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Memorandum submitted by Black Voices Network
1. The Black Voices Network is a network of children's services practitioners that brings together the voluntary and community, government and statutory sectors' knowledge to influence policy and practice development from an ethnically diverse and racial equality perspective. The network:- · Identifies issues that black and other minority ethnic practitioners consider key to effective service delivery to black and other minority ethnic children and families and to the recruitment, retention and career development of black and other minority ethnic staff. · Supports informed discussion at local and regional level of issues that impact on different communities' engagement with the early years and wider children's sector (as employees and users). · Uses the outputs from these discussions to impact on services, local practice and government policy.
2. Main summary points:- · Poverty and deprivation disproportionately affects black and other minority ethnic children. Children's centres can only effectively fulfil their brief if there is commitment to understanding and tackling institutionalised racism and persistent disadvantage. · Ethnic data collection at local, regional, national and research level must be more consistent and sophisticated to enable effective evidence-based practice. · There are strong moral and business cases for developing strategies to recruit and retain a well-qualified black and minority ethnic early years workforce. · The statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage gives an explicit message that equality of opportunity is fundamental to all children's care, development and well-being. The EYFS practice guidance, supporting guidance from National Strategies and many reports, resources and training courses must be used to develop a cohesive, confident workforce that is committed to enabling all children overcome disadvantage and discrimination. 3. We live in a complex society drawn from people from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds and this complexity is not always acknowledged and accounted for within mainstream policy development. Poverty and the associated deprivation disproportionately affects black and other minority ethnic families. According to the DWP Report 'Ethnicity and Child Poverty'[1], around 750,000 black and other minority ethnic children will be in poverty by 2010. Currently, just over a quarter of black Caribbean and Indian children and over half of Pakistani and Bangladeshi children are in poverty, compared to one fifth of all children. [2] Employment and economic activity also varies considerably across ethnic groups and between genders within groups, likewise the length of unemployment periods. The authors of an analysis of ethnic minority labour participation through the 1991 and 2001 Census argue that:- '..the net disadvantage of ethnic minorities in
the labour market has become greater for men born in the 4. Sure Start Children's Centres are committed to improving the life chances and opportunities for children experiencing disadvantage through the provision of high quality care and education and through support to families, including 'back-to-work' support. The disproportionate disadvantage experienced by many black and other minority ethnic families indicates the need for an approach that is embedded within local authorities' strategic equality plans and comprehensive area assessments to ensure that services understand and meet families' needs and comply with the statutory duties of the amended Race Relations Act. 5. Existing evidence suggests that this strategic approach is not consistently applied. The reports from The National Evaluation of Sure Start reveal very limited information about the effectiveness of Sure Start on black and other minority ethnic families in spite of the considerable impact such an investment could create. In 2006, one report noted that 'detailed evaluation work on efforts to include Black and Minority Ethnic families, group (sic), or individuals in Sure Start was scarce'.[4] The report describes:- '... adult language courses were the most common form of activity directed at BME groups... other targeted provision listed in local evaluation reports included a bilingual breastfeeding support group for Bangladeshi women, swimming session (sic) targeted at Muslim families, a 'self-esteem' training course for Bangladeshi and Pakistani women, and a Jewish mother and toddler group. None of these reports however provided any outcome evaluation findings.'[5] 6. In 2007, a more detailed report, 'Sure Start and Black and Minority Ethnic Populations' was published.[6] Findings from that report will be referred to throughout this response, but again, the authors note that:- '... the treatment of ethnicity as an important dimension in the work of Sure Start was fragmented, partial or lacking altogether. Ethnic categories were conflated in a way which was unhelpful in reflecting diverse outcomes for different minority ethnic groups...'[7] 7. Conflation of ethnic categories causes wide-sweeping generalisations that do little to meet the Early Years Foundation Stage vision for services shaped around 'A Unique Child'. Regrettably, this practice has continued. The 2009 DCSF Parents Survey uses the categories 'White' and 'BME'[8]. Conflating every parent who does not identify as White British into one homogenous group as 'BME' is not helpful and undermines a solid platform on which children centres can develop their practice to meet the needs of diverse black families. Likewise, reports and guidance often profile minority ethnic identities as non-English speaking and focus on issues such as translation and interpreters which, although important, do not address the issues why many English-speaking minority ethnic families may not access services. 8. 'Sure Start and Black and
Minority Ethnic Populations' is one of the few reports that acknowledges the debilitating
impact of racism. The discussions at
Black Voices Network events forcefully reveal how racism continues to affect
people's lives - how it influences where we live, where we work, how we behave and respond and our willingness or reluctance to engage
with certain services. For many of us
that deliver equality-focussed training to children centres, there is an
awareness that a minority of staff still hold
negative attitudes and assumptions that could impact on their
relationships with black and other minority ethnic children and families. Please see 9. In terms of staffing, governance and management, 'Sure Start and Black and Minority Ethnic
Populations' notes that within their study there are very few minority ethnic
staff in senior positions in Sure Start Local Projects.[9] Understandably, this is an issue that the
Black Voices Network wishes to unpick. The
evidence base for the 2020 Children and
Young People's Workforce Strategy[10]
published in December 2008 does not have any specific reference to ethnicity,
likewise the Strategy[11]
itself. We have been unable to find
stringent data on the ethnicity of the early years workforce and, indeed, the
Children's Workforce Development Council must be commended for publishing an
audit tool to collect such profile data.
