Rampton (1981)

Notes on the text

Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Preface, Introduction

Chapter 1 Evidence of underachievement

Chapter 2 Factors contributing to underachievement

Chapter 3 Support for schools and teachers

Chapter 4 Programme for action

Appendices

Interim report of the Committee of Inquiry into the education of children from ethnic minority groups

Chairman: Anthony Rampton OBE

Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education and Science by Command of Her Majesty June 1981

Cmnd. 8273

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1981
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Preliminary pages

The Committee
[pages iii - iv]

Appointments shown are those held by members at the time of the establishment of the Committee.

Chairman

Mr A Rampton OBE, Chairman, Freemans Mail Order Company; Treasurer, Lambeth Community Relations Council.

Members

Mr JP Athisayam, Councillor, London Borough of Camden, Behavioural Scientist.
Mr T Carter, Head of Commerce Department, Brooke House School, London.
Mrs L Chapman, Head, Eastwood First School, Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Ms Y Collymore, Freelance writer, Teacher, Executive Secretary Caribbean Communications Project.
Mrs A Dummett, Research worker, Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants.
Mr CG Duncan, Deputy Head and Director of Personal Development, Sidney Stringer School and Community College, Coventry.
Mr DB Evans Head, Tulse Hill School, London.
Mr M Feeley, Adviser for Multicultural Education, Coventry Education Authority (resigned 21/11/80).
Baroness Faithfull OBE, Formerly Director of Social Services, Oxford City Council.
Mrs S Flather, Magistrate, Councillor, Windsor and Maidenhead, involved in Community relations.
Professor E W Hawkins CBE, Formerly Director of Language Teaching Centre, University of York.
Father M Hollings, Parish Priest, Bayswater, Notting Hill, London.
Mrs D McAuslan SRN, RMN, Health Visitor, Coventry.
Mr PKC Millins CBE, Formerly Director of Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Ormskirk, Lancashire.
Mr PA Newsam, Education Officer, Inner London Education Authority.
Mr R Pal, Managing Director, CTS Leasing Ltd, Reading, Berkshire (resigned 23/10/79).
Dr B Parekh, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Studies, University of Hull.
Mr J Phillips CBE, Chairman, Distributive Industry Training Board.
Mr EJB Rose CBE, Chairman, Penguin Books.
Mr AJB Rowe, Freelance Consultant, formerly Director of Community Affairs Department, Conservative Central Office.
Mrs Y Sheikh, Peripatetic teacher of English as a Second Language, London Borough of Croydon.

Assessors

Mr BL Baish, Department of Education and Science.
Mr EJ Bolton, Her Majesty's Inspectorate.

Secretary

Mr RP Norton, Department of Education and Science (until 30/9/79).
Mr DG Halladay, Department of Education and Science (from 1/10/79).

Assistant Secretary

Miss CA Bienkowska, Department of Education and Science.

Contents
[page v]

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 The evidence of underachievement

Chapter 2 The factors contributing to underachievement

Racism
Pre-school provision
Reading and language
Curriculum
Books and teaching materials
Examinations
School pastoral arrangements
Links between school and the community
Special provision
Preparation for adult life

Teacher Education
The Advisory Services
Statistics
Funding

Conclusion
Agencies of change
Costs
Summary of recommendations
The way ahead

Appendix A Co-opted members
Appendix B LEA booklet for parents with young children
Appendix C NUT checklist for using books for multi-ethnic education
Appendix D Pastoral organisation - job specifications
Appendix E Statistics on suspension and exclusion
Appendix F Induction programme
Appendix G In-service programme
Appendix H BEd (Multicultural studies)
Appendix I Sources of information and advice on multicultural education and the education of West Indian children

Preface
[pages 1 - 2]

Background

1. In its report on 'The West Indian Community' (1) in 1977, the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration highlighted the widespread concern about the poor performance of West Indian children in schools. The Committee therefore recommended, amongst other measures, that 'as a matter of urgency the government (should) institute a high level and independent inquiry into the causes of the underachievement of children of West Indian origin in maintained schools and the remedial action required' (2).

