Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill NUT Briefing

Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill NUT Briefing
May 2002

· The NUT's concerns are shared by a broad range of organisations, such as, Save the Children, the Refugee Council and the Transport and General Workers' Union.

· The Home Secretary proposes, under the Bill, to trial accommodation centres which will contain education provision.

· In the debates during the second reading of the Bill the Home Secretary has repeated several times that the accommodation centres will be established on a trial basis.

· The Bill itself does not refer to their establishment on a trial basis.

· In the debate the Home Secretary has stated that 'children in accommodation centres would receive an education that is not only equivalent to the education that they might receive in schools, but rather better, because they will have specialist teachers who understand the needs of refugee and asylum-seeking children'.

· The DfES/DTLR Education Funding Strategy Group has proposed a fund to be maintained centrally to which LEAs can apply if their schools receive a large and unpredicted number of children of asylum seekers. This is a far better way forward than the centres proposed by the Home Office.

· The Home Secretary has argued that the provision of resources for language skills and education would be temporary until asylum seekers are either granted or refused asylum. He has pointed to the 'difficulty sometimes with families whose removal has been attempted is that their youngsters have become part of the school'.

· This point demonstrates the need for the expediting of applications for asylum rather than the segregation of children from mainstream education.

· Local education authorities are bound, under section 13 Education Act 1996, to 'contribute towards the spiritual, moral, mental and physical development of the community by securing that efficient primary education, secondary education and further education are available to meet the needs of the population of their area'.

· However, the Government is proposing as part of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill to exclude and segregate asylum seekers and their dependants from the community. Indeed, the Bill states that asylum seekers and their children who are resident in accommodation centres 'shall not be treated as part of the population' (clause 30(1)).

· The NUT believes that segregating asylum-seeking children from children in mainstream schools contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Asylum seeking children are children first and asylum seekers second. Their educational rights should be vigorously protected irrespective of immigration status. Education within the confines of an accommodation centre cannot equal the range of provision within a school or education authority.

· The Government's proposals seriously undermine asylum-seeking children's right to a decent education by segregating them from other children in mainstream schools. Children in mainstream schools are the key to the rapid rehabilitation of asylum seeking children - many of whom will be traumatised by their experience of fleeing persecution or torture.

· The clauses in the Bill on education will also pose very difficult situations for both asylum-seeking children and for teachers who end up teaching in accommodation centres.

· Some questions which arise include:

o If an asylum seeking child has a severe disability or learning difficulty, how will the assessment of need take place? How will adequate provision be made? Would accommodation centres be 'accessible' within the meaning of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act?

o It is conceivable that at any one time there are within an accommodation centre children who range from under 5's, primary, secondary to post-16. There is no single school in the UK which could replicate the range of provision available in an LEA, let alone for it to be credible that it would be possible to provide such range in an accommodation centre.

o The Home Secretary's proposals are a denial of every tenet of education and equality legislation. Children in Pupil Referral Units and in Education Otherwise are there due to objective circumstances which have forced them out from mainstream provision. In providing for the education of asylum seeking children in accommodation centres, the Home Secretary is already making the assumption that such children should be denied the right to mainstream education.

o Clause 31 makes provision for a LEA to provide education for a child resident in an accommodation centre in certain circumstances, particularly if a teacher at the centre recommends in writing to the LEA that a child should be admitted to a local school. This places such teachers under unreasonable pressures, where LEAs may bear undue weights on teachers due to shortage of resources to meet the needs of asylum seeking children in mainstream schools.

· In response to concerns raised by the NUT about the education of children from asylum seeking families in emergency accommodation, the Home Secretary stated that:

"The children of asylum seekers are given the same opportunities as other children to benefit from what schools can offer them. This is reflected in the fundamental legal duty of Local Education Authorities to ensure that education is available for all children of compulsory school age in their area appropriate to age, abilities and aptitudes and any special educational needs they may have. This duty applies irrespective of a child's immigration status or rights of residence in a particular location, and thus includes children of displaced persons, asylum seekers and refugees." (Letter to General Secretary, Doug McAvoy, 31 January 2002)

· It is this fundamental duty of LEAs that the Bill proposes to remove. The question which needs to be asked is what has changed between the 31 January and the publication of the Bill which has caused the Home Secretary to make this u-turn?

· Educational provision lies within the remit of the DfES and not the Home Office. The Home Office's interference with the duties of the DfES will undermine the capacity of the DfES to provide for adequate resources to meet the needs of asylum seeking children. The NUT has been successfully arguing for the DfES to hold a central fund which LEAs can draw on as needs arise.

· The NUT has argued consistently that asylum and immigration laws must be fair and non-discriminatory. The Government has never explored what the fair criteria should be on which the UK's laws should be based. Instead it has continued to tinker with insignificant issues such as economic migrants and illegal immigrants.

Quotes from NUT Publication : Relearning to Learn: Advice for Teachers New to Teaching Refugee Children ( March 2002)

· 'Refugee children, especially those who speak little or no English, will need teachers to interpret the curriculum to make it as ;accessible as possible. Providing a separate curriculum would only accentuate the 'difference' of refugee children and prevent them from benefiting from working with other pupils. Teachers will recognise that the relearning process - and especially the acquisition of English - will be most rapid if new pupils engage and work with other children in the class. Experience and research with other pupils for whom English is an additional language bears this out.'

· 'The host children are central to the solution…refugee children are not a 'problem' but they do require a special response from teachers and other pupils if they are to thrive and continue their learning as quickly as possible.'

· 'It is readily recognised that from teachers they need additional care and attention as well as extra support. But their peers can contribute hugely. What better opportunity could there be for the host children to demonstrate their knowledge and skills as well as their understanding of the cultural norms and expectations of the local community and the wider society?'

· 'The arrival of new children provides opportunities for children of all ages to learn about empathy, sharing and caring, respect and kindness. Teaching against racism and stereotyping can help to develop positive attitudes.'

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