Recruitment and support update for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic ITE students 2026: integrated impact assessment

This proposal supports the publication of the Recruitment and support update for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic ITE students 2026. This aligns with Wales’ commitment to becoming an anti-racist country. This update is aligned with the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP).

The Recruitment and support update for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic ITE students 2026 outlines Welsh Governments strategic, multi-sector approach to increasing ethnic diversity in the teaching workforce. The purpose of the 2026 ITE update is to:

• build on previous efforts
• ensure sustainable, anti-racist recruitment
• support ethnic minority student teachers across Wales

The 3 key themes within the update

• Promotion of teaching as a career to ethnic minority communities through inclusive marketing, outreach, and incentives.
• Support for students via advocacy services, tailored guidance, inclusive recruitment panels, and culturally sensitive placement experiences.
• Policy development focused on embedding anti-racist practices in ITE programmes, decolonising the curriculum, and ensuring systemic change.

Welsh Government and its keys ITE stakeholders including ITE partnerships, Educators Wales and DARPL are tasked with collaborative efforts including:

• reviewing recruitment plans, enhancing support services
• promoting anti-racist training, and improving data collection on racial incidents

ITE partnerships have developed individual tailored recruitment plans that align with this update and the ArWAP. They include specific targets, actions and reviews that are central to driving this change forward at ground level within each ITE partnership.

Under representation of teachers

The Anti-racist Wales Action Plan: 2024 update revises and builds upon the goals and actions set out in the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (2022). The 2026 update commits Welsh Government and the organisations for which we have a direct responsibility to actions whereby ethnic minority staff are represented in all areas of the workforce at a level that matches the society we serve. While school teachers in Wales are not directly employed by Welsh Government, the commitment to a representative public sector extends to the school teaching workforce. This is in addition to our education-specific goal of increase the recruitment of teachers from ethnic minority communities, with a particular focus on recruitment into initial teacher education programmes. 

As of November 2024,1.3% of the teaching workforce in Wales identified as Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnicity.

The Schools Census results from January 2025 show an increase to 15% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic learners in Wales. 

Current HESA data shows that 16% of enrolments for non ITE postgraduate courses in Wales were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students compared to just 6% for ITE postgraduate courses. 

Research by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales 2023 Spotlight Report: ‘Take it Seriously’: Children’s experiences of Racism within Secondary Schools provides further evidence on the need to diversify the teaching workforce and improve all children’s and young people’s experiences in schools.

Children stated that they would like to see more ethnically diverse teachers, who would better understand diverse ethnic cultures as well as relating more to their experiences of racism. (Children’s Commissioner for Wales, 2023:31)

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination advises in its 2024 report Concluding observations on the combined twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth periodic reports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of its concerns regarding the “underrepresentation of teachers from ethnic minorities in the school system” recommending to “Take effective steps to increase the representation of teachers from ethnic minorities in the school system to reflect better the communities they serve.”

The OECD in their report A Flying Start: Improving Initial Teacher Preparation Systems (2019) noted that:

In many OECD countries, the increasingly diverse student population does not match with a teacher workforce that is largely homogeneous (Nusche, 2009[20]). This is particularly important given the growing literature on the positive effect of same-race teachers on ethnic-minority students in terms of performance, role-modelling, motivation and the overall educational experience of not only ethnic minority students, but of low-income students of both sexes (Gershenson et al., 2017[21]).

In 2019 the Welsh Government commissioned the Education Workforce Council (EWC) to undertake a multi-phase review of evidence about ethnic diversity in the school workforce. The data collected at that time confirmed the OECD report and showed a stark under-representation in the teaching workforce with only 3% of teachers in Wales on the EWC register identifying as being from an ethnic minority against a learner population of 12% (EWC, 2020:11) (in 2025 this is now 15%). Data from the Schools Workforce Annual Census (SWAC) from November 2021 showed that only 1.1% of teachers were of Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnicity. In 2024 this is now 1.3%.

