Abstract
The paper focuses on perceived barriers to the career progression of Muslim male teachers to leadership positions in English secondary schools, exploring the impact of ethnicity, faith and Muslim visibility in the post 9/11 scenario. It draws on a small study of Muslim male teachers (MMTs) from five boroughs in London to explore their experiences and perceptions. The research evidenced that the participating MMTs faced multiple barriers and diverse expressions of discrimination in their career progression. Although much of the discrimination reported was covert in nature, a lack of understanding of issues relating to diversity, Islamophobia, visibility and religious/ethnic affiliations was identified as a major contributing factor to this discrimination. The paper draws attention to the issues of equal opportunities, social justice and inclusion linked to marginalisation of a particular group of the workforce and its impact on individuals' career destinations as well as its long-term implications for societal cohesion.
Highlights
Organisational structures, institutional practices, societal assumptions and subscribed concepts impact significantly on individuals’ career aspirations and progression
More recent research unveils another strong equation which is between race/ethnicity and career progression, drawing attention to the underrepresentation of people from BME backgrounds in educational leadership roles (Bush, Glover and Sood, 2006; Mackay and Etienne, 2006a, Lumby and Coleman, 2007; Turner, 2006)
The interplay of race/ethnicity with career progression is highlighted by the National Statistics as a barrier to career destinations reflected in nominal presence of BME in senior positions
Summary
Difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers have been increasing (Ofsted, 2002, p. 4) and the numbers of teachers entering the profession, especially from the BME communities remain low (Basit et al, 2006; 2007; Bush, Glover and Sood, 2006). Due to Islam being more visible in these areas, the structural resistance to visible Muslim male teachers emerged as greater Another issue highlighted by the participants was that, like other BME teachers, they were generally seen as tools to handle BME students only, and not recognised as mainstream staff capable of senior leadership. They emphasised that they were rather expected to take unofficial lead roles in tackling problems relating to ‘Muslim’ issues and meeting Muslim parents or to take the lead in dealing with issues pertaining to Muslim children. There was a perception amongst some of the MMT teachers in this study, that there existed a glass ceiling, with regards to career progression that was difficult to break and that, counter-intuitively, this might be strong in areas with a high Muslim population
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