Guidance for Schools

Transcription

1 Commission for Racial Equality Statutory Code of Practice on the Duty to Promote Race Equality Guidance for Schools For reference - edited notes from the Guide for Schools 1 The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 places a new general duty on schools and other public authorities to promote race equality. At the moment the guidance from the CRE is in consultation draft form but it is expected to be approved by Parliament and issued in May In anticipation, public authorities have been advised to begin planning immediately, so that they will be able to meet the deadline. The following are the statements of legal duty. The general duty mean that public authorities must aim to: eliminate unlawful racial discrimination promote equality of opportunity promote good relations between people of different racial groups The specific duties for schools to meet the general duty, are to: (1)... before 31st May 2002, prepare a written statement of its policy for promoting race equality, and have in place arrangements for fulfilling, as soon as is reasonably practicable, its duties (2) Such a body shall, maintain a copy of the statement, and fulfil those duties in accordance with such arrangements. (3) It shall be the duty of [such] a body... to - assess the impact of its policies, including its race equality policy, on pupils, staff and parents of different racial groups including, in particular, the impact on attainment levels of such pupils; and monitor, by reference to their impact on such pupils, staff and parents, the operation of such policies including, in particular, their impact on the attainment levels of such pupils. 1 CRE ( 2001) Statutory Code of Practice on the Duty to Promote Race Equality. (Consultation Draft) London: CRE. Website: 1

2 Promoting race equality is not something you can choose to do or not do: you must make race equality a central part of any policy or service that is relevant to the duty. The duty will be particularly relevant to functions such as pupil admissions; assessments; raising attainment levels; delivering the curriculum; discipline (including exclusion); guidance and support; and staff selection and recruitment. You have to meet the duty by law. This means you cannot claim that you do not have the resources to meet your responsibilities. You should build these responsibilities into the work you already do, by adapting your plans and priorities. You must also assess how all your development and planning processes affect race equality, and make sure that you take account of race equality within all your monitoring, reviewing and evaluation systems. A. Preparing and maintaining a written race equality policy Schools must prepare and maintain a written statement of their race equality policy, and have arrangements in place for meeting their duties as soon as reasonably possible. Both the statement and arrangements must be ready by 31 May A. 1 What is a race equality policy? A race equality policy will help the school to tackle racial discrimination, and to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations across all areas of school activity. To do this effectively, the policy needs to go beyond words and be put into action. A. 2 Does the race equality policy have to be a separate policy? The race equality policy can be combined with another policy, such as an equal opportunities or diversity policy, however, the race equality policy should be clearly identifiable and easily available. If you have a general equal opportunities or diversity policy, you should make racial equality a separate section (or series of sections) within it. A. 3 What should the race equality policy cover? The race equality policy should be a written statement linked to an action plan. A good policy would: set out the school s commitment to tackling racial discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations; explain what this means for everyone connected with the school; give details of how the school will regularly monitor and assess the policy s effectiveness in practice; clearly define roles and responsibilities, so that people know what is expected of them; explain clearly what the school will do if the policy is not followed. The race equality policy should reflect the school s character and circumstances, and deal with the main areas that are relevant to promoting race equality, such as: pupils attainments and progress; curriculum, teaching and learning (including language and cultural needs); care and assessment; 2

3 staff recruitment and career development; the school s values; pupil behaviour, discipline and exclusion; racism and racial harassment; admissions and transfer procedures; and membership of the governing body. The policy should also set out: how you will monitor and assess your progress towards meeting race equality targets and your race equality duty; and a timetable for regular policy reviews. A. 4 How should we put the policy into practice? You should link your race equality policy to an action plan, and follow it through. The plan could be part of your school s strategic plan and you could develop and introduce it through the school s existing planning and decision-making processes. Your policy should be approved by your governing body, because they are ultimately responsible for seeing that the school meets the duty. The policy should also be a regular agenda item at governors meetings. Your policy should explain how you will train staff and governors in their new responsibilities. Parents, pupils and staff will also need to know what the policy says and understand what it means for them. We suggest that you make it clear in the policy how you intend to do this, and keep them up to date about progress B. Assessing the impact of school policies Schools must assess the impact of their policies (including their race equality policy) on pupils, staff and parents from different racial groups. In particular, schools should assess whether their policies have, or could have, an adverse impact on the attainment levels of pupils from different racial groups. Schools should assess the effectiveness of their race equality policies through their existing arrangements for developing and reviewing policies. You are not expected to assess all your relevant policies in one go, but you should be able to show that you have a timetable for assessing them all. Schools should deal with those policies that deal directly with, or might affect, the attainments and progress of pupils from different racial groups first. You must also be able to show that you have made arrangements to take account of racial equality when you are reviewing your policies, and when you are drawing up and considering new policies. B.1 How should we assess our policies? To assess your policies you need information, by racial group, on needs, entitlements and outcomes for pupils, parents and staff. The information will tell you whether your policies are affecting some racial groups differently. If you do find differences, you will need to explain them, and then consider what you might do to remove them. 3

