Schools ‘failing to implement’ race equality measures
A survey by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has found that educational bodies are performing the worst out of all public sectors to implement race equality measures.
New legislation was brought in after the Stephen Lawrence investigation, moving the race equality agenda to the public sector and forcing it to ’embrace a proactive, positive duty to deliver on race equality outcomes and good race relations’.
It was hoped that each organisation would identify its priorities for race equality and take steps to deliver ‘tangible improvement’.
However the survey showed that more than half of educational institutions had not set any targets to develop how they promote race equality and only 20% of schools contacted by the CRE responded to its request for information. Of those that did respond, six out of 10 said they had not set any targets for staff representation.
Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, said he did not wish to place bureaucratic burdens on hard-pressed public bodies, but all of them had to recognise that change was for their own benefit and that of those they served.
‘The lack of attainment is not just disturbing but is now repeating itself
The author of the report Robin Schneider, added that the responsibility for change lay with head teachers and governors. ‘Schools have got a lot to do,’ he said.
The CRE’s report found that a third of all public services had not met the deadline.
