Black and Asian communities are not proportionately represented in the teaching workforce, especially in headship. Drawing on his own experiences and his journey to headship, headteacher Patrick Cozier looks at what we can do to diversify our school leadership teams
Image: Adobe Stock

I recently attended the launch of a very special book entitled Letters to a Young Generation: Aspiring school leaders, by the amazing Amanda Wilson (2023).

Subtitled Igniting a passion in the next generation of black school leaders, this book is inspiring and I feel privileged to have been asked to write one of the chapters.

Reading the book, it is easy to get lost in the passion and wisdom of the fantastic black educational leaders within. However, the most important thing for me is the book’s purpose, its “why”.

The under-representation of black leaders is a problem and anything we can do to encourage those that come after us is critical. The talent is there – there is no doubt about that – but more must be done to nurture, encourage and inspire that talent.

 

The desire to be a head

I came into teaching because of a desire to make a difference to the lives of children. Education can transform lives and create opportunities for young people.

My own story is one I always draw strength from. My parents came here from Barbados in the 1960s as part of the Windrush generation – my mother an auxiliary nurse and my father a postal worker. They came with the intention of creating a better life for their children. Education was at the heart of this dream.

I started teaching in September 1994 in south London. By 1996, I knew I wanted to be a headteacher. Working in a school with a high number of black and Asian children, I could see the impact that I and the other black staff in the school had when connecting with those students and providing role models to fuel their aspiration.

I recognised early on that the potential for black and Asian leaders to create a significant positive impact was huge. I wanted to be that person.

At the time I did not view being black as a disadvantage. I felt that it was one of my big selling points. I felt that my “blackness” – my cultural heritage, skill-set, adaptability, and shared experiences with children from African and Caribbean heritage – would place me in a strong position to lead a school with a mix of cultures.

In those early days, I did not see barriers, just dreams, ambitions and goals.

But my sense of value and self-belief was only half the story. The challenge was finding ways to ensure that others (school governors in particular) could see in me what I knew was there.

This was a much bigger challenge than I had anticipated and perhaps explains why there are comparatively few senior leaders and headteachers from black and Asian backgrounds.

 

The statistics

Teacher workforce statistics published by the Department for Education (DfE, 2023a) show that in 2022/23, 89.7% of all teachers in state-funded schools in England were from white backgrounds, including 84.4% who were white British.

Meanwhile, 5.3% of teachers were from Asian backgrounds and 2.5% were from black backgrounds, including Black Caribbean (1.1%) and Black African (1%).

This compares to 70.8% of the working age population in England who are white British, 10.4% who are from Asian backgrounds, and 6.4% from black backgrounds as counted in the 2021 Census (see DfE, 2023b).

Furthermore, the DfE (2023a) reports: “Teachers identifying in an ethnic minority group are not equally represented at leadership positions (heads, deputy heads, assistant heads).”

In 2022/23, the figures show that 15.5% of white British and 11.1% of white minority teachers were in leadership positions, compared to 9.7% of black or black British and 8.3% of Asian or Asian British teachers (DfE, 2023a).

If we look at the workforce ethnicity figures (DfE, 2023b) we see that 92.5% of all headteachers are White British. This compares to black African heads (0.2%), black Caribbean heads (0.7%), and Asian background heads (1.8%).

 

Unbalanced representation

It is clear however we look at the figures that the proportion of black and Asian background teachers is notably under-represented in schools compared to the population.

And the proportion of black and Asian background headteachers is notably under-represented compared to proportions we find in the teaching population.

What this points to is the lack of progression for our black African, black Caribbean, and Asian colleagues. What is the story here? There are many theories.

  • Poor and (institutionally?) biased recruitment processes.
  • Insufficient opportunities for development of black and Asian teachers in school.
  • A lack of applications from black and Asian teachers.

And if teachers are not applying, why might this be? Perhaps because these teachers:

  • Do not believe they will be given an opportunity (perhaps because they do not see “people like them” in leadership positions).
  • Do not see headship itself as an attractive prospect.
  • Feel that headship is precarious as they will be judged more harshly if things go wrong.

In my conversations with colleagues over the years I have encountered all of the above.

Of course, there is much that needs to be done at system level, not least DfE investment in the diversity of our sector and development programmes for diverse leaders.

But within our control, at school level, governing bodies need to think about their own make-up and be genuinely committed to proactively recruiting governors who represent the communities they serve.

Governing bodies need to understand how a lack of diversity influences the decisions they make when recruiting leaders – in particular this involves training about unconscious bias.

And leaders of colour need to adhere to the “each one, teach one” mantra – we must help our junior colleagues to navigate their way through the system with coaching, mentoring and other things like work-shadowing.

My own journey was nearly derailed by one line manager who tried to sabotage my first ever application for a senior leadership position. Back in 2001, I was a head of year and was keen on promotion. I was confident and believed I was ready.

My line manager didn’t and told me so – I recall her specific words: “I would be worried if you were appointed to a senior leadership role.” I cannot say whether my being black had anything to do with her view, but she certainly did not believe I was capable and was not supportive.

But I was confident, and my head believed in my ability. His support turned out to be critical as following a successful interview process I was informed by the school I had applied to that the two references they had received were in opposition – one very supportive, the other less so.

I found that disappointing, but sadly predictable.

The headteacher still appointed me, explaining that what they had seen during the grueling two-day interview was more aligned to the reference from my headteacher. They took a chance. I haven’t looked back since.

 

The challenges of being a black leader

I started my first headship at the age of 34 in September 2006 just 18 months after I had become a deputy. It was sooner than I had anticipated and it was scary.

