Equality Policy
1 POLICY STATEMENT
1.1 In accordance with the Gospel of Christ and the explicit teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the Governors of Saint Brendan's Sixth Form College will take positive steps, compatible with the Trust Deed and the resources of the College, to promote equality of opportunity and full participation for all, especially ethnic minorities, women and people with disabilities.
1.2 The Governors aim to ensure that all actual or potential employees are treated equally, regardless of: age; disability; family responsibility; marital status; race; colour; ethnicity; nationality; gender; sexual orientation; religion (except for reserved posts: see section 3.6); trade union activity; unrelated criminal convictions; other irrelevant criteria. All employees and students will, however, be expected to support the College's Christian ethos. This is a fundamental condition of appointment or offer of a place at the College.
2 SCOPE
2.1 The purpose of this policy is to establish clear College guidance regarding equality and to establish key principles, structures and monitoring arrangements for the College. The guidance is applicable to all staff and students in the College.
3 KEY PRINCIPLES
3.1 The College believes that all forms of prejudice and discrimination are unacceptable. In recognition of the fact that they can take a variety of forms, depending on the group against whom they are directed, the College will, when revising its policies, address the issues specific to discrimination on the grounds of:
- Age,
- Disability,
- Gender,
- Race,
- Sexual Orientation.
- Religion
3.2 The College will seek to challenge inequality, prejudice and discrimination.
3.3 The College embraces diversity in all its aspects, and aims to employ a workforce which reflects, at every level, the community it serves.
3.4 It is the responsibility of all staff and students to promote, abide by and uphold the College policy on equality.
Staff
3.5 The College will treat all employees with respect and dignity, and seek to provide a working environment free from harassment, discrimination and victimisation. The College will not tolerate any form of discriminatory behaviour against its employees, either from other employees, students, or members of the public. The College will regard as a serious breach of this policy any language or behaviour which either intentionally or unintentionally is disparaging of any individual or group on the grounds specified in 1.2 above. Such breaches will be dealt with according to the appropriate disciplinary procedures for teaching staff, support staff and students.
3.6 The following posts will be reserved for practising Catholics: Principal, Vice Principal, the Curriculum Manager Theology and Chaplaincy Leader. In all other posts,governors would prefer a person whose qualities would enable her/him to make a substantial contribution to the ethos of the College.
3.7 In order to ensure that all staff and potential staff are treated with equality and fairness at all stages of employment, and that their treatment is based solely on objective and job related criteria, the College will ensure that, as policies are reviewed, equality issues are embedded into all its policies and procedures. These may include:
- Capability
- Conditions of Service
- Contract Terms [including fixed-term and casual]
- Discipline
- Employment of Part-time Employees
- Equal Pay
- Family and Dependants Leave
- Grading
- Grievance
- Harassment and Bullying
- Induction
- Maternity Leave
- Parental Leave
- Promotion
- Recruitment and Selection
- Sickness Leave
- Termination [including Redundancy]
- Training and Career Development
3.8 In ensuring that this policy is fully effective, and that all College staff are committed to it, the College undertakes to work locally in partnership with the recognised trade unions, and with staff in general, in its development and implementation.
Students
3.9 The College will treat all students with respect and dignity, and seek to provide a learning environment free from harassment, discrimination and victimisation. The College will not tolerate any form of discriminatory behaviour against its students, either from other students, employees, or members of the public. The College will regard as a serious breach of this policy any language or behaviour which either intentionally or unintentionally is disparaging of any individual or group on the grounds specified in 1.2 above. Such breaches will be dealt with according to the appropriate disciplinary procedures for students, teaching staff, and support staff.
3.10 The admissions policy of the College currently is as follows:
Programmes of Education:
Where the College is able to provide a programme of education appropriate to a young person’s needs, prospective students are admitted to the College and allocated to courses on the basis of the following priorities:
- All pupils of the Catholic Collegiate schools, other members of the Catholic community, siblings of present and former students of the College, and those with special pastoral or educational needs.
- Those from supportive religious backgrounds and others happy to be educated in an environment which values and promotes Christian ideals.
Programmes of Vocational Training:
Where the College is able to provide a programme of training appropriate to a young person’s needs, prospective students are admitted to the College and allocated to training programmes irrespective of the criteria outlined above and solely on the basis of suitability for the training programme requested.
3.11 In considering each of the categories priority will be given to students opting for subjects which might otherwise be under-subscribed and also to minority ethnic groups who might otherwise not be represented in the College, provided that such students are supportive of the College's ethos. While the admissions criteria give priority to Catholics, the criteria should be interpreted and implemented in such a way as to encourage applicants from other denominations and faiths who are supportive of the ethos. As members of the College, all students will be treated equally and fairly and welcomed into every aspect of its life.
3.12 Students from religious traditions other than Christian will at all times be treated in a manner that is sensitive to that tradition and encouraged to follow appropriate customs provided that these are compatible with the overall aims of the College.
4 STRUCTURES
4.1 The governing body requires the Principal to designate an appropriate individual to have overall responsibility for equality issues, currently the Vice Principal. The designated person will ensure regular reports are made to the governing body.
4.2 There will be a College Equality Forum currently chaired by the Vice Principal. The membership of the Forum will include staff and student representatives and a trade union nominee.
4.3 The remit of the Equality Forum will be to promote policies and practices that ensure a College environment in which equality flourishes. To this end, it will work with the appropriate manager to develop and recommend policies to the governing body, related to the curriculum, student intake, the built environment, student services etc, which seek to ensure the removal of prejudice and discrimination.
4.4 Employment policies and procedures will continue to be dealt with through existing consultation/negotiation arrangements, as appropriate.
4.5 The Forum will periodically conduct equality audits of, for example, staff recruitment, selection, staff training and promotion practices, pay, grading and termination procedures. The monitoring of information related to staff will be undertaken in co-operation with the recognised trade unions as will the drawing up of a programme of equality training for staff. It will also periodically carry out equality audits of, for example, student recruitment, offers of places made, retention and achievement.
4.6 The Equality Forum will produce an annual report and, as required by the governing body, set equality targets, develop action plans, analyse the statistics produced by monitoring and propose positive action where necessary.
5 IMPLEMENTATION
5.1 The College will monitor the composition of the existing workforce and student body and the recruitment process for both, with reference to ethnicity, disability and gender, in particular, and will also categorise employees according to grade and contract type.
5.2 After the employment relationship has ended, the College may retain statistics; data about the composition of the workforce, including appraisal and promotion records on an anonymous basis for the purpose of carrying out equal opportunities monitoring, and may also look at reasons for resignation and resignation rates.
5.3 The College undertakes to follow positive action measures allowed by law to rectify disadvantages in employment revealed by monitoring.
Positive action, allows the College to:
- provide facilities or services (in the form of training, education, or welfare) to meet the special needs of people from particular under-represented groups;
- target job training at particular groups that are under-represented in a particular area of work;
- encourage applications from groups that are under-represented in particular areas of work.
5.4 Positive action strategies are intended to be temporary measures only. They must be kept under regular review, and they cannot be used once the special needs have been met, or if under-representation no longer exists. The College will ensure that when using positive action as a strategy, it falls within the law.
6 GENERAL
6.1 If an employee or student believes they have not been treated fairly, due to prejudice, or discrimination, they should follow the complaints procedure as outlined in the staff and student handbooks respectively.
Reviewed by the Governors' Personnel Committee on 12 November 2009.