inclusive of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The second phase of the Teaching Makes People campaign will take place in 2017-18 and we intend to continue to address concerns about underrepresentation this year. It is intended that the next phase of the recruitment campaign will take account of recommendations from the Strategic Board for Teacher Education’s Working Group which the Board agreed to establish when it last met in January.