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Diversity in speech and language therapy

Key points

  • The SLT profession is 97% female and 3% male.
  • The SLT student population is much less diverse in socio-economic terms than the student population as a whole.

Careers and diversity workshop 

As well as raising the profile of speech and language therapy as a career, we are also looking at ways to improve the diversity of the profession. 

We recognise that the issues are complex and have been persistent over many years.  In terms of career choice, young people are influenced in many different ways and by many experiences. 

With that in mind, in June 2019, we hosted a Careers and Diversity workshop to highlight and discuss the issues of diversity within the profession and develop plans to tackle them. 

The aims of the event were:

  • To develop ideas and actions to increase recognition of the profession.
  • To explore why the speech and language therapy profession does not reflect the diversity of the population it serves and to develop ideas and actions that seek to address those issues.
  • To recognise the social complexity of the issues and the wider impacts on diversity and career choices.

For copies of the slides and a summary of the outcomes, please see the workshop summary.

Take a look at the projects section for information about projects being taken forward following the workshop.

Diversity research

We have compiled a snapshot of research about perceptions and diversity in speech and language therapy and in other healthcare professions. References are included if you would like to do further reading.

Diversity in the Speech and language therapy profession.