B. Acceptability       [ Go to Contents ]

70. Criteria for acceptability of education are monitored and enforced by the Office for Standards in Education, known by its acronym OFSTED, through inspections. The purpose is to ensure that those schools that are defined as falling below minimal acceptability (called "failing schools") are officially warned so that measures could be undertaken to improve them, or they are closed down. The Government's often repeated statement is that poverty is no excuse for failure, requiring schools to offer an acceptable educational performance regardless of the poverty of their pupils or the school's own facilities.

1. Non-English-speaking learners

71. Unlike the United Kingdom, England is perceived as a unilingual country, although a range of languages has been introduced through migration. These are indirectly detected through the association between ethnic and linguistic minorities. However, the term "linguistic minorities" is never used nor is there legislation addressing discrimination on the grounds of language.

72. Instruction is provided in English and the obstacle which this constitutes for learners with English as their second or third language is acknowledged through compensatory measures to facilitate their learning English. Because English is one of the subjects in which learners are tested from the age of 7 (along with Mathematics and Science), it is likely that underperformance in these tests may not reflect the learners' aptitude for schooling, but rather the fact that English may be their second or third language. Private investment in bilingual education has proved beneficial, with bilingual learners outperforming unilingual English speakers 57.

73. The level of fluency in English has been identified as an important determinant of learners' performance, although it tends to be subsumed under racial or ethnic difference. Identifying "EAL pupils" (those with English as Additional Language) and helping them to overcome linguistic obstacles avoids mistaken attribution of their problem to race or ethnicity or learning difficulties. What became known as "section 11 grants" (based on section 11 of the 1966 Local Government Act) provided funding for additional recruitment to assist non-English-speaking learners. This funding does not seem to meet the existing demand, which itself has been incompletely identified because the recording of mother tongue on admission to school pertains to data that are provided on a voluntary basis. 74. It can be inferred which languages are the most widespread from the choice of languages made by the Home Office in which to promote electoral registration: Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu 58. The Special Rapporteur heard about the difficulties encountered by teachers of Somali, Romani or Albanian children and assumes that a frequent estimate that 800 languages are spoken in London alone may be accurate.

2.Teenage pregnancy

75. An ongoing government initiative is aimed at reducing the number of teenage pregnancies, as well as the social exclusion of teenage parents, almost exclusively mothers. In his foreword to the Teenage Pregnancy Report, the Prime Minister called it the country's "shameful record" 59. England's statistical profile reflects a gulf which divides it from continental Europe, as well as revealing problems within education. The paucity of sex education in primary schools in one facet, the prospects and role models for the category still referred to in popular parlance as "working class girls" is another.

76. This government's initiative requires no less than breaking the vicious circle of mutually reinforcing influences driving girls to pregnancy and childbearing while they are still children. The geographical profile of teenage pregnancy is well known (it is six times higher in the poorest than the richest areas) as is the profile of teenage mothers: they are 10 times as likely to originate from a family classified as "unskilled manual" as from one classified as "professional", twice as likely to have been in care, fostered or raised by a teenage mother and to have left or been expelled from school.

77. Career prospects remain gender-stereotyped. Almost half of women work part-time and tend to be segregated into jobs in sales or work as check-out assistants, clerks or secretaries. Although girls outperform boys in tests assessing their educational accomplishment, they are nevertheless doomed to low-paid, low-skilled, low-status occupations 60.

78. The Special Rapporteur has noted that the term "gender" is used in some Government publications and not in others; it is notably missing from some addressing teenage pregnancy 61. The biological fact that girls get pregnant (while boys do not) has slanted the prevention of pregnancy towards girls and defined contraception as a female concern. Many statutory and voluntary services are run by women and target only girls; medical doctors in general practice can only provide contraceptive services to boys at the boys' own expense because they are reimbursed only for contraceptive treatment of women.

79. The role of schools in imparting self-protection knowledge and skills is left to individual schools. Primary schools are required to have a policy on sex education; this policy can be not to have any sex education. The 1993 Education Act mandated publicly-funded secondary schools to provide sex education (not defining what should be taught, how and by whom) and affirmed the parents' right to exclude their children from sex education. Where provided, sex education remains an extra-curricular subject, often incorporated in the broader subject of personal, social and health education. Many disincentives hamper the introduction of sex education 62 and do not seem to be effectively addressed.

