BNP Teachers

Dear Sir or Madam,

By letter of 30 September 2009, The Secretary of State Ed Balls
appointed Maurice Smith to enquire into the "promotion of racism in
schools". Part of the review is aimed at determining whether
members of the British National Party (BNP) should be allowed to
work as teachers or in the wider school workforce.

At present there are a number of measures and safeguards in place
in place to protect children and young people in schools from
racially motivated discrimination and the promotion of political
doctrines that advocate discrimination and promote racist views.
These are:

• The requirement on schools to have equal opportunity policies

• The duty upon schools to promote racial equality

• Their duty to promote community cohesion

• The duty on governing bodies, headteachers and local authorities
to forbid the teaching of partisan political activities in schools

• The powers of the GTC (England) regarding suitability of
registration and where teacher conduct could bring the profession
into disrepute

I would like you to provide me with evidence of how effective these
measures are including whether they are sufficient to maintain
trust in the profession and protect children and young people.

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

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

Yours sincerely

Mark Walker
Solidarity Trade Union
www.solidaritytradeunion.org