Education: London's bright because London’s diverse

The facts don’t lie: A new report by the University of Bristol clearly highlights that the academic success of the capital's teenagers who have achieved significantly better GCSE results than the rest of England is due to the ethnic diversity in the capital’s schools.

Professor Simon Burgess, who led the research, said:

We know that ethnic minority pupils score more highly in GCSEs relative to their prior attainment than white British pupils. London simply has a lot more of these high-achieving pupils and so has a higher average GCSE score than the rest of the country.”

There are many who must share in this fantastic success, not least the pupils, parents and the teachers. But into that mix I would also include Diane Abbott who has not only encouraged Black parents and pupils to think big, and be successful, but she also celebrates high achievers through her annual ‘London Schools and the Black Student Academic Achievement Awards’.

Black pupils want Abbotts award, because they know it's a mark of high achievement.

Interestingly, to put London’s success into perspective, the UK’s capital city is the only capital city in Europe, in which the education success beats any other city. Ordinarily, capital cities don’t perform as well as cities outside of the capital city.

Interestingly, for those diversity bashers, some UK cities that are almost exclusively white are amongst some of the worst education performers.

Diversity works, be in business, sport, and education. It's only the multicultural haters who would have us think otherwise.

The report's author, Prof Burgess sums it up perfectly:

The London effect is a very positive thing, and much of the praise for this should be given to the pupils and parents of London for creating a successful multi-ethnic school system.”

Simon Woolley