80. The Special Rapporteur is fully aware of the obstacles that ought to be overcome, and that have been overcome in many countries. Governmental human rights obligations stemming from the best interests of the child and the goal of gender equality impose upon the Government the obligation to take the lead in overcoming such obstacles.

C. Adaptability       [ Go to Contents ]

81. The adaptation of education to changes in society and in the economy is a constant process and requires comprehensive and continuous monitoring of influences on education, as well as the influence that education is expected to have in furthering change.

1.From sex to gender

82. Inequalities span the individual and structural levels and a great deal of effort is necessary to differentiate between the two. Recording inequalities requires delineating different grounds of discrimination that may be detected in access to schooling, treatment in school, outcomes and impact of schooling. The insistence of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the rights and the best interest of each individual child requires differentiating between structural and individual factors so as to identify and address obstacles at both levels.

83. Data on school performance highlight boys' underachievement, both in the white and non-white population 63, turning around a frequent gender stereotype whereby girls' performance should be improved. Single-sex schools constitute 5 per cent of all schools (more often girls' than boys' schools) and they continue because "evidence suggests that girls are particularly likely to do well in single-sex schools" 64. In co-educational schools, 85 per cent of teachers are women, which probably constitutes one of the reasons for the educational under-performance of boys. The advantage of shifting emphasis from sex to gender is, in the Special Rapporteur's view, that it requires studying both sexes, as well as their relationship, and spans learners and their teachers.

2.Oscillating purposes of education

84. The uniform verification and evaluation of the educational performance of learners and schools prioritizes subjects which yield easily to quantification, as well as methods of instruction which facilitate learners' success in testing. The underlying rationale has been the focus on basic knowledge (the three Rs). The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education has pointed to culture and creativity as general functions of education 65, emphasizing that education was undermined by the rationale, structure and prescriptive nature of the curriculum. The continuous presence of religious education in the curriculum and pastoral care in school add a spiritual dimension. The planned introduction of citizenship education anticipates adding some content of human rights education to the curriculum.

85. The process of designing citizenship education was ongoing at the time of the Special Rapporteur's mission and the outcome was not yet known. She is concerned about the image of human rights in the preparatory documents, which may become reflected in the future curriculum. It seems to her that "human rights" are perceived as different from and alien to the rights and freedoms that learners will recognize in their everyday lives - their rights as subjects of the right to education, as future employees, as future parents or voters. "Human rights" seems identified with international issues and foreign countries and dissociated even from concepts such as equal opportunities and gender equality 66.

86. There is a great need to introduce human rights education that would respond to everyday problems. The Commission for Racial Equality has pointed to the "rising levels of openly acknowledged racial prejudice" 67, which raises concerns about the absence of countervailing influences in education. The Chief Inspector of Schools has emphasized that one in five schools pays too little attention to non-European cultures 68.

87. Individualism and competitiveness as root values clash with solidarity and community. Parents' concerns about the educational attainment of their own children easily leads to ability-based screening and the consequent exclusion of less able children. Inequalities between learners and schools tend to become accentuated and exacerbated, not perceived as a human rights issue that ought to be addressed so as to familiarize children to accepting and assisting their peers, but rather as a legitimate differentiation enhancing individualism and competitiveness. This has created a paradox: schools are expected to instil values of solidarity and individual competitiveness at the same time.

 
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS      [ Go to Contents ]

88. Education has been prioritized by the Government both domestically and internationally, but international and domestic features of education are conceptually distinct. The rights-based approach is promoted at the international level, while silence prevails with regard to the right to education and even more with regard to rights in education at the domestic level. The Special Rapporteur fully supports the Government's conceptual shift to rights-based education and hopes that this could provide a welcome opportunity for its introduction at the domestic level.

