Every BME Child Matters

1

• Every BME Child Matters
• The contribution of inspection to closing the
  attainment gap

Eileen Visser, HMI 14th May 2008 Barbican
Conference Centre
2
Ofsted has a duty to inspect the extent to which
schools promote equality of opportunity and
eliminate discrimination
3
This is about

• Attainment
• Attendance
• Exclusion
• Well being - including addressing racist
  incidents and racial harmony

4
What have we found?

• Inspection of schools
• In the most effective schools senior managers
  used attainment data, qualitative evidence and
  contextual factors, effectively in their drive to
  raise the attainment of under-achieving BME
  students.
• Race equality concepts enrich the curriculum as a
  whole, contribute to effective teaching and
  learning and support pupils attainment.
• The ways in which the schools link with and learn
  from their local communities vary widely, but the
  strongest links lead to benefits beyond
  supporting pupils attainment and well being.

5
Good Reporting

• There are differences in the performance of
  pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds.  Black
  Caribbean pupils have consistently achieved less
  than other groups.  Their learning improves
  considerably in English where teachers make a
  thoughtful choice of texts, target questions
  carefully and make clear their expectations of
  how the pupils should respond.  Action such as
  this is inconsistent, however, and has led to
  only patchy improvements.

6
Race Equality Scheme (RES)

• Pupils value each others' faiths and learn to
  respect their own and others' cultures in a very
  positive way.  They say there are no racists in
  our school' and report that when they hear racist
  comments from pupils from other schools or in the
  street that we know how to behave.  We have
  self control.'

7
What about exclusion?

• Need to spread good practice
• the courage and willingness to discuss difficult
  issues
• empowering pupils to take control of their lives
  and look after each other
• securing diverse role models.

8
And what needs to be done?

• Training for inspectors (Ofsteds RES)
• New inspection framework developments
• Disseminating what works