6. education. To be effective and comprehensive this audit should involve all partners Ñ teachers, students, parents and the communities. b. Creating Opportunities School policies should aim to encourage creative approaches to teaching and learning; in literacy, numeracy, the arts, sciences, humanities, physical education and technology, equally within the whole curriculum, and establish timetable patterns and flexibility to ensure all areas of the curriculum can be enhanced, both within and outside formal education. c. Valuing Diversity Diversity should be seen and celebrated as being valuable and enriching to the school environment: not as a problem but as a strength or asset. Children need to be comfortable and empowered in their own cultures. This may mean giving young people responsibility for managing how they interact with other cultures - with teachers supporting the process: for how the school operates and to develop anti-racist, anti-bullying strategies, and so on. d. Monitoring Progress The school might establish monitoring systems which identify and encourage studentsÕ creative talents and develop praise systems or a rewards policy to celebrate achievement and which monitor in particular progress and achievement by children from ethnic minorities. Such ethnic monitoring is vital in order to determine whether all ethnic groups have access to the same opportunities; problem areas can be identified and solutions developed based on ethnic monitoring. e. Developing Networks The school could establish networks which bring in expertise and funding for creative and cultural projects and events. It could develop links between schools in different areas - even between countries - to combat parochialism and to widen experience of pupils outside the immediate environment of the school. It is essential in these and other ways to widen childrenÕs experiences to raise achievement
Teaching and Learning
It has often been said that schools Ôcannot go it aloneÕ against the forces of racial inequality, prejudice and social exclusion that are outside their gates but reach into the classroom. While that may be true, and offer some comfort to those schools who feel they are constantly battling against the odds, it must not become an excuse for failure to take action, because if schools do not take a stand, what hope is there for breaking the vicious circle of these corrosive forces which exist in society at large? Indeed, the best schools more often than not combine a drive for high achievement with a strong community programme which both promotes, and benefits from, good race relations. Information from Ofsted 1999
Following an analysis by ethnicity of National Curriculum results in one primary school, concern about black underachievement and low self-esteem led to a focus on the culture of Black African pupils, even though they were few in number in this predominantly British Asian school. African influenced art and craft work was developed as part of a curriculum initiative in history where Benin was chosen as a unit of study. Work of outstanding quality, supported by stimulating and carefully chosen artefacts, was much in evidence in the school. The response of all the pupils was enthusiastic. The progress and behaviour of the black pupils have improved. Information from Ofsted 1999.
NACCCE report
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