On April 25th, professor Gus John was invited to address the Liberal Democrats‘ Race Equality Task Force in the Houses of Parliament. His presentation – entitled ‘The role of schooling and education in building social cohesion and combating racial discrimination and marginalisation’ – went as follows:

My submission to this Task Force is informed by the following:

- My schooling in Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean and in Trinidad (‘A’ Levels), having been born of parents who were functionally illiterate (father) and semi-literate (mother);

- Parenting of six British born children, all schooled and university educated in England, the eldest a medical doctor (GP) and the youngest a teacher of children with severe learning disabilities and a Rap artist; one of whom read Arabic and Middle Eastern studies at Oxford having attended a ‘bog standard’ comprehensive in London;

- My work as Deputy Director of Education (post school) in the Inner London Education Authority and later as Director of Education and Leisure Services in Hackney (the first black chief education officer in the UK);

- My training of teachers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow as Visiting Faculty Professor (1997 – 2007);

- My work as Associate Professor in the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at the Institute of Education, University of London, where I co-facilitated a headship development programme for senior Global Majority (so-called black and ethnic minority) teachers aspiring to become deputy heads and headteachers; Read the rest of this entry →