In My View - Schools and the BNP

In the 21st century, there should be no place for racism, or for the far right's politics of hate, in our schools

The Maurice Smith review was set up to assess what measures are needed to make this a reality. But, by failing to ban the most obvious measure -banning BNP members from working in schools - the review is a missed opportunity.

Membership of the BNP is incompatible with being part of the team delivering education. In fact, the union sees it as incompatible with delivering any public services at all. Our communities are diverse, and multi-racial and public service workers must be able to treat everyone equally.

Schools should be places where children learn values of equality, fairness and inclusion - values that will help create a just and fair society. Allowing BNP members to peddle their message of hate, or the freedom to discriminate against those from ethnic minorities, flies in the face of these principles.

The second missed opportunity of the review was the little attention it paid to the role of support staff. In today's schools, support staff play a significant role in delivering education. They can also have a closer, one-on-one relationship with the pupils they work with. Support staff monitor break-times and areas such as libraries. If left unchecked, support staff who are BNP members could let racist bullying take place.

The review could have also gone one step further, and highlighted the role support staff can play in encouraging community cohesion. Research shows that support staff more closely reflect the community they serve, than teachers. Given the right training, support staff could use this advantage to spread a more inclusive atmosphere in the school and beyond.

Last year UNISON health members voted to keep the BNP out of the NHS. It has already been banned for members of the police and prison officers, for very good reasons. Children deserve to be protected from the influence of the BNP, and UNISON will be pressing for this when the promised review of the guidance set out by Maurice Smith takes place next year.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, writing in Nursery World

Heads should be able to fire BNP teachers, says David Cameron

Tory leader's attempt to reach out to black voters continues at event in south-east London

The Conservatives would take steps to prevent British National party members becoming teachers, David Cameron said last night. The Tory leader made the pledge at an event in Peckham, south-east London, where he was attempting to reach out to black voters. He said being a member of the BNP and a teacher was "completely incompatible" and headteachers should be given more rights when it came to hiring and firing staff. Ministers last week ruled out banning members of the BNP from the teaching profession.

Cameron, who spent more than an hour taking questions, received the loudest applause of the evening when he said: "Any good headteacher would not have a member of the BNP within a hundred miles of a school. They should be able to fire someone for that reason."

The Tory leader also pledged to stop police using terrorism laws to search people not suspected of terror-related offences. He told those gathered at the Harris Academy that he did not believe people voted on issues that only affected their own race.

"I generally believe in a one-nation Conservative party, a one-nation Britain," he said. But he acknowledged that "for a long time" there were reasons why black people would hold back from supporting the Conservative party.

"Because they would say, 'OK, you stand for one nation. But I don't see other people like me in your party.' If you look at black Britain today, the Conservative party have come a long way," the Tory leader said. He added that the Tories had taken a "huge step" forward.

The event followed an article by Cameron published in the Guardian yesterday in which he pledged to help black people start businesses. One audience member noted that Cameron had ventured into Harriet Harman's constituency in coming to the academy. "No bulletproof vest," the Conservative leader quipped in reference to an occasion when the Labour deputy leader toured Peckham in body armour.

Questions from the floor varied from the NHS and carers to stop-and-search and immigration. Cameron received a warm reception for most of his answers but was heckled by one man at the end.

"You're no Tony Blair, mate," the man shouted.

"I'm glad I'm not," Cameron retorted.

Guardian

Maurice Smith review 'missed opportunity' to kick BNP out of schools says UNISON

UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector trade union, today (12 March) said that by failing to ban BNP members from working in schools, the Maurice Smith review* was a ‘missed opportunity’ to kick racism out of education.

The union also criticised the review for its inadequate focus on the wider school workforce. The school of today, said the union, heavily relies on support staff, such as teaching assistants, librarians, learning mentors and home liaison officers, who make up more than 50% of the school workforce. These staff can also play a key role in community cohesion.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

“This review is a missed opportunity to kick the BNP’s politics of hate out of our schools. Membership of the BNP is completely incompatible with delivering education to children. Schools should be at the forefront of promoting racial equality, not places where BNP members can spread their message of hate to impressionable young people.

