Diane Abbott welcomes colour blind testing
02 Aug 2012
Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, has welcomed plans from the coalition government to introduce ethnic blind test in order to improve test results.Research has shown that pupils with ethnic sounding names are marked down by an average of
12%.
Ms Abbott said: “I have longed believed, and there is evidence to prove, that cultural
and ethnic biases exists in our education system. Those with African and Asian sounding names receive lower marks than their counterparts for answering the same question, black Caribbean pupils are three times more likely to be permanently excluded than their peers.
The result of these inequalities is seen later on in our young people from ethnic and disadvantaged
backgrounds – for example unemployment for young black men is 44%.
It is in this context that I am pleased that the government has decided to take seriously the issue of colour blind testing.
This measure could go a long way to reassuring parents of black and Asian children that their children are genuinely being given the same opportunities as everyone else. I hope the government has the courage to take this forward.”
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For more information please contact Toby Bakare on 020 7219 4426
Notes to editor
Original government plans for colour blind testing can be found here: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-2180585/Ethnic-minority-pupils-underachievement-tackled-blind-marking-bid-remove-teachers-prejudice.html
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