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 request for information below which has been given
reference FOI 2528. Please quote this on any correspondence regarding your
request.
Stockport Council will respond to your request within 20 working days. If
there will be a charge for disbursements e.g. photocopying in order to
provide the information, we will inform you as soon as possible to see if
you wish to proceed; however such charges are usually waived if they
amount to less than £10.
Yours sincerely,
Claire Naven
Claire Naven
Data Protection & Freedom of Information Officer
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Dear Mr Walker,
I am writing in response to your request for information below (ref 2528).
Please find below the information we are able to provide in response to
your request from the Inclusion team. You may be able to obtain
more-detailed information by contacting schools directly; a list of
schools in the borough with contact details is available on the Council's
website by using the A-Z facility to search for primary and secondary
schools. Please see [1]www.stockport.gov.uk.
When the Council does the Inclusion Quality Mark we consider bullying in
all its manifestations. Currently about one third of our schools have this
award (or are working on it) which is reviewed every three years. During
the assessment day we review relevant policies and interview groups of
pupils and parents and always ask about bullying. Similarity the National
Healthy Schools award has an anti-bullying element.
In addition, inspection every three years comments on every school about
attitudes and equality issues together with behaviour. None of our schools
have had anything other than satisfactory or better judgements with most
receiving good or outstanding.
We also produced race aid materials for schools to use and offered all
high schools the Preventing Violent Extremism drama production. Two of our
high schools have produced anti-bullying drams which have been shared
across the LA and the anti-bullying conferences and cpd have been well
attended. Attached are the community cohesion and anti bullying guidance
which were sent to all schools.
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request you are
entitled to ask for an internal review. Any internal review will be
carried out by a senior member of staff who was not involved with your
original request. To ask for an internal review, contact
[2][email address] in the first instance.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of any internal review, you are
entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner. To do so, contact:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
[3]www.ico.gov.uk
01625 545 745
Yours sincerely,
Claire Naven
Claire Naven
Data Protection & Freedom of Information Officer
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Freedom of Information survey - Not linked to Stockport Council:
The Constitution Unit, a research body at University College London, is
carrying out a study of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and its effect
on local government. An important part of the evaluation process is
gathering the experiences and opinions of FOI requesters like you. Any
information you provide will be handled in accordance with the privacy
policy explained in the survey.
If you would like to take part in this study, please click the link below
to be taken directly to the survey. Contact Ben Worthy at
[4][email address] or on 020 7679 4974 to find out more about the study
or to speak further about your experiences.
Link to the survey: [5]http://tinyurl.com/yffzxor
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