The Department for Education’s 2015 school workforce statistics show that despite a slight increase of BAME educators entering the sector, there is poor representation of BAME staff members in leadership positions.
The new network – entitled BAMEed – is open to all and aims to take “positive collective action” to support BAME educators, both new and more experienced teachers, to make the step-up to leadership.
The group’s first plan of action is to create a BAME educators database and to bring together professional coaches with potential coachees via a matching service.
A statement from the network said: “The BAMEed steering group and core groups comprise the diversity and equity they wish to see across education in the UK. Together they will be developing and building a sustainable network across the UK.
“They plan to work with academics, professional development experts and others to understand the causes for under-representation of BAME educators in the UK, especially in leadership positions. The group will also be forging relationships with a wide range of education organisations which wish to promote and support their cause.
“The network welcomes all educators to support BAMEed including, of course, colleagues from outside of the BAME community. A commitment to ensuring that our diverse society allows all of its members access to recruitment and progress within education careers is all that is needed.”
It comes two years after the #WomenEd campaign was launched to raise the profile of women in education and their lack of representation in school leadership.
Headteacher Hannah Wilson, a co-founder of the #WomenEd campaign, is also supporting the BAMEed network. In a recent blog entry, she wrote: “I have been involved in a lot of conversations in the last year about the lack of diversity in the education system, especially in leadership. I passionately believe that our school staff bodies and leadership teams should reflect the communities that we serve.
“WomenEd has done a lot in the last two years to raise the profile of the need for more female leaders. As a community we have identified the challenges and shared some possible solutions. With BAMEed we are yet to identify all of the systemic barriers and how to counteract them to support BAME educators in their careers.”
You can find BAMEed on Twitter @BAMEedNetwork or you can contact BAMEed@outlook.com and visit www.bameednetwork.wordpress.com for details.