89. The Government deserves a great deal of credit for launching rights-based education, thus moving towards incorporation of human rights in mainstream development cooperation, and for the parallel focus on increasing resources necessary to translate into practice the right to education. Translating human rights into sectoral and country strategies cannot be fast or easy. The Special Rapporteur commends the Government for starting this process and, as she stated during her mission, is willing to assist the Government in every possible way.

90. The profound change stemming from making the European Convention on Human Rights directly applicable has opened the way for broadening and deepening human rights protection on the basis of regionally (and perhaps later globally) developed international human rights law. This will gradually transform and internationalize English education law. The Special Rapporteur sees in this change an opportunity to broaden the existing image of human rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child seems a particularly well-suited starting point as it offers learners, from the youngest age, a clear and easy identification with its spirit and wording and the immediate possibility of its translation into practice through the creation of a human-rights-friendly school. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned about the inherited legal status of the child as the object of a legally recognized relationship between the school and the child's parents rather than the subject of the right to education and of human rights in education. She hopes that the spirit and wording of the Convention on the Rights of the Child will gradually influence English educational policy, law and practice.

91. The long heritage of all-encompassing compulsory education in England leaves few categories of children without access to school. The Special Rapporteur deems that closing these gaps deserves priority. In two cases - children deprived of their liberty and Traveller children - schooling ought to be provided where the children are. This requires imagination, flexibility and - most importantly - the Government's political and financial commitment to ensuring that education is available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Multiple discrimination is routinely found in the chain of causation which deprived such children of education, thus triggering the full range of human rights obligations relating to the eradication of discrimination.

92. The Special Rapporteur suggests that the forthcoming introduction of citizenship education in compulsory schooling should be used as an occasion for overcoming widespread misperceptions whereby, for example, gender equality is perceived as distinct from racial equality while both are seen as distinct from human rights. Moreover, the choice of citizenship education provides an opportunity for delivering the message that children are citizens rather than citizens-to-be. The inter-relatedness of human rights makes it possible to build conceptual bridges between different forms of discrimination, their causes, effects and impact, and to develop comprehensive human rights education aimed at addressing and redressing everyday issues that learners can easily identify with.

93. The link between education and employment (evidenced by a governmental structure in which a single ministry deals with both) has constituted the pillar of the Government's policy, with a clear commitment to enable people to become economically self-sustaining. The orientation of education towards enhancing individual competitiveness has resulted in competition between children and their schools. The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the effects of competitiveness on children with disabilities. In her opinion, inclusiveness requires enhancing the adaptation of schooling to children with disabilities.

94. The image of education as an investment in future earnings is clearly reflected in the introduction of tuition fees for university education. The apparent discrepancy between this change and the wording of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights deserves more attention than it has received thus far. This change does not diminish the Government's human rights obligations relating to availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability, however. The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned about access to university education for those who cannot afford its direct and opportunity costs and urges the Government to prioritize its commitment to utilize funds generated within education to improve accessibility for disadvantaged categories. Moreover, education is at the same time a human right and a traded service (both domestically and internationally) and thus the affirmation of the right to education and human rights in education acquire increased importance.

95. The Special Rapporteur suggests that a review should be undertaken of the notion of social exclusion from the human rights perspective, inspired by the advantage that would ensue from a focus on governmental human rights obligations. The cumulation of different grounds of discrimination, reinforced by class, requires unravelling the causes and contributing factors at the structural rather than at only the individual level. The Special Rapporteur feels that concepts such as "ethnic minority" (which merges race, colour, ethnicity, provenance, religion, language and social origin) or "social exclusion" (which combines an unpredictable set of phenomena within an unclear conceptual framework) hide more than they reveal. The advantage of applying existing international human rights law lies in its comprehensive delineation of the prohibited grounds of discrimination and the corresponding governmental obligations which, in the case of racial and gender discrimination, envisage structural alongside individual measures for the elimination of discrimination.

