HEADTEACHERS have backed a report calling for more black and ethnic minority teachers to be supported to become school leaders.

Both secondary and primary heads said the barriers identified in the promotion of black and ethnic minority (BME) teachers would be taken “extremely seriously”.

A Scottish Government-backed report, entitled Teaching in a Diverse Scotland, said the country’s education system could no longer shy away from “racism, racial discrimination or harassment”.

The working group report found the lack of diversity in the teaching profession was caused by a range of barriers “throughout the arc of their career”.

The report recommended that by next summer Education Scotland should update all leadership programmes to help headteachers understand the impact of “everyday racism, institutional racism or bias”.

The working group also wants schools to identify and encourage BME pupils who would make good teachers while ethnic minority teachers who are ambitious should be encouraged to apply for promotion.

Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders’ Scotland, which represents secondary heads, said: “We are well aware of both gender balance and the ethnicity issue. We accept it is an issue and fully support the report’s findings.

“Headteachers have a crucial role in ensuring equality of opportunity for every member of staff.”

Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, which represents the primary sector, added: “All school leaders want the best staff in front of pupils, whatever role they perform in school and irrespective of ethnicity.

“Where this report highlights barriers to people from BME backgrounds entering or progressing in a career in education, those issues will be taken extremely seriously by school leaders.”

Larrry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said schools had much to gain from recruiting teachers who could bring additional social, cultural and linguistic experience into the profession.

He said: “The existence of an ethnically diverse teaching workforce would enable the profession to be confident it is drawing on the same broad range of cultural and social experiences as the pupils and families served by schools.”

The report comes at a time when the proportion of BME teachers in Scottish schools is in decline, accounting for just one per cent of the total compared to nearly two per cent in 2011.

The last Scottish census recorded the percentage of people in Scotland from minority ethnic groups as four per cent.