However ethnic data collection is not mandatory and there still appears
to be unease and a lack of commitment towards attaining this data.[12]
Combined analyses of the Labour Force Survey across years 2001, 2002, 2003 for 10. It is very powerful for a child or a young person from minoritised
or stereotyped groups to see themselves reflected in a position of authority
. This was acknowledged by the
Government by investing in the REACH programme of promoting black male role
models. The Black Voices Network argues
that the process of enabling children to encounter positive role models from
all backgrounds must start in the early years.
Over fifty years of research evidence shows that children notice difference from
an early age, including difference in ethnic background, and, unless
positive and specific action is taken to
counter the existing, embedded attitudes start to make judgements about what is good and bad. This was clearly demonstrated in the
documentary programme 'Child of Our Time' in 2005 by an experimental study of
136 children aged between three and five conducted by the a. 'Racial bias was strongest towards African-Caribbean children, but a significant negative bias was also found towards Far East Asian children. b. The 'Anglo-British' (White) children showed significantly more bias towards the 'African-Caribbean' (Black) children than other children. c. Children with more contact with the other groups showed less racial bias.' [14] 11. The programme also shows that many of the negative views about African-Caribbean
children are held by black children themselves - they have internalised racist
assumptions about themselves before they have started school. The notable exception is a 12. There is insufficient data to establish the ethnic diversity of Children's Centre staff, let alone the diversity of those in senior management roles or the take-up of career development opportunities. Anecdotally, it seems a common experience for black professionals working in children's centres and other settings to attend conferences to find that there are rarely any other black professionals there. Network members also note that early years training courses often present with predominantly white participants, even in areas renowned for ethnic diversity. Networking and personal development are, of course, key drivers for career progression. 13. Concern about the lack of black practitioners accessing Parents, Early years And Learning (PEAL)training [17]prompted the PEAL project to further investigation. The report by Inspire Consultancy explored the barriers to the take up of PEAL training as well as other organisational issues such as recruitment, training and promotion. It gives a snapshot of black and white managers' attitudes and experiences of delivering accessible services and supporting staff in a way that promote racial equality . 14. The report highlights the disparity between some white managers' understanding of racism and some black managers' experience of it. For example:- 'One senior white manager emphatically stated that in her 18 years of experience in working in early years she had never come across any incidents of racism. Her Asian colleague, in a separate interview, said racism was everywhere and she came across it on a daily basis. She explained how she had battled for many years dealing with racist attitudes from her colleagues and parents for whom she was an easy target.' 15. The black managers interviewed believed they needed additional tenacity 'to deal with resistance to their authority, expertise and knowledge'.[18] 16. These examples are from a
small scale study, but exemplify
an experience common to many Black Voices Network participants, and one that
has also been flagged up in other sectors.[19] It is essential that a career in early years
is seen as an attractive option for black practitioners, not only because a
socially just society endorses equality of opportunity, but for sustainability. Children flourish in an environment with
well-qualified, well-trained staff who have the confidence and commitment to
promote a sense of belonging for families and children from a wide range of
backgrounds. In 'Sure Start and Black
and Minority Ethnic Populations', the authors found ' very few minority staff were employed in
senior roles in SSLPs and this had an important symbolic effect within and
outside projects.' [20] Each year, Indian and Chinese pupils gain the
highest proportion of GCSE results.
