The New Old or The Young Old
THE PROSPECT OF A NEW LEASE OF LIFE
10th London Schools and the Black Child Conference
Uploaded by London Schools and the Black Child on 2013-12-20.
9.40 - 11.00 Session One
Black Children and the school system: How do we achieve the best for our children in the new environment?
London Schools and the Black Child Conference Report 2013
Keith Davidson
Author, Education: A Pathway to Success for Black Children
The petition you gave raised five issues. Number one, the impact of Gove’s educational changes on black children, two, the damage of public sector cuts on resources available for the committee- directly or indirectly beneficial to education programs. Thirdly, the removal of black history figures from the curriculum. Fourthly foreign exclusion, and finally what will happen to underprivileged black children-price of the education sector. I will not propose to cover all of that because colleagues here have covered a number of those issues.
I want to talk about the proposal in terms of the GCSE program. The question really is what is Mr. Gove really proposing? I’ll draw attention to September last year; he did propose the abolition of the GCSE program. Then, in February he had a change of heart because there was a coalition of teachers, the unions, and the regulators themselves. The House of Commons committee itself had a report on it. With that assembly of opposition to his proposed reform, he backtracked in February, and he now has another scheme.
He’s proposing that there should be a reform of the existing GCSE programs. Just to recap, he wanted to abolish all of that, and replace it with the English Baccalaureate Program, which would mean a step-up of the qualification bar. The argument that there have been advances for many years is that there have been a fall of standards. I would challenge that. There is no persuasive evidence to justify that position. One reason that is happening is that more children are passing their current GCSE programs.
The impact of that will be that less children will pass, and that’s behind the proposal. There’s a belief, and the English education system has been afflicted by a terrible disease called elitism. For centuries there’s been a belief that only some children can succeed. I want to say that you should dispel that from your system. Eradicate that from your system, because we actually believe it. That’s when we talk about gifted and talented. I want to say to you that all children are gifted. It’s for us to identify what they’re good at. When all our children are capable intellectually, there is no situation where some can achieve academically, and others not.
Finally, I want to say to us that we believe that all children can achieve. If you’re biblical there’s the story of Daniel, and he’s friends were studying, and it is recorded that they were found to be ten times better than the others. My challenge to us is that we have to establish these institutions for ourselves, teach with our own teachers and have them be ten times better, because that’s the only way for the future because with the economy, competition will be very high. We can’t sit around and not educate our children. WE need to be in the business want to thank you for listening.
Dr Keith Davidson at Urban Synergy AGM
Dr Keith Davidson at Urban Synergy AGM
Trustee Dr Keith Davidson highlights the valuable work done by Urban Synergy and how we need further sponsorship to operate.
Ensuring Educational Success For Black Children
Ensuring Educational Success For Black Children
October 31, 2012
Educationalist and former Head teacher, Keith Davidson, shares how Christian parents can respond to forthcoming changes in the education system, and help their children achieve.
For the Christian, an excellent education should be fully blended with spiritual insights, since believers are called into this world to glorify God, the Creator, and to serve others.
Faith provides the basis of the value system of the Christian, and builds the moral compass that guides our actions. But, whereas faith determines the ethical foundation in our lives, it is education that powers our actions with the skills, information and the knowledge we need for our existence today. Thus, fundamentally, education allows us to demonstrate our love for God, and to offer selfless service to our neighbours.
“Whereas faith determines the ethical foundation in our lives, it is education that powers our actions with the skills, information and the knowledge we need for our existence.”
On the basis of this wider understanding of the purpose of education we, therefore, have a useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the present education system that is serving our children today. Sadly, the picture is not a rosy one. Why is this so? The reason is that, for over two centuries, the English education system has been operating on the basis that only a minority of children (children from the ruling class) are intellectually capable of academic work at school.
Thus, from the 1950s to the 1980s, the prima donna of the national qualification system – that is, the old GCE examination system – was only offered to 20% of children. And, despite the introduction of the present GCSE examination system in the 1980s, with the intention that more children would have the opportunity to achieve this important qualification, many children are still failing in the education system. In 2011, over 40% of children left school without the recognised 5 A*- C GCSE qualifications, including English and Mathematics. But more tellingly, the figure for African Caribbean children was over 50% failing.
For decades, the African Caribbean community has been shouting loudly about how the education system is failing its children. However, as an educational practitioner/leader in the community for over thirty years, involving serving as a head teacher, education director and an Ofsted Inspector of schools, I believe that the time has come for the African Caribbean community to move beyond complaining about the failure of the system.
We can create a genuine pathway to success for Black children who, for many years, have been plagued with the experience of schools having poor expectations about our children’s academic ability. However, the recent announcement by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, of plans to replace the current GCSE examination system with a new English Baccalaureate (EBacc) from 2017, must be carefully examined by the community for its likely impact on our children’s educational future.
Behind the Education Secretary’s proposal is the belief that too many children are passing the GCSE examinations, and this is because they (the examinations) are being made easier. Hence, the expectation is that, with the proposed new EBacc examination, more children will leave school in the future without a secondary school qualification. And the danger is that Black children will again be over-represented amongst those likely to fail under the new system.
Thus, the challenge is how can the Black community be proactive in combatting this danger? The way forward requires a paradigm shift in the way we approach the education of our children.
Firstly, parents need to re-position themselves onto the frontline of the education process.
Parents must give leadership in the important matter of the education of their children by recognising that they are their children’s first teachers. Parents can build children’s confidence and self-esteem; lead children in the discovery of their unique self and giftedness; teach children values, and support their character development.
Secondly, parents and the Black community must accept the reality that children who are successful at school today have access to greater social capital to support their learning within the education system. This means that parents will need to prioritise and invest more wisely and long term, by providing children with more learning materials at home and, in addition, employ private tutors to support their children in the areas of English, Mathematics and Science.
Thirdly, parents and community institutions, such as the Church, should help children to develop the emotional and spiritual strengths to resist the dangers of confrontation with teachers and school authorities. This conflict at school leads to the slippery road of school exclusions, and ultimately to a life of crime and a situation where many of our young men are languishing in prisons today.
Fourthly, parents and community leaders must continue to challenge the curse of racism in education. Racism is still very evident in the English educational system, and is a barrier to achievement for Black children. We must constructively continue with the battle against racism in education, individually and collectively, by never turning a blind eye, but to be vigilant when it surfaces in schools, by calling schools to account.
Fifthly, the church community today must urgently give consideration to the need for them to raise their game in education, by establishing faith schools for the education of their children, within the ethos of a Christian faith and the community’s cultural heritages.
Finally, the community and Black educators should continue to champion and give leadership to the cause of working towards (a) eliminating the shackles of elitism afflicting the education system, and (b) building a fairer and equal education system for all children.
2002 - London Schools and the Black Child Conference: Towards a Vision of Excellence
2002 - London Schools and the Black Child Conference: Towards a Vision of Excellence
On Saturday 16th March 2002 over 2,000 Black parents, students, teachers, community organisers, school governors, local government workers and academics came together for the first ever London-wide London Schools and the Black Child conference. Speakers included the newly elected Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Education Minister Baroness Catherine Ashton, Director of Education in the Seventh Day Adventist Church Keith Davidson, writer and performer Angie le Mac, Educational Consultant Rosemary Campbell and the then Chair of the London Assembly Trevor Phillips. Subjects covered by the workshops included: Achieving excellence in education, Black governors, Black teachers, how the school system is failing Black boys and the supplementary school movement.