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Race Equality Advisory Forum

Education Action Plan

Key Issues

Those working with minority ethnic parents, pupils, learners and communities have identified the following key concerns:

• lack of action to address racial harassment within educational premises;
• lack of acknowledgement by the education sector of cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, particularly within the curriculum;
• absence of data on minority ethnic learners, for example in relation to numbers, progress and attainment levels, exclusion rates, entry into further and higher education and staffing profiles at all levels of education;
• lack of effective communication and inclusion of minority ethnic views and perspectives;
• shortage of minority ethnic professionals employed across all levels of education;
• failure of the education system to provide adequate and fair support to bilingual learners;
• ad hoc and inconsistent support for English as an Additional Language across education authorities, particularly within schools and community and adult education.

Scottish education has tended to favour a multiculturalist approach which concentrates on the celebration of difference avoiding the harsh realities of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Although this approach may lead to increased understanding, it does not allow for institutional racism to be challenged effectively.

The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report makes specific recommendations about the critical role of education in preventing racism. The REAF Education Working Group concludes that Scottish education needs to embed race equality in two ways:

• By institutionalising race equality within education
• By promoting education for race equality

Institutionalising race equality within education

This would necessitate a critical examination of the ethos, structures and practices of all stages of educational management and delivery to ensure that these do not reinforce institutional racism or discriminatory outcomes. This would include redressing any imbalances that might currently exist and setting in place mechanisms which would seek to ensure the mainstreaming of race equality into all functions of Scottish education. It might also include ensuring that ethnic monitoring is put in place for all levels of education and that strategies are developed and implemented to improve minority ethnic participation on school boards, parent teacher associations, senates of universities and boards of management of colleges. Finally, policies need to be developed to address the under-representation of minority ethnic people within all levels of the education workforce from pre-school to further and higher education.

Promoting education for race equality

This is about preparing all learners for their various roles and responsibilities in an increasingly diverse society. Learners need to be presented with the opportunities to learn about different cultures, to understand the changing and dynamic nature of 'cultures', to engage with activities which encourage empathy with the experiences and points of view of others, to recognise and challenge prejudice and discrimination in its various forms. In addition, the curriculum, as well as the teaching and learning environment, needs to acknowledge the diversity of learners and incorporate this diversity into its delivery.

Multicultural and anti-racist education (MCARE) has been on the Scottish education agenda for nearly twenty years. However, its implementation and inclusion at all stages of the education sector has remained largely ad hoc. Recognition of the need to include MCARE appears to be related to the numbers of minority ethnic people present. Consequently, implementation has been more widespread within the Central Belt of Scotland. The application of MCARE in areas which are perceived to be less ethnically diverse has largely been dependent on the commitment and efforts of individual educationalists or due to pressure from individual minority ethnic families and groups. Where authorities in these areas have attempted to embed MCARE through policy, the responses from all levels of the educational sector has been generally supportive in concept but the transference to practice has been less systematic. The extent of MCARE implementation and the quality of such implementation in Scotland has never been studied.

Vision

The Working Group's vision of education and race equality is firmly rooted in the following guiding principles:

Education should maximise opportunity for all. For this to happen a system is required which:

• values diversity -including recognition of ethnic, cultural, faith and linguistic diversity;
• is prepared to acknowledge the existence of institutional racism and discrimination and to take necessary steps to eliminate such discrimination;
• is able to adopt a participatory and inclusive approach;
• is open, transparent and accountable to all learners;
• is encouraging of equal partnerships between policy makers, providers, parents, young people, all learners and communities;
• is committed to collating and disseminating good practice in race equality matters in education;
• is committed to improving its service by establishing effective data collection systems, monitoring, evaluation and the publishing of progress reports;
• is committed to evaluation by outcome;
• is committed to mainstreaming race equality and anti-racism into all aspects of Scottish education from policy formulation, design and delivery, through the shaping of education spending plans, inspection and assessment frameworks and the recruitment and selection of staff, to teaching and learning, curriculum development and research.

Maintaining the focus

The Working Group fully supports the current efforts of the Scottish Executive to mainstream equality into all areas of its work. The Group also supports any initiative that aims for social inclusion and cohesion. However, it is important that race equality issues are not absorbed to the point of invisibility within the generic equality framework or within concepts like mainstreaming or social inclusion.

