§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to encourage the recruitment of teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds; and what success has been achieved in the last two years.
§ Sir Wyn RobertsThe Government have adopted a range of measures to encourage people from ethnic minority backgrounds to consider a career in the teaching profession. They include teaching as a career, publications, advertising, participation at careers events, stimulating the development of special access courses, and supporting relevant local projects.
The Government introduced ethnic monitoring of teachers in January 1990 following recommendation by the Swann committee, but the quality of the response from 187W local education authorities and grant-maintained schools so far has been poor. As a result it is not yet possible to draw conclusions about the percentage of teachers in Wales who are from ethnic minorities, nor to identify improvements over the last two years.