The Muslim News - Freedom of choice leads to ethnic segregation in schools

Issue 219, Friday 27 July 2007 - 12 Rajab 1428

Freedom of choice leads to ethnic segregation in schools

By Zainab Rahim

A new report released by the Runnymede Trust has found that the flexibility a parent is entitled to in choosing a school for their child leads to cases of ethnic segregation.
The report, School Choice and Ethnic Segregation by Debbie Weekes-Bernard, puts forward the unforeseen effects of choice, emphasizing that parents will fall into the trap of choosing schools based on ethnicity. Members of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities will be required to engage in a process of ‘flight’ to access homes near middle-class schooling, which may result in their children being educated in schools where they form a clear minority and where they face the prospect of isolation and estrangement from their communities.
At the same time, White working classes and middle classes will flee multicultural schools, creating ethnically homogenous schools on both sides of the cultural divide.
Plans to increase parental choice, the only new addition to the Education and Inspection Act 2006, does not help BME parents, the report declared. Those taking part in the interviews were unaware of the changes, which points towards a clear lack of fit between policy development and those whom it intends to benefit.
The report found that the parents’ decision process was significant. Many chose Black/Asian majority schools because they feared cases of bullying and racism. Others preferred their child to be in a cultural environment as opposed to a homogeneous one. Erosion of ethnic or faith identity was avoided at all costs. Peer groups also had influence on the decisions. An African Caribbean mother interviewed said, “…you find yourself in this really weird situation where you are staying Black and true to yourself, but you are staying away because you are trying to get your child out of a Black environment.”
A number of the parents interviewed noted that the staff in BME majority schools showed less commitment in respect to home-school relationships, due to the perception that BME children are underachieving and problematic.
Academically selective schools were also inaccessible for many children. One parent wanted to choose a grammar school but that required putting it as her first choice. This would have meant taking a risk in case her child didn’t get into that school after the required tests.
Catchment and distance criteria clearly restricted choice. Allowing parents to choose schools further afield was problematic for those wanting local schools, because there was a fair chance that the local school would not offer a place.
Despite the wider choice parents are now entitled to, the schools which most BME children are attending are not the schools their parents might have wanted them to attend, according to the report.
Another problem that needs addressing is the pressure put upon the schools themselves. Choice based on teaching quality places strain upon the schools that are failing to compete effectively. The proposals to expand popular schools clearly do not address under-subscription to those underperforming schools, and may increase the negative impact on the children who continue to be educated in these lower ‘demonised’ institutions.
The School Admissions Official in Northtown, points out the difference between choice and preference. She says in the report, “You’ll find that no one in admissions talks about choice. The legislation is all framed in parental preference – politicians talk about choice knowing that there is no choice. I mean, parents, can only express a preference which we do our best to meet and that’s quite different from choice.”
During the progress of the Education and Inspection Bill, 55% of survey respondents were in opposition. One interviewee said, “Parents don’t need more choice, we just need better schools” (Asian- Indian), while another added, “although it gives parents more choice, in reality it gives the school more power to choose pupils they want” (Black- Caribbean).
The report does not suggest a straightforward solution to the effect on BME families, but stresses that school governing bodies and senior management teams must look critically at their attempts to promote race equality beyond the level of individual pupils, and must be responsive to the expressed wishes of the parents of their pupils in BME majority schools.

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