American Educational Research Association
April 15m 8:15-9:45
Uvanney Maylor
University of Bedfordshire
“Supplementary Schools Making a Difference to the Attainment of Black Children”
This paper reports on an English government commissioned study in 2009-10 which sought to understand the reach/provision of supplementary schools, and identify the unique contributions that they make to the mainstream school learning/attainment of nationally low attaining African-Caribbean, Somali, Turkish and Parkistani heritage children aged 5-18 (DfE 11). The study was intended to build on government perceptions that:
supplementary schools can help to access and unlock the hidden potential of students whose individual intellectual potential has been reduced by a culturally uniform approach to learning? Supplementary schools can engage pupils effectively and help to translate elements of the mainstream curriculum into a culturally embedded context. (Ryan, MP 2008: Hansard columns 1066-7)
Running through this study was also a government/educational policy maker desire to understand the active involvement of minority ethnic parents in supporting their children?s education. In furthering such understanding, this paper is specifically concerned with the experiences of Black (African and Caribbean) children, and examines the difference Black supplementary schools make to Black children?s learning and educational outcomes.
