EQUALITY ACT 2010: ITS IMPACT ON SCHOOLS

Going through the papers for the last meeting of SACRE, I come upon this handout on the Equality Act 2010 and its impact on schools. I thought it would be interesting to post it on the blog in its own right, rather than risk it being buried in a report on the last SACRE meeting.

I also thought that this would make a good primer for the Equality Act 201o, for any readers who haven’t got the drop on it for themselves yet. The Act is such an important recurring feature of this blog and having a refresher every so often can’t do any harm.

What is the Equality Act 2010?

The Equality Act 2010 is a new law which protects people from discrimination. It replaces all previous, separate equality laws including the Disability Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act and many others.

Why change?

Having one law on Equality helps people to better understand their and other people’s rights and how they should expect to be treated.

The Equality Act 2010

The main provisions of the Equality Act 2010 came into force in October 2010.

The Act details the general duties and sets out a public sector Single Equality Duty due to be implemented in April 2011. The Equality Act 2010 extends protection to all of the following equality areas, now known as “Protected Characteristics”:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation
• Sex (previously referred to as Gender)

General duties of the Equality Act

Due regard must be given to the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;

Advance equality of opportunity between different groups; and

Foster good relations between different groups.

What will this mean for schools?

The main change for schools is the addition of Religion or Belief and Sexual Orientation and (to a lesser degree) pregnancy and maternity, gender identity and age. When the Specific duties (autumn 2011 for schools) schools will have to set equality objectives detailing what they will do to address the persistent causes of inequality. Schools will be required to demonstrate:

• Proactive approaches in identifying, addressing and eliminating discrimination;
• Promoting equality of opportunity and good relations between people from different equality groups are being sought.

Benefits

A single equality scheme produced with the involvement of the whole school community can support the school to identify and address barriers by equality characteristics giving the school the opportunity to:

• Demonstrate that the school has a good understanding of how discrimination can affect outcomes for different groups and that it has a proactive approach to addressing this;
• Engage meaningfully with the school community therein enabling a better understanding of the barriers that exist and how to address these;
• Enhance the everyday experience of the school community as parents, pupils and staff feel that they are able to contribute to and inform school policy and decision making and as a result feel more confident and foster a higher degree of trust with the leadership within the school
• Raise attainment and aspirations of pupils so that they feel more confident about their own identities and that of others, understanding and valuing difference and recognising  the benefits to society, safe in the knowledge that the school is dedicated to eradicating discrimination and has a clear plan for doing so;
• Be regarded by the wider community as a school which is clearly committed to embracing diversity and promoting equality.

Faiths

In Leicester there are approximately 240 faith groups across 14 different faiths. There are 123 places of Christian worship, 29 mosques, 23 Hindu temples, 10 Sikh Gurdwara, 2 Jewish synagogues and 1 Jain temple. Over recent years the Muslim population has significantly increased. It is estimated that about 80% to 90% of Muslim pupils attend madrassas after school.

Community cohesion

Leicester has a reputation for welcoming and celebrating diversity

The residents of Leicester recognise that the city is both multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-faith

The major location of cross-cultural mixing in Leicester is local shops, followed by places of work

“Promoting Equality is the whole school’s responsibility”

• Governors
• Head teachers
• Teaching staff
• Non-teaching staff
• Parents
• Pupils
• Local community members 

Schools action

Schools will be asked how they capture the views and perceptions of the school community. They will be advised to list all school-related events and meetings (e.g. sports days, celebrations like Christmas or Diwali or Eid, governors’ meetings, parents’ evenings, after school activities). By supporting schools you will offer the opportunity to support schools in fulfilling their statutory duty regarding religion and belief.