The truth is that I was not quite ready for what I was taking on. I was scared of my own shadow! I was confident I could learn quickly, but the journey was challenging and pushed me in ways that I did not know possible.

I was excited, but also petrified. To talk about “imposter syndrome” vastly understates how I felt at the time. I have written about many of these feelings in my recent nine-article series for SecEd on my philosophy of calm leadership.

I remember saying to my coach – a very experienced former head – that I just couldn't get used to that feeling of constantly being at the edge of my comfort zone.

As I explained in my SecEd series, the first few years were tough and represented a steep learning curve. The first challenge was not leading the school but leading my colleagues.

I was the last one in, the young pretender. I was thrust into having to manage a team of people who were more experienced than I and who had been at the school longer. This knocked my confidence, particularly when making decisions that ran against the views of colleagues for whom I had great respect and, in some cases, a sense of awe.

There was the added pressure of being a young black headteacher – at the time one of only 11 secondary school male black headteachers of African-Caribbean heritage in the UK. I felt proud, but also daunted.

I enjoyed the wearing the cloak of representation. A particular source of joy and strength for me was hearing from black parents about how pleased they were to see me in my role. That always touched me (and still does) and I used it as inspiration to overcome my fears.

The need to be extra-vigilant about what one says is tough and draining. The feeling of being a lone voice at the many tables at which one sits in headship and as a system leader can be frustrating and dispiriting. These all make the job more demanding.

Perhaps the biggest difficulty I had was the habit I had for “editing” myself. It is hard to explain, but as a black person in a position of leadership there are certain stereotypes you are conscious of and wish to avoid. Suddenly, I found myself minimising aspects of my culture.

  • Turning down my music as I drove through the gates, not wanting other staff to hear the beautiful reggae beats that set up my positive and confident mood for the day.
  • Being cool and calm at all times – I was very aware of the stereotype of the “angry black man” and never wanted to fall foul of this.
  • Restricting the desire to challenge racism whenever and wherever I witnessed it. As a black person you see it all the time, implicitly and explicitly, and you want to call it out. But my editing told me to pick my battles because I didn’t want to be seen as that black person for whom “everything is about race”.
  • I edited my accent. Around friends and family, it is entirely natural to speak in our heavy patois dialect. There were times when I wanted to do so with black colleagues and students to accentuate that connection, but the pressure of being the headteacher prevented me.

This is a crucial issue. It isn’t about the seemingly trivial nature of some of the “edits” I describe. There is something more fundamental that gnaws at the very purpose of diversity.

Having diversity in leadership can only make a difference if leaders bring their diversity into work with them. To edit oneself is to lose the very difference that your diversity can make. Editing makes us all middle class white men!

I now make a point of telling our young aspiring black leaders to be brave and to be themselves. Their authenticity is what matters most.

In the early stages of my headship, I had great support from a range of coaches. As well as the need to feel like I was worthy of the job, I used this support to help me stop editing.

I learned a lot from my coaches. They helped me to make sense of my experiences and supported the development of the sense of perspective that I have honed over time.

 

Getting diversity in a team which is not diverse

The reality is that many leadership teams are not there in terms of the diversity and community representation we want to see. It is important to find ways to work with what you have in order to increase awareness, understanding and to promote diversity of thought and approach.

I have a leadership team that is not diverse. We represent a school community that looks very different from the team of senior leaders who are there to represent them. The same is true of my wider staff body.

But we have done several things over the last couple of years to try to move forwards:

  • Senior leaders read the books White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (2018) and Brit(ish): On race, identity and belonging by Afua Hirsch (2018) and reflected on their own views, perspectives and practice.
  • A presentation to staff about my own leadership journey – sharing my experiences growing from a black boy in north London to a black ma
  • Staff watched video recordings of our black and Asian students talking about their experiences at our school.
  • We weaved our equality targets into our school development plan – so departmental plans must pay attention to this.
  • All student data is broken down and analysed by a range of sub-criteria, including ethnic background.
  • We have a governor with responsibilities for racial equity.
  • We have created a Student Cultural Diversity Forum that is in its early stages of development.
  • Zero-tolerance of any racist behaviour – even against “your own”.
  • Training in unconscious bias for staff.
  • We reviewed our approach to promoting positive behaviours with support from an external behaviour specialist.
  • We offered to buy a book on anti-racism every staff member to read over the summer We have met twice since September to review, learn and apply.

 

Race and leadership roles in schools

Race matters. Visibility matters. Diversity matters. In leadership roles, these things matter even more.

Authenticity is the key. We have to train, support and encourage people to be their authentic selves as diverse leaders so that the diversity of their experiences, backgrounds, thinking, and views can come to the fore.

We need to do more to encourage and bring the talented pool of ethnic global majority leaders through the system. We must consider the barriers and blockers and find ways to overcome them.

This will take leadership at all levels, from the government down to local authorities and multi-academy trusts and ultimately school governors and leaders.

  • Patrick Cozier is an experienced secondary school headteacher of 17 years. He leads Highgate Wood School in Haringey. In addition to his day job, he chairs the Haringey Secondary Heads’ Forum and takes a leading role in the work of the Racial Equity Group (part of the Haringey Education Partnership). He serves as a trustee for the charity Show Racism the Red Card. As a member of the black community, he is passionate about seeking equality, justice, and fair outcomes for people of colour. Find Patrick on Twitter @CalmLeadership and LinkedIn. Find his previous SecEd articles and podcast appearances via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/patrick-cozier

 

Further information & resources