Maurice Smith Review - response to core questions

MAURICE SMITH REVIEW - RESPONSE TO CORE QUESTIONS

1 What evidence is there that schools' equal opportunity policies are effective in combating racism?

Racist incident reporting reflects the continuing sensitivities of race and community relations at international, national and local levels. It is clear from the reading of many incident forms that some pupils continue to be influenced by the media coverage of these events, in particular the language and ideas that help to shape popular perceptions of, for example, international terrorism, immigration and refugee issues. It is to the credit of governors and school staff that the difficult situations that sometimes occur are usually very well managed. It is also important to state that the reports indicate that schools usually take prompt and robust preventative action to minimise any adverse impact.

The pupil attitude questionnaire results for Lancashire also show that the great majority of pupils give positive responses when asked about Racist Behaviour in both primary and secondary schools.

2 What are schools in your area doing to promote racial equality and promote community cohesion? Examples of measures deemed to be good practice and recognised as being successful would be useful.

RACE EQUALITY

Members of Lancashire's Quality and Continuous Improvement have developed a number of initiatives to work alongside schools to promote race equality and community cohesion, including:

Training in Race equality and community cohesion provided for all staff in Burnley/Pendle BSF schools
Race Equality Charters produced for each of the 12 districts in the council to which all schools are signatories.
Lancashire Race Equality Mark, based on the former CRE Standards for Race Equality

Lancashire Race Equality Mark

The Race Equality Mark is awarded by Lancashire County Council to Lancashire schools that reach an agreed standard as outlined in documentation (Race Equality Mark Guidance) and can therefore demonstrate that Race Equality is embedded in their practice and procedures. It will be awarded to schools for a three-year period. The school will receive a plaque and will be able to use the logo on school literature during that period. There will be an opportunity to renew the Race Equality Mark at the end of three years.

Most schools are familiar with the Basic Skills Quality Mark scheme. Lancashire's Race Equality Mark is based on the same model as the Basic Skills scheme and has been developed by a Lancashire working group to provide an effective framework aimed at supporting schools through the process of developing and consolidating good practice in the area of Race Equality.

The Race Equality Mark builds on the commitment made by schools that signed up to the Lancashire Race Equality Charter. It provides a process through which schools can fulfil their commitment to Race Equality.

As schools develop more sophisticated measures of self-evaluation, assessing the impact of their Race Equality policy will be part of that process. The Race Equality Mark framework is a self-evaluation tool that schools can use to help them establish how effectively they are meeting their requirements in the area of Race Equality.

The award is for all schools in Lancashire, irrespective of their ethnic make up. There is no charge for the award.

Schools may download the guidance and the relevant forms from the http://vle.lancashiretogether.lancsngfl.ac.uk or www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/projects/ema

The Schools, Citizenship Anti-Racism and Football (SCARF) Project

The SCARF project has been successfully developed with Burnley FC and partner schools. The project brings together pupils from different communities to develop knowledge and understanding of diversity and learn how to interact and share through the medium of sport.

The project in Lancashire is currently focused on working with Preston North End and its community of schools. Plans are in place to promote the concept with other Football League Clubs. The Lancashire teacher adviser most directly involved in the project has provided consultancy to Derby County FC and Milwall FC.

COMMUNITY COHESION

Schools are supported in developing policies and practice in a number of ways. The main point of contact for many schools is Lancashire's teacher adviser for community cohesion, who has a wide repertoire of strategies and resources available to support schools in their policies and practices in relation to both race equality and cohesion work.

St George's Day Celebrations 2009/10:

In the autumn term 2009, a website http://www.stgeorgesday.lancsngfl.ac.uk/ was launched to support schools wishing to celebrate St George's Day as an expression of being English in all its diversity. This project is a partnership between Lancashire and Cumbria County Councils, working with Dr. Samantha Riches from Lancaster University. Its initial shelf life is two years 2009 and 2010. It involves the production of an educational resource, available online, which is well researched and impeccable in its scholarship and also accessible and relevant to schools. The resource will include activities to support young people in an exploration of identity and belonging within the context of living in England.

Principles underlying the celebration included:

To provide a clear rationale which promotes the recognition and celebration of a diverse England.
To provide comprehensive resources for use in schools, and elsewhere, to support an exploration of St George and of English identity.
To provide relevant training if needed.
To consult with a range of communities to ensure positive approaches and attitudes.

Developments to promote the celebration include:

The production of a cross-phase St George resource for schools, which is available online.
Ideas and activities for use in classrooms across the key stages, linked to the above resource.
A web site which allows access to the resource and also to discussions and advice surgeries, and which can also be used to publicise events.
The production of a resource that is made up of people's responses to "What does England mean to me?" and "What do I like about England?".
Work with school councils to encourage them to take the lead in planning and facilitating their school's event.
Training materials for school staff, and other groups.
Partnership with Lancashire Constabulary.

Building Bridges

The LA has commissioned Building Bridges to work with a number of Lancashire Schools with an innovative programme for Y6 and Y7 pupils. The programme is designed to promote self-image and confidence in identity and an understanding of diversity.

Building Bridges is an Interfaith organisation and a registered charity, which wants to bring a realisation that diversity is a positive aspect in the make-up of our society. People must view differences in culture and faith as richness and be aware of similarities in our identity as citizens of a multi-cultural and multi-faith country.

The aims of Building Bridges are to:

Advance the education of the public in the study of Religion of all denominations and creeds, in particular but not exclusively, with reference to the Christian and Islamic Faith.

Work towards the elimination of racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity, and good relations, between persons of different racial groups.

Lancashire currently provides financial and professional support to the Preston Global Education Centre to host the School Linking in Diversity Education SLIDE project for Lancashire schools. Lancashire schools were also involved in the National Schools' Linking Project.

The Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMASS) employs community education liaison officers from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and African-Caribbean communities of Lancashire, as well as English as an additional language (EAL) tutors from many of the traditional and EU Accession linguistic communities of Lancashire. Their work in schools is focused not just on supporting EAL development, but also to promote knowledge and understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity.

The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Achievement Service (GRTAS) offers a wide range of link teacher projects and networks to enhance knowledge and understanding of Gypsy, Roman and Traveller cultures.

3 Can you provide me with any evidence that the measures listed above have been effective (if this has not already been done)?

4 Are further measures required to either maintain trust in the teaching profession or protect children and young people?

Lancashire's HR provides recruitment advice and guidance which takes into account the law in relation to discrimination as well as safeguarding issues. It is expected that if someone is teaching or acting inappropriately, the headteacher (and possibly governors) will take whatever action deemed appropriate. In carrying out investigations and taking action, it is expected that schools would seek advice from the LA.

New strategies to support schools in combating racism are constantly being developed to strengthen work in this area.

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