Unions demand 'equality training' for school recruitment boards

Wednesday, 15 September 2010 12:00 AM

by Anita McKay

A teachers union has called for fairer recruitment procedures for ethnic minorities.

Speaking at the 142nd annual Trades Union Congress conference in Manchester, Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, urged for proper equality training to be brought in for anybody who sits on a recruitment panel as well as appropriate monitoring in schools at appointment procedures.

"We actually think that there needs to be a whole equality awareness raising on a whole schools basis. We find most schools are not following the equality duties that have been in place for some time," she said.

She went on to state that inequality is still a "huge problem" for black and minority ethnic teachers and an "even greater problem" for teachers with disabilities.

"We think that the schools should be required to remove the barriers that they sometimes place," she said.

Tags:
• education
,
• schools