This is a personal account of myself working in Yorkshire Schools as an African black male qualified teacher.
I qualified as a teacher in July 2015. Since graduating I have been applying for permanent teaching jobs mainly in Yorkshire and London.
I found that schools and teaching supply agencies were only willing to offer temporary roles or maternity covers. On some occasions I have the opportunity to apply for the job I was covering but always turned down.
Whilst working as a Teacher in Yorkshire I have been racially abused by students. When reported to the schools nothing was really done to address the racial issue. I believe on one occasion a student was given two days exclusion.
Some schools decided to get rid of me by immediately ending my temporary contract instead of dealing with the issue. I often feel like as the victim I am being punished for the students racial abuse.
This situation happened again in my last role at a school in West Yorkshire. I was racially abused, and nothing was done to the student in question. The next day I was called into the HR office and I was given notice that my temporary contract was ending.
One of the Assistant Principals denied that the incident was racially motivated and went on to tell me that racism doesn’t happen anymore in the UK.
I found it very suspicious because it happened the day after I was racially abused by the student.
I believe that Yorkshire should end the culture of silence regarding racism.
I often wondered why many black teachers don’t work in Yorkshire Schools. Now I realise it’s because schools don’t want to hire them or they left the profession because the schools didn’t do anything to address the situation.
Sources:
https://www.runnymedetrust.org/invisibleteachers.html
https://ei-ie.org/en/detail/15446/uk-racial-discrimination-is-a-reality-in-schools-and-classrooms
