AMENDED March 02

The Community Education Alternative To Elitism And Racism In Further Education

A Series Of Seminars To Examine A Democratic Alternative To The Present System Of Further Education

Sponsored By Devonshire International Associates Ltd (DIAL)

Purpose

The purpose of these seminars is to demonstrate:

that community-based provision is the only means of creating equal opportunities for all - through developing curriculum suitable for the majority of working-class and ethnic minority people
that the existing system of post-16 education results in institutional rejection, especially rejection by institutional racism
that, despite government rhetoric on widening participation, bureaucrats are permitted (even encouraged) to destroy open-access, community education

Seminars To Date

The paper that introduced the First Seminar (8^th December) - THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION ALTERNATIVE - is now available (Ł5 towards costs) from DIAL 28 Devonshire Rd, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham B20 2PQ

The Second Seminar (8^th February) will be available in April in two parts:

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN EDUCATION - Professor Eric Robinson
COMBATING INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN WOLVERHAMPTON - Dr George Barnsby

The Third Seminar THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND TO, AND REASONS FOR THE CLOSURE OF BILSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE will take place at the Bilston Community Centre 18:30 Monday 25^th March 2002.

This Seminar will be led by John Kyte, founding Chair of Governors of Bilston Community College 1983/1988 and Chair of the Education Committee of Wolverhampton MBC 1984/1987.

It has now been agreed (with the kind permission of Mr Patel) that all the remaining Seminars will be held in Bilston Community Centre.

The Six Seminars And Their Context

These seminars, obviously open to all, will take place in the community during the period December 2001 to July 2002. The dates, amended following consultation, are:

SATURDAY	8^th DECEMBER	10.30 - 12.30	Birmingham
MONDAY	11^th FEBRUARY	18.30 - 20.30	Bilston Community Centre
			Prouds Lane, Bilston
MONDAY	25^th MARCH	18.30 - 20.30	Bilston Community Centre
			Prouds Lane, Bilston
FRIDAY	19^th APRIL	18.30 - 20.30	Bilston Community Centre
			Prouds Lane, Bilston
SATURDAY	18^th MAY	18.30 - 20.30	Bilston Community Centre
			Prouds Lane, Bilston
MONDAY	15^th JULY	18.30 - 20.30	Bilston Community Centre
			Prouds Lane, Bilston

The contributors are, mainly, members of the Friends of Bilston Community College (FBCC).
Those who can afford it are invited to make a donation to contribute towards the costs of organising the seminars (cheques payable to DIAL).

The context of the seminars may be summarised as one where:

Millions of people need further education, there is a serious skills shortage and enrolment is massively below the government's target.
Bilston Community College (the most successful in the country in providing open access, equal opportunities further education) was closed in 1999 by opponents of its anti-racist, equal opportunities, community education policies and strategies. The closure was a consequence of institutional racism.
The Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) was wound up in March 2001, at a time when it was becoming apparent that one of the consequences of its anti-equal opportunities policies was that the government was failing to meet its own (extremely modest) student recruitment targets.
Because the FEFC failed to produce a relevant strategy for widening participation, the Prime Minister's Office has created a Workforce Development Strategy to instruct the Learning and Skills Council (the body which has replaced the FEFC)
A report produced by the Commission for Black Staff in Further Education (October 2001) has demonstrated an astonishingly high level of institutional racism in the further education sector.

Areas Covered By The Seminars

In broad terms, the areas dealt with will be as indicated below:

Community Education: an alternative to the existing academic (elitist) and vocational curriculum which denies further education to working-class and ethnic minority people
Institutional racism in
1. the education system
2. the further education sector
3. the closure of Bilston Community College
The establishment's vicious opposition to democracy, and its improper and illegal operation in
1. misrepresenting the position of the supporters of community education
2. silencing, intimidating and sacking governors and managers who oppose elitism and racism and who sought to promote equal opportunities in further education
Presentation of the facts on the need and demand for further education and qualifications amongst working-class people, especially ethnic minorities who have been denied a reasonable and suitable education during their school years
The exclusion of millions of people as a consequence of the government's commitment to elitism and meritocracy and its contempt for democracy and working-class people. Despite the enormous needs for basic skills (government research demonstrates that over 7 million adults have inadequate literacy) the government is failing to meet its (modest) target for the expansion of further education
A plan for action to establish a unified system at 16+ based on the principles of equal opportunities, democracy and community education. This will include
1. access through community education
2. a guarantee of equal opportunities
3. steps to promote and safeguard democracy

Seminar Series II
(Starting Autumn 2002)

The first series focuses on the significance of the destruction and closure of Bilston Community College as a consequence of the elitism, racism and anti-democratic policies of those responsible for managing the further education sector.

The second series will draw on the experiences of other colleges to demonstrate the necessity for an anti-racist, equal opportunities approach to the provision of further education

The First Seminar Paper - FURTHER EDUCATION: THE COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVE - by Keith Wymer is now available. The Second Seminar papers will be available in April from Devonshire International Associates Ltd (DIAL), 28 Devonshire Rd, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham B20 2PQ at the price of Ł5 to cover costs.