Race equality chief calls for separate classes for black boys

Black boys should be taught separately for some of the school
timetable in a bid to close the achievement gap, according to the
head of the race equality watchdog.

Critics have rejected the proposal from Commission for Racial
Equality chief Trevor Phillips as stigmatising, but Phillips told
the BBC,  “We are in a state of crisis and we can’t keep saying,
let us try the same things again and again. We have spent a lot of
money and have tried many things. The performance of children at
key stage four at GCSE has climbed steadily for all groups
including black girls and Bangladeshis. The only group that have
not benefited to any great extent are black boys. We can’t just
leave these kids to fester and leave school to be unemployed.”

When black boys enter primary school their baseline scores are
at least as high as their peers, on average. But by the end of year
2 they have already started to slip behind. Last year, just 27 per
cent  of black Caribbean boys in England scored at least five
C-grades at GCSE, compared with a national average of 52 per cent.
The figure for black Caribbean girls was 44 per cent, and for all
boys was 47 per cent.

Phillips also called for more pressure on black fathers to
support their sons’ education, including making access to
their children conditional on attending school parents’
evenings.