Consultation process

The Education Working Group drew up its draft recommendations after a series of discussions with key stakeholders within education. On June 6th 2000 a consultation day was held where educationalists and community groups had an opportunity to comment on the draft recommendations. All education authorities and over 100 community groups working with minority ethnic communities were also invited to comment by post or electronically. The recommendations listed in this section draw on the views of those who took time to respond to our consultation.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are in three sections.

Section One: Recommendations for the Scottish Executive and its relevant departments/sections

Section Two: Recommendations for other organisations related to Scottish education

Section Three: Recommendations concerning specific communities whose general issues will be covered in the recommendations in the overarching report and in Sections One and Two below, but who also face issues which are sufficiently distinct for inclusion in this third section.

It is the intention of the Working Group that these recommendations help Scottish Executive departments and other organisations to meet their obligations under the general duty and specific duties to promote race equality as specified under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Section One: Recommendations for the Scottish Executive

a) Ministerial priority action areas for education and lifelong learning

1 The Minister for Education and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning to demonstrate strong leadership in race equality matters across the education and lifelong learning sectors in the same way they have given a clear commitment to social inclusion. This can be done by issuing a statement immediately affirming their commitment to promoting equality of opportunity for all. Such a statement to include a clear acknowledgement of the need to identify and address institutional racism and discrimination;

2 Ministers to ensure that annual reporting procedures for education explicitly include race equality issues;

3 Ministers to:

• mainstream race equality by ensuring education authorities and educational establishments comply with the general and specific duties of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000;
• require that all bodies funded by their departments produce an annual statement on how those bodies are promoting equality of opportunity including race equality;
• have regard to ethnic diversity as well as expertise in educational matters when considering appointments to all educational bodies;
• continue to support the development of good practice guidance for all educational establishments (from nursery to higher education) on racial harassment policies and reporting mechanisms;
• allocate dedicated development and sustainable funding to ensure the overall package of recommendations from REAF can be achieved.

b) Her Majesty's Inspectorate (Schools, Further Education and Community Education)

Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI):

1 To continue to ensure that there be a named inspector to take specific responsibility for equality issues, including race equality. The role and remit of this appointment to be published as soon as possible;

2 This lead inspector to provide biannual progress reports on the development of equality work, including race equality, within the workings of the Inspectorate and when appropriate to comment on the monitoring and promotion of race equality in the wider system;

3 Publish a programme of training and staff development for HMI on race equality arising from the external needs analysis already undertaken;

4 Identify ways in which race equality can be mainstreamed into current inspection frameworks;

5 Develop strategies to improve the representation of minority ethnic people on inspection teams;

6 Identify ways to encourage schools to actively utilise the guidance document "A Route to Equality and Fairness" as part of a school's self-evaluation framework;

7 Conduct a thematic inspection of education authorities, schools, colleges and community education services on the subject of equality, which would include explicit reference to race equality, by 2004. Such inspection teams to include people with expertise in equality education, as well as multicultural and anti-racist education and bilingual education;

8 From the wide consultation which the REAF Education Working Group has carried out, we recommend the inspection should take account of:

• ways in which education authorities, schools, colleges and community education services have taken forward the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000;
• adequacy and quality of policy and action plans addressing racial harassment in schools (pre nursery, primary, secondary, special schools), colleges and community education centres;
• practice in relation to recording, monitoring and addressing issues of racial harassment and racist incidents;
• methods by which educational establishments seek to mainstream race equality matters within institutional forward planning, particularly in the areas of curriculum development, teaching and learning, support for students and recruitment and selection of staff; for colleges and community education centres these areas to include widening of access and financing of courses and programmes;
• initiatives developing effective home-school partnerships and community-college partnerships involving minority ethnic families;
• initiatives that seek to improve the achievement and progression of minority ethnic learners;
• adequacy and quality of provision of English as an Additional Language;
• best practice in the support of bilingual learners, particularly learners speaking Scotland's community languages.

c) Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED)

The Scottish Executive Education Department to;

1 Appoint a lead officer within their senior management with specific responsibility for equality and inclusion issues, including race equality, and publish the aim, role, remit and wider purpose of this post. Requirements of the duties as imposed by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to be taken into consideration in the remit of this post;

2 Require the lead officer to provide annual progress reports on the development of equality work, including race equality, as part of the annual departmental report for the Scottish Executive;

National priorities and annual reports

3 Publish an action plan on how it intends to meet the obligations (both general and specific) imposed by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 in respect of education;

4 Ensure national educational priority initiatives explicitly mainstream race equality issues; these initiatives to be analysed and monitored to make sure that they are improving the quality of education and the whole educational experience for all ethnic, linguistic and faith groups in the pupil population;

5 Ensure local authorities mainstream race equality issues into their 'Annual Statement of Improvement Objectives' when reporting on equality of opportunity.

