Black boys may benefit from separate teaching
Policy makers may need to look at increasingly radical ways of engaging black boys in schooling, including separate teaching, according to the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.
On tonight’s BBC1’s Inside Out programme, Sir Trevor Phillips will say radical measures are needed because many black boys were consistently failing at GCSE.
“If the only way to break through the wall of attitude that surrounds black boys is to teach them separately for some subjects, then we should be ready for that,” he said.
“We need to embrace some new if unpalatable ideas both at home and at school.
“None of us, least of all the next generation of black children, can afford a repeat of the last 40 years.”
But, teachers’ leaders are concerned that the plans could lead to victimisation and breach racial discrimination legislation.
Mr Phillips also made the case for legal action against black fathers, claiming in some circumstances they should be denied access to their sons if they declined to attend parents’ evenings.
His intervention comes after new research revealed a discrepancy between GCSE scores of black pupils in England and their white counterparts.
Figures released last month for 2004, showed that that 35.7 per cent of black Caribbean pupils achieved five A*-C GCSEs, compared to 43.3 per cent of black African pupils and 52.3 per cent of white pupils.
Within this though there is a big gender discrepancy. In 2003, only 25 per cent of black Caribbean boys achieved five A*-C GCSEs, compared to 40 per cent of black Caribbean girls, 34 per cent of black African boys, and 47 per cent of black African girls.
Mr Phillips said black boys were being held back by peer pressure and an “anti-learning” culture, pinpointing a lack of self-esteem and academically minded role models as possible causes.
Inside Out will be broadcast at 19:30 GMT on BBC1 tonight.
