Call it navel-gazing if you want but at AMC we take bias, normally unconscious bias, very seriously in our work searching for the best leadership talent in education. Apart from the proper need to be compliant with the legal and best practice requirements of Diversity and Equality (hope you all have active policies not just gathering dust in drawers!) I am aghast at the sheer human waste caused by bias.
McKinsey’s report “Delivering through Diversity” companies in the top 25% percentile for gender diversity were 21% more likely to experience above average profits. But schools are more than businesses. Most of us drawn into education are motivated by the belief that great teaching and learning can create a better world. And that has to contain a commitment to fairness and decency in the way we treat every individual.
We must practice what we preach and this includes search-recruitment. For consultancies do we check that our clients are bias free in the briefs they give us? Is the material we use to promote our posts encouraging to all good candidates regardless of background?? Are our processes inherently fair and open-minded so that candidates are assessed solely on their merits and potential???
At AMC’s next Dine & Discuss on Monday 11th February Frances King and Floyd Steadman will be leading our discussion. Frances has long experience of leading schools both in the UK and internationally while Floyd has first hand experience of school leadership having come from a Windrush family. It is time that school boards, education organizations and recruitment consultancies got real in addressing these issues. Sheryl Sandberg showed the way to “Lean In” to counter gender bias. If we are to avoid the sheer waste of human potential let alone the financial costs of bias we all need to “lean in” against bias and leave behind the excuse that it can be “unconscious”.
Anthony Millard
