The recruitment and retention of teachers of colour in Wales. An ongoing conundrum?

There  are  a  disproportionate  number  of  teachers  of  colour  (ToC)  in  Wales  in  comparison  to  pupils  of  colour. Teachers are less ethnically diverse than the pupils  they  are  teaching  with  only  1.3%  of  teachers  categorising  themselves  as  being  from  a  non-White  background.  This  paper  sets  out  findings  from  re-search  investigating  recruitment  into  Initial  Teacher  Education  (ITE)  and  the  career  progression  of  ToC  in Wales. Through a qualitative case study approach, employing  participant  voice,  it  gives  participants  a  platform  to  articulate  their  experiences.  Sixty-eight  semi-structured  interviews  took  place  and  partici-pants  were  a  mixture  of  14+  learners  and  serving  teachers/leaders,  all  from  diverse  backgrounds.  As  a  multi-ethnic  research  team  ourselves,  we  were  aware  of  issues  that  participants  faced  within  the  Welsh  school  system,  either  as  pupils  or  teachers,  and  were  committed  to  carrying  out  the  research,  employing  an  empathetic  lens.  This  was  especially  relevant  as  participants  were  relaying  incidents  of  racism and racial trauma suffered, as well as sharing their  achievements.  This  provided  us  with  rich  data,  detailing  lived  experience  and  gave  an  insight  into  the unique experiences of teachers of colour, within a predominantly White school system in Wales and as a result, suggests what needs to change.