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Monday 5 November 2007
Libby Purves presents this week's edition of the Learning Curve.
FRENCH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS & CHILDREN'S LEGAL CENTRE Following the French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s promise to clamp down on illegal immigration and the so called “sans papers”, new laws have been passed introducing tighter restrictions on the rights of immigrant families to stay. However, the rise in the number of arrests has had unexpected repercussions in education. French schools accept all children regardless of their parents’ legal status, and the authorities have been accused of targeting children in schools in an attempt to expel whole families and reach their deportation targets for illegal immigrants.
A network called Education without Borders – ‘Education sans frontieres’ - has formed to protect immigrants against eventual deportation, and many French families have been hiding immigrant children in their homes. Alasdair Sandford reports from Paris. Carolyn Hamilton, the director of the Children's Legal Centre, joins Libby Purves to discuss the report and also whether similar circumstances could happen in Britain.
THE NEXT STEP - INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS SHOW The two-day Independent Schools exhibition was launched in Battersea park on Friday where more than 120 schools gathered to demonstrate what they can offer and why they believe their brand of education is value for money. It can cost as much as £300,000 to put a child through private schooling.
Reporter Sara Parker met parents who visited the show to find out why they are considering choosing a private school.
SAGA-ZONE SAGA ZONE is the new online social networking site for the over 50s. People are using it as a forum to meet like-minded people in real life - for example: 16 members are currently on holiday together in Malta.
Libby Purves is joined by Stephen McNair, Director of CROW (Centre for Research into the Older Workforce) which is part of NIACE and an expert on the subject of 'older learners'.
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