Contact: John Clarke, Assistant County Education Officer, County Office.
Tel: 01962 846459 or Ian Massey, Intercultural Inspector, Fleet Local Office.
Tel: 01252 814772

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides an overview of the Local Education Authority's (LEA) work in relation to its statutory duty to promote race equality, including the annual data on racial incidents in schools.

1.2 There has been considerable progress in embedding this aspect in the educational agenda and this is reflected in the practical actions from training to curriculum development.

1.3 The percentage of schools making a return to the LEA on the number of racial incidents has increased to 99%, which is a major achievement. There has been a significant increase in returns from secondary schools from 70% in 2002 to 97% for 2004.

1.4 The increase in the number of incidents is mainly due to the rise in schools making a return. The majority of incidents, 89%, relate to name calling or comments in discussion.

1.5 The Pupil Attitude Survey will now include questions about pupils' experiences of racist incidents in and out of school.

2. Rationale for the report

2.1 Race equality has received an increasingly higher profile through recent legislation and in the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED) inspection of schools and LEAs. The revised framework for the inspection of LEAs now includes Section 5.7 LEA Promotion of race equality as well as Section 3.5 Support for minority ethnic pupils, including travellers.

2.2 As a result of these requirements, the report containing the data from the annual collation of schools on the number of racial incidents, has broadened to reflect the changing requirements. This will give members a broader view of progress in the area of race equality and cultural diversity.

3. Race equality development

3.1 We have also monitored the number of schools with race equality policies. Schools have a legal duty under the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) to have such a policy. Although the vast majority of schools do have a policy there are 10 schools who are still without such a policy. The Assistant County Education Officer has written to these schools reminding them of their obligations.

3.2 For the first time we have monitored a sample of incidents from schools. The process was agreed with headteacher representatives. A sample of 10 schools, who had recorded at least one racist incident, were asked to return documentation showing how the incident was handled. This resulted in a sample of incidents which included, name calling, persistent offending and physical assault. The scrutiny revealed:

· all the incidents were dealt with appropriately and professionally

· most schools make use of the Hampshire guidance and suggested recording format or had adapted it to their own context

· the full range of sanctions are being use from reprimands to exclusion (two pupils)

· racist incidents where there was no `victim', such as comments during lessons, were treated just a seriously

· headteachers or senior managers usually took the lead in resolving incidents

· incidents were dealt with in context and the sanctions used were appropriate to that context

· younger pupils always had the reason for the reaction to their inappropriate language explained

· there were several cases where racist language was used in a `hot' situation, often between friends during a sporting dispute; these were always resolved sensibly by staff

· schools were successful in focusing on the incident rather than just the perpetrator

· parents were usually informed of the incident, either by phone or letter

· in one case, all parents of a year group were written to, explaining what was happening with a group of pupils in and out of school who were singing a racist song. The school's zero tolerance of racism was explained with the expectation that parents would support the school in reinforcing this message at home

· some schools hold extensive supportive documentation which includes students' and witnesses' own accounts.

4. Promoting cultural diversity

4.1 Ofsted inspection reports are monitored for references about how well schools are providing opportunities for pupils' intercultural education. For the period September 03 to July 04, there were 103 OfSTED reports available on Hampshire schools. Of these, 94 were included in the review. There are no national comparisons that can be made on this aspect which appear within the section on pupils' SMSC development. Our analysis of OfSTED judgements on cultural diversity is arrived at through scrutiny of either the full, or summary reports. It focuses on where there is a clear judgement on cultural diversity and not just cultural development. Far more schools receive a good for cultural development than for cultural diversity provision.

Table 1

Special schools are not included in the table this year as only one school was inspected.

· In 10% of reports there was no reference to cultural diversity provision. This was more frequent in secondary schools' reports where five out of 16 reports made no mention of this aspect.

· 68% of primary schools are judged as satisfactory or better in terms of cultural diversity provision, with 34% good or better.

· 5% of primary schools have very good or excellent provision.

· Both of these figures are a little down on last years findings but reflect the more robust criteria now in use.

· There has been an decrease in the number of primary schools for whom this is an aspect for immediate improvement.

· Reports tend to suggest that many schools are aware that this aspect is `underdeveloped' and were planning to address it.

4.2 We have scrutinised OfSTED reports for many years and Appendix 1 gives a summary over time. These figures compare very well with our urban neighbours and reflect the strength of the guidance and support given to schools, schools' commitment to preparing pupils for a diverse society and the availability of resource support.

5. Resource support

5.1 Schools in Hampshire continue to benefit from intercultural resource provision provided by the Intercultural Centre. Schools subscribe to this service and it is part of a wider resource provision which includes the History, Maths and Religious Education Centres. It is also open to Portsmouth and Southampton schools. The centre offers resources for schools to borrow from a range of cultural traditions in and beyond the UK. Resources range from books, to textiles and musical instruments. It includes special topic boxes covering common topics in the primary curriculum.

5.2 An indication of Hampshire's schools' commitment to promoting cultural diversity is the usage of the centre. There are 464 schools, mainly primary schools, which subscribe to the centre. In the past year there have been a total of 3,795 loans, a 30% increase on last year. The centre can also be used as a venue for in-service training, with seven training sessions during the year and as a stimulus to integrate this dimension into the curriculum. This is slightly down on last year, but there were 95 visitors who came to assess resources or seek support on their curriculum plans, an increase of 30%. The centre responded to 516 telephone requests for advice on resources or contacts for a range of artists.

