- Conference
- 2006 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 19 September 2005
- Decision
- Carried
Last year there was an excellent motion from Yorkshire & Humberside region (Motion 13) which when amended provided a clear strategy for challenging race in employment. What we need however is to challenge more effectively using a range of strands to an overall strategy of exposing racism within schools from Early Years to Higher Educational structures.
We need more black teachers, support staff and community mentors employed in all areas of the educational system. Professor Gus John’s view in 1980 that “Until African Caribbean boys can see African Caribbean teachers in there everyday school and college lives they will continue to see themselves as less valued and disengaged from the educational system”. It is not rocket science that sees black pupils in schools with a higher proportion of black staff and adults performing well and engaging positively throughout their Key Stages of the National Curriculum.
We need to support our gifted black students and their parents as role models for less engaged black pupils, students and families but we as communities are not in the position or have the power to do that.
Therefore:-
Conference calls upon the NBMC to work with the NEC to lobby the CRE, Local Government Association, Central Government, Teaching Unions and Associations, OfSTED, DfES, Higher Education Funding Bodies, Connexions Boards and the LSC to devise a clear strategy to include the following:-
1.LEA’s and schools to fund through their budgets on a permanent and committed aspect and through the Standards Funds the employment of local black educationally committed adults in their schools;
2.Identify Beacon schools at all stages of the Key Stages based on the performance of their black students and provide access to their good practice for all schools;
3.Develop processes for increasing levels and support for black school governors in all schools regardless of level of black pupil population;
4.Pay gifted and talented pupils in Year 11 – 13 to mentor their peers who are at risk of educational exclusion and disengagement;
5.Support the recruitment of black School Improvement Advisers to be recruited from amongst existing teaching and support staff in schools;
6.CRE to train local and national inspection and advisory bodies to utilise the skills and experiences of the local black community in the school improvement strategy and schools development plans;
7.Enable the CRE to improve their level of scrutiny of those local authorities where black student’s performance at all Key Stages is not improving and their exclusion rates are increasing;
8.Funding to create and sustain permanent school based black student forums targeting disaffected and disengaged black students and supported by gifted and talented black students from both in and outside of their local schools;
9.Connexions resources to be used by secondary schools to bring in and employ local black Personal Advisers to support the provision for black students who are identified at Key Stages 1 and 2 as below local and national levels of performance.
We need to stop the rot now otherwise black children, black adults, black communities will not improve their life and family chances, and we will not universally become more prosperous or be able to become more representative in the influential areas of society.