Colleagues may have been concerned by an article in the TES (22.01.2010) headlined 'NUT demands funding reform for ethnic minority grant before BNP bites'. The article indicates that the NUT position on the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant is that it should be ‘widened to include white working class children, especially in areas where the BNP is particularly active’. In a subsequent letter published in the TES (29.01.2010), Christine Blower objected to ‘the impression that we were responding opportunistically because of the British National Party. This is not the case. The underlying theme of our report, "Opening Locked Doors", is that efforts to combat racism and economic discrimination must support each other We have called for a ring-fenced grant that would provide for all young people in need of intensive support - that includes those who are disadvantaged by social class, including white working-class youngsters.’
The position taken by the NUT within the 'Opening Locked Doors' policy document is that ‘The Government should fund a new, specific grant which covers all groups of young people in need of additional, intensive support, including white working class young people, without reducing current funding to minority ethnic groups’.
NALDIC agrees with many of the concerns presented in the Opening Doors document, particularly, the concern that Black and Asian young people are typically classified in terms of their race, religion, ethnicity and cultural background whereas white young people are usually described in terms of their social class. This gives the misleading impression that Black and Asian young people are never economically and socially disadvantaged and do not share in the challenges posed by such disadvantage. NALDIC is concerned that the TES article recycles the myth that ‘White working class is the one group that has not received any additional funding’. As the spokesperson from the DCSF notes, targeted funding aimed at deprived areas is in place, as is additional funding for interventions to enable children and young people from all groups to catch up ‘regardless of their social or ethnic background’. To not recognize these initiatives as funding to support all pupils, including white working class pupils, is unhelpful and emphasizes divisions rather than commonalities.
NALDIC believes that the English language development of pupils learning EAL depends on time, teaching and funding in the same way as does the effective delivery of any other subject. We welcome the NUT support for the continued ring fencing of funds designed to address the impact of racism and economic disadvantage on young people in our education system and to provide intensive support to meet their particular needs.
