At the inaugural annual equalities conference of the NASUWT, the largest  teachers’ union in Northern Ireland, held in Belfast, teachers from across Northern Ireland discussed their concerns about the widespread discrimination in schools.

Teachers said that more needed to be done to address discrimination, prejudice and sectarianism within schools.

The results of a real time poll held at the Conference revealed that:

• 48% of teachers had faced either discrimination in accessing employment, career progression or bullying behaviour related to a protected characteristic;
• two thirds (67%) of teachers thought sectarianism was a problem in their school or in the wider Northern Ireland Education system;
• one in three (30%) said they had experienced discrimination in career progression during their teaching career;
• more than half (55%) said there is a problem with homophobia and transphobia in schools; and 
• four in ten teachers (41%) said they believed disabled teachers’ experienced difficulty in securing reasonable adjustments in the workplace.

In her keynote address to the Conference, Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“We have a society already riven with inequality and injustice, as a result of the savage austerity measures, including attacks on welfare.

“The severe financial constraints placed on the Northern Ireland Assembly have had dire consequences for public services and for communities.

“The Education budget alone has been eroded over the last five years by around £1.5 billion as a result of the reductions in funding.

“Poverty levels are rising. Poverty drives inequality and is a key inhibitor to educational progress. Schools cannot tackle poverty alone. There must be a coherent strategy focusing on housing, health and education alongside other specific measures to tackle poverty.”

Turning to the inequality and discrimination facing the teaching workforce she said:

“Our individual casework and research demonstrates that discrimination against women, older teachers, those with disabilities, younger and LGBT teachers is rife.

“Employers and politicians are simply failing to adopt any coherent equality strategy.

“The Employers and the Department for Education fail to produce any data on the diversity of the workforce and have resisted equality impact assessing their policies despite requests from the NASUWT to do so.

“Consequently teachers with disabilities are failing to secure the support they need.

“Women taking maternity leave face discrimination with regard to accessing flexible working and pay progression on their return.

“Older teachers report feeling pressurised into leaving their jobs.

“The latest figures in the NASUWT Annual Research show that almost a third of women teachers, almost a quarter of disabled teachers and a quarter of young teachers say they have faced discrimination at work in the last twelve months.

“Schools, employers and the Department of Education are failing in their statutory duties to promote equality and this situation simply cannot be tolerated.”

Justin McCamphill, NASUWT National Official Northern Ireland, said:

“Teachers are telling us that there is a clear need for action within schools to address prejudice, sectarianism and discrimination.

“Schools can be a major catalyst for change in society and they should be at the forefront of driving the equality agenda.”