Please be aware that the Passage roadshow is currently unavailable. If you would like any further information please contact the Baca Project directly via their online contact form.

‘Community Cohesion’ has been widely used as a term ever since the publication of Professor Ted Cantle’s report into the unrest in northern English cities during 2001. He found a number of key problems, namely;

- a lack of clear leadership and education from some public organisations;
- people living and working within communities that did not mix with each other; and
- people living in ignorance and fear, believing rumours and myths about other community groups.

At Baca, we passionately believe that these issues (Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team, aka The Cantle Report, 2001) need to be targeted at a grass roots level in our education system, and now it seems that many others agree.

Alan Johnson, former Secretary of State for Education and Skills summarised community cohesion as our combined “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 similar life opportunities are available to all; and a society in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community” (Guidance on Community Cohesion, LGA, 2006).

Throughout the last decade, it has been widely acknowledged that “schools have a duty to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different groups” (Race Relations Amendment Act, 2000). For the last couple of years this has taken a much more rigid structure, with Ofsted inspectors seeking to ensure not only that schools are promoting community cohesion, but that there is a demonstrable consequential impact.

Revised Ofsted guidance (2009) stipulates that a school must;
- have developed an understanding of its own community in a local and national context, including an awareness of each of the three strands of faith, ethnicity and culture, and the socio-economic dimension;
- have planned and taken an appropriate set of actions, based upon analysis of its context, to promote community cohesion within the school and beyond the school community; and
- evaluate the impact of its actions on the school community and the community beyond the school itself, and demonstrate to inspectors that this impact extends across actions covering each of the faith, ethnicity and culture, and socio-economic dimensions.

This is derived from The Education and Inspections Act, 2006 which inserted new information (section 21[5]), introducing a duty on the governing bodies of maintained schools to promote community cohesion.

The Passage roadshow is relevant to each of these criteria, given our initial morning session looks at students’ identity, similarities and differences, before placing these into a local and global content as the day progresses.

We feel our roadshow offers credible responses to Ofsted’s three key questions in this area (Education and Inspections Act, revised 2009);
- What do you know about the context of your school in respect of community cohesion?
- Have you planned and taken an appropriate set of actions to promote community cohesion?
- What impact are you having?
Student and staff feedback following Passage days has demonstrated a significant impact, as desired by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

The most recent Ofsted Framework for School Inspection (September 2010) can be found here.

In 2010, The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency published “Community Cohesion in Action”, a handy planning guide for schools, which we'd suggest having a look at.

The following list of further literature and publications include both legislation and guidance which may prove useful when considering the need to promote community cohesion in school:
- Equality Act, 2006
- Race Relations (Amendment) Act, 2000
- Education and Inspections Act, revised 2009
- Guidance on Community Cohesion, LGA, 2006
- Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team, The Cantle Report, 2001
- Community Cohesion Education Standards for Schools, 2004
- Community Cohesion – an action guide, LGA guidance for local authorities, 2004
- Community Cohesion: Seven Steps – A Practitioners Toolkit, Home Office and ODPM, 2005
- Commission in Integration and Cohesion, Interim Statement, 2007
- Community Conflict: A Resource Pack, Home Office and ODPM sponsored guidance, 2006
- Building a Picture of Community Cohesion, 2003
- Strong and Prosperous Communities – the Local Government White Paper, 2006