Even when Mazlinah has obtained work, it hasn’t always been pleasant or easy. Being the first or only person of your identity in an organisation – in Mazlinah’s case, in a staffroom – puts added pressures on you.

In addition to the qualifications required to do the job, there is a set of shadow, pioneer requirements:

• Being thick-skinned in the face of insensitive comments – Education Personnel sent Mazlinah to relieve in a Wellington school in 2021 and at the entrance the principal loudly asked Mazlinah, “DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?” which would not have happened had a white person been standing there.

• Not feeling responsible for others’ discomfort around you – a teacher at a school where Mazlinah went to relieve for the day said that one student with learning difficulties might ask about Mazlinah’s… and here she pointed her finger towards Mazlinah’s head. Mazlinah had to complete the thought: “You mean my scarf?” (The student made no comment; the teacher was probably revealing her own discomfort at being around a “hijabi”).

• Contributing without necessarily feeling you belong, and possibly overperforming as compensation.

• Having the confidence to reach out – in settings such as Reading Recovery training when teachers were asked to divide into pairs, Mazlinah had to take the initiative and suggest to another attendee that they pair up; no-one went to her.

Homogeneous organisations (as most primary school staffrooms are) artificially shrink the pool of candidates from under-represented backgrounds; they require those candidates to possess not only the stated requirements but also the pioneer requirements. Conversely, they boost the number from the dominant culture because the skillset the latter need is smaller.