The conclusions from the first of the EWC’s reports (2020:50) noted that the “Lack of ethnic diversity in the school workforce has been persistently identified as a problem that should be addressed in Wales (GTCW, 2003. Evans, 2013 (WalesOnline). Betteley, 2017 (BBC). Wiegand and Cifuentes, 2018 (EYST).” Alongside and in tandem with this work Welsh Government commissioned Professor Charlotte Williams to chair a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities, Contributions and Cynefin in the New Curriculum Working Group in July 2020. The final report of this group was published in March 2021. It included recommendations, based on the available recruitment data, called for more to be done to attract more applicants to ITE programmes from ethnic minorities. These recommendations were accepted by the previous Minister for Education.

Welsh Government also commissioned a report via Cardiff Metropolitan University to examine recruitment and retention of teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds in Wales. The Recruitment and Retention of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Teachers in Wales, a Qualitative Research Study was published in 2021. It drew from the perspectives of learners aged 14 plus, and students and teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds. It focused on participants’ perceptions and the lack of diversity in the education workforce in Wales. Further research is taking place to examine the impact of changes the publication of this qualitative research study.

Background

The alignment of findings, evidence, and independent recommendations across multiple reports underscored both a clear synergy and an urgent need for action, marking the starting point of this work. As a result the Initial Teacher Education Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Recruitment plan was published 21 October 2021 to take forward the above report recommendations and diversify the teaching workforce through specific short to mid-term actions. The actions under the first iteration of the ITE recruitment plan have been completed. This proposal, including its new iteration (that this proposal supports), sits under and complements the Welsh Government’s broader work and commitment to an anti-racist Wales.

Addressing racial, ethnic, and religious intolerance that is systemic and institutional, is one of Welsh Government’s key goals towards an Anti-racist Wales. It forms a part of the wider work Welsh Government is taking forward to ensure future generations can live in a diverse, safe, and cohesive Wales. The recommendations with respect to education within the ARWAP were developed with the support of the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP). They produced evidence reviews for the Welsh Government on Improving Race Equality in Education (WCPP, 2021) and Improving Race Equality in Employment and Income (WCPP, 2021). The WCPP’s education report set out a series of recommendations for the recruitment of a diverse teaching workforce and for training and professional development. These also fed into the ARWAP and were largely aligned with the policy ideas and recommendations outlined within the EWC’s reports.

As the Anti-Racist Wales: The Race Equality Action Plan Impact Assessment notes:

The roots of inequality often lie in childhood and furthering race equality will improve the life chances of the children of today and tomorrow. Education is a central policy area within the Plan and some of the goals and actions include, … increasing the representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (teachers) in the workforce and contributions in the curriculum. These goals and actions, along with the others in different policy areas will all directly benefit all children and young people, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic ones.

Our commitment to an Anti-Racist Wales includes increasing recruitment of teachers from ethnic minority communities into the Education sector including recruitment onto Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes with the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan (2022) advising:

A lack of representation within practitioner and leadership roles, including on governing bodies, does nothing to promote ambition within our children and young people, who need to recognise themselves and their own experiences within their leaders.

This proposal to improve the recruitment of diverse teachers via ITE continues under the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan: 2024 Update. The proposal also aligns with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 goal to create a more equal Wales, where:

• everyone has the opportunity to participate
• reach their full potential
• is able to contribute fully to their own learning and development, enabling Wales to be more prosperous and innovative

As the impact for learners will be increased visibility in the classroom of teachers from ethnic minorities, this will support learners from ethnic minorities in terms of representation. However, it will also increase the awareness of the cultural and racial diversity in Welsh society to all learners (Welsh Government 2021). As the GTCW (2003) notes:

...there is a need to ensure that more pupils come into contact with individuals from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Teachers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, as well as making excellent teachers, can also help develop an understanding among pupils of the needs of individuals from different backgrounds.

This is aligned to the aims of an Anti-Racist Wales and indirectly supports the Well-being Goal for a Wales of cohesive and safe communities.

The implementation of the new curriculum in Wales presents us with specific challenges. These include ensuring a workforce of sufficient size, quality, and expertise to:

• develop and teach the curriculum
• deliver positive impacts for all Wales’ learners as required under the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (2015)

The success of several Government strategies and Ministerial Commitments are dependent on ensuring a sufficient supply of teachers and attracting people into the teaching profession as an underpinning assumption in their delivery.

Current context 

Cardiff Metropolitan University are undertaking a second study on the recruitment and retention of minority ethnic teachers in Wales. It aims to assess the current situation, identify any progress made, examine the impact of changes and highlight ongoing challenges since the qualitative research in 2021. Findings from the research and reports along with any impacts will be considered when available.

