The Diversity Trap? Black Male Teachers' Negotiations of Leadership and Learning in London Public Schools

• In Event: 35.043 - Teachers of Color Push Back Against Power

Abstract

Despite increasing anxieties about Britain’s ‘diversity shortage’ among teachers, recent studies on the experiences of Black teachers generally, and Black male teachers specifically, remain rather sparse. Drawing on in depth interviews with 25 Black male teachers with five or more years of experience in London public schools, this paper deploys Bourdieusian conceptions of organisational habitus to explore the ways in which the national ‘diversity shortage’ can lead to a local ‘diversity trap’. Findings suggest that pressures for Black male teachers to serve in racialised roles as community liaisons, role models and school-wide disciplinarians, particularly for ethno-racial minority students, stymies Black male teachers’ long-term progress towards departmental and administrative leadership—ranks at which the diversity shortage is even more acute.

Author

• Derron Wallace, Brandeis University