Schooling and Community Cohesion

Sir Keith Ajegbo

SCOPE OF TALK

The duty in schools to promote community cohesion

The Report on Diversity and Citizenship published by DCSF in January 2007

Definition of Community Cohesion

Definition in the guidance: Working towards a society in which there is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities; a society in which the diversity of people’s backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued; a society in which similar life opportunities are available to all; and a society in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community.

Thrust of report: We passionately believe that it is the duty of all schools to address issues of ‘how we live together’ and ‘dealing with difference’ however controversial and difficult they might sometimes seem.

Ways for schools to support community cohesion

Teaching, learning and curriculum

Equity and excellence

Engagement and extended services

1) Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

Central issues: All pupils should explore, understand and

celebrate difference.All pupils should explore and understand

what it means for us to live together in the UK

Some perspectives

Black London comprehensive pupil: They see Africa as poor, Asia as flooded and England as snobby whites and

poor blacks. Another black pupil: I’m black, I live in London-that’s my

home. My parents are from the Caribbean but I’m really African. I’m a Christian, but I’m E7- that’s where I hang, they’re my people. That’s who I am.

A white pupil: I’m not from a Caribbean country or an exotic country or even France or Spain. I’m from nowhere like that, I’m just plain British.

Identity, belonging and the curriculum

Where in discussions around Every Child Matters and personalised Learning is there consideration of cultural, ethnic and religious identity.

How does the curriculum deal with our multiple identities and challenge stereotyping.

How coherently is the curriculum structured in order for diversity education to be woven through it?

Are there projects available in schools opening up different histories eg Elizabeth 1st and the Blackamoors, the Northampton Black History Project, 1001 Muslim Inventions.

Citizenship and the 4th Strand

In the report Diversity and Citizenship we recommended that the 4th strand of the citizenship curriculum should be: Identity and Diversity; Living Together in the UK?

We argue that an understanding of aspects of British history: eg immigration, Empire and Commonwealth, universal suffrage through to equal opportunities can lead to a better understanding of the values Britain claims for itself and a healthy debate about Britishness.

Issues for schools

Teacher training: only 36% of teachers trained in 2006 felt that they had been equipped to teach in multi cultural schools.

Many teachers feel ill equipped to deal with controversial issues.

Issues of diversity and cohesion are often not high on the agendas of Heads and leadership teams.

2) Equity and excellence

Schools have a duty to use data to monitor and improve performance of different groups. While poverty has a major effect on achievement of all ethnic groups Gypsy, Roma and Travellers of Irish heritage, Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils consistently have lower levels of attainment than other ethnic groups across all keystages.

‘Getting it, Getting it Right’ published by the DCFS shows that pupils of African Caribbean heritage are 3 times more likely to be excluded from school than white pupils. This is a profoundly shocking statistic.

There is clear evidence that black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils are less likely to take up maths and science at level 3. This has major implications for their career prospects.

The importance of locality

There is evidence to show that white working class boys on free school meals are now the lowest achievers at Ks4. What are the implications of that?

Different localities have very different cohesion issues. There is no template. What are the issues for areas facing new migration?

3) Engagement and extended services

All schools have a duty to provide extended services linking the school more closely to parents and the community.

How can these services operate to bring together families who might not otherwise meet eg across class, across ethnicity, across culture and religion

Moving forward (some ideas)

i) School linking: to build a programme of school linking across the country based on a model currently operating in Bradford. Schools with different intakes to link both physically and electronically around a curriculum project.

ii) ‘Who do we think we are week? A week in the summer in which schools focus on looking at their community (communities), who lives in them and how they function and how they relate more widely to concepts of England and Britain.