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FE Focus in the Times Education Supplement features a major article on the prospects for talented and ambitious black minority ethnic staff in colleges. As the article notes
'If people were asked to name the city with the greatest number of colleges with black principals, which would they say? London? Birmingham? Manchester? Bradford? In fact, none of these cities has even one black principal of a general further education college.'
Yet there is now a record number of BME Principals in the colleges sector with 11 leaders at the helm of colleges. Indeed, this now exceeds the target set by the Learning and Skills Council in 2002. Moreover, the position in the college sector is probably better than is the case in the schools sector where 5 per cent of school teachers, 3 per cent of secondary heads and just 1 per cent of primary heads are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, compared with 20 per cent of all pupils.
So what is the picture for younger BME managers who aspire to leadership positions. FE Focus reports that 'there are two distinct issues. The first is that fewer people from minority backgrounds are taking jobs in further education, so fewer are rising to management and senior management positions.'
Sujinder Sangha, principal of Stockton Riverside College in Stockton-on-Tees, who has done research into black and ethnic managers in FE, notes a change in attitudes among aspiring black staff and managers.
"The first managers who came through FE have been resilient," he said. "They refused to be victims of racial discrimination and turned that into a strength and developed their own networks and, in the process, they learned that this can make a wider contribution to education development.
"Second and third generations need their hand held and much more encouragement. I have found that they do not like to compete for jobs for fear of upsetting people around them."
The article also quotes Ahmed Choonara, chair of the Network for Black Professionals, who comments "Part of the problem originates in the labour market and the aspirations of black people. When I was aspiring to be a manager I was willing to look elsewhere for a job. Nowadays, people are not willing to move unless there are significant salary incentives. And because every college has a critical mass of white staff, they are better able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise."
Stella Mbubaegbu, principal of Highbury College in Portsmouth and chair of the Black Leadership Initiative, the problem is not a lack of aspiration in the younger generation, but rather the opposite.
"You find that if there are younger people coming into education then, because of the pay differential, they prefer to work in the schools sector," she said. "If you have gone through university and want to get a good job, then FE is perhaps not your first choice."
The second issue concerns promotion at the top of the career ladder. There appears to be a glass ceiling separating the large numbers of managers and senior managers in the sector - more than 800 at last count - from deputy principal and principal levels, leading to a drain of talent.
"I know many who have applied and not been appointed," said Mrs Mbubaegbu, who is chair of the Black Leadership Initiative. "Sadly, what we are seeing over the years is that some of these people give up and leave the sector.
"The role of college governors is crucial since they are responsible for the appointment of principals. "That's where the attention needs to be: the make up of governing bodies in terms of how diverse they are and their willingness to appoint the best person for the job," said Mrs Mbubaegbu.
A look at where the 11 black and ethnic principals are based shows that most are in colleges in areas with relatively small black and ethnic populations. By contrast, there are almost no black principals running colleges in the large conurbations, such as Greater London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.
"The thing that stands out for me about black principals is that they are appointed where you would not expect them to be," said Mrs Mbubaegbu.
"If you look at the governing bodies in these colleges, they are determined to appoint the best person for the job. This is not the case with all governing bodies.
"The same sorts of prejudices that exist in society generally exist in governing bodies...People do tend to appoint in their own image or the expectation of what the image for the college should be."
David Collins, principal of South Cheshire College and president of the Association of Colleges, is quoted saying "In general terms, governing bodies are not that representative of their communities, having been drawn from the great and the good."
FE Focus also reports on the hurdles facing middle managers in colleges. Janak Patel, principal of Royal Forest of Dean College in Gloucestershire notes that "I found it difficult to get promoted at first... to climb the ladder you need training, and for many black staff it was harder to get because it was somehow more difficult to get cover while you did it." This experience was echoed within those working to provide development for BME managers aspiring to progression. Rajinder Mann, Director of the BLI, is quoted
"For you to go on a training programme you would have to have your classes covered. Black Leadership Initiative programmes have to have the written support of principals and line managers and we do get calls from people saying they cannot get time off or they are not supported by their line manager."
To read the full FE Focus article visit the TES online. | 
