by Emma Teitelbaum THOUSANDS of teachers' jobs are threatened by a government proposal to cut Section 11 funding to local authorities by about 25%. This will particularly hit schools in poorer multi-ethnic communities.
The bulk of Section 11 funding is provided to local authorities by the Home Office, in order to make special provision for ethnic minorities; 90% is spent on the education of bilingual pupils, particularly the teaching of English as a second language.
Section 11 teaching provides these pupils with the essential access to the National Curriculum. There are currently some 10,000 teachers in England and Wales whose jobs are funded under Section 11.
Officially, only children whose families are from the Commonwealth are funded under section 11. Thus, this money can provide English teaching for Turkish speakers from Cyprus, but not those from Turkey. Nor are refugee children covered by Section 11 provision.
In fact, most schools have been sharing these meagre resources with other, less 'lucky' communities whose country was not part of the British Empire. This practice has resulted from grassroots struggle to include all the children who need the service. The NUT recently took up this struggle.
In November 1992, the Home Office announced its intention to cut and cash limit this funding. The Home Office anticipated the cuts in the Section programme to be 18% in 1994/5 and 25% in 1995/6. In many areas, however, the cuts will be more severe, with many areas expecting cuts of 25% for 1994/5. Many teachers face compulsory redundancy; in Tower Hamlets, 150 Section 11 teachers are under threat and the local NUT is balloting for a proposed half-day strike on 15 May.
The attack on Section 11 funding is a racist policy, but although the first victims of these cuts will be the minority communities, this attack will affect the whole community. In the first place, the status of those children who need this programme as second-class pupils will be reinforced, and their education will suffer. But, all teachers and all pupils are to suffer from this further cut in those essential resources. Resources in multi-ethnic schools will have to stretch even further. This of course, will influence the Tories league tables and tests results.
This is another struggle which we can win. We need to learn from the successful campaign held by teachers and paragainst the Tories' els. National Tests.
The campaign, and espe cially the parental support, pushed NUT to support a continuing boycott of the SATS and led to John Patten's humiliating climb-down.
What can we do? Local campaigns, involving parents and other residents, should be established to insist on adequate funding for their schools.
The NUT and local campaigns should support the national conference on Section 11 funding on 12 March in Birmingham.
Only such a mass campaign can force the government to return these essential resources to the schools.