96. The conceptual framework for addressing differences in school performance between girls and boys could benefit from a shift of emphasis from sex to gender, and from a focus on all the human rights of girls and women, not only those in education. A gender analysis of education could facilitate the ongoing search for strategies to improve the school performance of boys, which is hampered by the previous emphasis on girls. The high percentage of female teachers in primary schools illustrates advantages that would ensue from the notion of gender balance. Post-schooling prospects for girls undermine the value of their educational performance, much as it is initially superior to that of boys. Too many slide into early pregnancy, single motherhood and the associated diminution of academic, vocational and professional opportunities. The inter-relatedness of human rights provides the comprehensive conceptual framework necessary to address such issues, which reach far beyond the sector of education.

97. The Government's overriding objectives in education are to raise standards for all learners, to tackle underachievement and to improve the performance of all learners, often expressed as the creation of a world-class education service. These objectives, admirable as they are, direct attention to output at the expense of a diminished concern over inputs (especially where they are needed to overcome the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage) and the process of education. The Special Rapporteur feels that a focus on the right to education provides a useful approach to broadening the common narrow - and erroneous - view of human rights as safeguards against governmental abuse of power to encompass governmental human rights obligations aimed at equalizing opportunities for the exercise of equal human rights. The closely related notion of rights-based education facilitates examination of the process of education from the viewpoint of rights and duties, freedoms and responsibilities of all relevant actors.

© Copyright 1996-2000

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Geneva, Switzerland

 

Notes

1.The 1944 Act stated: "it shall be the duty of the parent of every child of compulsory school age to cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude", while the 1996 Act has only slightly altered that formulation: "the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise". «-- back

2. The then Secretary for Education, Kenneth Baker, introduced the Educational Reform Bill to Parliament thus: "We must give consumers of education a central part in decision-making. That means freeing schools and colleges to deliver the standards that parents and employers want." House of Commons, 1 December 1987, col. 771-772. «-- back

3.English, Mathematics, and Science are core subjects and learners are tested against curriculum standards at ages 7, 11 and 14. The eight foundation subjects are History, Geography, Design and Technology, Information Technology, Music, Art, Physical Education and a modern foreign language. Religious Education is mandatory in primary schools, and sex education in secondary schools. Parents are entitled to withdraw their children from both. «-- back

4. The Government's Annual Report 98/99, July 1999, pp. 15-16. «-- back

5.Prime Minister's speech at the London School of Economics on 18 June 1999. «-- back

6.Department for Education and Employment, The National Learning Targets Action Plan, London, March 1999, p. 4. «-- back

7. Learning Works. Widening Participation in Further Education , report by Helena Kennedy for the Further Education Funding Council, June 1997, p. 6. «-- back

8. H.M. Treasury and Department for International Development, "Debt relief and poverty reduction: a UK submission to phase 2 of the HIPC Review", London, July 1999, para. 25. «-- back

9. Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development, Human Rights. Annual Report for 1999, July 1999, pp. 11 and 15. «-- back

10. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding observations: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, E/C.12/1/Add.19 of 12 December 1997, para. 10. «-- back

11. The reservation was made on 20 March 1952 with regard to the provision of article 2 of the first Protocol to the Convention which states that the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure that their children's education conforms to their religious and philosophical convictions, to specify that this principle is restricted by its compatibility with "the provision of efficient instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure". «-- back

12. Second Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child by the United Kingdom , The Stationery Office, London, August 1999, p. 114. «-- back

13. OECD, Human Capital Investment. An International Comparison, Paris, 1998, p. 37. «-- back

14. The 1944 Education Act posited that "local education authorities shall have regard to the general principle that, so far as is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure, pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents". This provision was repeated in the United Kingdom reservation to the right to education in the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. Thereafter, this reservation created a great deal of debate concerning its nature and scope. It was initially defined as guaranteeing parental preference, then, gradually, as affirming parental choice. The 1994 Parent Charter attempted to affirm parental choice, stating: "As a general rule, you now have a right to a place in the school you want, unless all the places at the school have been given to pupils who have a stronger claim for a place at that school." (Department for Education, Our Children's Education: The Updated Parent's Charter, London, 1994, pp. 9-10.) «-- back

