Research highlights a historical association of leadership with White male, particularly at senior leadership levels, and this phenomenon continues to be prevalent in today’s societies as well. In most societies, including the developed West it is predominantly White males occupying leadership positions in all fields including education (Shah 2016). Research also unveils a negative equation between leadership and race/ethnicity, drawing attention to under-representation of people from BME backgrounds in educational leadership roles (Department for Education 2022; Gorard et al 2023; London Leadership Centre, 2002; Shah and Shaikh, 2010; Shah, 2019).

In the UK, the impact of race/ethnicity on career progression is also highlighted by the UK National Statistics as a barrier to career destinations, and is reflected in low presence of BME in senior positions (Demie, & See, 2023; Gov.uk, 2021; Miller, 2020; Miller and Callender, 2018; Tereshchenko et al, 2022). However, there is a noticeable gap in research on the issue of how visible religious affiliations, particularly in the case of Muslims, affect their career trajectories and progression to leadership. This presentation addresses that gap and discusses how visible/perceived religious identities/affiliations impact on Muslim teachers because of a perceived association with terrorism (Akbar, 2015). It is expected to resonate with similar phenomenon across Europe and Globally.

Islam is a fast growing religion across the world. Europe’s current Muslim population is projected to increase from 4.9% to 7% or higher by 2050 (Pew Research Centre, 2017). In the UK, Muslims are the largest faith group after the Christians. In the 2021 Census 6.5% of people self-identified as Muslim, up from 4.9% in 2011 (National Statistices, 2021). Muslims have the highest youth profile that draws attention to another significant detail that young Muslims make up almost half of the UK Muslim population where 33% are under 15 years old and 53.9% are under 19 (Steed, 2020). These demographic get reflected in school populations. Although Muslims are about 6% of the UK population, ‘analysis shows that 1 in 12 school children in the UK is Muslim’ (Muslim Mind Collaborative, 2024).

The percentage of the Muslim population in some areas is much higher than the national average. About 38% of English Muslims live in London, where they make up 12.4% of the population (Shah, 2019). This has an impact on school demographics and for this reason the sample was selected from London schools. In areas of high Muslim concentration, the schools may have over 50%, and in some cases even more than 90% Muslim students, a demographic detail often not reflected in the school staff. In England 26% of the schools have no minority ethnic staff of any kind and 46% of the schools have no teachers from minority ethnic groups (Tereshchenko, et al, 2020). Gorard et al. (2023) claim that disproportionality between BAME teachers and students is worse in London than anywhere else in UK.

In schools that have some Muslim teachers, the challenges of progression to leadership roles are complex. Demie and Hau (2023) underline the disproportionality in ethnic minority teachers/student numbers as most marked at the school leadership level. Their data shows that 65% of headteachers and 61% of deputy and assistant headteachers in Lambeth maintained schools are White British serving a pupil population who are 82% ethnic minority. They also mention ‘the England average which shows 93% of headteachers, 90% of deputy and assistant headteachers and 85% of classroom teachers are White British’ (p.41)

I will not discuss here the implications of scarcity of BME staff in multi-ethnic institutions but my focus will stay on the primary research question:

Challenges to Muslim male teachers’ career progression to leadership roles.

The paper draws upon a small study carried out to explore the career progression of a sample of Muslim male teachers (MMT) working in the state sector in London schools in order to establish their perceptions of what hinders their progress to leadership positions within state school system. The research was set within the wider conceptual context of equality, social justice and inclusion and how these relate to the issues of diversity. Due to the practical constraints and pragmatics involved, the focus of the study was limited to one region. London was selected as a relevant case for the study particularly because of its demographics as discussed above. The data for this study was generated using a semi-structured questionnaire and ‘follow up’ interviews, focusing on two issues: • career aspirations of Muslim male teachers • obstacles to their career progression The study was intended for 32 London boroughs and all members of the Muslim Teachers Association (MTA) were contacted. However, finding willing participants proved to be difficult and given the gap in information required for the sample population on national databases (Ofsted, NCSL and DfES), ‘snowball’ sampling strategy was adopted to identify participants with at least five years teaching experience. However, most participants did not know any such colleagues (or did not acknowledge they knew any), signalling complex discourses at play that constructed these responses. It emerged during interviews that the potential sensitivity of the study caused some teachers to refrain from participating due to fear of unwanted ramifications at work even though they were assured in advance of full confidentiality/anonymity. Given the context of inhibitions and/or barriers to participation, only ten questionnaires were returned, and six of the respondents expressed willingness to be interviewed, providing their contact details. These participants came from five different boroughs in the East End of London with significant numbers of Muslim students in their schools. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted. Each interview lasted between 40 to 75 minutes. The appearance of these Muslim male interviewees were also noted, e.g. their beards, dress etc. to analyse certain themes emerging from the questionnaires. The interviews explored professional experiences of the interviewees, their aspirations when becoming teachers and how these aspirations guided their careers. The interviews also provided an opportunity to investigate the barriers that impacted on the interviewees’ professional development and career progression to senior roles.

The interplay of race and ethnicity is drawing increasing attention but the impact of faith in the case of Muslims in the current Islamophobic context, on their career journeys and experiences is blindsided. Muslims are a large multi-ethnic multi-racial community, and faith adds to prejudice, and even hatred against them (Shah, 2016). Vakil argues that in the case of Muslims ‘Religion is “raced”, and Muslims are racialized’ (Sayyid and Vakil 2010, 276). The recent ‘rise of Islamophobia in both Europe and the USA’ (Garner and Selod 2015, 9) is othering and marginalising Muslims through the processes of racism (Abbas, 2006). Whether Islamophobia is a form of racism (Garner and Selod, 2015) or whether it needs new theorising such as faithism or religionism is a different debate, but its impact on the lives of Muslims, particularly in educational settings are undeniable. Many studies highlight prejudice and discrimination experienced by Muslim students with specific references to experiences of religious hatred and Islamophobia (Bagguley and Hussain, 2007; Mac an Ghaill and Haywood, 2015; Richardson, 2004; Zine, 2007) but to what extent this phenomenon impacts on career aspirations and progression of Muslim male teachers who choose to enter jobs in education is a completely ignored field. The participating Muslim male teachers experienced diverse barriers and complex expressions of discrimination in career progression. Although much of the discrimination reported was covert in nature, Islamophobia and teachers’ visible religious/ethnic identity markers were identified as major contributing factors to this discrimination. The presentation draws attention to their marginalisation and its impact on individuals’ career journeys as well as its long-term implications for contributions to citizenship and societal cohesion. The discussion not only speaks to the researchers and academic community but also to the policy makers and the wider public regarding how to work towards social change.

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