Research

6 Introduce a presumption that all data collection and reporting should be done on an ethnically disaggregated basis and where appropriate by religious affiliation or belief and languages used;

7 Require that educational research, both qualitative and quantitative, should include an analysis of the impact of ethnicity, language and religion. It is further recommended that the Equal Opportunities Commission's guidance on mainstreaming gender equality into research be used as a model for mainstreaming race equality into research;

8 In conjunction with the Central Research Unit, prepare a research programme on race equality in education ensuring that such a programme is developed with advice from those with experience and expertise in race equality and education; such a programme to include minority ethnic researchers and organisations as potential contractors; all proposals to include consideration of participative research techniques as one aspect of the methodology;

9 It is recommended the following research areas be prioritised for early action:

• models of good practice in schools, colleges and higher education institutions in addressing racial harassment and racist incidents;
• the link between deprivation, racism and minority ethnic pupil/learner attainment and progression;
• the performance experience of minority ethnic pupils within schools and learners within community, further and higher education. This should include an analysis of post education destinations of minority ethnic pupils and learners;
• a survey of young minority ethnic people's attitudes to educational and employment opportunities;
• models of enabling parental participation within institutional and community environments, with particular reference to minority ethnic parents;
• bilingualism and its impact on learning and achievement; this to include specific issues such as bilingual pupils who also have special needs;
• the experience of different minority groups within the education sector including Gypsies/Travellers and asylum seekers;

(Some of the research listed above may need to be taken forward in dialogue with Scottish Executive Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department to ensure coherence, cf. Recommendation d 8 below.)

Training, staff development and good practice

10 Conduct an audit of available multicultural, multi-faith and anti-racist teaching materials for 5-14, Standard Grade and Higher Still and disseminate widely the availability of suitable materials. Where gaps exist, to commission new materials for use in educational establishments; such an audit to be planned with Learning and Teaching Scotland and related agencies with expertise in multicultural and anti-racist education;

11 In conjunction with HMI, evaluate the effectiveness of existing equality performance indicators in education in respect of race and develop improved indicators, if required, which will be relevant to Scottish circumstances;

Multi-faith Scotland

12 Set up a short life Faith and Beliefs Working Group to recommend action within the education sector that is required to ensure equality of opportunity for all faiths and beliefs. Membership of this group should reflect the diversity of faiths and beliefs and span all levels of education, including education unions. The work of the group should include the following areas for consideration:

• needs of pupils, parents, learners and education employees;
• assessments (e.g. timings of examinations);
• organisational ethos (e.g. leave of absence for various religions and belief observances);

The group's focus to be on a flexible and inclusive approach within a multi-faith setting rather than on educating for observance of particular faiths or beliefs.

Multilingual Scotland

13 Publish a response and action plan to "Bilingualism, Community Languages and Scottish Education" (1999); such a response to indicate ways in which equal recognition of community languages with other modern European languages can be achieved;

14 Develop and publish a strategy in which English as an Additional Language (EAL) and bilingual provision can be maintained, developed and resourced in all schools with bilingual pupils and pupils who are refugees and/or asylum seekers. Such a review might consider whether there should be set ratios of EAL and bilingual support staff to numbers of bilingual pupils;

15 Review current Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) arrangements for pupils for whom English is not their first language to ensure they meet the requirements of those sitting examinations. Such a review should be done in conjunction with bilingual support services in education authorities across Scotland;

16 Review the appropriateness of communication units in Higher National programmes for learners whose first language is not English;

17 Undertake a review of interpreting and translation services and needs across Scotland which includes a specific emphasis on educational needs;

