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4 July 2020
Black teachers matter
in British ELT
theteam .
Racism has been rife in British EFL for two decades. There are
MELANIE
signs of change but it may be too little too late, say Melanie BUTLER,
editor-in-chief,
Butler and Ron Ragsdale started
teaching EFL in
“The mindset of schools is that their clients would prefer the ‘real thing.’ Someone white. It’s only natural,” Iran in 1975.
She worked for
I was once told. the BBC World
Meet Noreen Caplen-Spence. You probably haven’t met many people like her: a British EFL teacher and Service,
EARN teacher-trainer with nearly 40 years’ classroom experience, a Masters degree and a black skin. Pearson/Longman and MET
DIGITAL And maybe you haven’t heard the story she has to tell on page 26, a story of rejection, of denigration in an magazine before taking over at
BADGES
industry which preaches internationalism but which practises job discrimination against teachers on the basis the Gazette in 1987 and also
launching Study Travel magazine.
of the colour of their skin. “We’re not racist ourselves,” comes the excuse, “it is the market that is racist.” Educated in ten schools in seven
countries, she speaks fluent
Bridge Education Group UK ELT publishing is glaringly
60-HOUR ADVANCED white, but this isn’t through racist French and Spanish and rather
rusty Italian.
METHODS IN TEACHING Non-native speakers are no longer complicity. Over many decades in RON
ENGLISH ONLINE
the industry, hiring staff across
Teaching English As A Foreign Language persona non-grata. The world is their many roles, Ron reports that he RAGSDALE,
oyster. Except, of course, if they are never once had a black candidate managing
editor,
Share on for any role he was hiring for. gained his MA-
brown or black people who come from Aspiring ELT publishing TESOL at
professionals almost always come Portland State
the former British Empire. from teaching, and there just isn’t University in
Oregon 25
COURSES Association for Quality a career path for black teachers. years ago, and has worked in ELT
RECOGNIZED Education and Training The hypocrisy of the liberal-leaning EFL glitterati is revealed in the line-up of finalists for the 2020
Recommendation Service BY Online publishing ever since, with
British Council ELTon awards on pages 32-33, which celebrates social justice. teaching stints in Istanbul and
| 1-303-785-8864 | Bridge.edu White British authors offer courses for refugee doctors and for teachers working with dyslexics. European Cairo. In addition to managing
teams at Pearson and Cambridge
not-for-profits offer materials on human trafficking, global citizenship, inclusion and diversity. Latin American ELT, including as Publishing
publishers emphasise social and emotional skills or offer training in self-knowledge, self-care and resilience. Director, Ron has worked with
Non-native speakers are no longer persona non-grata. The world is their oyster. Except, of course, if they Ministries and local partners in
are brown or black people who come from the former British Empire. If you’re from Nigeria, Sri Lanka or over 30 countries.
India your work seems to turn up under ‘Local Innovation.’ MATT
This is a surprise because the British Council itself is one of the few employers in UK EFL that really SALUSBURY,
cares about diversity: it hires BAME teachers, it monitors the progress of its BAME workforce assiduously. news editor
It has diversity targets and diversity officers. It has even published reports on the racism faced by its BAME and journalist,
has worked for
teachers overseas – these stories are summed up by Noreen Caplen-Spence: “Only white people speak EL Gazette
English properly.” since 2007. He
As we report on page 8, the British Council is now tottering on the brink of bankruptcy, and if it is also joint
collapses, not only will British language schools lose the logo from the world’s biggest EFL brand, but British Chair of the
London Freelance Branch of the
BAME teachers will lose one of the few British employers willing to give them a job. National Union of Journalists and
Britain is not the only country where racism abounds in the classroom. As we report on page 6, in the co-edits its newsletter, the
US, primarily Spanish-speaking English Language Learners have been particularly disadvantaged by the Freelance. He taught English
closure of schools. In America, they call these children Hispanic, in Europe we don’t even see them as an language for 15 years in the
Netherlands, in Turkey, in a North
ethnic minority, they are just white people who don’t speak English. London further education college
On page 24, British-born Dr Sophia Howlett, the new president of the School for International Education, and now as an English for
reveals for us the difference in the thinking about language teaching that exists between countries. Academic Purposes tutor, most
“I am fascinated by the movement from bilingual education to plurilingualism. I’ve seen this as a recently at the London School of
Economics. He is a native English
conversation in the European Union. SIT is at the forefront of this conversation in the United States.” speaker and is also fluent in
Plurilingualism? In the UK, we are still resisting L1 in the classroom. Dutch.
There is one small ray of hope and it comes, somewhat surprisingly, from English UK, the association of
language schools. GILL
RAGSDALE,
Announcing the establishment of an action group against racism, interim CEO Jodie Gray writes on page 31, research news
“Many of us have witnessed instances of racism that are too often swept under the carpet of ‘cultural differences’.” reporter, has a
The market is racist and UK schools condone it. They are complicit in it. PhD in
Gray also puts her finger on one reason that it is so difficult to be black in British EFL. “We tend to rely Evolutionary
Anthropology
on images and messages about the UK that promote our tradition and history but ignore our diversity and from
multi-culturalism.” Cambridge,
We sell an all-white picture-perfect image of our past. and teaches Psychology with the
Can the future be better? Noreen Caplen-Spence is not optimistic. “This requires such a shift of Open University, but also holds an
RSA-Cert TEFL. Gill has taught
organisational culture, mind set and honesty, I think it might take a hundred years. My parents had hope EFL in the UK, Turkey, Egypt and
for me. I do not have hope that my children will see that day.” to refugees in the Calais ‘Jungle’
in France. She currently teaches
MELANIE BUTLER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RON RAGSDALE, MANAGING EDITOR English to refugees in the UK.
editorial@elgazette.com 5 5