NATIONAL FRONT CONSULTED IN GOVERNMENT REVIEW

Rt. Hon Ed Balls MP Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has Called for a review of “the provisions to prevent the promotion of racism in schools” 

Maurice Smith retired from his Crown appointment as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools (HMCI) in October 2006 has accepted the invitation to undertake this review without hesitation.

Mr. Smith has said “that it is vital that all our schools recognise the multi-racial communities that many of them serve. Schools must have an equal opportunities policy and now have a new legal duty to promote community cohesion.”

Terms of reference of the review

Teachers are highly regarded for their professionalism and integrity: their role puts them in a position of great trust and responsibility. That trust must be maintained and there are a number of measures in place to do this. There are also safeguards in place to protect children and young people from racially motivated discrimination and the promotion of political doctrines that advocate discrimination and promote racist views.

This review should consider:

·         Whether the existing measures in place in maintained schools and academies in England are sufficient to maintain trust in the profession and protect children and young people, taking into account:

o    the requirement on schools to have equal opportunity policies

o    their duty to promote racial equality

o    their duty to promote community cohesion

o    the duty on governing bodies, head teachers and local authorities to forbid the teaching of partisan political activities in schools

o    The powers of the General Teaching Council (England) where teacher conduct could bring the profession into disrepute.

·         If there is a case for further measures
a) to maintain trust in the teaching profession and enhance the standing of teachers and
b) to protect children and young people from discrimination and the promotion of political doctrines that advocate racism. In particular, whether membership of an organisation that promotes racism is compatible with the duties and behaviours expected of teachers and their professional standing and whether affiliation to a group that promotes racist views provides grounds for barring from the profession.

·         Whether the current safeguards or any further measures that may be deemed necessary should extend more widely across the school workforce.

In conducting this review it will be essential to:

·         Gather the views of stakeholders including parents, teachers, head teachers and other members of the school workforce and their representative bodies

·         Look at how the promotion of racist views is tackled elsewhere in public services and consider what lessons might be learned from these arrangements

·         Consider the legal implications of any additional measures that may be required to protect children and young people.

You should report your conclusions to the Secretary of State in January 2010. 

I was contacted by an official within the DCSF responsible for the Maurice Smith Review and asked to take part in an interview with him and Mr. Smith regarding the National Front’s response to the afore mentioned review.

The Meeting took place this morning at 08.30 at a local hotel and was on the record.

Before the interview started I thanked Mr. Smith for the giving the National Front the opportunity to promote its policies and for including the NF in his review.

Remember, this is serious stuff, Ed Balls is seriously looking into banning National Front Members as well as members of other nationalist parties from being teachers. Orwellian or what, 1984 is here.

The interview was mainly about the National Front and its policies towards the education of our children.

I pointed out that the National Front was not a racist party and that to want to promote and safeguard our own people and their culture and heritage was not racist.

I felt it was also important to point out that a Teacher who was a member of the National Front would be as “professional” as any other.

I gave a comparison of the amount of Muslims working in the NHS and that there was never any suggestion from the government that Muslim doctors and nurses would treat sheiks and Christians any differently so why would NF members I asked.

I also mentioned that due to the level of ethnic children in some schools out numbering the White children that the White children’s education was being hampered and that they were being held back because of the slow pace of the ethnic children.

When asked about the school curriculum relating to history and heritage I replied that we should not need to teach ethnic children about their own culture as that was up to their parents and families.

We should be teaching British history, culture and traditions, in other words we should have a traditional British curriculum built around the 3 R’s

I suggested that retired teachers with their vast experience and non-trendy teaching methods culture should be brought back into schools to guide and nurture our children with the old teaching methods that we know actually work.

There were of course other questions relating to my answers perhaps too many to mention here, I have however been promised a copy of the report in Jan2010.

The interview lasted some 50 minutes and was very relaxed it was almost like having a conversation; it was certainly not intimidating in the slightest.

The review details can be found here http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/mauricesmithreview/index.shtml

Tom Linden (National Press Officer National Front)