This letter was published in April 2010
Open Letter to Trevor Phillips EHRC: Teaching Unions and Black Student leaders demand race equality in education from Equalities watchdog
Dear Mr. Phillips,
We are writing to express our deep concern about the absolute lack of enforcement relating to the Race Relations (Amendment) Act in education.
This year marks the 11th anniversary of the Lawrence inquiry which found institutional racism in the police and, by implication, other public authority institutions. We welcomed the introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act requiring all public authorities to positively promote race equality and eliminate discrimination.
It is positive to see that more Black students (those of African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean heritage) are now entering colleges and universities. Unfortunately there are still more Black students studying in London Metropolitan University than in the entire Russell group, and at the current rate it will be a long time before enough Black students are fully accessing the opportunities that an equal further or higher education can afford them.
Research produced over the last few years has shown that the attainment gap between Black and white students in FE and HE has widened, the drop out rates of Black students are higher than the average at 12-15%, the numbers of Black students in more prestigious institutions are low and when Black students are in education, they are more likely to receive up to 12% lower marks if they have a typically African or Asian sounding name when anonymous marking is not in place. As you can see, these are all key performance indicators that can be measured, and suggest that support and protection for Black students in further and higher education are woefully lacking.
We are further deeply concerned about institutional practices in respect of employment and a widespread failure to conduct equality impact assessments. As examples, evidence from a joint CRE/UCU monitoring study of 50 further education colleges identified ‘universal non-compliance’ within the sector. Recent research from NASUWT and the NCSL showed only 5% of Black employed in schools, compared with a Black pupil population of 20%.
When complying with the wording of the legislation, education institutions should do more than simply having a race equality policy. They should be implementing practices such as anonymous marking, monitoring their admissions and recruitment of Black staff and students, assessing the impact of all institutional policies on different racial groups, evaluating the experiences of Black teachers and lecturers, having regular consultations with those Black groups addressing issues of race equality in society, clearly allocating roles and responsibilities for promoting race equality and taking swift action against any staff or student who does not abide by the institution’s race equality policy.
Sadly, our empirical evidence points to the fact that the vast majority of educational institutions are not doing so to the standard required by law. This prevents Black students from being given access to the same life opportunities through education that are afforded to their white counterparts, and blights the careers of Black teachers and lecturers.
As the body that is empowered to monitor equality legislation you should be fully aware that educational institutions are not complying and yet there is little evidence of the EHRC issuing compliance notices in order to ensure obligations under the legislation are met.
We, the undersigned, call on you to conduct a full national audit of schools, colleges and universities to ascertain compliance with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, to put all institutions on notice to meet their statutory obligations under the Act, and to implement all the Lawrence Inquiry recommendations relating to education.
Yours sincerely,
Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy, NUS Black Students' Officer
Sally Hunt, General Secretary UCU
Christine Blower, General Secretary NUT
Chris Keates, General Secretary NASUWT
Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary, PCS
Diane Abbott MP
Peter Herbert QC, Society of Black Lawyers
Lee Jasper, Secretary National Assembly Against Racism
Dave Weaver, Chair 1990 Trust
Viv Ahmun, Equanomics UK
Karen Chouhan, Equanomics UK
Dr Joe Aldred, Secretary, MECA, Churches Together in England
Anna Rothery Coordinator, Migrant Workers North West
Kofi Mawuli Klu, Chief Executive Commissioner, PANAFRIINDABA
http://www.officeronline.co.uk/black/articles/277377.aspx
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