Helping Black Boys in Education
Hackney Gazette
Earlier this month Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, suggested that the solution to years of black male educational underachievement is segregation of the classroom – educating black boys separately.
Whilst his approach was rightly slammed by newspaper headlines Mr Phillips did highlight a very important issue, namely that we are still experiencing a very real educational crisis. Black educational underachievement is an issue on which I have myself campaigned for a long time. More than three years ago I wrote: “There is a silent catastrophe happening in Britain’s schools in the way that they continue to fail black British schoolchildren” - things have yet to improve. I am therefore grateful to Mr Phillips for his continued commitment to investigating new, if radical, measures to improve black educational achievement - we simply cannot afford to fail another generation of young black boys.
However, it is clear to me that policies of segregation will only reinforce societal prejudices and preconceptions about what are reasonable educational expectations for the black child. Singling out black boys will only lead to lowered teacher expectations and perpetuate a vicious circle of institutional prejudice. Consequently, we will not have seen the last demonizing headlines which serve only to reinforce social preconceptions about the abilities of the black child. Indeed, excluding boys from the mainstream classroom will send the message that they are generally unsuited for mainstream society.
The causes of black underachievement are complex and plentiful and comprise social factors ranging from poor housing, popular culture denigrating learning, and fractured family life – there is no one reason for black underachievement and therefore no simplistic solution. It seems preferable to me to address these problems before stigmatising black boys unnecessarily.
There is a real problem in our schools with a clear cut gap between the level of achievement of children nationally and that of black boys. Importantly, black underachievement is not just a concern for black parents and their children but is an issue that should be of grave concern to society as a whole. We should acknowledge that educational standards in many inner city areas cannot be raised overall without addressing the perennial issue of black underachievement. Moreover, educational failure is inextricably linked with social exclusion which in turn bars youngsters from society and make them particularly vulnerable to being drawn into crime.
The onus is therefore on everyone to find tenable solutions. Parents must do more, teachers must monitor what is going on in schools and their teaching practices, and the government must give support to positive initiatives like Saturday schools.
However, it is not all gloom. A few years ago only 9% of black boys in Hackney achieved 5 good GCSEs. Now the figure has climbed to 28%. This is still about half the national average but the trend is in the right direction. I recently attended the opening of the new Mossbourne City Academy in Hackney where the new Head Teacher Sir Michael Wilshaw has previously achieved very good results from black boys. His secret appears to be that he simply believes in the boys and will not accept failure. Helping all our children to achieve their educational potential in this way is one of the most vital issues here in Hackney and I will continue to campaign on this issue.
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