The 2020 EWC report showed, via the data available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) at that time, that the proportion of graduates coming from each of the minority ethnic groups is higher than those entering ITE in Wales “underlining the extent to which those entering the teaching profession are less diverse than the overall cohort group of leavers from Welsh universities.” (2020:24). Current HESA data (see current context section) indicates that while our percentage of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student teachers has increased (to 6% from 5% in 2021 to 2022) as a proportion of total ITE enrolments, enrolments that are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students is lower for ITE postgraduate courses compared to non ITE postgraduate courses.

The HESA data shows a continued need to attract Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic graduates into considering teaching as a career via programmes of ITE. While improvements in ITE recruitment data can be seen, which may be attributable to the ITE Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Recruitment plan’s implementation in 2021 (alongside the implementation of the Ethnic Minority ITE Incentive scheme, 2022), workforce data continues to show low levels of diversity when compared to the increasing diversity of our learners in Wales. 

Attracting more teachers from ethnic minority communities requires concerted actions across the whole Education sector, by a wide range of organisations, over a period of several years. It is acknowledged that different sectors within the education system are at a variance with each other, however a pan-Wales approach across all sectors is needed to fully support individuals and to increase ethnic diversity in the teaching workforce. A large amount of work has taken place in ITE over the few years to support recruitment into the teaching profession, but the Welsh Government must work together with stakeholders across all educational areas to ensure alignment of knowledge, awareness and support available throughout the whole education sector. 

Welsh Government remains committed to progressing in a meaningful and sustainable way to support minority ethnic individuals as they enter ITE and begin their teaching careers. This proposal to publish the Recruitment and support update for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic ITE students 2026 builds on the progress made to date. It sets out the Welsh Government’s goals for the ITE sector over the coming years to address the persistent lack of diversity in the teaching workforce and to provide robust support for those entering the profession. The Welsh Government will continue to monitor data and evidence to inform and strengthen recruitment into ITE.

Addressing racial, ethnic, and religious intolerance is one of Welsh Government’s key goals towards an Anti-racist Wales. It forms a part of the wider work Welsh Government is taking forward to ensure future generations can live in a diverse, safe, and cohesive Wales. This proposal makes a clear Welsh Government commitment in driving forward systematic change within the education sector by ensuring that our education workforce is culturally diverse, representative of our pupil population and to create a more equal Wales. 

The alignment of findings, evidence, and independent recommendations across multiple reports have involved extensive stakeholder engagement. The methods included meetings, interviews, and focus groups. These included:

• people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010
• Welsh speakers and Welsh language specialist groups
• other people who may be affected by the proposal

The development of the Initial Teacher Education Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Recruitment Plan (2021) and this update have included those involved in the delivery of ITE along with representatives from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The views of children were mostly represented by education professionals. However, reports like the Children’s Commissioner for Wales Spotlight Report ‘Take it Seriously’ focuses on issues relating to racism in education. Learners over the age of 14 were included in the 2021 Cardiff Metropolitan research. The Llanwern High School winners of The Betty Campbell MBE award for promoting the contributions and perspectives of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities in the Professional Teaching Awards Cymru 2022, have set up a Diversity Club together with Ysgol Glantaf learners. The Diversity Club embarked on a project producing 6 unique films to encourage individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds into teaching in Wales. 

These videos have been shared with stakeholders and Welsh Government have used some of the images of learners as part of the Teaching Wales recruitment campaign. The Diversity Club films have not been published on any socials, but they are used at the launch event and as part of a Stakeholder Toolkit in April 2023. The consent forms for the Diversity Club films will run out April 2026. 

The most significant impacts of the proposal will be the direct and positive effects it has on ethnic minority communities and their children. The increase of teaching staff from ethnic minority communities will promote the profession (which can be considered a fair work profession) as an attractive and inclusive one whilst giving greater representation within the education sector. The impact for learners will be increased visibility in the classroom of teachers from ethnic minority communities. This will support learners from those communities, as they seem themselves in the profession and by increasing the awareness of the cultural and racial diversity in Welsh schools and society to all learners.

