Ethnic Minority Pupils (Hansard, 29 March 1999)

§ The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone)

Following the Home Affairs Sub-Committee Report,Bangladeshis in Britain, a number of government initiatives have been introduced which addressed its educational recommendations. These include: collection of data on school pupils' ethnicity; commissioning of research into ethnic minority pupil achievement; and continued specific grant support and annual monitoring (under the Home Office Section 11 programme) of provision for the needs of ethnic minority pupils and in particular those for whom English is an additional (EAL).

This Government have made clear their commitment to equality of opportunity and to raising educational standards for all pupils. They have introduced a raft of measures aimed at raising standards, many of which will be of particular benefit to ethnic minority pupils, such as the national literacy and numeracy strategies and the development of education action zones, which will often include high numbers of pupils from ethnic minority groups. The Government have also taken specific action to break the cycle of disadvantage for minority ethnic pupils and create equal opportunities for all. In particular they have consulted on how best to monitor ethnic minority pupils' performance at national, local and school level and have developed plans to introduce new arrangements for the collection of statistical data from schools in the form of individual pupil records. In future, ethnic data will be collected on an individual pupil basis alongside other information such as key stage assessment results and performance in public examinations, thus enabling achievement to be monitored by main ethnic group. Secondly, they have reviewed the level and delivery of specialist support in schools for raising the participation and achievements of ethnic minority pupils. A new DfEE standards fund grant of over £430 million over three years to raise standards of achievement for ethnic minority pupils was announced on 12 November 1998. It will be targeted specifically at raising achievement of ethnic minority pupils, including pupils for whom English is not their first language. LEAs must submit detailed action plans for approval, monitor achievement by ethnic group and set targets for improvement. Thirdly, the Government have published research, commissioned by the department from the Open University, into successful multi-ethnic schools. This included a particular focus on those schools with significant numbers of Bangladeshi pupils.

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The Government are taking action to disseminate the good practice highlighted in both the Ofsted report, Raising the attainment of minority ethnic pupils, and the Open University Report, Making the Difference, Teaching and Learning Strategies in Successful Multi-ethnic Schools. The Government also intend to take action to ensure that the skills and quality of the teaching profession can best be developed to meet the needs of ethnic minority pupils; a targeted approach is taken to programmes in schools to address issues related to the exclusion of ethnic minority children; the review of the national curriculum ensures that all pupils gain an understanding of citizenship and democracy and that the curriculum properly reflects the needs of a diverse society; priority is given to community mentoring in order to develop the relationship between schools and the local community; and the substantial DfEE's ethnic minority achievement grant is used to maximum effect.