This week, Camden Learning held our third Annual General Meeting, a terrific turnout, with 74 attendees logging in for the virtual event. Listening and learning from the wisdom of Paul Miller was certainly the highlight of my week.
Paul provided an inspiring keynote address, which was a stimulating lecture on race diversity in the teaching workforce, where he gave us all much to think and act upon. Paul talked about race inequality in teacher/leader progression, where there is a deep rooted and continuing struggle amongst teachers for equity and mutual recognition in our education institutions. I could not help thinking about the programmes and initiatives of the past, which have had little impact on the very low number of Black/Asian and other ethnic heritage leaders in our schools, who make up just 1.7%!
Throughout the session, Paul encouraged us to think about institutional interaction and BME staff progression; the four box grid that he shared, really got under the key components. The four components outlined being either engaged, (with BME staff represented at all levels), uninitiated, experimenting, or initiated with a framework in place to meet the legal duty, with some BME staff in posts, but not at a senior level. Paul talked about the continuing push in getting schools to actively seek out and deploy talent from suitably qualified and experienced BME individuals in an attempt to change the face of school leadership.
Camden’s Education Strategy (see the item on Education Strategy and our leaflet) outlines our five ambitions. The fifth ambition, to attract, grow and retain great professionals and leaders, has a key objective-to create the culture and conditions to attract and retain the best teachers and leaders who reflect the diversity of our community; which identifies ways of enabling fairer leadership progression in schools, Camden Learning and across the Council. Although a workforce strategy has been under consideration and discussed at our School Lead Improvement Group, what is clear, is an ambition to shape a local strategy. Following a short review of the evidence of factors, which contribute to increased ability to attract, retain and grow talented staff, with a focus on deploying talent from BME individuals. Paul helpfully directed us to the cornerstones of how to bring about change, firstly, by looking at structures and systems, secondly, considering talent development and finally, reflecting on institutional culture.
Camden Learning and our schools are investing in a sustainable programme to challenge inequalities and promote a culture of anti-racism; we have our Camden Learning Anti-Racism Hub, led by UCLA, in collaboration with our partners, The Black Curriculum. There is a successful Somali mentoring programme in place in four schools, we are investing in Camden Conversations with Shalina Patel and Paul Miller, actively surveying the diversity and make up of our governing bodies, as well as challenging ourselves about the demographic of the CL board. My personal action following Paul’s lecture is to continue to challenge racism, with a collective endeavour, promote a culture of anti-racism and continue to learn, discuss and implement change in a sustainable way.
Jon Abbey
Managing Director of Camden Learning
