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One of the first academic studies to examine the working lives of disabled teachers in England has called for urgent change after finding evidence of significant workplace discrimination and barriers to their career progression.
The University of Cambridge research concludes that disabled teachers remain on the margins of a drive for greater inclusivity in schools. It draws on in-depth interviews with several teachers to suggest ways this could improve. In particular, the study identifies the need to encourage more disabled people into teaching, highlighting the skills, knowledge and empathy they can bring to classrooms.
The authors suggest that disabled teachers continue to experience discrimination not because of the innate prejudice of colleagues, but because of the general pressure on schools created by various performance targets, which makes it difficult for them to accommodate staff with different needs. This may explain the fairly overt discrimination that som