Seeing ourselves at school

17 December 2024

Australia’s teaching workforce doesn’t look much like its student population.

A Melbourne University report, Seeing ourselves at school: increasing the diversity of the teaching workforce says only 6 per cent of teachers report a disability, 17 per cent were born overseas, and less than 2 per cent identify as an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait Islander person.

By contrast, 24 per cent of students report a disability, according to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says Aboriginal students and Torres Strait Islander students account for 6.5 per cent of all school students.

Associate professor Suzanne Rice from Melbourne University, who led the team behind the report, says US-based research has shown an improvement in achievement for minority groups when teacher diversity is increased.

“There’s strong evidence now that minority teachers tend to hold higher expectations of minority students than non-minority teachers,” says Rice.

“For example, in the United States, there is evidence that Black teachers are more likely to nominate Black students for gifted education programs and to recognise their students’ academic potential.”

Rice says much of the existing research on diversity in schools comes from the US.

“In Australia, it’s really only relatively recently come onto policymakers’ radars,” she says.

A 2021 report, The impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, found that, according to the 2016 census, there were 9184 fully qualified and registered Aboriginal teachers and Torres Strait Islander teachers, making up a little over two per cent of the teaching population.

“We have all heard the saying ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’,” says University of Queensland’s (UQ) associate professor Marnee Shay, a former secondary school teacher whose work focuses on improving the educational outcomes of students most at risk of marginalisation at school. Shay’s maternal family is from the Ngen’giwumirri language group (Daly River, Northern Territory) and she has strong connections to communities in South East Queensland.

But providing role models is just a starting point, says Shay.

“Teachers choose the knowledge they reproduce via the curriculum in their classrooms; they teach things in their own cultural way. If we don’t have diversity, students experience a monoculturalism that does not reflect the many diverse cultures we have in modern Australia.”

Making a difference

As a child, Adongwot Manyoul attended Australian schools after migrating from Egypt. South Sudanese by heritage, Manyoul experienced the best and worst of the primary, secondary and tertiary systems, including racism and discrimination. These experiences inspired her to want to make a difference in the education sector.

In 2019, Manyoul was awarded the Peter Mitchell Churchill Fellowship to investigate how the education systems of other Western countries have welcomed and accommodated people from African countries. She explored the best practices in countries throughout Europe and the US that address key barriers students face, such as the lack of culturally safe practitioners, under-representation of diverse educators and the need to decolonise the curriculum.

“I believe we can address the broader issues of delinquency and anti-social behaviour that often stem from feelings of alienation and hopelessness by finding ways to create positive experiences and agency for African students,” says Manyoul.

Prevention over cure

Mayoul is driven by the idea that prevention is better than cure. She wants to see a radical change in the dialogue about racism, diversity and inclusion and suggests scholarships and financial incentives, and a range of measures to support them, would attract more teachers from diverse backgrounds.

“The more diversity in the teacher workforce, the greater the impact in countering systemic inequalities,” she says.

“Having representation in positions of authority helps students feel safe and understood, especially when they see someone who reflects their own background. It also inspires students to see representation of themselves reflected in such positions and makes them feel they can do the same in their future.”

Groups underrepresented in the Australian teaching workforce include Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people, those from rural and remote areas, people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and people with disability.

Rice says there are also gaps in the data, such as not knowing how many teachers identify as LGBTIQ+.

Culturally safe workplaces

A Deakin University project, Attracting and retaining a culturally diverse teacher workforce, due to begin next year, will investigate ways to achieve better representation.

Led by Dr Ben Arnold and his team, including Professor Jill Blackmore, the project is in partnership with the AEU as well as collaboration with the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association and the Australian Council of State School Organisations.

Arnold says that addressing diversity in the teaching workforce is not just about increasing numbers, but about creating culturally safe and responsive workplaces where teachers from diverse backgrounds feel supported and valued.

The study contends that diversifying the teacher workforce has many advantages.

“[It] may help enhance the sustainability of the workforce. It can also foster a more inclusive and supportive learning environment, leading to social, emotional, and academic benefits for students,” says Blackmore.

“We need systemic changes, from how we recruit and prepare teachers to how we support them throughout their careers.”

Effective strategies

Arnold says there are several strategies that can be implemented to increase the diversity of teachers and support their retention.

“These include offering intentional financial incentives and scholarships, as well as developing culturally responsive recruitment strategies.”

“However, equally important to qualifying teachers from diverse backgrounds is the commitment to long-term retention strategies to ensure they remain in the profession.”

Blackmore says the Australian government and various educational organisations are beginning to recognise the need for diversity.

“They have policies advocating for workforce diversity, an increase in First Nations teachers and initiatives such as First Nations student scholarships and the promotion of culturally responsive teaching standards being implemented, but more work is needed to achieve progress,” she says.

UQ's Shay says creating scholarships and pathways programs may work to some degree, but addressing educational inequalities faced by Aboriginal students and Torres Strait Islander students is a higher priority.

“We know that the system does not perform and get the same outcomes as it does for non-Indigenous students,” says Shay. “We must listen to the evidence and make some real changes so that we have the majority of First Nations students completing school, ready for tertiary study if they choose to take that path.”

Rice says traditional initiatives to attract teachers mostly focused on supply gaps and only a small number of initiatives were focused on increasing diversity. Rice and her colleagues found that the most effective strategy to increase diversity were grow-your-own programs, especially when these were co-designed by underrepresented group members.

“Often those teachers are local people who understand how their schools work, so if you move them into a teacher training program and provide support, they’re often very committed,” she says.

“You are also then partially solving the staffing problem as they will usually stay on. They also bring a wealth of cultural knowledge around that particular area.”

School context and culture also play an important role, and well-designed induction programs, targeted pathways into leadership positions and workplace accommodations (particularly for people with disability) are just some of the factors that need to be considered.

Manyoul says a key issue is that many people are deterred by a perception that the profession is unwelcoming towards diversity.

"Educators of diverse backgrounds have expressed the lack of cultural safety within school environments, and in some instances, experience bullying and disrespect in the form of racial stereotypes,” she says.

She wants to see the focus shift to supporting culturally safe systems and practitioners.

“This can be achieved through mandatory cultural safety training for all educators, both at the tertiary training level and for those already working in the field," says Manyoul.

By Samantha Allemann

This article was originally published in the Australian Educator, Summer 2024