SEVEN in 10 teachers from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds believe schools fail in making recruitment and promotion opportunities equal, union NASUWT said at the weekend.

Hundreds of BME teachers gathered for the NASUWT conference in Birmingham on Saturday where delegates discussed racism and professional development.

A shocking 73 per cent of the teachers polled during the meeting said that they witnessed or had been subjected to racism from pupils, parents or colleagues in the last year.

A third said their views are often ignored, and 24 per cent said they feel isolated and excluded from others at work.

Discrimination is “rife” in schools and the government is to blame for “creating a climate in which equality and the rights of workers are seen as unimportant,” NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said.

“It is for this reason NASUWT has launched the Act For Racial Justice campaign to expose and challenge these issues.”

Four-fifths of delegates said that schools do not support BME pupils enough in their studies compared to white students.