Black Caribbean women have the highest
economic activity rate (73 per cent) out of all ethnic groups, including
White British women and far fewer Black Caribbean women have no qualifications
than other men or women of working age. [21] Here is a qualified and ambitious population
that children's centres must engage with if they want to continue to deliver
high quality services across the 17. The lack of hard data and evaluation relating to specific ethnic groups makes it impossible to appraise how accessible the services are for vulnerable black families and children. We also have limited understanding of the accessibility of services for black families in predominantly white or rural areas. (We do know that services for Gypsy and Traveller families have been somewhat patchy.) Interviews carried out for a report on inclusive play for Children's Fund Essex revealed how fear and experience of racist abuse hindered many children's play opportunities.[23] 18. Ways forward. There are many reports that highlight effective practice and make recommendations to develop services that attract black people as practitioners and service users. The following recommendations are drawn from those reports and responses from Network. a) Effective data collection at local and national level is essential. We recommend that any local authority funding of children's centres is subject to their adoption of the CWDC auditing tool and the collection of appropriate data.[24] Children's Centres must drill down beneath the Census categories and use data in creative and sophisticated ways to really understand the local communities from whom service users and staff may be drawn. This is important as an increasing number of families are multi-faith and multi-ethnic and broad brush ethnic categories are particularly unhelpful in areas where there are few and scattered minority ethnic families. b) Everybody working with
children must have an understanding of what racism is and how racism and fear
of racism impacts on people's choices and behaviour. There is a very thorough analysis of racism
and effective anti-racist work with young children in c) Children Centre's must be encouraged to address recruitment, retention and career development practices that disadvantage black practitioners. Diversity in staff at all levels flags up important messages about access to local people. There is a role for regional and national government in collecting and analysing ethnic data of participants attending conferences and events commissioned by them and for local authorities and regional government to monitor access and attendance to training. National government advisory groups and research advisory groups to must also demonstrate good practice by recruiting experts from diverse ethnic backgrounds and those who can advice on good anti-racist practice. d) Evaluate the take-up and use of guidance. Although good quality guidance has been produced to support children's centres to meet their positive duties under the amended race equality legislation, the core principles of Sure Start, and the equal opportunity duties of the Early Years Foundation Stage, there appears to be little follow-up or sustained monitoring of its usefulness. October 2009
[1] Platt, Lucinda Ethnicity and Child Poverty Department of Work and Pensions, 2009 p.1 http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep576.pdf [2] Ibid p.2 [3] L. Simpson, K. Purdam, A. Tajar, E. Fieldhouse, V. Gavalas, M. Tranmer,J. Pritchard and D. Dorling Ethnic minority populations and the labour market: an analysis of the 1991 and 2001 Census DWP, 2006 http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2005-2006/Report333.pdf [4] Lloyd, N. and Rafferty, A. Black and Minority Ethnic Families and Sure Start: Findings from Local Evaluation Reports National Evaluation of Sure Start, 2006 p.5 [5] Ibid. p.4 [6] Craig, G., Adamson, S., Ali, N., Atkins, L., Dadze-Arthur, A., Elliott C., McNamee S. and Murtuja, B. Sure Start and Black and Minority Ethnic Populations DSCF, 2007 http://www.ness.bbk.ac.uk/implementation/documents/33.pdf [7] Ibid p, ii [8] TNS Social Sure Start Children's Centres Survey of Parents DCSF, 2009 http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR083.pdf [9] Craig, G., Adamson, S., Ali, N., Atkins, L., Dadze-Arthur, A., Elliott C., McNamee S. and Murtuja, B. Sure Start and Black and Minority Ethnic Populations DSCF, 2007 p. iv [10] DCSF 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy - The Evidence Base December 2008 http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/CYP_Workforce-Strategy_Evidence.pdf [11] DCSF 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy December 2008 http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/CYP_Workforce-Strategy.pdf [12] See Lane, J. Letter of the Week - Why we Need an Audit Nursery World, 1 October 2009 [13] Quoted in Cameron, C. Building an integrated workforce for a long-term vision of universal early education and care The Daycare Trust, 2004 [14] Siraj-Blatchford, J. The Implications of Early Understandings of Inequality, Science and Technology for the Development of Sustainable Resources 2003 327matters.org/sustainability/Docs/Goteborgfinal.doc [15] Ibid p.6 [16] Ibid p.6 [17] PEAL was initially funded by the DCSF to enable children's centres to send staff on free training to enable them to work with parents to support their children's learning [18] Kapasi, H. Reaching the practitioners that the PEAL roll out didn't reach 2009 Contact jconnor@ncb.org.uk for further details [19] For instance in the health service Ismail A., Kalra V. and Abel, P Executive Summary - A Critical Review of Leadership Interventions Aimed at People from Black and Minority Ethnic Groups (2005) www.aneezesmail.co.uk [20] P. iv [21] Taken from Key Statistics: Moving on up - Bangladeshi, Pakistani
and Black [22] Rollock, N. The Experiences of [23] Lawrence P. 'A special
gathering, a delightful place.' A report on developing inclusive play from a
racial equality perspective in [24] For examples see Oppenheim, C. Increasing the take-up of formal childcare among Black and minority ethnic families and families with a disabled child DfES, 2007 [25] Lane J Young Children and Racial Justice |