How is the Welsh Government working to increase the proportion of ethnic-minority teachers in Wales?
In October 2021 we published the initial teacher education (ITE) Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic recruitment plan. We have provided support to all ITE Partnerships, which included Community mentors, to design and implement individual institution recruitment plans. All ITE Partnerships have developed and published their recruitment plans to support this work and links to their individual plans can be found here. ITE Partnerships continue their work to ensure that applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds receive appropriate support prior to applying, and support is provided during the application process.
We have expanded our alternative ITE routes (the Part-time PGCE and Salaried PGCE) as per our commitment under the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. The Welsh Government has committed to continue our support for the alternative ITE routes for new student teachers in academic year 2024/25 and 2025/26.
The Ethnic Minority ITE incentive scheme continues to be available to eligible students who started their ITE programmes September 2023, and for those applying to start their ITE programmes from September 2024. This incentive scheme is in addition to our priority subject ITE incentive and our Welsh-medium ITE incentive.
Part of the Teaching Wales marketing campaign targets ethnic-minority audiences to encourage them to consider teaching as a career. This work is supported by EWC’s advocacy work which promotes teaching in schools, colleges, HEIs and broader community groups.