Hertfordshire Minority Ethnic Communities Education Forum

Introduction

It is the policy of the Children Schools and Families (CSF) Service to promote and ensure the active participation of service users in:

• aspects of work that impact on the daily life of service users
• the planning, monitoring, development and review of services

Hertfordshire Minority Ethnic Communities Education Forum (HMECEF) has been established with the view of ensuring that minority ethnic communities and users are actively involved in the above activities.

The County Forum

After a lengthy consultation with the diverse minority ethnic communities the Hertfordshire Minority Ethnic Forum was launched on 16th July 2003. At its inaugural meeting, the Director of CSF welcomed the idea of such a forum as it would help the CSF Service in delivering on its core value of “community participation” and that it will also help to improve services and outcomes. Membership of the HMECEF consists of up to six representatives from minority ethnic communities drawn from each of the four Quadrants as well as from Traveller communities.

The HMECEF offers an opportunity for representatives to have direct, regular and formal contact with the Director of the CSF. It is possible therefore, for minority ethnic and Traveller communities to influence policy making and to challenge and debate the way the CSF service make provision for minority ethnic communities. The Minority Ethnic Curriculum Support Service (MECSS) has direct operational links with the Forum and provides administrative support to it.

The following are the key objectives that the HMECEF has set for itself;

• to provide a channel for improved communication between CSF and the communities it serves.
• to enable communities to feedback on the effectiveness of provision for their children and to hold the CSF to account,
• to help improve CSF’s consultation arrangements
• to enable communities to influence policy making through representation,
• to raise awareness within CSF of issues of concern to minority ethnic including Traveller communities,
• to create a context in which CSF procedures and structures can be better understood by minority ethnic communities.

Local Area Forums

Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere Community Forum

Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere Community Forum was established in 1999. The key objectives of the forum are:

• Support for minority ethnic parents, pupils and governors
• Local education and school issues
• Monitoring the use of Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA) funding
• Consultation and discussion of local and national education initiatives
• Monitoring implementation of the County Education Development Plan

Some of the issues successfully dealt with by the Forum since it’s inception include:

• Establishing a County Education Forum (involving the community in policy formulation)
• Issues arising from the County Education Development Plan
• Training for the ‘core group’
• Funding to support the work of the Education Forum (e.g. administrative support, resources for empowering parents)
• Identifying and supporting potential and current governors
• Supporting and providing information for parents
• Responding to requests for consultation by the LEA
• Engage in/working with schools
• Encouraging similar groups in other areas of Hertfordshire

Plans are in place to establish local area education forums in other areas of the County, along similar lines to the one in Watford. Once established it is expected that they will contribute to the debate, policy formulation and consultation process of CSF at a strategic level.