Improving the diversity of ITE students and therefore the teaching workforce will, under the Curriculum for Wales, enable more varied teaching in respect to the diversity of culture, heritage, and traditions in Wales’ communities. In turn learner cultural participation and achievement could be impacted positively, for those learners from diverse communities to supporting an increase in awareness of the cultural and racial diversity in Welsh society to all learners. The proposal may have an indirect positive impact on the Welsh language. There is the potential for an increase of Welsh speakers from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities to enter the profession improving existing community use and potentially spreading the use into new communities or multi-lingual communities.

The update will support our aims to ensure everyone in Wales has the opportunity to:

• participate
• reach their full potential
• contribute fully to their own learning and development

enabling Wales to be more prosperous and innovative. It will also support the Well-being Goal for a Wales of cohesive and safe communities.

The impact of the proposal can be monitored through data collection already taking place on learner demographics and the teaching workforce through the School Workforce Annual Census and the EWC annual workforce census. The forthcoming research from Cardiff Metropolitan University will help examine the impact of change through their second study on the recruitment and retention of minority ethnic teachers in Wales.

This research aims to:

• examine and asses the current situation
• identify any progress made
• highlight ongoing challenges since the original research commissioned by the Welsh Government in 2021

This evidence is supplemented by the number of enrolments of ethnic minority students on to ITE programmes using HESA data.

The proposal may positively and indirectly impact on the following articles:

• Article 3 (best interests of the child) The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.
• Article 29 (goals of education) Education must develop every child’s personality, talents, and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
• Article 30 (children from minority or indigenous groups) Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs, and religion of their family, whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live.

Increasing the representation of people from ethnic minority communities within the teaching workforce in schools will have a positive impact on children and young people as outlined and described in:

• Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (2022 and 2024) and its supporting evidence base (WCPP reports).
• EWC’s 2020 and 2021 report findings (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation within the school workforce in Wales).

However, this update is directly related to student teachers. Therefore, the positive impacts as noted above are small and indirect. They will take some time to come into effect.

Llanwern High School and Ysgol Glantaf pupils set up the Diversity Club together. The Diversity Club embarked on a project where pupils producing 6 unique films to encourage individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds into teaching in Wales. The consent forms for the Diversity Club films will run out April 2026. 

Young people (aged 14 and up) were interviewed as part of the research leading up to the inception of the proposal and reports that underpins this policy area but were not asked directly about this proposal and its specifics.

There are no plans at present to engage children and young people (under 18s) regarding this proposal as it pertains or impacts directly adults able to access ITE programmes.

The proposal supports work to ensure a teaching workforce with the skills and knowledge to deliver the Curriculum for Wales, which is the primary vehicle for educating children and young people. A diverse workforce often brings broader perspectives to children and into the classroom with influence on stories, history and cultures thought enriching understanding of diversity. This in turn help children and their families to feel their backgrounds are valued and respected. 

The lack of understanding about the value of workforce diversity can sometimes create tension or barriers to integration for teachers and children. However professional learning around equity, inclusion, and anti-racism will help to fostering a more inclusive school culture and raise awareness of how sensitive situations should be handled supporting both student teachers and children.

It enhances children’s rights by: 

• Article 3: A diverse teaching workforce enhances child and young person engagement and success. When children see their identities reflected in their teachers, they feel seen, respected, and be more likely to thrive. Teachers who share cultural or linguistic backgrounds with children can foster stronger connections with them, their families, and communities, enriching the overall school experience.
• Article 29: Supporting diversity in education also enables teachers with lived experience of racism to better support affected children and contribute to more informed, empathetic decision-making at all levels.
• Article 30: Improving the diversity of ITE students will ensure the teaching workforce have the skills and knowledge, under the Curriculum for Wales, to deliver more varied teaching bringing cultural perspectives, heritage, lived experiences, traditions in Wales’s communities and diverse values into the classroom. This diversity can foster deeper engagement with children and young people supporting an increase in awareness of the cultural, racial diversity and promote anti-racist practice in Welsh society to all children.

EU Citizens Rights (up to the age of 18)

This proposal looks at improving diversity within the teaching workforce and will have meaningful ripple effect on children and young people. Promoting the option of a teaching career to individuals from minority backgrounds and improving the diversity of the teaching workforce in Wales generally could positively impact EU Citizens’ Rights, particularly for young people under 18, by supporting their right to equal treatment and non-discrimination in education.