LSBC Conference 2006
Hackney Gazette
On Saturday 9th September over 2000 black parents, students, teachers, community activists, school governors and politicians will come together for the London Schools and the Black Child IV conference. The issues that we will tackle are not new. In fact we have known for decades that black pupils, boys in particular, fare badly in the British education system. We know only too well that black Caribbean pupils achieve in line with national averages at primary school level (with girls doing better than boys) but by the time they reach secondary school, they fall into the lowest performing group. As a mother of a black son this problem has always been particularly worrying.
More than a decade ago I started working to reverse these trends. Hackney has one of the biggest populations of African and Caribbean heritage children in the country and the problems black pupils experienced at school were very familiar to us here in Hackney. I therefore decided to bring together local educationalists, parents and politicians to examine what was going wrong in our schools, why were our schools failing our black children? I held several local conferences to address the issue. All were oversubscribed and people came from all over London, even from other parts of the country, to participate. There was a clear and shared understanding that the future of the UK’s African and Caribbean communities is heavily dependent on what happens here in our London schools. After all, more than 60% of all Caribbean and more than 80% of all African heritage pupils are taught in greater London. It was therefore apparent that the issue was not localised and with the help of the Mayor of London I made it a London-wide conference.
The conference has been very successful in its solutions-focused approach. It has supported the black community in devising self-help strategies. Saturday supplementary schools, for example, have proved very effective and have mitigated some pupils’ failure in mainstream schools. But state schools should provide for all. We therefore still have to tackle issues of institutional racism and teacher under-expectation, we need more black teachers in the classroom, we need stronger discipline and we need to promote the celebration of our children’s cultural heritage.
The causes of the problem are wide ranging and complex so we all have a role to play. Of course the persistent underachievement is not just a ‘black problem’. Failure to draw upon the talent and resources of our black communities will have a serious and detrimental impact on London’s economy and therefore our economy as a whole. But one thing the conferences have brought home to me is that no one will ever again be able to say that black parents and the black community do not value education or have ambitions for their children. It is very clear to me that the black community will no longer tolerate low levels of attainment and achievement for their children - the black community more than ever before is ready to save the next generation of black children.
Anyone who wishes to attend this year’s conference should book early to avoid disappointment. Booking forms are available from my web site www.dianeabbott.org.uk . Alternatively, you may ring my office on 0207 219 4426 to request a registration form.
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