Understanding and implementing the equality toolkit in your school

The National Education Union’s equality toolkit is aimed at school representatives, teacher governors and NEU officers to encourage effective policies and practices in schools and colleges to promote diversity 

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on National Education Union

The purpose of this toolkit is to:

• Raise awareness of the equality duties.
• Promote good policies and practices in schools and colleges.
• Provide resources for the promotion of good policies and practices in schools and colleges.
• Provide caseworkers with the knowledge and confidence to resolve casework using the equality duties.

What legislation does this toolkit relate to?

• The Equality Act 2010.
• The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011.
• The Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011.

Who is the toolkit for?

This toolkit is aimed at school representatives and teacher governors in all schools and FE colleges, including independent schools in England and Wales. It will also be a useful resource for division secretaries and equalities officers.

Key points

• Schools, colleges and local authorities are under a statutory duty to be proactive in the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of equal opportunities for both staff and pupils. This means they must assess the impact of their policies and practices on the people affected by them and take steps to remove any barriers that come to light where it is proportionate to do so.
• Schools, colleges and local authorities also have a statutory duty to foster good relations between people who share a particular protected characteristic, and those who do not. 
• Protected characteristics encompass age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
• Local authorities, and the governing bodies of maintained schools, academies and colleges with 150 or more employees, have a specific legal duty to annually publish information about the workforce which demonstrates compliance with the general equality duty. Public authorities in Wales are required to publish information about employees each year regardless of the size of their workforce.
• All schools and colleges in England, regardless of the size of their workforce, should publish equality information about their employees each year to demonstrate compliance with the general equality duty, even where there is no specific legal obligation for them to do so.

For more information on the equality toolkit, click here.