£1.2m report says mixed schools 'are best'

WHITE and Asian pupils in mixed schools in Oldham integrate more readily and have better tolerance and understanding of each other than those who attend largely segregated schools.

This is despite a lack of support for mixing with each other from their family and friends, according to a £1.2m government report.

The research, carried out by academics from the Oxford Centre for the Study of Intergroup Conflict, looked at diversity and social cohesion in the borough's secondary schools.

Commissioned by the Department for Education (Dfe) as part of a wider report into integration in Britain, it was funded by The Leverhulme Trust which provides grants and scholarships for research and education, and the DfE.

According to the report, Oldham has five secondary schools which are classed as racially segregated: Oldham Academy North, which has predominantly Asian pupils; and Blue Coat, Crompton House, Failsworth and Saddleworth, which are mainly white.

Trust

The research found that both Asian-British and white-British pupils in mixed schools had greater trust and tolerance of each other.

They made more friends outside their own ethnic group, and the report states: "Mixed schools do result in more social mixing between ethnic groups over time."

In the case of Waterhead, created from the merger of the segregated Counthill and Breeze Hill schools, the increase in positive attitudes was higher than elsewhere. It was cited as the flagship of how to create a new and truly mixed high school.

Contact between different ethnic groups took place most often in lessons, while pupils tended to be more segregated at lunch-time, and the report suggests that more should be done to encourage pupils to mix outside the classroom.

A government spokesman said: "We will consider the findings of this report and how we can use them to better support schools."