Government Policy on Choice Linked to Ethnically Segregated Schools

05 Jun 2007

A new Runnymede Trust education report which highlights the fact that race impacts upon parental choice in education was launched yesterday in the House of Commons.

Recent educational reforms have emphasised parental choice as central to raising the standards in schools for all pupils despite nothing being known about the exercise of choice among black and minority ethnic parents. The Runnymede report, entitled School Choice and Ethnic Segregation, argues that education policy has failed to tackle the issue of ethnic segregation between young people by failing to establish how different groups exercise choice.

Hosting the launch yesterday, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott said:

“The Runnymede report sheds light on an issue that we have been in the dark about for a long time. It is essential we know more about the ways in which parents exercise choice when choosing schools for their children in order for us to ensure all children have equal access to schools. What this report shows is that BME parents encounter certain tensions when looking for a school for their child. In many cases the choice appears to be between an ethnically diverse school that is performing poorly, or a majority white school where their child may feel isolated or have to travel further to get to.

Currently our secondary schools are more ethnically segregated than our neighbourhoods. To me that represents a missed opportunity to promote interaction between children of different backgrounds. We must look further into this issue and seek out ways of creating more ethically diverse schools.”  

 



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