Talks over black pupil exclusions

London head teachers have been called to crisis talks in Downing Street to reduce the number of Afro-Caribbean boys excluded from school.

Black teenagers are at least four times as likely as whites to be excluded, and ministers fear privately that the number could escalate sharply because of new powers being given to heads to enforce discipline.

Instead, they want to develop a national strategy for raising the achievement of black youths, which is also lagging sharply behind that of whites and other ethnic groups, despite high attainment in primary school.

Education Minister Baroness Ashton is chairing a new task force, including London heads and school inspectors, aimed at identifying ways in which black teenagers can be "turned on" to education.

The initiative comes as London faces a surge of street robberies which topped record levels of more than 50,000 last year. Clear links have already been established between school exclusions and crime, with studies showing that six out of 10 excluded children committed offences while out of school.

Home Office figures also show that black teenagers commit a disproportionate number of crimes in London and that blacks are responsible for 57 per cent of robberies.

Reducing exclusions from school was one of the major successes claimed by Tony Blair's first government. Numbers were reduced from a peak of 12,700 in 1997 to just over 8,000 and last year, former education secretary David Blunkett declared the battle won, setting no targets for further reductions.

Against this background, the Government has felt able to meet teachers' demands for tougher disciplinary powers, making it easier for schools to exclude pupils whose behaviour jeopardises the safety and education of others.

Education Secretary Estelle Morris has said she is confident that Government initiatives will prevent exclusions rising again. Pupil "mentors" have been appointed to help schools deal with difficult teenagers and in-school "sin bins" remove children temporarily from the classroom as an alternative to expelling them.

But privately, according to one Government race adviser, ministers are worried that schools may misuse their powers - aware of claims that some teachers exclude black children for offences they would tolerate in other pupils.

The adviser said: "The Government is desperate to deal with black exclusions, but they have just given heads more powers to exclude pupils. They are worried that the numbers will rocket again."

The initiative comes after one race campaigner blamed London's upsurge in shootings and carjackings on a "moral vacuum" inhabited by many black people. Lee Jasper, who made his name criticising police attitudes to the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, said young black men were being drawn into a "multimillion pound economy of drugs and guns which subverts mainstream morality and social responsibility".

The task force has been established by Tony Blair's Social Exclusion Unit. London schools with excellent track records with Afro-Caribbean pupils have been called to Cabinet Office meetings with ministers and senior civil servants.

The elements of the strategy already beginning to emerge include putting black culture at the heart of the school curriculum for Afro-Caribbean pupils. Schools which do best with Afro-Caribbean boys ensure that high-achieving black mentors regularly visit the school.

Extra training for teachers is also likely to be established as a priority.

One London head teacher whose staff received training in "understanding black adolescents" said it had led to much better discipline.

Mayor Ken Livingstone, who is behind next month's conference on London Schools and the Black Child, said: "It is unacceptable that black children are disproportionately affected by exclusions and low educational attainment, especially when they enter the system as able as other children."