Terms of reference

2. The government accepted the need for an inquiry but felt that it should be concerned with the needs of children from all ethnic minority groups with priority being given to children of West Indian origin (3). This committee was established in March 1979 but the appointment of members was not completed before the general election. The new government confirmed the establishment of the committee and appointed the remaining members. The terms of reference were:

'Recognising the contribution of schools in preparing all pupils for life in a society which is both multiracial and culturally diverse, the Committee is required to:

review in relation to schools the educational needs and attainments of children from ethnic minority groups taking account, as necessary, of factors outside the formal education system relevant to school performance, including influences in early childhood and prospects for school leavers;

consider the potential value of instituting arrangements for keeping under review the educational performance of different ethnic minority groups, and what those arrangements might be;

consider the most effective use of resources for these purposes; and to make recommendations.

Sub-committees

3. Since we had so much ground to cover we divided our work among six sub-committees. The division was: pre-school influences and the role of the school pastoral system, language, the school curriculum and examinations, the transition from school to work, teacher education and non-mainstream education. In addition, working groups were established to discuss statistics and research.

Collection of evidence

4. Although we recognised that a great deal of discussion had already taken place about the apparent underachievement of West Indian children we felt that it was necessary for us to call for up to date evidence and to see whether the picture had changed since the Select Committee reported in 1977. We issued a general invitation in November 1979 to individuals and organisations to submit evidence and followed this up with requests for specific information to a number of organisations, including West Indian community groups and church organisations.

Approach to LEAs

5. We felt that it was important to look not only at the education service at national level but also to see for ourselves what was happening in local education authorities (LEAs) and in individual schools. We therefore approached nine LEAs in different parts of the country with varying concentrations of West Indian pupils. We followed up the information they supplied by visiting as many schools as possible, spending between half a day and three days in each school. (Between 1 January 1980 and 31 July 1980 we undertook over 100 days of visiting.)

Research

6. In order to be informed of relevant research findings we commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to produce a critical review of recent research on the education of West Indian children. It is proposed that this review should be published separately in the next few months. In order to obtain information on the qualifications of West Indian school leavers, we asked the Department of Education and Science (DES) Statistics Branch to include in their school leavers survey for 1978/79 for six LEAs a question on the ethnic origin of the leavers and the level of their achievement. (See Chapter One.)

Open meetings

7. In addition we felt that we should also talk and listen to those at the centre of our investigations - West Indian young people and their parents. We therefore arranged a series of open meetings in the evenings and at weekends in the areas which we were investigating.

Acknowledgement

8. We are grateful to the LEAs, schools, and other institutions whom we visited for their help and cooperation with our work. We would also like to thank all the organisations and individuals who gave oral and written evidence to us.

References

(1) House of Commons HC 180-I-III. February 1977.

(2) Ibid paragraph 57.

(3) 'The West Indian Community'. Home Office. Cmnd 7186, April 1978.

(4) The Committee's terms of reference relate to England only.

Introduction
[pages 3 - 5]

Definition of 'West Indian'

1. We were asked to submit an interim report on the particular needs and attainments of West Indian children because of widespread concern about the apparent failure of many members of this group throughout the education system. Since there is no nationally recognised definition of 'West Indian', we have in this report dealt with those children who are black (1), whose families came originally from the group of islands known as the West Indies, and who are generally speaking regarded as West Indian by teachers and the community at large. Virtually all these children are British born (2). They are therefore in no way 'immigrants'. They are a permanent and integral part of our society which has a responsibility to ensure as satisfactory an education for them as for any other British child. It is important to note in this context that the West Indian population in this country is disproportionately younger than the indigenous population and therefore many more West Indians are now of school age than might otherwise be expected (3).

