Thursday 21st October 2010
From October 2010 the Equality Act has streamlined all general anti-discrimination law for private, public and voluntary sector employment and services. A briefing paper has been produced for schools.
Discrimination means treating someone less (or more) favourably than a "comparator". It can be direct, indirect or "arising from disability". Harassment (which is one form of discrimination) means violating someone's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Victimisation means discrimination because of a previous complaint.
Previous duties only covered race, gender, disability and community cohesion. The main change for schools is the addition of religion or belief and sexual orientation, and (to a lesser extent) pregnancy and maternity, gender identity and age.
From April 2011 the Act will also introduce a single Equality Duty (public sector only) which will apply to schools. In respect of all the protected characteristics except age and marriage / civil partnership, this new public sector equality duty will require us to have due regard to the need to:
(a) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation;
(b) advance equality of opportunity; and
(c) foster good relations.
Advancing equality of opportunity involves:
(a) removing or minimising disadvantages
(b) taking steps to meet people's needs
(c) encourage participation in any activity in which participation by such people is disproportionately low.
Fostering good relations involves:
(a) tackling prejudice, and
(b) promoting understanding.
Schools will be expected to gather and analyse equality information relating to all the protected characteristics, where relevant and proportionate. It is recommended that this includes consulting and involving people from protected groups: pupils, parents, staff, governors, neighbours and trade unions. Ideally these people should to be actively and meaningfully involved and not just consulted after the event. Professional publications and national websites provide a good starting point for informing yourself.
A particular implication for all employers, including schools, is noted on the DfE website:
‘It is now unlawful for employers to ask health-related questions of applicants before job offer, unless the questions are specifically related to an intrinsic function of the work. This means that schools should no longer, as a matter of course, require job applicants to complete a generic health questionnaire as part of the application procedure. We are considering the implications of this in relation to existing guidance for schools on establishing fitness and ability to teach (as required by the Health Standards (England) Regulations 2003). In the meantime, schools are advised to review their existing practices to ensure they are complying with both the Health Standards Regulations and Section 60 of the Equality Act. Schools may decide to ask necessary health questions after job offer. In any case, they should ensure that any health-related questions are targeted, necessary and relevant to the job applied for. ‘
The policy of the Coalition Government is to promote democratic accountability by making information publicly available in a transparent way. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will decide exactly what equality information schools need to publish, but it will probably be information from the following list:
- Raw attainment and attendance data
- Data from routine monitoring, e.g. behaviour v ethnicity, use of extended services v disability, staff pay v gender
- Pupil, staff and parent surveys
- Details of any engagement undertaken with other people you consider to have an interest in advancing equality
- Statistics collected by external bodies, such as the Office for National Statistics
- Local data, e.g. child poverty (access to internet and transport options); domestic violence statistics
- Data about complaints
- Data underpinning any equality impact assessments
- Community Cohesion contextual information: ethnicity, religion or belief, socio-economic
For further guidance, visit the Equality and Human Rights Commission site. http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/guidance-equality-act-2010/equality-act-2010-guidance/
‘What Equality Law Means for you as an Education Provider- Schools'.
In addition a new model Equality Scheme template 2010 -13 has been produced, which can be adapted by schools for their own use.
Pam Langmead