CYP Now - Policy & Practice: Policy into practice - Black boys must be given the chance to achieve

Recently Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, proposed that teaching Black boys separately in schools should be explored as an option.

Teaching pupils separately whether by gender or religion has been taking place in the UK for years in the shape of single sex and religious schools.

But teaching pupils along racial lines throws up issues that are much more sensitive, and goes to the heart of the question of why many Black boys are underachieving in the education system.

The comments were made in the wake of reports such as Rampton Revisited, The Educational Experiences and Achievements of Black Boys in London Schools, published by the London Development Agency. It showed that 70 per cent of African-Caribbean boys in London left school with fewer than five GCSEs. This is backed up nationally with only 35.7 per cent of Black Caribbean pupils in England gaining at least five C grades at GCSE level. The national average is 51.9 per cent.

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