Ethnic monitoring

18 Provide guidance to institute new practice within schools to ensure completion of data returns on ethnicity and publish an accessible explanatory leaflet to schools and parents on the role and use made of ethnic monitoring information in education;

19 Publish results of annual statistical returns. Poor return rates should not deter publication. If return rates are poor, SEED in conjunction with the Scottish Executive's Central Statistics Unit should publish how they intend to improve future returns;

20 In conjunction with the Scottish Executive's Central Statistics Unit, collect statistical data on the composition of the Scottish teaching force on the basis of ethnicity, whilst respecting the individual's right to anonymity;

Improving minority ethnic parental representation and communication

21 Issue guidance that training for school boards should include enabling members to recognise and challenge institutional discrimination including institutional racism. Additionally provide guidance to school boards encouraging them to take up these training opportunities;

22 Develop positive strategies to address the under-representation of minority ethnic parents on school boards;

23 In conjunction with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Association of Directors of Education (ADES), develop a strategy to improve the supply of information to parents and learners and communication with them. This strategy should have an explicit section on minority ethnic parents and learners. As part of this, consideration should be given to better mechanisms for sharing information and the use of interpreting and translation;

Achievement and attainment of minority ethnic pupils

24 Collate data from local authorities to provide a national picture on minority ethnic pupil achievement, progress and behaviour, such as attendance, exclusion and early leaver rates by ethnic group (to include Gypsy/Traveller pupils). Where possible, monitoring should be done on a school by school basis to identify trends and patterns and care should be taken to ensure that individual pupils cannot be identified;

25 In conjunction with COSLA, identify how monies allocated to individual education authorities for supporting English as an Additional Language provision are currently being used to support the attainment and progress of minority ethnic pupils whose first language is not English;

Mainstreaming race equality into the assessment framework

26 In conjunction with the SQA and other relevant agencies, provide a report on how race equality will be taken into account in the development of content of examination papers and training for setters;

27 In conjunction with the SQA and other relevant agencies, examine how race equality matters should be taken into account as part of the assessment framework and training for markers. The assessment framework to cover internal and external assessments across all sectors, including further education, community education and training centres as well as schools;

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

28 As part of the current development of a national framework for CPD, all providers to be required to show the highest regard for race equality issues. Furthermore, the new framework should ensure all teachers receive training on developing and implementing multicultural and anti-racist education and that they develop proficiency in working with and supporting minority ethnic pupils, particularly bilingual pupils;

Review of Initial Teacher Education

29 To ensure that the two-stage review of Initial Teacher Education currently underway seeks to incorporate an analysis of equality issues. Race equality should be an explicit component of this review and, where possible, those with expertise in race equality and education should be incorporated as active reviewers in the second stage of the review;

Community Education

30 SEED, in conjunction with Community Learning Scotland, to undertake a Scotland-wide review of the current curriculum of community education courses and key courses associated with the promotion and training of community educators approved by Community Learning Scotland's professional training endorsement committee (CeVe). This to be done so that the practical application of multicultural, anti-racist education and the valuing of diversity at all levels of courses can be clearly demonstrated. The review team to include those with experience of multicultural and anti-racist education and to be taken forward by SEED in the most effective way;

d) The Scottish Executive Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department (SEELLD)

The Scottish Executive Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department (SEELLD) to:

1 Appoint a lead officer within senior management with specific responsibility for equality and inclusion issues, including race equality, and publish the aim, role, remit and wider purpose of this post. Requirements of the duties as imposed by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to be taken into consideration in the remit of this post;

2 Require the lead officer to provide annual progress reports on the development of equality work, including race equality, as part of the annual departmental report for the Scottish Executive;

3 In discussion with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), identify mechanisms for mainstreaming race equality into the existing quality assurance frameworks;

National priorities

4 Publish an action plan on how it intends to meet the duties (both general and specific) imposed by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 in respect of lifelong learning and further and higher education;

5 Analyse and monitor these initiatives to ensure that they are improving the quality of education and the whole educational experience for all ethnic, linguistic and faith groups in the learner population.

