BLACK   SOCIAL  HISTORY                                                                                                                 Liverpool’s black teachers are ‘victims of racial prejudice,’ academic report says

• By John Siddle

LIVERPOOL’S small number of black teachers are victims of racial prejudice and discrimination, an academic study today claimed.4                                                         BLACK  SOCIAL  HISTORY     LIVERPOOL’S small number of black teachers are victims of racial prejudice and discrimination, an academic study today claimed.

Just 22 of 4,192 city teachers are from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds, the Manchester university paper states – among the lowest rates in the country.

It is a figure that has remained “stagnant” for at least 27 years and requires “urgent action”, the authors said.

Liverpool city council disputed the report, saying it did not take into account staff who are mixed race or from other minority groups.

Professor Bill Boyle and Marie Charles surveyed 15 of the 22 teachers in the city and found that many felt held back from finding jobs and advancing their careers.

According to their report, one city teacher told them: “When I do something, I do not get the credit but when someone else does something it is blown into ‘look what ‘X’ has done’ I feel miserable. I feel that I have to work harder just to be equal.”

Another said: “Racial discrimination is very common. Some teachers discriminate openly. One of my colleagues withdrew from the training programme because of it.”

The university study revisited the 1985 Swann report, commissioned by the Thatcher government, which said the small number of black teachers in Liverpool was “a matter of great concern”.

Five of the teachers who took part in the survey were black Caribbean, six were black African and four were black mixed.

From the sample, 66% of respondents complained of poor career advancement, racial harassment and inadequate black teacher representation in schools.

Professor Boyle said: “Liverpool is a city which has long viewed black children as an educational problem and a threat to the educational standards of the white community.

“This is scandalous in a city which has had an Afro-Caribbean community for over 400 years – probably Europe’s oldest.

“Government data shows that England, though one fifth of the school population is multicultural, 95% of our teachers are white.

“In Liverpool the percentage is even higher; an overwhelming 98% of the city's teachers are white.”

A spokesman for Liverpool council said: “Schools are responsible for their own recruitment but we work with them to encourage a diverse workforce and indeed Liverpool University has a co-ordinator to encourage people from ethnic minority communities into teacher training.

“We fully accept there is more to be done but this report does not take account of employees from all minority ethnic groups or staff who are mixed race.

“In terms of the overall council workforce, our own data shows that 5.8% have identified themselves non-white, but 13% of staff have yet to provide information about their ethnic background because doing so is voluntary.

“Schools should not tolerate racism, or any other form of discrimination, and we urge teachers and pupils to highlight any incidents through the appropriate channels so that they can be fully investigated.”