National Citizen Service to be central to government integration drive
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
More young people will be encouraged to take part in the government's flagship National Citizen Service initiative as part of efforts to improve community integration in five areas where segregation is a problem.
The Integrated Communities Strategy, which has been launched by the government today, will see £50m invested across Bradford, Blackburn with Darwen, Peterborough, Walsall and Waltham Forest in London over a two-year period to break down cultural and social barriers across communities.
This includes encouraging young people across the areas to take part in the NCS, which launched in 2011 and offers 15- to 17-year-olds a three- to four-week programme of activities over summer and autumn. The scheme is managed by the NCS Trust and backed by £1.2bn in government funding up to 2020.
The new strategy, which has been put out to consultation for 12 weeks, plans to use the NCS scheme to encourage pupils to form lasting relationships with those from different backgrounds.
The strategy cites research from an independent report published last month, called Meeting, Mixing and Mending, into the NCS's impact on social integration.
This found that the scheme fostered greater understanding among young people from different backgrounds who took part. Those from segregated communities became 19.4 per cent more likely to report positive social contact with other ethnic groups after participating.
"The results from the most recent evaluation points to positive impacts on social integration for young people who join the programme less socially integrated to begin with," states the strategy.
"Young people also leave NCS with increased social trust and a higher likelihood to mix with young people from different backgrounds."
It adds: "The NCS Trust is designing new approaches to ensure that young people from all communities can take up the opportunities that the programme affords.
"To create more opportunities for meaningful social mixing outside school, government will continue to fund and work with the NCS and others to increase programme take up in the integration areas."
An NCS Trust spokesman welcomed the government's recognition of the role the scheme can have in boosting social integration.
"Bringing young people from different backgrounds together in common purpose is central to the mission of NCS," the spokesman said.
He added: "We look forward to working alongside the government and other local partners in these integration areas, to enable more young people than ever before to build friendships for life that transcend cultural, ethnic, class and other barriers."
Oliver Lee, chief executive of the largest NCS provider The Challenge, also backed the strategy and hopes it is broadened out to more areas.
"The Integrated Communities Strategy has real substance and we welcome this robust and evidence-based approach," he said.
"The challenge of creating meaningful and real relationships in mixed communities isn't just unique to particular towns - it is a national issue that warrants a national response. Therefore we hope this strategy expands beyond the areas in this report in the future."
Other proposals in the strategy include a greater expectation of integration in new free schools.
The government also wants schools to promote "British values" and will be working with Ofsted to ensure this is a focus of inspections.
"We want to make sure that all children learn the values that underpin our society - including fairness, tolerance and respect," said Education Secretary Damien Hinds.
"These are values that help knit our communities together, which is why education is at the heart of this strategy."
A review of Ofsted's powers to collect evidence and inspect unregistered schools and interview those suspected of running illegal schools is also pledged.
Earlier this month Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman told members of the education select committee that such powers are needed to tackle illegal schools, including those where children are at risk of radicalisation.
Plans to revise guidance on home education are also included in the strategy, to make it easier for local authorities to tackle poor-quality practice.
Hinds added: "It's also important that children are taught in a safe environment and that we can act quickly if children are at risk or being encouraged to undermine these values."
Commenting on the strategy's plans around home education and illegal schools, Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said: "Up to 50,000 children could be home-educated in England, with little known about the environment, the quality of teaching and assessment, and the values being taught to them.
"Thousands of children could be attending illegal schools. I have been saying for some time that it is vital that we know where these children are being taught so that we can identify any potential problems and ensure they are receiving the good education all children deserve."