15. The Code of Practice for Admissions (issued by the Department of Education and Employment in 1998) allows individual schools "a fairly wide discretion", mandating them to use criteria which are objective, clear and fair. Admissions should not breach legislative prohibitions of racial and sex discrimination, but parents are allowed to exercise their preference even where it entails discriminatory effects. The Commission for Racial Equality highlighted a case (R v. Cleveland County Council ex parte CRE) in which parental choice of school by the criteria of racial and/or ethnic composition of learners was upheld. The rationale was that a subsequent education law prevailed over an earlier prohibition of racial discrimination. Commission for Racial Equality, Reform of the Race Relations Act 1976 (Summary), 30 April 1998. «-- back

16. Parents can challenge a decision whereby their child is not admitted to the school of their preference through judicial review, which focuses on the procedure rather than the substantive criteria. The exercise of the statutory powers of the local education authorities can also be challenged through an application to the Commission for Local Administration in England. «-- back

17. Department for Education and Employment, Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs, green paper, October 1997, para. 5. «-- back

18. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.34 of 15 February 1995, para. 32). «-- back

19. Department for Education and Employment, Home-School Agreements. Guidance for Schools, London, 1998, p. 13. «-- back

20. Department for Education and Employment, Social Exclusion: Pupil Support, London, July 1999, p. 12. «-- back

21. The Social Exclusion Unit, set up by the Prime Minister in December 1997 and reporting directly to him, defines social exclusion as "a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environment, bad health, poverty and family breakdown", London, May 1999. «-- back

22. By the criterion of social class, individuals are classified into five categories. The highest is Professional (I), followed by Intermediate (II) and Skilled Non-Manual (IIN), which are followed by Skilled (IIIM) and Partly Skilled Manual (IV), the lowest being Unskilled (V). «-- back

23. The Commission for Racial Equality proposed in January 1998 that specific legislation be adopted to combat religious discrimination. This proposal seems to have been suspended until an 18-month study into religious discrimination is finalized. Annual Report of the Commission for Racial Equality. January to December 1998, p. 31. «-- back

24. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding observations: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, CERD/C/304/Add.20 of 23 April 1997, para. 4. «-- back

25. The 1991 population census introduced nine categories (White, Black Caribbean, Black African, Black Other, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Other) for which statistical data are available. Unlike the population census, the school census makes the collection of data on ethnicity, religion and language optional. The source of such information is parents rather than learners, and parents exercise their choice in cooperating or not. «-- back

26. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Initial report of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, CRC/C/11/Add.1 of 28 March 1994, paras. 92-94. «-- back

27. Department for Education and Employment, "Minority ethnic pupils in maintained schools by Local Education Authority Area in England - January 1999 (provisional)", London, 30 June 1999. Such data are derived from the annual school census and are reproduced as reported by schools. «-- back

28. Drew, D. and Gray, J, "The fifth year examination achievements of black young people in England and Wales", Educational Research, vol. 32, No. 3, p. 114. «-- back

29. Prime Minister's introduction to The Government's Annual Report 98/99, July 1999, p. 6. «-- back

30. David, M. E, The State, the Family and Education, Routledge, London, 1980. «-- back

31. Office for Standards in Education, The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools 1997-98, p. 61. «-- back

32. Bridging the Gap: New Opportunities for 16-18 Year Olds not in Education, Employment or Training, report by the Social Exclusion Unit, presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister, July 1999, pp. 71-73. «-- back

33. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Third periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, E/1994/104/Add.11 of 17 June 1996, para. 254. «-- back

34. H.M. Treasury, Persistent Poverty and Lifetime Inequality: The Evidence, London, March 1999, para 3.06, p. 29. «-- back

35. Department for Education and Employment, National Learning Targets: Action Plan, London, March 1999, p. 2. «-- back

36. The Government's Annual Report 98/99, July 1999, pp. 9 and 20. «-- back

37. Truancy and School Exclusion, report by the Social Exclusion Unit, May 1998, para. 2.1; "Permanent exclusions from schools in England 1997/98 and exclusion appeals lodged by parents in England 1997/1998", Department for Education and Employment, SFR11/1999, 16 June 1999. «-- back

38. "Permanent exclusions from schools in England 1997/98 and exclusion appeals lodged by parents in England 1997/98, DfEE Statistical First Release", 16 June 1999. «-- back

