OFSTED REPORT FINDS SUPPORT FOR MINORITY ETHNIC PUPILS IMPROVING BUT STILL TOO VARIABLE

17 Oct 2001 12:00 AM

OFSTED today published a new report about the achievement of minority ethnic pupils, focusing on the work of local education authorities and the effects of grant-funded schemes.

Managing Support for the Attainment of Pupils from Minority Ethnic Groups follows up earlier reports by the Office for Standards in Education.

The report says that LEA support for the attainment of minority ethnic pupils is still too variable, but it is improving. It notes that much of the best practice is in London LEAs, highlighting Lewisham as typical of several, where achievement is analysed by ethnic group and underachieving groups are identified for further support. Characteristics of good LEA practice cited include capable specialist staff and the use of contingency funding to cope with unpredictable influxes of pupils, with Camden named as an example of an LEA which meets this challenge well.

The new Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG), introduced in 1999, has helped to connect action on minority ethnic achievement with other work to raise education standards. It has brought about positive change in some of the schools which receive it, but there is still some way to go before all of them make use of its full potential.

The key factors are the availability of expert staff, the extent to which school managers understand and facilitate effective practice and good links with parents and the wider community. Although the teaching of English as an additional language is usually good, steps to support under-achieving groups are still tentative and not well enough thought through in some schools. The report cites the recruitment and retention of specialist staff and training as continuing problems.

The report has a specific chapter on Travelling children (gypsy, circus groups). This section of the report notes that changes in the grant for Traveller education have not had much impact on the quality of local services, which are generally very good. Some schools are too dependent on these services and do not do enough for themselves, for example in working with parents, arranging staff training and buying suitable resources. The attendance and achievement of Traveller children remain serious concerns, particularly at the secondary level.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Managing Support for the Attainment of Pupils from Minority Ethnic Groups (ref. HMI 326) is being sent to all maintained schools in England, LEAs and OFSTED Inspectors. It is also available on the OFSTED website, www.ofsted.gov.uk and is available free from the OFSTED publications centre, on 07002 637833.

2. Previous OFSTED reports include Raising the Attainment of Minority Ethnic Pupils: School and LEA Responses, which looked at the work of LEAs and schools, published in 1999. Since the first report, there have been significant changes affecting provision for minority ethnic achievement. One has been the requirement of schools and LEAs to set targets for achievement. Another has been the introduction, from April 1999, of a new Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant to assist schools in dealing with under-achievement and to ensure that the work is firmly linked to mainstream improvement. The grant, administered by the Department for Education and Skills, is to provide greater focus on all under-achieving minority ethnic groups, not just those learning English as an additional language.

3. A third factor has been the Macpherson report on the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which led to the Race Relations (Amendment) Act in 2000. This extends a general duty to avoid discrimination on racial grounds and to promote good race relations to schools and LEAs.

4. The 39 LEAs inspected by OFSTED and the Audit Commission in autumn 1999 and spring 2000 were: Barnet, Bradford, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Camden, City of York, Corporation of London, Derbyshire, Doncaster, Greenwich, Halton, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hertfordshire, Kensington & Chelsea, Lancashire, Leeds, Lewisham, Luton, Manchester, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Rochdale, Rotherham, Sandwell, Salford, Sheffield, Solihull, Southwark, Tameside, Tower Hamlets, Trafford, Walsall, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire.

5. The 12 LEAs in which the introduction of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant was studied in detail were: Barking & Dagenham, Blackburn with Darwen, Camden, Coventry, Croydon, Hampshire, Kirklees, Leeds, Lincolnshire, Luton, Oldham, Telford & Wrekin. An African-Caribbean achievement project was also visited in Sheffield.

6. Traveller education services were given full inspections in Bolton, Cheshire, Derby, Derbyshire, Doncaster, Haringey, Hounslow, Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Oldham, Oxfordshire, St. Helens, Stockport, Walsall, Worcestershire. Short visits were also made to services in Barnet, Barking & Dagenham, Barnsley, Bexley, Calderdale, Dorset, Kirklees, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest.

7. OFSTED is a non-ministerial government department established under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 to take responsibility for the inspection of all schools in England. Its inspection role also includes the inspection of local education authorities, teacher training institutions, youth work and funded education for three and four-year olds. From September 2001, OFSTED is responsible for the registration and inspection of early years childcare, including childminders.

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