Equality Impact Assessment - Provision of Education Support to Schools with Refugee and Asylum Seeking Children and Guidelines for the Education of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Pupils

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• Equality Impact Assessment - Provision of Education Support to Schools with Refugee and Asylum Seeking Children and Guidelines for the Education of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Pupils

Function being assessed:

Provision of education support by Learning and Children’s Services to Schools with Refugee and Asylum Seeking children and the guidelines for the Education of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Pupils

Is this a new function or a review of an existing function?

Existing function - working in partnership with the local schools to deliver the service to all schools both primary and secondary.

What are the aims/purpose of the function?

To provide support and advice service to schools, pupils and staff, to the local authority and parents

To support and work to ensure best outcomes for refugee and asylum seeking children

To raise awareness of issues encountered by refugees and asylum seeking children and work with schools to establish a positive, safe and supportive learning environment.

To work in partnership with other directorates and outside agencies to enable appropriate services.

Is the function designed to meet specific needs such as the needs of minority ethnic groups, older people, disabled people etc?

Service is for Refugees and asylum seekers within schools and their parents and carers. The provision of service is agreed with the schools.

What information has been gathered on this function? (Indicate the type of information gathered e.g. statistics, consultation, other monitoring information)? Attach a summary or refer to where the evidence can be found.

Information gathered is both PLASC data and in-service data. The reason for this is that PLASC only captures ethnicity and not refugee or asylum seeker status.

We have approximately 150 pupils who fall within this category in primary and secondary and this need to be better understood.  

The meeting of Ethnic Minority Coordinators in Kingston gives us an opportunity to discuss issues relevant to the children from this group.

The consultation that takes place between the school and The Service is on an individual basis.

Does your analysis of the information show different outcomes for different groups (higher or lower uptake/failure to access/receive a poorer or inferior service)? If yes, indicate which groups and which aspects of the policy or function contribute to inequality?

The guidelines and the Service is there to ensure that there are no intended negative impact for the children who are refugees or asylum seekers.

Children within this group can have both positive and sometimes negative experiences due to a number of factors including their very own status.

Children who arrive after the school admission process is over can be allocated school places where there are still school places. Once in secondary school, most pupils continue until the end of Yr 11. Impact at 6^th Form Level has not been researched. (See Action Plan)

On the current PLASC data it would be difficult to identify progress within this group specifically because the dataset does not capture refugee or asylum seekers status. The Refugee Service has started collating this data that can inform The Service of the needs and requirements for both schools and pupils.

The Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers team and The Refugee Service work in partnership to ensure that the children’s education experience is positive.

Are these differences justified (e.g. are there legislative or other constraints)? If they are, explain in what way.

Language plays a significant role in achievement. Age of the children when they first arrive in the United Kingdom can also contribute towards the differential impact. This happens when older children, in particular, have to sit national exams and may underachieve due to language barriers. They will have very little time to master the language and perform in exams. Young children will have more time to adjust into the education system and achieve.

What action needs to be taken as a result of this Equality Impact Assessment to address any detrimental impacts or meet previously unidentified need? Include here any reasonable adjustments for access by disabled people. Include dates by which action will be taken. Attach an action plan if necessary.

Monitoring: Due to the PLASC data collecting ethnicity there is an element of uncertainty on the number of children from refugee and asylum seeking background. Manual and electronic collection of data has been started by The Service to capture this data more accurately. This will contribute to better understanding of the needs of the children and looking at specific service delivery to support their progress and achievement.

Exclusions: Joint working with the Exclusions and Reintegration Officer to lower exclusions from certain BME groups. There have been no exclusions from the group of pupils that the Service is working with at present.

Attendance: To support the schools and the EWS that the attendance from the refugee and asylum seeking children continues to be high.

Improve data capture for the 6^th Form group and analyse the data and feed this to the inspectorate and schools.

When will you evaluate the impact of action taken? Give review dates.

Monitoring: Every 3 months

Achievement: Every quarter when the group meets.

Exclusions: If and when an exclusion occurs.

Attendance: If and when attendance becomes erratic.

This will be reviewed annually.

Assessment completed by:

Margarithe Haffner

Youth Inclusion and Participation Service

16 June 2008