39. Truancy and School Exclusion, report by the Social Exclusion Unit, May 1998, para. 2.23. «-- back

40.Committee on the Rights of the Child, Initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (CRC/C/11/Add.1 of 28 March 1994, paras. 67-73). «-- back

41. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, Annual Report and Accounts 1999, p. 22. «-- back

42. Ibid., p. 32. «-- back

43. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Annual Report 1997/98, pp. 30 and 32. «-- back

44. Report on an unannounced short inspection of H.M. young offender institution Werrington, 2-4 June 1998, by H.M. Chief Inspector of Prisons, para. 3.41. «-- back

45. Office for Standards in Education, "Raising the attainment of minority ethnic pupils. School and LEA responses", paras. 8 and 36-38. «-- back

46. The proposed new curriculum refers to "citizenship education, including the study of the nature of democracy and its institutions and the rights and responsibilities of all members of society" which highlights the difference between citizens and other members of society. Department for Education and Employment; The review of the national curriculum in England. The consultation materials, May-July 1999, p. 4. «-- back

47. Second Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child by the United Kingdom, The Stationery Office, London, August 1999, p. 146. «-- back

48. Department for Education and Employment, Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs, Green Paper, October 1997, para. 4. «-- back

49. The Government has openly acknowledged that parents seek statutory statements because this may be "the only route to funding to meet children's needs". Department for Education and Employment Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs, Green Paper, October 1997, appendix 2, para. 1. «-- back

50. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, third periodic report of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (E/1994/104/Add.11 of 17 June 1996, para. 231). «-- back

51. The Dearing Report, recommendations 78 and 79. «-- back

52. Gillborn, D. and Gipps, C., Recent Research on the Achievements of Ethnic Minority Pupils, OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), London, 1996, p. 6. «-- back

53. Department for Education and Employment, Higher Education for the 21st Century. Response to the Dearing Report, London, 1998, p. 3. «-- back

54. Department for Education and Employment, National Adult Learning Survey 1997: Summary, London, 1998, p. 11. «-- back

55. Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, Statistical Bulletin on Widening Participation, No. 1, 1999, p. 6. «-- back

56. Department for Education and Employment, Further Education for the New Millennium. Response to the Kennedy Report, London, 1998, p. 12. «-- back

57. Gillborn, D. and Gipps, C., Recent Research on the Achievements of Ethnic Minority Pupils, OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), London, 1996, pp. 14 and 26. «-- back

58. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - Fourteenth periodic report of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, CERD/C/299/Add.9 of 2 December 1996, para. 42. «-- back

59. Teenage Pregnancy Report, presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister by command of Her Majesty, Cm 4342, June 1999, p. 4. «-- back

60. M. Arnot and Others, Recent Research on Gender and Education Performance. OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), 1988, p. 68. «-- back

61. The Teenage Pregnancy Report utilized the word "gender" only once, when describing the part of the national curriculum for science for 14-16-year-old learners which teaches them how sex is determinant in human sexual reproduction, as opposed to asexual reproduction which produces clones. «-- back

62. "Many of those involved in SRE are concerned that those who innovated would become the subject of unwelcome media attention. Several school heads said that although they were proud of the quality of their school's SRE, they did not want, for this reason and because of the possible reaction from parents, to become known as 'good schools' for sex education." Teenage Pregnancy, Cm 4342, June 1999, p. 40.. «-- back

63. The Chief Inspector of Schools has pointed out weak literacy skills among boys in both primary and secondary school. Office for Standards in Education, The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools 1997-98, pp. 23, 33 and 37. «-- back

64. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, third periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, CEDAW/C/UK/3 of 31 July 1995, p. 49 and 55. «-- back

65. All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education, NACCCE report, May 1999, para. iii. «-- back

66. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools. Final Report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship, London, 22 September 1998, p. 44. «-- back

67. Annual Report of the Commission for Racial Equality, January to December 1998, p. 3. «-- back

68. Office for Standards in Education, The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools 1997-98, p. 30. «-- back

[ «---Go to Previous Page ]     [ Go to Page Top ]     [ Go to Document Top ]