Opinion: Debate - Does the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant needreform?

NO - Spokesman, Department for Education and Skills: This is the firstGovernment to put in place a national strategy to raise minority ethnicachievement and our strategies are delivering year-on-year improvementsfor all ethnic groups. We are closing the gap on performance but thereis no room for complacency, and we are determined to continue ourefforts to ensure that all pupils including those from asylum-seekingand refugee backgrounds achieve their potential. Following consultation,the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant has been made fairer and bettertargeted.

YES - Tony Sewell, director, Hackney Learning Trust: The grant is likeone of those bubbles you make with Fairy liquid. It hangs in the air fora short while and then melts away. For me its outcomes have been patchy.If Black underachievement is something we are serious about then thegrant needs to do fewer things well. I would suggest funding aninitiative like Generating Genius, a project that attempts to teachBlack boys how to become doctors and research scientists, using thesummer school model.