Research

6 Introduce a presumption that all data collection and reporting should be done on an ethnically disaggregated basis and where appropriate by religious affiliation or belief and languages used; SEELLD to initiate discussions with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council;

7 SEELLD to initiate discussions as to how methodologies used within educational research, both qualitative and quantitative, should include an analysis of the impact of ethnicity, language and religion. It is further recommended that the Equal Opportunities Commission's guidance on mainstreaming gender equality into research be used as a model for mainstreaming race equality into research;

8 It is recommended the following research areas be prioritised for early action. These recommendations should be read in conjunction with Recommendation c 9 above to ensure coherence between SEELLD and SEED:

• a survey of young minority ethnic people's attitudes to educational and employment opportunities;
• the performance experience of minority ethnic learners within community, further and higher education;
• ethnicity, participation and employment patterns in Scottish further and higher education;
• the impact of widening access and lifelong learning initiatives on minority ethnic learners;

Training, staff development and good practice

9 Commission an audit of race equality training materials suitable for staff development (to include teaching and non-teaching staff) for use across the further, higher and community education sector. This should be done in dialogue with SEED to avoid duplication.

Multi-Faith Scotland

10 SEELLD to seek membership of the short life Faith and Beliefs Working Group referred to in Recommendation c 12 above;

Multilingual Scotland

11 SEELLD to investigate the feasibility of developing and delivering a programme for provision of English as an Additional Language for adults with a priority action plan for asylum seekers and refugees; this discussion to take place in conjunction with Community Learning Scotland, the Scottish Refugee Council, the Further Education Colleges and the Scottish Further Education Funding Council;

Ethnic monitoring

12 In conjunction with the relevant bodies, publish annual statistics of the numbers of minority ethnic learners within further, higher and community education within Scotland. Targets should then be identified and strategies developed to improve on these statistics and to encourage wider access and participation of minority ethnic learners within all levels and range of courses offered;

Improving minority ethnic representation and communication

13 Issue guidance for improving minority ethnic representation at all levels of further, higher and community education, in particular representation at board and senior management level;

14 Develop positive action strategies to address the under-representation of minority ethnic learners in some subject areas;

Achievement and attainment of minority ethnic learners;

15 Encourage colleges and higher education institutions to monitor the recruitment, retention, progress and destination of students from under-represented groups, to include minority ethnic learners.

Section Two: Recommendations For Education Related Bodies

a) Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Councils

1 The Scottish Funding Councils to:

• issue a statement of their commitment to race equality and their strategy for meeting the duties as laid down by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. As a result of this, to develop a strategy to tackle institutional racism and monitor progress in taking forward these commitments within their own areas of operation and practices. Thereafter they should publish progress reports on race equality within their annual reports;
• advise further and higher education institutions of their obligations to promote race equality and address racial discrimination;
• integrate race equality into the corporate planning process and report on progress within their annual report by including a brief review of the extent to which the previous year's aims, objectives and targets in race equality have been achieved; as well as the reasons for any non achievement of these and further action to address the shortfall;
• develop guidance for the sector on the monitoring, evaluating and reporting of race equality issues within the emerging framework of positive duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000;
• mainstream race equality, where appropriate, into the terms of reference of all Funding Council committees;
• encourage and support all further and higher education institutions in incorporating race equality into all their strategic and operational plans;
• consider how most effectively to link funding methods to the achieving of institutional equality, including race equality;
• set up a joint strategic change fund to take forward race equality in the further and higher education sectors, similar to initiatives around disability equality;
• continue to ensure that all those employed within their establishments have race equality training appropriate to their duties;
• in conjunction with the Quality Assurance Agency, develop mechanisms to include race equality within the Quality Assurance Framework (cf. Recommendation l 1).

b) Scottish Higher Education Funding Council

1 When taking forward the Equality Challenge to Scotland, to ensure that race equality is not neglected and to report on progress through their annual report.

c) University Scotland and the Association of Scottish Colleges

1 University Scotland and the Association of Scottish Colleges to immediately issue a statement of their commitment to promoting race equality, tackling institutional racism and monitoring progress on race equality issues within their own areas of operation and practices. Thereafter they should encourage the sector to provide progress reports.

d) Individual Further and Higher Education Institutions

Further and higher education institutions to:

1 Issue a statement to all staff of their commitment to race equality and their strategy for meeting the duties as laid down by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. As a result of this to develop a strategy to tackle institutional racism and monitor progress in taking forward these commitments within their own areas of operation and practices. Thereafter they should publish progress reports;

