Turkish-Speaking Community Comes Together in Hackney

12 Jun 2007

On Saturday Diane Abbott MP hosted the first ever conference focusing on raising educational achievement among the Turkish-speaking community in Hackney and Stoke Newington.

The conference saw parents and students come together to discuss ideas on how best to tackle the problems that face some of the Turkish-speaking communities in London. These problems were identified as language barriers, juggling school with working, not aiming high enough, and living with two different cultures.

Guttsen Kava, a young student who has grown up in Hackney, spoke about how parents can address these issues and about her own experience of education in Hackney.

Mayor Jules Pipe talked about the need to encourage students from Turkish-speaking communities to stay on at school past 16 and aiming for skilled jobs.

Chief Executive of the Learning Trust Alan Wood was also at the conference to talk about the work the Learning Trust is doing to help these communities in education. Programmes currently running include mentoring sessions, supplementary schools and ESOL lessons.

Delegates at the conference were given a chance to ask the panel questions before workshops began on gangs and youth culture and communication with schools.

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