Introduction

Funding for developing teaching and scholarship staff and teaching fellows is a critical issue for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff who are affected by poor quality of working life and less success in gaining teaching awards to develop their careers (Hey et al, 2011). Teaching contracts can often be amended to inhibit staff in pursuing meaningful professional and faculty development opportunities and effective teaching partnerships, which are the essence of advancing scholarship, student experience and outcomes (Borah, Malik & Massini, 2021). With the rising number of teaching and scholarship and teaching fellowships in universities, these scholarly partnerships enable universities to advance their widening access and internationalisation strategies. Teaching contracts, funding and collaboration are intrinsically linked, and it is Black and ethnic minority HE teaching staff that are most marginalised in their contract and teaching experiences (Brewis, 2019). Findings have highlighted how HE teaching and scholarship staff of colour will experience invisibility, vulnerability, a lack of agency and inability to see their future career progression (Megoran & Mason, 2020). It has also been highlighted that Black, Asian and minority ethnic identifying HE teachers face obstacles to promotions and career progression. Teachers have ‘spoken of the way in which racism manifested itself through hidden White networks’ (Sian, 2019) that excluded them from various opportunities. One participant called this a ‘perpetuating machine’ in which White colleagues ‘co-sign each other’s applications, share each other’s teaching content, and support one another’ (Sian, 2019). These racisms inhibit and continue to disable Black, Asian and minority ethnic academic teaching staff to progress their careers, secure fellowships and negotiate their teaching contracts.

Voices from literature