2 Establish areas for priority considerations such as;

• the establishment of monitoring which would allow home and overseas student figures to be disaggregated;
• the monitoring of access, retention, attainment and progression rates for minority ethnic learners;
• the mainstreaming of race equality into the curriculum;
• the mainstreaming of race equality into all staff development initiatives;

3 Ensure that all those employed within their establishments have race equality training appropriate to their duties;

4 Review current access-widening and lifelong-learning initiatives to ensure the inclusion of race equality and that future initiatives include race equality from the outset;

5 Set up mechanisms to explore equivalencies in overseas qualifications through liaison with agencies like the National Academic Registration Information Centre for the United Kingdom (NARIC);

6 Adopt national standards as laid down by UKCOSA, The Council for International Education, on student recruitment, student support and language support for international students;

7 Consider using mentoring as a way of encouraging learners from minority ethnic backgrounds to maximise their potential and select career pathways which have traditionally not attracted participants from minority ethnic communities.

e) Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)

COSLA and ADES to:

1 Issue an immediate statement of their commitment to promoting race equality, tackling institutional racism and monitoring progress in taking forward these commitments within their own services. That such a statement remind education authorities of their duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and Section 5:2 (b) of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000;

2 Set up and maintain networks for the dissemination of good practice on race equality and wider social inclusion issues. Such networks would encourage the sharing of policies and initiatives on developing 'The Inclusive School' for a multiethnic, multicultural, multi-faith and multilingual Scotland;

3 That education authorities jointly develop a strategy for informing and communicating with parents and learners; this strategy to have an explicit section on minority ethnic parents and learners. As part of that development, consideration to be given to better mechanisms for sharing information and the use of interpreting and translation.

f) Education Authorities

1 All Directors of Education and Heads of Education Services within authorities to issue a statement immediately to schools and employees within their own department on the importance of promoting race equality and addressing racial discrimination. Such a statement should also remind educational establishments within an authority of their obligations under the Race Relations Act 1976, the Race Relations (Amended) Act 2000 and Section 5:2 (b) of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000;

2 Each authority to review and develop a strategy on how race equality is mainstreamed into the various areas of their work e.g. within specific services such as the educational psychology services or within specific issues such as addressing the under representation of minority ethnic people within each education authority's workforce;

3 Each authority to provide information as part of their 'Annual Statement of Improvement Objectives' of performance, management, monitoring and evaluation in the area of race equality.

g) Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

All providers of initial teacher education to:

1 Through the review of initial teacher education proposed in the McCrone Report, ensure that the practical application of multicultural and anti-racist education and valuing diversity at all levels of courses is clearly evidenced. The review to ensure that multicultural and anti-racist education is not an optional or elective topic within ITE courses. It is essential that the review team includes those with experience of delivering multicultural and anti-racist education. The review's findings to be made publicly available;

2 Ensure that they work together with SEED to address the clear under-representation of minority ethnic people at all levels of education.

h) Community Education

1 COSLA, in conjunction with local authority community education services and Community Learning Scotland, to identify, monitor and evaluate expenditure for capacity building programmes with minority ethnic communities as part of the authority wide Community Learning Strategy. Regular progress reports to be published;

2 Community Learning Scotland, in consultation with local authority community education services, voluntary sector organisations, youth groups and agencies working with young people and minority ethnic communities, to develop and implement strategies for involving minority ethnic young people in initiatives such as Young Scot and the Scottish Youth Parliament.

3 Community Learning Scotland, in conjunction with COSLA and local authority community education services, to develop strategies to ensure that equality issues, including race equality issues, are strategically embedded into community learning plans. These strategies to include measures to:

• ensure provision exists for adult learners of English including asylum seekers and refugees;
• include the adult educational needs of Gypsies/Travellers;
• develop a race equality component within community-based adult education and youth and community work provision. This component should enable provision to be sensitive to the different cultural, linguistic and faith needs of learners, to improve take up of services by minority ethnic communities and to include the promotion of anti-racist approaches.

i) The General Teaching Council

The General Teaching Council to:

1 Re-examine their qualifying standards and competencies to ensure they are sufficiently robust for achieving a workforce equipped to serve a multiracial, multicultural, multi-faith and multilingual society. This review should also analyse how these are being met within initial teacher education courses. This review to complement Recommendation g 1 above.

