Making Diversity a Policy Priority: The Way Forward for Our Teaching Workforce

Are you a teacher or studying to become one? It’s a noble calling to shape the minds of the next generation. You need to be able to convey ideas easily and effectively to young people and help them analyse and problem-solve. However, in this day and age, teaching is about more than just education. For those studying a graduate certificate in inclusive education, you’re learning about diversity in the classroom and why it’s important. This applies to both students and the teaching workforce. 

Diversity should be a policy priority, but how can the teaching workforce achieve diversity and positive outcomes for both teachers and students? This helpful article will explore some ways and the reasons why diversity and inclusion in school are essential, so read on to learn more.

What is Diversity and Inclusion?

This term can mean a few things within the context of education. Its primary definition is that diversity acknowledges the diverse range of life experiences, backgrounds, neurotypes, and abilities that students and staff all possess. Inclusion in this context means that diverse students and teachers are included in the education process no matter their diversity status.

What Attributes Make Up Diversity?

This is a great question, and the answer is, as you expected, diverse. Diversity is a term that acknowledges some of the following aspects of certain populations, but this is by no means an exhaustive list:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (First Nations)
• Culturally and linguistically diverse people
• LGBTIQA+ community
• People with disabilities 
• Neurodiverse people
• Those living in poverty
• Carers, including young carers

As you can see, there is a diverse range of personal and life experiences that can make someone belong to a diverse population. Some people may also have multiple intersections of diversity, such as being First Nations and belonging to the LGBTIQA+ community.

Why is Having Diversity and Inclusion Policies Important?

Places of education, such as schools, TAFEs and universities, should all have diversity and inclusion policies. This is important for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that people from diverse backgrounds and communities have traditionally been disadvantaged, disenfranchised, and disempowered when it comes to education. For instance, First Nations people, with their lived experience of the stolen generation, have poorer education outcomes when compared to non-First Nations people. Kids with learning disabilities are also disadvantaged in the classroom. By having diversity and inclusion policies at the government and school level, both people and systems can work to address this inequality.

Why a Diverse Teaching Workforce is Needed

In short, Australia’s teaching workforce doesn’t currently reflect the diversity in the classroom. We are a rich, multicultural society, with students of many cultural and racial backgrounds in each classroom. Australia has a mix of Australian students, Muslim students, immigrant students, First Nations students, disabled students, and other diverse kids in classes. The teaching workforce has yet to get to a point where this diversity is reflected back to diverse children. 

For instance, only one per cent of teachers report living with a disability, compared to nearly 20 per cent of the population. Where 34 per cent of Australians are born overseas, only 17 per cent of teachers are. Less than one per cent identity as First Nations compared to 3 per cent of the population. In addition, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds are also under-represented in the teaching workforce, and this lack of diversity directly contributes to Australia’s current teacher shortage. However, what is more concerning is the impact this lack of diversity has on students.

The Impact on Students

As recent times have demonstrated, diverse representation matters to diverse people. 

Hollywood, in TV and movies, is slowly adapting to this, with diverse people being cast in roles in major films. Diverse kids need to have role models they can relate to, and teachers are arguably leading role models in children’s lives. 

Diverse teachers could help minority student groups navigate what can be difficult and challenging educational systems. They can also help them better understand different cultural contexts and build connections with diverse families and the wider communities they are a part of. 

Also, they can set higher expectations of minority students, assisting to break the cycle of low expectations leading to poor academic results and educational disadvantage. There are also benefits for mainstream Australian kids, as diverse teaching staff can enhance all students’ cultural awareness and capacity building and help to alter harmful perceptions of minority populations.

A Solution to the Teacher Shortage?

Setting a policy for a diverse teaching workforce could help to address Australia’s well-documented teacher shortage, particularly in remote, rural and certain disadvantaged geographical areas where schools find it incredibly difficult to fill staff vacancies. Teachers from minority groups may be more likely to stay in roles within hard-to-staff schools and to build powerful community connections with students and families. 

A Teaching Workforce Summary

Australian schools need to make diversity a policy priority, especially when it comes to the teaching workforce. Diversity has many benefits, and a diverse workforce will enable improved student learning outcomes and have positive implications for diverse students as well, in addition to addressing the teacher shortage. 

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