We have set up the Educators Forum to be able to provide voluntary information and assistance on education to the Turkish, Kurdish  and Cypriot Turkish communities who live in the UK. We believe that our children do not perform very well academically. This has significant social and economical consequences in some boroughs in London where Turkish and Kurdish are two of the most spoken languages. The low level of achievement of the Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot Turkish youth is widely known, however, the fact that not much progress has been made is a cause for concern.

The underlying causes of underachievement in deprived communities need to be investigated by all parties involved. The first step is to address the academic acheivement problem from the ground up. We believe that there are alternative ways forward, such as enhancing the relations between institutions, families, students and teachers, in order to increase cooperation and make it possible for them to benefit from each other’s resources and experiences.

Our Work

www.edforum.org.uk

Our website, in both Turkish and English, is a platform for networking and knowledge sharing on education where you can get information, advice, news. Test papers from the UK Education System to all Key Stages, GCSE, A-Level, ESOL and useful links are available as well as articles on the arts and culture. In future we aim to provide materials in Kurdish too.

Turkish GCSE Supplementary Book

The supplementary book prepared by the Educators Forum for Turkish GCSE students is now available.

Turkish GCSE, unfortunately, does not command the respect it deserves because there is not enough research and resources in this field. Educators Forum decided that the best way of combatting the prejudice in society and institutions and dealing with the subject is through publishing a series of books. After their “Turkish GCSE Supplementary Book” is distributed to schools and educational institutes, Educators Forum will continue to carry out work related to these issues. 

A group of volunteers led by Mehmet Tas prepared the book with relentless attention to detail, bearing in mind throughout the process the needs of the communities in question. The book is expected to attract widespread interest. 

Routes into Teaching

This is an eighteen week course for individuals from the said communities who wish to work as a teacher in the UK.  It is vital to introduce more teachers from these communities into the job market for the benefit of children, parents and schools in the UK. The course is carried out by a qualified & experienced professional with the support of experienced teachers from our communities. guest speakers from local education authorities who will help the participants to get in touch with education professionals. Funded by a Fast Forward grant.

After school English and Maths Support

For Year 1 and 2 pupils at Grazebrook Primary School

The Bookworm Project

This is an activity to interest, encourage and stimulate students to enjoy reading and publish stories with full colour illustrations, to be held at Princess May School. The Bookworm is a giant, ill-tempered worm who devours stories. It must have a new story every week. However, these stories cannot be run-of-the-mill stories. They must be the best, most ingenious stories ever told. The children visiting the after school club must write them. The stories are printed and taken home to be read to/by the parent / guardian who then has to deliver them to the fearsome Bookworm. Funded by Words Unite.

Info Pack

We are in the process of preparing for a series of activities involving secondary school children.  Workshops will be held with young people from our communities to come up with the best possible solution for the lack of information about school life. The ideas will be compiled into an Info Pack and with the help of professional designers, printed in an attractive format. Funded by Awards for All

Most of our members are experienced educators and involved in volunteer community centres in London to give support and advice on the needs, rights and responsibilities of our Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot Turkish communities. 

As the Educators Forum we are aiming to provide:

• Strong leadership

• High expectations / Positive role models / Mentoring

• More effective teaching and learning

• Ethos of respect

• Parental and community involvement

We will offer high quality educational resources through various channels such as our website, and produce and publish learning materials. In addition we plan to organize cultural events in order to educate, resurch, entertain and also to improve relations between communities.

For further information contact: Atakan Mercan, Coordinator

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Tel: 078 3814 5486

Supporters

Many English, Kurdish and Turkish speaking educators, MPs, community workers, politicians, unionists, London’s Turkish newspapers, parents and students have already sent messages of support.

The UK is a melting pot of nationalities, faith and languages.  London is among the most multilingual cities in the world, with over 300 languages spoken, and Turkish is within the top ten most commonly spoken language in the capital. Turkish speakers are diveded almost evenly between both Cyprus and Turkey.

English and my mother tounge, together they make me truly me.

Every child should be given the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Our society is changing, and our need for good communication across cultures has never been greater. The UK has a major linguistic asset in its multicultural population which, if developed wisely and inclusively alongside English and other languages, has the potential to benefit society as a whole as well as improving the life chances of individual children.

Rather than thinking in terms of an ‘English-only’ culture, we should be promoting ‘English plus’

Sir Trevor McDonald, Patron of CILT, the National Centre for Languages

There is no evidence to support the view that speaking languages other than English in the home is socially divisive or that it is incompatible with a British identity. Rather, the evidence wouldsuggest that bilingualism promotes a respect for diversity and an ability to navigate different cultural realities.

Dr Jim Anderson, Goldsmiths College, London

Successful schools reach out to their communities. They often make premises available for community use, which builds bridges and can develop dialogue.

DfES, Aiming high: Raising the achievement of minority ethnic pupils

The fact is, more and more businesses are looking for employees with language skills,and these career opportunities have to be highlighted for young people.

M.Templeman, Director General, Institute of Directors

We should not be in the business of making children forget what they know.

J.L. Bianco, Professor of Language and Literacy Education, University of Melbourne

A Letter to the Editor

The Educators Forum touches on some very important issues.

Having worked as a Counsellor at the Turkish Youth Association in Haringey for 6 years (in the 1990s) and having been involved in the Turkish Education Group during the 1980s, I agree that the reasons why many of our young people do not achieve their full potential is complex and varied. These include lack of understanding and connection with the UK Education system by some families, lack of cultural understanding within the UK Education system of our communities, lack of support and funding for supplementary education such as Saturday Schools or Homework Clubs. It is also to do with low self-esteem within the young people and the communities as a whole.

In my work as a Counsellor, I have found that Turkish/Kurdish-speaking young people share the issue of low self-esteem with many other “minority” communities and this leads to a feeling of not being good enough. This then leads to lack of motivation, lack of belief in themselves and their potential and, sometimes, “rebellion”.

I hope the Educators Forum succeeds in continuing to raise the issue of many of our young people failing in the Education System and takes the issues forward as nothing much has improved since the Swan Report in the 1970s which found that Turkish-speaking children/young people were the lowest achievers in the UK Education System then.  Since then, there have been some improvements thanks to the efforts of people within our communities but not enough.

Best wishes

Amber Djemal

Student Counselling Service, C&I College 

For further information on Educators Forum's work e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it