6. Continuing professional development

6.1 Intercultural professional development is offered to schools via a mixture of school based in-service or centre based training. It covers aspects of race equality and cultural diversity. As with any Hampshire Inspection and Advice Service (HIAS) training, school based training is geared to the specific needs of the school staff. It may include twilight sessions, whole day training, work with a co-ordinator and a possible follow up evaluation of impact. Over the past year we have worked with 16 schools on aspects of policy or training on classroom practice. In addition we have also contributed to King Alfred's College's (now known as University College, Winchester) education courses for trainee teachers on aspects of diversity and meeting the needs of pupils with English as an additional language.

6.2 There are also two-day centre based courses aimed at schools where cultural diversity has been identified as a weakness and new co-ordinators for whom this is a new development. There is a further course for those schools that wish to develop their policy and practice further. Other centre based in-service focused on the provision of promoting race equality and responding to racial incidents.

6.3 In order to keep schools up-to-date the intercultural website offers schools ongoing advice on changes to requirements and expectations. It is also home to examples of practice such as, school race equality policies and exemplar curricular materials. We are now able to offer our schools the unique opportunity to download new Hampshire in-service material which enables them to run their own training on dealing with racist incidents.

7. Curriculum support

7.1 Any resourcing development is based on our audit of need and requests from schools. The new resource for Key Stage 2 (KS2), `Coming Unstuck' which supports schools and teachers in meeting their specific duties under the legislation and on teaching about race and racism in upper KS2, has received very positive comments from schools.

7.2 During the year we have developed more resource material for schools. A new pack will shortly be available for Key Stage 3 (KS3) which supports the Citizenship curriculum. This is titled `Hampshire Homes and Hope' which deals with issues of human migration within a local context. In addition, new material will also be available for use in KS3 Religious Education/ Citizenship called `Challenging Prejudice' which has been trialled with teachers through the Travellers Education Team (TES).

7.3 In the coming year the focus of support for schools will be on new approaches for use in Years 3 and 4.

8. Links to Rights, Respect and Responsibilities (RRR)

8.1 The promotion of race equality is now set within the context of wider LEA developments on RRR. The work above is now being set within the framework of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child.

9. Support and progress of ethnic minority pupils

9.1 A report was presented to Policy Review Committee in March 2005 which outlined in some detail the most recent data on performance.

9.2 The TES have continued to work in partnership with other agencies to enhance the inclusion of Gypsy and Traveller pupils. The number of Traveller pupils referred to the service in 2003-4 was 301. That does not include those travelling through the county but not admitted to a school or the children of families who have opted for home education.

9.3 The advantage of partnership working has been clearly illustrated by Bransgore Church of England Primary School . Here a community worker was employed to liaise with the Gypsy/Traveller community and the professionals. At the same time the curriculum was developed and Traveller based resources were written to be incorporated into the literacy strategy across all Key Stages This has been recognised as good practice both within the LEA and nationally.

10. Invitation from the Department for Education & Skills (DfES)

10.1 The work of Hampshire Education is recognised by the DfES who asked us to participate in a national conference in March to highlight good practice to other LEAs. This is contributing to future national guidance from the DfES.

11. Racial incidents

11.1 The annual collation of data on racial incidents again made use of the on-line form on the Hampshire Intranet.

11.2 The data for 2004 are in Appendix 2. There are several elements worth noting:

· The percentage of schools making a return for 2004 has increased from 91% to 99%. For the years up to 2002 it had remained static in the range of 80% -84%. When analysed by phase of school, it shows that 100% of infant, junior, primary and special schools made a return. There has been a significant increase in returns from secondary schools from 70% in 2002 to 99% for 2004.

· There has been an increase in the total number of recorded incidents as a result of more schools making annual returns from 549 in 2003 to 657 in 2004.

· `Name calling' and `comments in discussion', still account for the majority of incidents at 89%. Those incidents which involve a more physical element are still comparatively low at 2.4% and mainly confined to secondary schools.

· The number of recorded incidents in junior schools for 2004 has increased by about 25%.

· The 12 schools identified last year who had not made a return for three and two years all made returns for 2004.

11.3 In order to further develop our understanding of racist incidents and meet the requirements of the Children Act, we are including in the Pupil Attitude Survey questions relating to pupils' experience of racist incidents, in and out of school. This may therefore indicate the extent of any underreporting.

Recommendations

1. The work of schools and teachers be commended.

3. A report based on the 2004 data be sent to all schools.

4. Those schools without a race equality policy be required to submit a copy of one to the LEA by the end of July 2005.

4 The quality and action plan of schools Race Equality policies be included in the monitoring activity.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report. NB The list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE FILE

OfSTED reports and cultural diversity in Hampshire schools 2004
Hampshire schools racial incidents - by phase and type Year end 2004

OFSTED reports on cultural diversity in Hampshire schools

Appendix 1

HAMPSHIRE schools racial incidents - by phase of school and type of incident- Year end 2004 Appendix 2

Percentage of schools making returns