Professional development for career progression: Through the lens of ethnic diversity and gender

Youlande Harrowell, Assistant Headteacher; Founder, Mindful Equity UK CiC, UK Aretha Banton, Founder, Mindful Equity UK CiC, UK It all began with a single tweet in June 2020, which read: ‘I am a member of this 0.1% – I am a black African Assistant Headteacher. Leadership is isolating, black leadership more so. But networks are the best support and cheerleaders. We need more Black SLT. You can’t be what you can’t see!’ The ‘0.1%’ refers to summative data from the Department for Education’s November 2019 school teacher workforce census, which found that ‘0.1% of deputy and assistant headteachers were from the Mixed White and Black African, and Chinese ethnic groups – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this role.’ Despite the DfE’s policy commitment to diversifying the teaching workforce (DfE, 2018a), a large gap remains between the proportion of students and teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds in England. While schools in diverse areas