Rasta TimesCHAT ROOMArticles/ArchiveRaceAndHistory RootsWomen Trinicenter
Africa Speaks.com Africa Speaks HomepageAfrica Speaks.comAfrica Speaks.comAfrica Speaks.com
InteractiveLeslie VibesAyanna RootsRas TyehimbaTriniView.comGeneral Forums
*
Home
Help
Login
Register
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
November 06, 2024, 10:48:12 PM

Login with username, password and session length
Search:     Advanced search
25912 Posts in 9968 Topics by 982 Members Latest Member: - Ferguson Most online today: 167 (July 03, 2005, 06:25:30 PM)
+  Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum
|-+  WORLD HOT SPOTS
| |-+  Around the World (Moderators: Tyehimba, leslie)
| | |-+  Black Boys Betrayed By Racist School System
« previous next »
Pages: [1] Print
Author Topic: Black Boys Betrayed By Racist School System  (Read 7816 times)
Tyehimba
Moderator
*****
Posts: 1788

RastafariSpeaks


WWW
« on: September 08, 2004, 06:01:42 PM »

Black Boys Betrayed By Racist School System, Says Report
by Hugh Muir and Rebecca Smithers
Tuesday September 7, 2004

The Guardian

Black schoolboys have been betrayed by the education authorities for almost half a century and are struggling to overcome racism from many of their own teachers,
according to a damning new report out today <www.lda.gov.uk/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.567>.

Members of an influential education commission say the failure of the schools system and individuals within it to successfully engage with students of African-Caribbean origin has severely hindered them and contributed to massive underachievement.

Last year 70% of African-Caribbean boys in London left school with fewer than five or more GCSEs at the top grades of A*-C or equivalent, while African-Caribbean men are the least likely of any group to have a degree.

During the research, which was commissioned by the London mayor, Ken Livingstone, and conducted over the past year, black boys complained of racism and stereotyping from teachers. They said chances of success were also limited by an archaic curriculum.

Their parents told researchers they felt schools did not welcome their input. Black teachers spoke of discrimination. Only 7.4% of London's teachers are from ethnic minorities and 2.9% are black.

The 285-page report, which represents the most exhaustive study to date of the educational underachievement of black boys, concludes that "the English schooling system has produced dismal academic results for a high percentage of black pupils for the best part of 50 years".

Mr Livingstone, who has called for action to ensure that the number of ethnic minority teachers in the capital rises to least 33%, said: "The composition of the teaching staff, governors and other professionals dealing with the education of our children must change dramatically to fully reflect the diversity of London's children."

His officials have organised the London Schools and the Black Child conference to be addressed by schools minister Stephen Twigg on Saturday.

In the study, conducted under the direction of the mayor's London Development Agency and an advisory board led by MP Diane Abbott, focus groups reached a wide degree of agreement: "The consensus was that low teacher expectations played a major part in the underachievement of
African-Caribbean pupils. In addition, inadequate levels of positive teacher attention, unfair behaviour management practices, disproportionately high levels of exclusions and an inappropriate curriculum took their toll."

Pupils were acknowledged to suffer from negative peer pressure and many are said to be disadvantaged by inadequately funded schools with a high turnover of teachers. The insufficient level of involvement by some black parents is also singled out.

The commission also heard evidence of direct discrimination. "Racism manifested itself most harshly in being over looked for answering questions, verbal aggression from teachers and harsher reprimands than for students from other ethnic groups for the same misdemeanour." The report says that relationships between black pupils and white teachers was generally characterised by "conflict and fear". One participant  complained: "When it is white boys, it is a 'group' but when it is black boys it is a 'gang'. I think that's wrong."

The commission found that in 2002, black boys started to lag behind from primary school year two. The gap widened every year after that. It plays down the role of social backgrounds because working class boys from other communities outperformed middle class African-Caribbean boys.

In a series of recommendations, the commission calls for intervention on several levels. It urges ministers to give every parent three days a year paid leave so they can play a part in the schooling process. It also says black teachers should benefit from fast-tracking and "golden handshakes".

The commission calls for urgent action to reduce the number of black pupils excluded. Controversially, it suggests that heads should not exclude pupils for a first serious offence unless the catalyst is an incident involving a knife or gun. It calls for clear procedures which would allow pupils to report racism by teachers. But they also call on black parents to play a more proactive role with their children and schools, "regardless of resistance".

Last year the government launched a new package - Aiming High - backed with £10m of extra funding to tackle the problem of African-Caribbean pupils' underachievement in both primary and secondary schools.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "We recognise that many pupils, particularly from African-Caribbean backgrounds are not achieving their full potential. That is why we are working with parents and community representatives to raise the achievement of
minority ethnic pupils."

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "It is grossly unfair to blame teachers alone for a phenomenon which is more complex than the report appears to make out."

Rampton Revisited, The Educational Experiences and Achievements of Black Boys in
London Schools , published by the LDA Education Commission.
-------
EducationGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
Logged
Pages: [1] Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Copyright © 2001-2005 AfricaSpeaks.com and RastafariSpeaks.com
Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!