Trevor Phillips, the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, last week suggested that teaching Black boys in separate classes might help improve their attainment in secondary school.

YES - Brendon Read, 19, leader of Lambeth Youth Council

I think it's a good idea, but only if it's done fairly. If it were a case of providing extra classes after school that would be fine, although segregating young people during the day could send out the message that all Black boys are underachievers.

If people were split into ability groups, I'd like to know more about how these groups are defined and what kind of support would be available.

Schools should also get parents more involved, because their influence could help young people to do better. Absentee fathers can be a problem, but young people can turn elsewhere for role models, so there needs to be more scope for recognising the achievements of Black boys.

Youth workers should play more of a role in making schools appealing to Black boys by providing extracurricular activities, which could be offered as a reward for attendance and achievement. The school curriculum should be made more relevant to Black pupils.

NO - Reverend Katei Kirby, general manager, African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance

It didn't appear that Trevor Phillips was advocating this as a solution.

But it's a major concern that Black boys are not achieving and so it's important to explore a range of options that will help address the underlying issues.

Black boys should not be educated differently simply because of the colour of their skin. They should be included and engaged in an education system that values them.

The contribution of family and community are just as important, and I welcome the challenge presented by Phillips to fathers on the TV programme Inside Out. Services such as the police have identified the absence of fathers as a common factor in the profile of young offenders. It would be excellent to see parents, the education system and other agencies working together to ensure that Black boys have positive role models.

Our organisation will be working in partnership with a number of agencies to raise awareness of good mentors.

NO - Martin Ward, deputy general secretary, Secondary Heads Association

The Secondary Heads Association is committed to inclusion, so segregation, especially on grounds of race, is unwelcome. But this is an important issue on which we must take action, since boys from some ethnic groups are being left behind.

Catch-up classes are a good idea, but once boys and girls of any group are disengaged from education and lagging behind, their needs are similar.

It is better to tackle the problem at an earlier stage, before boys in particular become alienated.

Boys need to have good male role models and we should urge all fathers to be more involved with the education of their sons. Some schools use mentoring schemes that take successful Black men back into schools to demonstrate that there is a point to school work. Recruitment and retention of teachers from ethnic minorities also needs to be improved so that again there are good role models for all young people.

NO - Gerry German, director, Communities Empowerment Network

Absolutely not. There is no good reason for segregating Black boys.

School governors, teaching staff, curricula, resources such as library books and class texts, as well as posters and display materials, convey a message of separation and rejection. The way that Black boys are allocated to teaching sets and allowed to make subject option choices further restricts their inclusion and participation. They are sent out of class, put "on report", given fixed-term exclusions and

finally permanently excluded.

We shouldn't be advocating segregation because of behaviour and performance.

Instead, a far more radical set of proposals should be introduced, one that tackles the ethos of schools and the attitudes of teachers who sometimes unconsciously adopt a negative attitude towards Black pupils.

Make schools into welcoming places for Black pupils. Don't set up even more barriers by choosing some for segregated schooling.