Teaching unions launch legal action over alleged equality failures
In particular, the teaching unions are concerned that black and minority ethnic teachers may be overrepresented in referrals to the Teaching Regulation Authority
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Teaching unions NAHT, NASUWT, NEU, ASCL and Community have initiated legal action over the Teaching Regulation Agency’s “significant non-compliance” with its Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010.
The Public Sector Equality Duties are to ensure public authorities eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equalities.
In a letter to the Secretary of State for Education, setting out the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review, the unions challenged the Department for Education over its decision not to collect any data on the protected characteristics – such as age, disability, race and sexual orientation – of teachers who are referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) at any stage of its disciplinary procedures, making it impossible to evaluate how the its policies and practices impact teachers with different protected characteristics.
In particular, the teaching unions are concerned that black and minority ethnic teachers may be overrepresented in referrals to the TRA. There is a concern about the underlying reasons for such referrals and whether they stem from discriminatory stereotypes, such as inaccurately labelling the teachers’ behaviour as overly aggressive.
In addition, there is a concern that, in comparison with heterosexual teachers, the TRA has investigated some LGBTQ+ teachers for alleged sexual misconduct, where there are no grounds for doing so at the referral stage. The unions are also concerned that the TRA is electing to investigate teachers even when the allegations made against them lack merit and are unsupported by evidence, only to drop such cases before the hearing stage.
Prolonged TRA investigations take a heavy toll on teachers, affecting their health, wellbeing, and careers. If LGBTQ+ and black and minority ethnic teachers are overrepresented in the TRA’s processes, they will be particularly affected by this.
The unions sent the Pre-Action Protocol letter to the Secretary of State and the TRA on Thursday 3 April, but did not receive a substantive response within the deadline, so on 17 April the unions submitted a claim for judicial review at the High Court.