Interim Report

2. From the evidence which we have obtained and which is detailed in chapter one, and from our visits and discussions up and down the country, we are convinced that West Indian children as a group are indeed underachieving in relation to their peers. This should be a matter of deep concern not only to all those involved in education but also to the whole community, and we are grateful for this opportunity to put forward our conclusions and recommendations as a matter of urgency. The fact that this is our interim report and that we shall be looking at the needs of other ethnic minorities as well as West Indians for a further two years, means that as a committee we shall be directly involved in the follow-up to this report and shall be able to take account of the response to our present recommendations in preparing our main report. Our aim now is to emphasise what we see as the major issues in the education of West Indian children, to draw attention to good practice, and to put forward practical recommendations on action which should be taken. We have taken the opportunity of raising throughout the report a number of broader issues on which we have yet to reach firm conclusions, and on which we would welcome further evidence. We have summarised these at the end of the report, and we have also listed a number of discussion points in the hope that these will stimulate and encourage widespread discussion.

Responses to our work

3. It is worth noting here the general reactions which we have received to our work from two key groups - West Indians and teachers. The West Indians' initial response was one of suspicion and cynicism - suspicion about why their children had once again been singled out for particular attention, and cynicism about whether anything worthwhile would actually emerge from our work since their views had already been expressed on a number of occasions, notably to the Select Committee, and little action had resulted. Our response was to point out that the attention being given to West Indian children was a direct result of the concern originally voiced by West Indians and that our intention was to make practical recommendations about action which might be taken to help West Indian children to reach their full potential. Although other bodies have undertaken research into various aspects of the education of ethnic minority groups, this is the first time that the government has set up an independent committee to look at the question as a whole with a view to putting forward recommendations for action.

4. The reaction from teachers was varied: some to whom we spoke were defensive and expressed doubts about the need for our work. We have tried to make it clear that we are not seeking to criticise or condemn teachers nor tell them how to do their jobs. On the contrary we have learnt a great deal from our discussions with teachers and in our visits we have seen a lot of good and interesting work being done which we very much hope will be further encouraged by this report. Many teachers we met welcomed the opportunity to talk to us and we were encouraged by the positive and helpful responses which we received from some of the teacher unions, most notably the National Union of Teachers (NUT) (4) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE).

5. Throughout our work we have been conscious of a loss of trust and a wide gulf in understanding between too many West Indian parents and schools and we therefore hope, apart from those specific recommendations which we have made about the need for closer links between the home and the school, that by explaining the factors influencing the attitudes of parents and teachers, and their aspirations and concerns, we can go some way towards bringing them closer together.

6. Equally important in our view is the broader context of the overall aims of education and the needs of all pupils in our schools today. Our terms of reference make clear that the education of West Indian children cannot be seen in isolation and must be considered as part of the education of all children. As part of our work we therefore considered what in our view schools should be attempting to provide for all their pupils in today's multiracial and culturally diverse society.

7. While we have been keenly aware of the questions currently being debated about the balance of the curriculum, the structure of the examinations system, teaching methods, standards of literacy and numeracy and the relationship between schools, parents and the world of work, we have tried to confine ourselves in this report to looking at the education system as it is today and at the responses of that system to the presence in our schools, and in society, of ethnic minority groups and particularly West Indians.

8. It has been especially valuable for us to visit schools in a number of different parts of the country, in rural as well as urban areas, and in areas with no ethnic minority groups, as well as in those with high concentrations of West Indians. We have encountered a wide range of attitudes and experience amongst the teachers whom we have met and whereas many of those in multiracial urban schools may have been considering how best to meet the needs of ethnic minority pupils for many years, others, in schools which have only recently become multiracial, may only now be finding themselves faced with this challenge. Some teachers in the 'all-white' schools we visited were clearly thinking seriously for the first time about some of the fundamental issues that we raised with them. Others still assumed that the education of ethnic minority pupils was nothing to do with them. We have no doubt that the issues covered by our work have been and will continue to be relevant to every school and every teacher in this country.

Footnotes

(1) In this report we have not dealt with the particular problems faced by 'black minorities' other than West Indians.

(2) According to the National Dwelling and Housing Survey, 1977, 95 per cent of West Indian children in school were born in this country.

(3) According to the NDHS Survey 1977, approximately 30 per cent of West Indians in this country were aged between 5 and 15 compared with a national average of approximately 17 per cent.

(4) The NUT's evidence to this committee 'The achievement of West Indian pupils' has been published and can be purchased from the NUT headquarters.