Inspecting the inspectors: race equality and quality in initial teacher education

Abstract

Equalities legislation in Britain has in recent years shifted towards requiring public bodies to proactively promote equality rather than simply prevent discrimination. This paper reports on a study of how this requirement, with specific reference to race equality, is enacted in the regulation and inspection of initial teacher education (ITE) in England. The study included a review of statutory guidance and inspection frameworks and quantitative analysis of how overall inspection outcomes reflect the quality of ITE providers’ engagement with race equality issues. The study also included case studies of ITE programmes judged by their students to be either particularly good or particularly weak at preparing them to address race equality issues in their teaching.The study concludes that there is a significant gap between government rhetoric on race equality and the policy enactment of agencies involved in ITE. It argues that in the context of the high stakes accountability systems in place throughout all aspects of educational provision, this means that race equality issues are marginalised within institutional policies that focus on procedural compliance rather than substantive challenge to practices that normalise and so perpetuate structural inequality.