Diversity and inclusion
We're building a fair education for all. And a fair place to work.
We're about tackling injustice
To do this, it's crucial we reflect the communities we work with — whether that's through our programmes or the way we work as an employer.
We're making sure everyone gets the opportunities they deserve.
Our commitment
Why it's important
Too many young people are missing out
Too many young people are missing out on the chances they need to thrive. Held back by flawed systems. Battling invisible barriers.
Doors are closed to them before they even know they exist. And when they miss out, we all do.
Family income, skin colour, sex or gender shouldn't affect where you end up. At Teach First, we're rewriting the future to make sure every child, no matter their background or identity, gets the future of their choice.
You can't be what you can't see
For lots of young people, it's the people in their lives that have the biggest influence. Teachers often become role models for their pupils. Their experiences and perspectives are important in showing young people what they're capable of.
By making sure our pupils have diverse role models, not only will this benefit children from underrepresented groups, but all children.
I remember growing up, I didn't really have any Indian teachers. I wanted to be that representation.
What we're doing
Standing up for what's right
As one of the country's leading education charities, we're working to help the system improve and have launched multiple campaigns to help drive lasting change at a societal level.
[View our latest campaigns]
Recruitment and selection for our programmes
Our recruitment processes aim to give all candidates an equal chance of getting onto our programme. We use blind recruitment to remove unconscious bias. Our assessors know as little as possible about the background of the candidates — including name, age, ethnicity and school information.
We also use contextual recruitment. We've developed a tool which flags social and educational disadvantage based on an applicant's responses in their application. This might be school type, parental occupation or time spent in care. This allows us to consider an applicant's academic achievements within the context they were achieved.
We're committed to transparently monitoring diversity and inclusion across our recruitment processes and the programmes we run. We want to ensure no one is disadvantaged because of their ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or background.
We publish our diversity and inclusion figures for our Training Programme biannually, which you can find [TBC].
Investing in Black teachers and leaders
Following from our partnership with Sir Lewis Hamilton's Foundation, Mission 44, a few years ago, we now have the 100 Black Headteachers Network. This network aims to address the lack of representation in school leadership. By investing in and supporting Black senior leaders, we aim to add 100 Black headteachers to the education system by 2038. Since launch, the number of Black headteachers within the network has doubled, highlighting the power of supportive networks to drive transformation.
Training and supporting our teachers and schools
Our training has been developed to make sure all our programme members are prepared and educated on how to be inclusive teachers and leaders. We make sure they:
Teach in an inclusive way — we train our teachers to understand the barriers to learning, how to teach in an accessible way, how to talk about race and racism confidently and adapting to make the classroom a collaborative environment that's open to all perspectives
Challenge discriminatory behaviours and language — to recognise the impact that discrimination, bullying and harassment has on everyone, not just minorities. And do something about it in their classroom and school
Are able to deliver an inclusive curriculum — this means including subject-specific content from diverse groups (such as Black authors, LGBTQ+ artists, disabled historical figures), celebrating diversity, providing positive representation and balanced portrayal of diverse groups as not always the 'oppressed' and understanding the culture and histories of pupils
Have the support to help develop inclusive environments — working with their schools on how we can best support inclusive learning and working
Report and Support
We've introduced a website where anyone undertaking our programmes can easily report an EDI incident. [Find out more about the process.]
Being an inclusive employer
As an employer our aim is to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can perform, learn and contribute while having the confidence to be themselves. We're working to remove systemic biases and barriers to enable everyone in our movement to thrive.
We are a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2). We're also proud to be recognised as an Endometriosis Friendly Employer, committed to creating a flexible and supportive workplace for people with chronic health conditions.
In February 2026 we were accredited as a Stonewall Champion Employer. This means that Teach First is demonstrating consistent progress in LGBTQIA+ inclusion across a wide range of areas in the workplace, by influencing others through example. The accreditation recognises the policies, culture and day-to-day actions that make our organisation a place where LGBTQ+ colleagues feel seen, supported and valued. Our actions are taking root and having a growing impact.
We've also made significant changes to our employee recruitment and selection processes. Building on rules to ensure diverse shortlists, we're making sure decision-making at interview stage is distributed with no one person having full say.
We've created clear policies and guidance to embed equity, diversity, and inclusion across the charity at key moments in a person's life, including a Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy, Menopause, Bereavement, and Serious Illness Guidance and more. This is underpinned by training and a programme of events to celebrate our diversity and better understand the experiences of those from historically marginalised and under-represented groups.
Transparency is vital in our commitment to increase the representation of our workforce to better reflect the UK working population and the communities we serve. We publish all our employee demographic data twice a year and have targets for the representation we want to see in our workforce.
Affinity networks
We believe in the power of networks to improve outcomes for individuals and drive system change. This is why we've helped establish a range of affinity groups in our employee community to connect individuals from varied backgrounds. Their purpose is to create inclusive spaces for community members to explore their commonalities, grow professionally, and build community.
