Cultural Cohesion Quality Mark

Equality of opportunities

Inequality, bias and discrimination exists in all walks of life – in gender, race, age, class, disability, locality, religion, sexuality and more. This stifles opportunities and takes a heavy toll on people’s wellbeing, self-worth and happiness. As a school, we have the responsibility to give our pupils the opportunity to discuss and consider their own and other people’s thoughts and feelings, whilst in a safe environment.

Promoting exposure

All staff and children from Reception to Year 6 will be developing their own cultural opinions and ideas. Shared ideas to promote exposure to move diverse cultures in school will take place in training sessions, working party meetings, open and honest discussion opportunities, as well as, through teaching and learning and literature.

Here is a poster about discussing culture with your child.

Did you know?

• Research has shown that people with Chinese, African, Indian or Pakistani sounding names were 28% less likely to be invited to a job interview compared with those who had English sounding names.
• 78% of UK companies have a gender pay gap that favours men, with far fewer women in senior positions.
• 67% of British people feel uncomfortable around disabled people, over a third think disabled people are less productive.
• Almost 1 in 5 LGBT staff have been a target of negative comments or conduct in the workplace.
• 20 children are excluded from school every day for the racist abuse of their peers.
• On average a boy born in the most affluent areas will outlive a boy born in one of the poorest areas by 8.4 years.
• 1 in 8 of the working age population are from a BME background, yet only 1 in 16 top management positions are held by a minority ethnic person.

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 brings together under one Act all of the requirements regarding equality and discrimination. The Act makes it unlawful for a school to discriminate against a pupils or prospective pupil by treating them less favourably because of their:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Race
• Religion and belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy

All public sector bodies are also subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty, which came into force April 2011. The duty requires schools to take steps not just to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, but also to actively promote equality.

The three aims of the general duty are to:

1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act.
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a characteristic and those who don't.
3. Foster good relations between people who share a characteristic and those who don't. 

Links

CCQM Self Assessment

Discussing culture with your child poster