How Well Does Your School Promote Equality?

Equality and DiversityYour school is keen to promote equality. However there have been reports recently suggesting that some schools are not publishing equality information as required by legislation. Therefore, now might be the time for you to ask just how well your school promotes equality. Use the questions below to help you to review your current approach.

 

#1 – Do You Have An Equality Policy?

You need a document that sets out how you intend to make sure you deal with equality issues in accordance with the law. What does your document say about how you treat your staff? What does your document say about how you treat students?

#2 – Have You Committed To Implementing Your Policy?

Creating a policy is a start. You also need to ensure you have procedures in place to guide staff on how to implement the policy and to help embed the policy in the culture of your school.

#3 – Do You Have Robust Reporting Mechanisms In Place?

Do you have ways of bringing concerns to the attention of the right people, if issues related to your equality policy emerge? Have you made sure that people in school do not feel inhibited about reporting their concerns about equality?  Do people feel confident that, if they report their concerns, they will not themselves be blamed for causing problems?

#4 – Do You Have Review Mechanisms In Place?

Every policy needs review. Is there a committee, or are designated individuals, tasked to make certain your policy is being implemented and working as it should?  How is change sanctioned? Do the people who review the working of your policy have the authority to make changes or do they simply recommend change?

#5 – Do You Share Good Practice?

How is the issue of equality being dealt with in other local schools and in schools similar to yours? Do you know? Do you share what you do well with other schools? Do you also learn from other schools, and introduce new ideas which work well elsewhere into your own practice?

Are you keeping up to date with any changes in legislation that may affect how you manage the issue of equality for the future?

… Finally

Do you take the time to listen to what people say about your equality policy? If you asked the question: how well does our school promote equality in the staff room or at the school gates, are you confident that you would receive the sort of response you would like to hear?

DOHR are specialists in HR. If you like this post, please share it on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Have we missed anything?  Let us know in the comments below.

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