The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has told schools to ditch plans to redeploy teachers who are funded through the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG).
Officials were forced to act after Children Now revealed last week that primary schools across London were planning to redeploy EMAG teachers to cover for mainstream staff (Children Now, 11-17 May).
A statement from the department said: "EMAG is provided to enable schools and local authorities to provide additional targeted support to pupils from underachieving minority ethnic groups and pupils learning English as an additional language, and can only be used for this purpose."
Redeploying EMAG-funded staff to cover for mainstream teachers "does not comply with the purpose and spirit of the grant, and the DfES does not support this approach", it added.