4 The main questions for assessing the impact of a school s policies, including its race equality policy - giving special attention to pupils attainment levels - could include the following: 1. Does the school help all its pupils to achieve as much as they can, and get the most from what is on offer, based on their individual needs? 2. Which groups of pupils are not achieving as much as they can? Why not? 3. Is the school making sure that its policies, including its race equality policy, are not having an adverse impact on pupils, parents or staff from some racial groups? 4. How does the school explain any differences? Are the explanations justified? 5. Does each relevant policy include aims to deal with differences in pupils attainments (or possible differences) between racial groups? Do the policy s aims lead to action to deal with any differences that have been identified (for example extra coaching for pupils, or steps to prevent racist bullying)? 6. What is the school doing to raise standards, and promote equality of opportunity for pupils who seem to be underachieving and who may need extra support? 7. What is the school doing to: prepare pupils for living in a multi-ethnic society; promote race equality and harmony; and prevent or deal with racism? 8. Does each relevant policy include aims to promote race equality and harmony; prevent or challenge racial discrimination; and deal with differences (or possible differences) between racial groups? 9. Do the policy s aims lead to effective action? 10. Is the action appropriate and effective? Are there any unexpected results? If so, how are they being handled? 11. What changes does the school need to make to relevant policies, their aims, and any relate targets and strategies? B.2 How can we take account of everyone s views and needs? Schools should consider the views and needs of parents, staff and pupils from different racial groups. This means clearly explaining to the groups concerned what the school is doing and why. It also means that the school should look at how it could communicate better (formally and informally) with pupils, parents and staff from different racial groups, and involve them in planning and decision making. It is important that you get feedback on the methods you use to reach various groups, so that you know whether they are working. B.3 Monitoring the impact of policies Schools must monitor the impact of their policies on pupils, parents and staff from different racial groups. In particular, schools should monitor their policies impact on their pupils attainment levels. To monitor their pupils attainment, schools will need to collect information about pupils performance and progress, by racial group; analyse it; and use it to examine trends. To help interpret this information, schools will find it useful also to monitor other areas that could have an adverse impact on pupils attainment, such as: exclusion; racism, racial harassment and bullying; curriculum, teaching and learning (including language and cultural needs); punishment and reward; membership of the governing body; 4

5 parental involvement; working with the community; and support, advice and guidance. To monitor effectively, you should take account of your school s particular circumstances. The standard monitoring you already carry out, such as teacher assessment, and test and exam results, will give you most of the data you need. However, you should also consider other monitoring methods such as satisfaction surveys, one-to-one interviews, classroom discussion, and feedback exercises on questions such as learning styles and teacher-pupil relations. B.4 How should we use the monitoring data? Monitoring data will help schools to see what progress they are making towards meeting their race equality targets and aims. In particular, it will help them to: highlight any differences between pupils from different racial groups; ask why these differences exist and test the explanations given; review how effective current targets and objectives are; decide what further action will be necessary to meet particular needs and to improve the performance of pupils from different racial groups (which might include positive action); rethink, and set targets in, relevant strategic plans; and take action to make improvements. C. Other functions that will be affected by the duty to promote race equality You are responsible for meeting the general duty in all your relevant functions, including those that are carried out by someone else through a contract or a service-level agreement. This means you first decide whether the function has any impact on race equality. If it does, you must then ask how it affects the function and what you need to do to meet the duty. You should then make sure that you make this clear in service specifications and in contracts or agreements. You should also build them into the process you use to choose a contractor. C.1 How does the duty to promote race equality affect partnerships? You are responsible for meeting the general duty when you carry out your functions with other organisations (for example, through an Early Years and Childcare Development Partnership or through an Education Action Zone). If your partners are other public authorities who are also bound by the duty, each authority will be responsible for meeting its general duty and any specific duties. If your partners are private or voluntary organisations, you will need to be sure that the work you do jointly meets your race equality duties. Your private and voluntary partners do not have any similar obligation. C.2 What role do auditing and inspection agencies have? Agencies that carry out statutory inspections and audits of public authorities are bound by the general duty. They are responsible for making sure that they take account of the duty in their inspections and monitoring. In practice, this means that agencies such as OfSTED will have to examine, and report on, whether you are meeting your general and specific duties. 5

6 C.3 Employment practices and ethnic monitoring Although schools are not directly bound by employment duties, they will need to supply its LEA with appropriate employment data. All LEAs have a specific duty to monitor current and prospective staff at every maintained school in their area by their racial groups. LEAs should collect ethnic monitoring data, analyse data for patterns of inequality, take any necessary action to remove barriers to equality of opportunity and publish the results of the monitoring each year. 6