No Black Or Ethnic Minority Headteachers In Scotland- Political Correctness Again

[gordiescotland1]

Hi there
The Scottish government are on their political correctness bandwagon again by moaning about the fact that there are no black or ethinic minority headteachers in Scotland instead of it being racism could it not be that no applications from these minorities met the criteria for the posts? Surely when recruiting interviewers need to select the most suitable person for the post regardless of skin colour soon employers will have to select a black person for a post not because they are the most suitable but because it is the politically correct thing to do it is getting quite ridicolus !!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33122160

[Svejk]

I want to see more diversity here. We may come last but what the ***.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03020/zurich0_3020413b.jpg

[bazwillrun]

" then there is reason to wonder why this is."

well you keep on wondering why then...

[jim360]

It's not nonsense, but then I'm brainwashed of course... I want to stress that I don't think this makes Scottish school application panels racist, consciously or otherwise, but it is a simple truth that if a particular factor has nothing to do with ability to do a job then that should show up in the figures as a workforce statistically equivalent to the diversity of the population. Any difference and that means that there is still a connection between, say, your gender and your chances of getting a job. Whatever that connection is, simply ignoring it and you risk the problem persisting -- and, in particular, you actually risk missing out on people who are just as talented getting the job. Which is precisely the problem people want to avoid.

In this particular case, no BME headteachers ought to be compared with an expected number of about 15 based on current diversity of 5% BME, and then the number of BME people in Scotland was only 2% in 2001, ie about 7 BME headteachers instead. Given that the role of headteacher tends to require a great deal of experience, it's possible that this simply represents the lag between ending (or acknowledging, and tackling) discrimination and the population catching up; perhaps there is a case to be made that we shouldn't therefore be overly concerned yet. But in an ideal society, where there is no discrimination and only talent matters, then it does indeed follow that you should expect the workforce to be as diverse as the population. And, if it is not, then you should try to find out why.

[steg]

"The statistics have been highlighted by the Liberal Democrats, who described them as "staggering"."

"The issue was also raised by the EIS teaching union at its AGM last week."

Not quite the "Scottish government"

[gordiescotland1]

Steg smart a*** it also states
The Scottish government said it wanted to see a diverse workforce at every level of the education system.

[DTCwordfan]

Why don't they find a few Scottish coal miners then and appoint them as a minority and black if they haven't showered. How effing daft, bit like the Spanish current government who want to rip up all their golf courses as golf is exclusive......

[Mamyalynne]

There will be only ever be true diversity if enough people from every niche apply for positions and pass the criteria to fill them - once we start to manipulate that it becomes a falsehood.

[Kimdottir]

Exactly, mamya. On a lot of application forms it asks for nationality so that they can make sure of "equality". Surely the only way to be completely fair is not to ask at all?

[Mamyalynne]

Possibly, yes - if we take education as in this case and say we have an x% of Black/Asian origin pupils therefore we must match that with senior teachers , the premise is skewed from the start.

It is paramount we get the best teachers regardless of background/ethnicity.

[jim360]

I agree that if you are deliberately hiring people because of their ethnic background is a mistake. The point is that it should happen naturally that the diversity of the workforce matches reasonably well with that of the population. Some variation is natural, a point that is often overlooked by those who are obsessive over quotas, but at any rate the statement that "the best people should get the job, regardless of ethnicity etc." is most likely to be true if the workforce is also diverse.

With regard to the questions on forms about asking for nationality, etc., to ensure equality, it depends on how this information is used. Properly, what should be done with the data so gathered is that it plays no part in the application process but is used after the process is complete to check that it was fair and not discriminatory. Of course, some companies may use it to help them meet and enforce quotas, which would be a mistake, but that is their lookout.