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
Dear Mr Walker
Thank you for your e-mail received 03 December 2009 requesting information regarding policies in schools.
Michael Fenn will arrange for the information to be provided to you no later than 6 January 2010.
Whilst it is the Council's policy to provide information wherever possible, I need to advise you that there are a number of exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. These may prevent me from releasing all or some of the information you have asked for. You will, however be informed if this is the case and why.
Yours sincerely
Julie Clist
Business Support Officer
Corporate Complaints & FOI Team
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Room 104 Town Hall
1 Town Square
Barking
IG11 7HE
020 8227 2875
E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements. If you are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any person:to do so maybe unlawful.
Dear Mark Walker
Request for information LBBD / 41967
Your request for information about equal opportunity policies in schools
has now been considered and the information is shown below.
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?
Schools have had a duty to promote community cohesion following an
amendment to the Education Act 2006. Guidance for schools was published by
the DCSF in 2007 and Ofsted inspections have made judgement on schools
contribution to promoting community cohesion since September 2008
The DCSF guidance to schools on the duty to promote community cohesion can
be grouped under three headings
. Teaching, learning and the curriculum - the new national
curriculum for secondary schools has cultural understanding embedded in
most subject areas, something which will also have a higher profile in the
new primary curriculum. Schools in Barking and Dagenham follow the
national curriculum. There is a strong tradition of Citizenship education
in secondary schools in the borough which places a high profile on
exploring key concepts of rights and responsibilities, identities and
diversity. The borough is piloting a school linking project which brings
together students from different schools to explore local issues.
. Equity and Excellence - As part of their self evaluation
processes schools will interrogate a range of data to identify groups of
students who may be underachieving in order to identify and remove any
barriers that may exist
. Extended Services and engagement. - In Barking and Dagenham 89%
of our schools are extended schools. examples of good practice in
promoting community cohesion through extended service includes the
employment of additional site staff to ensure the schools can stay open
longer for community use. 98% of our schools have a school council which
provides opportunities for children and young people to discuss school and
local community issues. Additional to this children and young people are
provided with a range of engagement opportunities through the 5-12yr youth
forum, the Barking and Dagenham Youth Forum and Urban Question times.
20 schools in Barking and Dagenham have had an Ofsted inspection since
Ofsted started judging this area. One school achieved an outstanding,
eight schools achieved a good and ten schools achieved a satisfactory with
just one receiving an unsatisfactory. Schools have been made aware of the
guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion are able to request
additional support from quality and school improvement.
If you need any more information, or if I can be of any further help,
please contact me.
If you are not satisfied with the way that I have dealt with your request
you can make a complaint by writing to the Corporate Complaints & FOI
Team, Room 104, Town Hall, 1 Town Square, Barking IG11 7HE. Alternatively
you can make your complaint on-line at [1]www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk or
you can e-mail your complaint to [2][Barking & Dagenham Borough Council request email].
If you are still not satisfied, after following our Corporate Complaints
procedure, you can take your complaint to the Information Commissioner.
Full details of how to do this will be made available on request.
Yours sincerely
Robert Baker | Information and Records Officer
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham | Room B16 Civic Centre | Dagenham |
RM10 7BN
Phone: 020 8227 8268 | Fax: 020 8227 2324
Email: [3][email address] | [4]www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk
E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees
only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal
professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements. All
communications sent to or from this organisation may be subject to
recording or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation. If you
are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender
immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all
locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for
any purpose or disclose its contents to any person: to do so maybe
unlawful.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[Barking & Dagenham Borough Council request email]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/
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