Stockport Governor Association

What is meant by "community cohesion"?

Since September 1 2007 the governing body of maintained schools has had the duty to "promote community cohesion". A year later (September 1 2008) Ofsted assumed the duty to report on the "contribution made by schools to community cohesion" in its inspection framework. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) published its Guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion in July 2007 and, more recently (September 2009), Ofsted has produced guidance for its inspectors on the same topic (Inspecting maintained schools' duty to promote community cohesion). Yet there remains some confusion, and not a little anxiety, on the part of schools as to what actually this all entails, despite the fact that the majority of schools are doing a great deal of what is expected already.

The DCSF guidance (www.publications.teachernet.gov.uk) defines community cohesion in the context of schools as
working towards a society in which there is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities; a society in which the diversity of people's backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued; a society in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community.

The Ofsted guidance (www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted_home/Forms_and_guidance) usefully distinguishes four dimensions to the term "community" which schools will find helpful in evaluating their own effectiveness in this respect: the school community, the local community, the national community and the global community. Whilst schools will need to be tackling all four dimensions to a greater or lesser degree, it is the first two, however, which are the most central to the questions Ofsted is likely to pose during an inspection:

• what do you understand about the context of your school in respect of community cohesion?
• how has the school's understanding of its context informed a planned set of actions to promote community cohesion?
• what impact are you having?

so it is on these two dimensions that the rest of this article concentrates.

The school community 

 Responding effectively to the needs of the school community is essentially about ensuring that the school understands and caters for the various religious, ethnic and socio-economic characteristics of its pupils. With a detailed knowledge of its pupils the school needs to devise a set of appropriate activities and actions to support and celebrate what they represent, to ensure that the curriculum reflects and enhances pupils' experiences whilst also extending and challenging them. For community cohesion comes about when people respect and value differences whilst also accepting confidently who they are themselves. For schools where the pupil population is not very diverse ie. predominantly of one socioeconomic, ethnic, religious or faith background, more may well need to be done to provide opportunities for interaction between children and young people of different backgrounds. 

The school itself also has much that it can do within its four walls. Through the ethos it promotes internally (mutual respect, listening, caring for each other, individuals taking responsibility for their actions, conflict resolution) and the democratic processes it encourages (pupil feedback, class representatives, school councils, mentoring systems) it can ensure that the school community is a model in microcosmof a cohesive society and give its pupils a taste of how in the wider world things should ideally be conducted.

The local community

 The school is part of a geographical community and the ways in which the school links with this local world are also important contributors to its effectiveness in promoting community cohesion. There are essentially two aspects to linking with the immediate world beyond school – bringing the outside world into the school and encouraging pupils to learn about and reach out to their local community.

In the first case this could mean opening up the school to local people eg. through classes for parents and others; establishing a cyber café; giving the community access to the school library; inviting outside groups and representatives of local businesses to visit the school and, where relevant, make an input about what they do as part of the school curriculum or participate in a mentoring project for older pupils; developing social use of school premises by community groups outside school hours including at weekends. In short this is about the the immediate world beyond school – bringing the outside world into the school and encouraging pupils to learn about and reach out to their local community. In the first case this could mean opening up the school to local people eg. through classes school becoming a focal and vibrant part of its community. In the second of these two aspects school pupils actively explore their local community, perhaps visiting elderly people to carry out a reminiscence project; learning about the community's history and development; participating as a school in external community events such as the local carnival; visiting museums, art galleries, universities and colleges; sporting events.

There are also some interesting case studies about how schools develop community cohesion at www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion but you will undoubtedly have examples of your own. How about posting them on the GOVAS website so that your good practice can be shared?