These are self-led networks that provide support to members and identify opportunities to work together to make change happen. Our current affinity groups are LGBTQ+, Ethnicity and Race Equity, Working Families, Women, Socio-economic Class, and Neurodiversity and Disability.
[…] The most powerful answer to poverty in the UK is great schools — and you can't have great schools without great teachers. […] Get the money into schools and trust them to spend it where it matters most.
What's next
There's so much more to do
We've come some way already, but we know there's lots more to do. Over the coming months and years, we'll be constantly assessing and developing our processes, programmes and support to make sure people from marginalised groups are treated fairly and that our education system works for every child.
As an employer we're making progress too. We regularly work with outside organisations to benchmark ourselves and get expert input into how we can improve. This includes the Disability Confident scheme, Working Families, Stonewall, Business in the Community and Inclusive Employers.
As well as increasing the representation in our workforce, our focus is on creating an organisation where everyone wants to work: where everyone has the confidence to perform, learn and contribute. We'll do this by taking an inclusion first approach in everything we do. We're looking at the opportunities where we can adapt to be inclusive from the start, rather than someone needing to request it from us. For example, all our bank holidays outside our winter shutdown are flexible. People can choose when they take their bank holiday leave — this could be a religious or cultural festival, their birthday or whenever suits. We're also making seemingly smaller, but vital changes like making sure all interview questions are sent to candidates at least three days before their interview where appropriate. We know this makes a difference to those with anxiety to help people feel better prepared. Many of these changes will benefit everyone.
Continue learning
There is still a lot we need to learn and understand how we can make our ambitions in this area a reality. We will continue to regularly evaluate the diversity and inclusion on each of our programmes to identify room for improvement. We also need to further our understanding of the problem and what works. To do this, we're commissioning research from NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) on racial equality in the English teaching workforce and conducting our own analysis on how schools can be more inclusive.
Our network became a space of resistance and celebration.
Transparency
We believe transparency is a stimulus to action, an invitation to feedback and a form of accountability. So, we've gone beyond statutory guidance to publish detailed demographics on our workforce twice a year and publish our ethnicity pay gap.
Transparency is a general principle at Teach First, as well as a force for justice, so we hope to become ever more transparent over time.
We also publish our diversity and inclusion figures for our Training Programme biannually.
Read our latest reports
Gender and combined pay gap reports
Ethnicity pay gap reports
Socio-economic background pay gap reports
Employee diversity statistics
5%
Of our leaders identify as minority ethnic — our target is 20% by 2030.
10%
Of our staff are disabled, up from just 3% in 2019.
39%
Of our workforce will come from working-class backgrounds by 2030 — reflecting the communities we serve.
Workforce representation data
| 2019 Previous Representation (All staff) | August 2024 Actual | February 2026 Actual | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All staff | Leadership | All staff | Leadership | ||
| Women* | 78% | 72% | 59% | 74% | 58% |
| Minority Ethnic | 13.6% | 19% | 11% | 20% | 5% |
| LGB+** | 6% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 13% |
| Disability | 3% | 8% | 6% | 10% | 4% |
| Free school meals | 9% | 17% | 17% | 18% | 14% |
| Socio-economic status | No data | No data | No data | 22% | 16% |
| * Gender identity (an individual's self-report) rather than biological sex. ** This shows our data for sexual orientation — Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual. | |||||
Approved partner of
Our employee affinity groups
Equality, Race and Ethnicity Network (EREN)
We work to increase Black, Asian and minority ethnic representation across Teach First, particularly at senior levels, while promoting a culture that actively celebrates and supports diversity. We provide a supportive, visible network that enhances wellbeing and belonging, supports career progression, and ensures equitable policy and practice.
LGBTQ+ Affinity Network
We exist for LGBTQ+ employees to connect, find support and celebrate their identities at work. We help create an inclusive culture where people feel safe, seen and supported, advocate for LGBTQ+ rights at a policy level, offer learning opportunities to allies, and curate safer spaces for LGBTQ+ employees.
The Neurodiversity and Disability Affinity Network
We are a space dedicated to supporting and advocating for employees with lived experience of neurodiversity and disability, including as caregivers. We foster an inclusive environment where neurodivergent and disabled staff can connect, share experiences, and access support to thrive.
Socio-economic Class Network
We exist to raise awareness of the impact that socio-economic class has on employee and stakeholder experiences.
Working Parents Affinity Group
We champion the voices and experiences of working families across Teach First — creating safe spaces for sharing challenges, advocating for inclusive family-friendly policies, fostering connection, and empowering employees to balance professional and personal responsibilities.
Women's Network
We are a space for women and allies to connect, support one another and build a strong, intersectional community across the charity. Our aim is to create an environment where members empower each other through shared knowledge, storytelling and lived experience.