“The review is limited by not properly considering the wider schools workforce. Support staff play a significant role in delivering education to children. Young people at school can have a close, one on one relationship, with support staff. Support staff are also in charge of break times, and places such as libraries, where they could allow racist bullying to take place, if they were members of the BNP.

“Research suggests that support staff more closely reflect the community they serve, compared to teachers. They could therefore play an important role in community cohesion. This review promises a yearly check on the guidance set out. UNISON will be pressing for the full ban on BNP members working in schools to be imposed next year. It is vital that there is no place in our schools for racism.”

* The Maurice Smith Review was set up by the Secretary of State to undertake a full and detailed review of measures to prevent the promotion of racism in schools.

Unison

300 schools to become Holocaust specialists

£1.5m national programme will train a teacher from every secondary school in England

Hundreds of schools across the country are to become specialist centres of Holocaust education under a national scheme launched today. The plan, which will be rolled out in 300 schools, forms part of the new £1.5 million Holocaust education programme run by London University’s Institute of Education.

As The TES revealed in November, the Holocaust Education Development Programme will provide extensive specialist training for 3,500 teachers - one from every secondary in England.

The first cohort of 150 will attend a one-day workshop in London at the beginning of November and a second workshop three weeks later. This will be followed by similar sessions in Liverpool. The training will then be introduced across the country over the next two years. From these teachers, 300 will be able to follow up their training with a masters degree module in Holocaust education. Their schools will then become designated beacons of excellence in the subject.

The masters module, which will be delivered online, will be free to participating teachers. The cost will be covered jointly by the Pears Foundation and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Stuart Foster, director of the programme, said: “Professional development can be quite short-lived. We want it to be a continuous process rather than people going away and forgetting about it.”

The specialist teachers will co-ordinate Holocaust education in their schools. Often, the subject is discussed during history, English, RE and citizenship, but with little collaboration between staff.

“Are those teachers working together?” Dr Foster said. “Is there a sense of collaboration in schools? Often, planning is a little bit arbitrary. We want schools to think about how they organise their curriculum.”

The Holocaust specialists will also pilot new teaching materials and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. Eventually, they will work with local authorities, bringing co-ordinated Holocaust education into all local schools. They will also liaise with teachers across the country as part of an online network supporting the national training programme.

Paul Salmons, the programme’s head of curriculum and development, said: “One of the greatest assets of the programme will be this pool of teachers with classroom expertise, ideas and knowledge. They will really immerse themselves in cutting-edge research into Holocaust history and education.”

At present the Holocaust forms a compulsory part of the national curriculum, but teachers often find it a difficult subject to teach effectively.

“You’re talking about mass murder - some of the worst atrocities humans are capable of,” Mr Salmons said. “That can be very disorientating and distressing for young people. We’re looking at how to move them, without traumatising them. Teachers want to encourage deep reflection about the Holocaust, but not revulsion, horror and disgust. The key is to enhance learning, not to shock.”

Judith Vandervelde, an educator at the Jewish Museum in London, agrees that there is an urgent need for effective methods of teaching about the Holocaust in schools.

“The understanding that pupils get through face-to-face interaction with Holocaust survivors is quite incredible,” she said. “But they’re not going to be here for ever. We have to look into how we’re going to continue to have that connection without survivors speaking to pupils. We need to look ahead a few years and make Holocaust education tangible and accessible.”

TES

Holocaust Education Development Programme

Rise in racism in the playground

A threefold increase in reports of racist incidents in Derby's schools over seven years has been put down to better reporting. Children are now not so afraid to tell others, and a mentoring scheme also helps them, officials say.

Figures revealed by Channel 4 News showed that 151 reports of playground racism in 2000/1 rose to 451 last year.

Graham Falgate from the city council said there was now a much better awareness of how to report incidents. He said typical racist incidents included name-calling, ridicule, religious intolerance and other forms of bullying.

Alan Vaughan, a teacher at Derby Moor Community Sports College in Littleover, said they had operated a mentoring scheme for the past four years, which had proved successful.

"The children work with each other to solve the problems," he said. "There is always going to be an element of racism," he said. "We accept it exists and work together to conquer it."

BBC