Ethnic minority pupils
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The DCSF has an absolute commitment to closing the unacceptable achievement gap that exists between children from different ethnic groups. The Ethnic Minority Achievement project is working to ensure that all the Government's policies contribute to raising the attainment of minority ethnic pupils, and particularly aims to:
- raise the attainment of those minority ethnic pupils at risk of
underachieving, including those for whom English is an additional
language
- promote access and attainment of Gypsy/Traveller children
- provide guidance and support to LAs and schools to meet their obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act.
On 24 October 2003 Schools Minister Stephen Twigg outlined the Government's Aiming High national strategy for raising the academic achievement of minority ethnic pupils in our schools. The strategy, which followed the Aiming High consultation last year, aims to ensure, that minority ethnic pupils are supported to reach their potential. The strategy includes:
- A pilot in 30 secondary schools aimed at raising the achievement of
African-Caribbean pupils. A guidance document was produced which draws on the
strategies and practices that work in schools which are successful in raising
achievement of Black pupils. Lessons learnt from this exercise will inform
further work to be disseminated more widely to schools.
- Development of a national approach to training and support for specialist
English as an Additional Language (EAL) staff including development of
nationally recognised professional qualifications for teachers and teaching
assistants.
- Development of advice, support and training for mainstream teachers in
meeting the needs of all their bilingual pupils.
- An EAL pilot project which will enable LEAs to recruit EAL specialist
consultants to work alongside literacy and numeracy consultants in the Primary
Strategy in 21 LEAs. The projects run from January 2004 until August
2006.
- Development of a network of London Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs) will be
formed to develop EAL as a specialist area.
- Promote access and attainment of children from asylum seeking and refugee
backgrounds, and Gypsy/Traveller children.
- Provide guidance and support to LAs and schools to meet their obligations under the Race Relations Amendment Act.
How to tackle underachievement
Research has shown that key factors underpinning the strategies of
schools that have been successful in promoting high educational achievement
are:
- strong leadership
- a whole school culture of high expectations from teachers and pupils to succeed
- effective teaching and learning strategies
- an ethos of respect with a clear approach to racism and bad behaviour
- parents and the community are positively encouraged to play a full part in the life and development of the school.
Many existing programmes already seek to address the specific needs of minority ethnic pupils. The national curriculum offers teachers considerable flexibility in meeting its requirements. The primary, Key Stage 3 and 14-19 strategies offer opportunities to meet the needs of bilingual learners and those pupils from minority ethnic communities. The Primary National Strategy specifically recognises the needs of bilingual learners.
Aiming High published for the first time comprehensive national data on the achievement of pupils at GCSE in maintained schools in England. This data was from pupils entered for GCSEs in maintained schools in 2002. Data from the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) linked to the national pupil data base will from now on allow the DfES to publish data on an annual basis on the achievement of pupils by ethnic group. Prior to this, the DfES relied on the Youth Cohort Survey, a representative sample as the main indicator of minority ethnic achievement.
Data collection and PLASC
The 2001 Census has shown that nearly one in eight pupils come from a
minority ethnic background and by 2010 the proportion is expected to be around
one in five.
New data derived from PLASC characteristics showing the proportion of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs in maintained schools in 2003 by ethnic group showed that pupils from every ethnic group have improved in their GCSE/GNVQ results. There has been a change in the way ethnic data has been collected between 2002 and 2003. The data broadly shows the following improvements with the percentage of pupils getting five or more grades A* to C at GCSE/GNVQ:
- White — up 1.8 percentage points to 51.3 per cent
- Black Caribbean — up 3.7 percentage points to 32.9 per cent
- Black African — up 3.3 percentage points to 40.7 per cent
- Indian — up 2.6 percentage points to 65.2 per cent
- Pakistani — up 3 percentage points to 41.5 per cent
- Bangladeshi — up 2.2 percentage points to 45.5 per cent
- Chinese — up 4.7 percentage points to 74.8 per cent
- National average in 2003 — 50.7
Chinese pupils are the highest performing minority ethnic group. Indian and pupils of mixed White and Asian heritage also consistently achieve above the national average. African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani pupils achieve poorer GCSE results than other groups. This data, including data on achievement at each key stage and by LEA, can be accessed on the DCSF Research and Statistics Gateway website.
Funding
Schools and LAs receive the bulk of their funding to raise minority
ethnic achievement through their general education allocation. In addition LAs
receive resources through the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG). EMAG is
a ring fenced standards fund grant and will be worth £162 million in
2004-05. For more details see the DCFS's Standards Fund
site.
Teacher Training
Multiverse
is an Initial Teacher Training Professional Resource Network (IPRN). The site
provides teacher educators, student teachers and trainees with a wealth of
resources that focus on enhancing the educational achievement of
pupils from diverse backgrounds.
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