BNP Teachers

Mark Walker made this Freedom of Information request to West Berkshire Council

The request was successful.

From: Mark Walker

21 December 2009

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

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From: Sue Broughton
West Berkshire Council

21 December 2009

FoI/2009/514

Dear Mr Walker,

Thank you for your enquiry. I will pass this to the Education Service
and we will seek to respond within twenty working days.

Yours sincerely

Sue Broughton

Information Management Officer

Policy & Communication

* West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14
5LD

Email: [West Berkshire Council request email]

01635 519747 (external) ' 2747 (internal) 6: 01635 519613

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council
are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

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From: Sue Broughton
West Berkshire Council

14 January 2010

FoI/2009/514

Dear Mr Walker,

We have now collated information to respond to your request. You have
asked:

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?

We have supplied a narrative response as these questions are
inter-related

For the final school inspection report for each school, OFSTED requires
all schools to be judged on:
The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting
the school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory
responsibilities met
The effectiveness of the school's engagement with parents and carers
The effectiveness of partnerships in promoting learning and well-being
The effectiveness with which the school promotes equality of opportunity
and tackles discrimination
The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures
The effectiveness with which the school promotes community cohesion
The effectiveness with which the school deploys resources to achieve
value for money

The report will assess whether the school's performance is Outstanding,
Good, Adequate, or Inadequate. OFSTED reports are publicly available on
the OFSTED website.

Also on the OFSTED website you will find the Evaluation schedule which
gives clear guidance to inspectors on how to make the judgments and what
constitutes evidence. You can also review the school reports for
individual schools to see how they fulfil the OFSTED requirements, and
view the websites of the individual schools for more information on
measures they have in place.
The OFSTED website can be found here: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/
A list of the Council's 80+ schools can be found here:
http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?a...

In addition:

School Improvement Partners discuss the school's approach to racial
equality and community cohesion on at least an annual basis.

All schools are involved in carrying out the statutory duty to promote
community cohesion. In addition there are 21 schools across all phases
of education working on a project with the Institute of Community
Cohesion to develop good practice which will be made available to all
schools through a good practice conference.

A senior School Improvement Adviser has the strategic lead to manage the
Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS). The service
provides equality and diversity training to schools and local authority
staff.

EMTAS works alongside the West Berkshire Minority Ethnic Forum to
address issues and concerns that are raised. For example the Council is
jointly funding Chinese Mandarin classes as it was too far for children
to travel to Reading; monthly classes for young mothers to support their
literacy, numeracy and ICT skills so that they can help their children
with schooling; a project is due to start shortly to integrate
unaccompanied Asylum Seeking young men with the Muslim community through
sports activities.

All schools are required, and do have, an equalities policy which covers
all aspects of the equalities agenda including the duty to promote
racial equality. Schools have recently been requested to provide
evidence in respect of the disability discrimination agenda.

Racist incidents in schools are logged on the Assurance database
(incidents are identified where they are 'discrimination - racial') and
statistics (supplied for another FoI request) are given below.
Financial years:
2004-5 - 16
2005-6 - 26
2006-7 - 20
2007-8 - 23
2008-9 - 17

The Council is mindful that governors need to be reminded of their
responsibilities and the topic is frequently raised at briefings to
Chairs and other groups of Governors. The Education Service also offer
training which has been well attended (including a Governor Training
session where 54 attendees turned up).

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
ask for an internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy &
Scrutiny Manager, Policy & Communication, Council Offices, Market
Street, Newbury RG14 5LD, email [email address] if you wish to
request a review. If you are not content with the outcome of the
internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Sue Broughton

Information Management Officer

Policy & Communication

* West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14
5LD

Email: [West Berkshire Council request email]

01635 519747 (external) ' 2747 (internal) 6: 01635 519613

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council
are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

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