Ethnic Minority Achievement - NASUWT

provision, whether through direct provision or monitoring and guiding the use ofresources devolved to schools. 15 In addition to funding sourced directly from theEthnic Minority Achievement Grant, a significant proportion of local authorities werealso able to augment the resourcing of ethnic minority achievement and Englishas an Additional Language services from their own core funding. 16IMPACT OF THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S POLICYHowever, key aspects of the Coalition Government’s policy agenda have begunto affect significantly these longstanding features of ethnic minority achievementand English as an Additional Language provision, including key features of theAiming High strategy it inherited from its predecessor.Ending of ring-fencingOf particular significance in this regard has been the decision of the Departmentfor Education (DfE) to end the ring-fencing of Ethnic Minority Achievement Grantfunding. From 2011/12, Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant funding has beenincorporated into the Dedicated Schools Grant, the effect of which has been togive to schools complete decision-making power over the uses to which theproportion of the Dedicated Schools Grant, comprised of the former Ethnic MinorityAchievement Grant funding allocated to them, can be put.While local authorities can continue, with the permission of those schoolsrepresented on Schools Forums, to retain a proportion of this element of formerEthnic Minority Achievement Grant funding for supporting ethnic minorityachievement and English as an Additional Language services, they can have noassurances that schools will continue to buy-back additional services, given thatthe ending of ring-fencing of this funding also ends the requirement on them toensure that it is allocated to supporting black and minority ethnic or English as anAdditional Language learners.Academies and free schoolsThe dangers to the maintenance of effective ethnic minority achievement andEnglish as an Additional Language services provided by schools and localauthorities that this change in policy creates are made clear through considerationof the potential impact of wider changes to school and local authority funding andof the growth of the academies and free schools programmes.Academisation and the creation of free schools has the potential to intensifypressures on local authorities in this regard as a result of the diversion of theproportion of Dedicated Schools Grant funding to academies and free schoolsthat would otherwise have been available to fund central local authority ethnicminority achievement and English as an Additional Language services.15ibid.16Tikly, L.; Osler, A.; Hill, J. and Vincent, K. with Andrews, P; Jeffreys, J.; Ibrahim, T. Panel, C. and Smith, M. (2002)Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant: Analysis of LEA Action Plans. Research Report 371. HMSO; London.12