j) Learning and Teaching Scotland

Learning and Teaching Scotland to:

1 Set up a working group to review the 5-14 programme documents to ensure explicit, specific and directed inclusion of multicultural and anti-racist education and to report thereon with recommendations for improvement;

2 In light of the above report and other developments such as the thematic equality review by the HMI, prepare up-to-date curriculum guidance within eighteen months of the review report;

3 Give specific consideration as to how race equality issues will be explicitly included within the Education for Citizenship initiative, demonstrating a clear anti-racist approach.

k) Careers Services

Careers Scotland, on its establishment in April 2002, to:

1 Commission a review of good practice by careers services in Scotland in the area of race equality and then disseminate this information to all careers services, education authorities and community education services in Scotland in order to promote improved service delivery.

l) Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)

The QAA to:

1 In conjunction with SHEFC and other agencies with expertise in race equality in education, develop mechanisms to include race equality in:

• the promotion and maintenance of quality and standards in higher education;
• the enhancement of teaching and learning;
• good practice in teaching and learning in relation to equality, including race equality, issues;
• the publication of any QAA reports on quality and standards in higher education;
• any advice provided to the Scottish Executive on areas like access and course recognition.

Section Three: Recommendations Relating To Specific Communities

While the above recommendations would benefit all minority ethnic groups overall, the following communities have specific requirements. The intention in this section is to ensure that specific issues are not lost within the overall framework. This section identifies three such communities:

a) Minority ethnic people in rural communities
b) Gypsy/Traveller communities
c) Asylum seekers and refugees

a) Rural communities

1 Agencies operating at a Scottish level (SEED, HMI, SEELLD, Community Learning Scotland, COSLA, Further and Higher Education Funding Councils, University Scotland, the Scottish University for Industry and the Association of Scottish Colleges) should ensure that all educational establishments and institutions operating under their remit in rural areas are mainstreaming race equality in education as identified in the relevant sections of this document. An advisory group drawn from rural areas should be established to monitor progress;

2 All agencies with a remit for education, training and lifelong learning in rural areas (e.g. education authorities, schools, further and higher education establishments, Community Learning Scotland, Highland and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and the Local Enterprise Community networks) should demonstrate their commitment to promoting race equality by:

• issuing a statement of their commitment to address institutional racism and to the monitoring of progress in taking forward these commitments within their own areas of operation and practices;
• developing systems for gathering information on the needs of a scattered and dispersed minority ethnic population and producing a plan on how these needs will be met.

b) Gypsy/Traveller communities

1 SEED, in conjunction with COSLA and individual education authorities, to provide information, guidance and support to Gypsy/Traveller communities on key areas such as access, uptake and retention of school places. The mechanism by which this information is disseminated should be addressed;

2 SEED in conjunction with other relevant agencies, to develop national guidance on developing effective home school partnerships with Gypsy/Traveller parents; this review to develop the idea of Family Liaison Officers specifically for Gypsy/Traveller communities;

3 SEED to examine how schools serving an area with an official Gypsy/Traveller site can be funded to allow for fluctuating numbers, to purchase resources for loans to families while travelling and the development of distance learning packs and hand-held records;

4 SEED, Learning & Teaching Scotland and individual authorities to provide exemplars to schools on how to develop individualised approaches to curriculum delivery for mobile Gypsies/Travellers e.g. part-time timetables in schools. This should include using the special examination arrangements available e.g. encouraging Gypsies/Travellers to book in at an alternative examination centre for Standard Grade and Higher Still;

5 SEED to enable education authorities to provide a place in an educational establishment or alternative access to education (from pre-school to lifelong learning provision) no matter the form, place or length of residence in the locale.

c) Asylum-Seekers and refugees

1 SEELLD, in conjunction with the UK government, to investigate the provision of contingency funding to enable access to education and, in particular, English language courses;

2 SEED and SEELLD, in conjunction with the Scottish Refugee Council, COSLA, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and Community Learning Scotland, to investigate the development of access programmes for assisting refugees to engage with lifelong learning opportunities; such an investigation should also reflect on how the educational needs of asylum seekers granted leave to remain in the UK can be met within Scotland, in so far as this is possible within devolved responsibilities.

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