Could This Be One Reason For Poor White Children's Lack Of Achievement?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10930854/Poor-white-pupils-put-off-school-by-multicultural-timetable.html

/// It said some schools “felt that the pressure on schools to establish a curriculum which is relevant to a diverse range of pupils has possibly marginalised white pupils”. ///

/// One head teacher told researchers: “The curriculum that has been on offer has not been meeting the needs of white British pupils. There has been much emphasis in recent years on elements of black history and a celebration of cultural days such as ‘Portuguese day’. There has been nothing for the British culture. ///

[New Judge]

No mikey, they are the ones I know about and and can immediately think of. I'm sure the list is not exhaustive and even if it was, together with London they make up hefty numbers.

[starone]

I agree with NewJudge. I would say that all of the large towns and cities have the same problem and quite a few smaller ones. How would you like to try to teach a school where there are 28 different languages spoken. It's difficult teaching with one language but with 28 it is well nigh impossible.

[THECORBYLOON]

"Are you black or Asian CORBYLOON because you seem to have a certain chip on your shoulder regarding the colour of a person's skin?"

If I have a chip, ANOTHEOLDGIT, you have an entire forest in comparison.

[THECORBYLOON]

If it is difficult to teach with so many different languages being spoken, how come it is the non-native speakers of English who are doing so well?

[jno]

oh no - they celebrate Christmas, but "in a diverse way"!!

How awful. I suppose they're telling children that Jesus was a Palestinian rather than an English gentleman? The communist swine.

[New Judge]

Because, Corby, many of the non-native English speakers that are doing well usually have a better grasp of the Mother tongue than some white English children. They have such skills because their parents speak good English and, living in the UK, have decided to adopt it as their first language.

Large numbers of the children I am talking about come from homes where little if any English is spoken and in a number of these homes there is no intention whatsoever of adopting English as the first language. A lot of these people have been here for a generation or two but they have been encouraged to continue as if they were living elsewhere, becoming marginalised from the English speaking community and instead developing quite separate communities of their own. The other part of the problem is that some recent arrivals, especially from Eastern Europe, have been here a relatively short time and have had little opportunity to gain skills in English.

I have spent some time observing teaching (mainly primary) in some of the places I have mentioned and, believe me, it is a wonder in some schools that teachers manage to impart any knowledge at all. It is a huge problem that is costing enormous sums of money (by having to provide, effectively, interpretation and translation facilities in classrooms) and which is hampering the education of all pupils.

[Kromovaracun]

"Norwich"

I lived in Norwich for 3 years - it's one of the least diverse cities in the country (and a huge proportion of the foreign population is accounted for by international students at the university). I can't fathom why it's on your list with places like Peterborough.

[Kromovaracun]

Also, purely out of curiosity, do you mind if I ask in what capacity you were observing lessons? Were you carrying out inspections or something?

[New Judge]

A project I was doing for a large organisation, Kromo. They made the arrangements. I did not actually visit Norwich myself but one of my colleagues on the project did. Her perception was that a number of schools had large numbers of Eastern European children, many resident around the city, who were working in the agricultural industries in East Anglia and most of them were recent arrivals with little or no English.

My own experience stems mainly from London and a few northern towns and cities, though my brief did include Peterborough (which I found particularly disturbing) and was undertaken just over four years ago. Somewhat anectdotal in many respects (our report was not for publication) but eye opening nonetheless.