Lewis Hamilton is launching a scheme that aims to boost the recruitment of black teachers in science, technology and maths (STEM) subjects.
Hamilton said the scheme “focuses on identifying the best way to attract black talent to STEM teaching roles”.
The Formula 1 world champion hopes it will “create a framework the wider education industry can implement”.
The initial two-year programme, in partnership with education charity Teach First, is to pilot a range of new approaches to identify best practices when recruiting black STEM teachers.
It aims to support the recruitment and training of 150 black STEM teachers to work in schools serving disadvantaged communities in England.
British seven-time world champion Hamilton said the move “is another step towards addressing barriers preventing young black students’ engagement with STEM, as identified in the Hamilton Commission report”.
He added: “We know representation and role models are important across all aspects of society, but especially when it comes to supporting young people’s development.”
The programme is the first partnership announced by Hamilton’s Mission 44 scheme, which was set up earlier this year to “support, empower and champion young people from under-served communities”.
The Hamilton Commission, whose findings were published earlier this year, found that only 2% of teachers are from black backgrounds and that 46% of schools in England have no racially diverse teachers at all.
The data revealed that 1.1% of teachers are black African, compared with a 2.1% representation in the working-age population. The commission found that 78.5% of the working-age population are white British with 85.7% of teachers falling within that category.
It found that black STEM teachers were important to the engagement of young black students with these subjects.
Hamilton said he had no black teachers at all throughout his time in education and he believes that if he had had a teacher who had understood his background better, he would have achieved greater success in his studies.
