Highlights from equality and diversity news include: education adviser Tim Leunig says more needs to be done to address underachievement of white pupils in state schools, former LSE lecturer Professor Janet Yellen is nominated to be the first woman to chair the US Federal Reserve, and ECU has published a report on improving the experiences of international staff in UK higher education.

Department for Education adviser, Tim Leunig, told a conference of head teachers that underachievement of white pupils in state schools needs to be tackled. He also claimed that ethnic minority children do much better and added: “For the future of Britain it obviously matters more to tackle white under-performance just because there are more white people.” Tony Sewell, an expert on education in disadvantaged communities, said that while Dr Leunig was right to draw attention to underachievement amongst white working-class pupils, it was not correct to suggest all other ethnic groups were doing better. He gave examples of issues with Somali boys and Caribbean groups.

Professor Janet Yellen, former lecturer at LSE, has been nominated to be the next Chair of the US Federal Reserve. This would make her the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve in its history. Yellen has been the Fed’s deputy chair since 2010. Lord Meghnad Desai, who worked alongside Yellen at LSE said, “She was very undervalued at that time, because we only thought of her as someone’s wife…I could see that she felt she was not getting her due.” Yellen is married to George Ackerlof who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001.

The Equality Challenge Unit recently published a report on ‘Improving the experiences of international staff in UK HE’. The report recognises the importance of international staff in bringing new experiences, skills, knowledge and networks which can enrich UK education and aid collaboration. It makes recommendations to the sector based on international staff members’ responses to an ECU survey of their experiences. Areas covered include – providing information, advice and guidance on living in the UK; supporting staff once they are in post; and overcoming cultural issues and barriers.

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