Equalities policy guide: Equalities policy roadmap
The first step in the equalities policy roadmap is to audit your existing practices.
The equalities policy self-evaluation toolkit is designed to help your setting identify strengths and areas for development to support settings to evaluate the most effective approaches to achieving equality and children’s rights, and to help establishments and the wider system.
Your self-evaluation should include a review of your setting vision and values. How do these align with your equality and diversity ambitions?
Setting to self-reflect on the wider context. This may involve examining setting data, background information around the local authority, community, learners and families. All data should be examined through an equalities lens.
Data guides
The following data guides can support self reflection:
Gather learner perspectives across the whole setting. Discuss equalities through using lesson plans and surveys.
Example lesson plan
The equalities policy starter lesson (PowerPoint) is for practitioners to use with learners prior to them completing the survey. It provides an overview of some of the themes in the survey that relate to human rights and equalities including bullying, fairness and discrimination.
The slides are designed to be edited as appropriate, and these facilitation notes include guidance around which Curriculum for Excellence levels each slide is applicable to, although this may vary from setting to setting and for different groups of learners.
Please delete slides to suit the requirements of the learners.
Example surveys
Visual survey (image only PDF developed by Pinewood school)
Early to second level MS form
Early to second MS form (practitioner version)
Early to second MS form (accessible language version)
Third level to senior phase MS form
Establish an equality forum to analyse the results from the data gathered. Members should use this to decide the focus of the Equality Policy. Ensure that this is learner led.
Example learner participation form
Learner Activities form for equality policy development (office.com)
Once the focus of the policy is decided, the forum should create the Equality Policy. Again, this should be learner led.
Case studies
Using your communication strategy, roll out across the setting, gathering feedback from learners, staff and parents and carers.
Continue to monitor the policy in line with the setting vision and values. The Equality Forum should agree a review date and adapt when required. The steps of the roadmap should be included in the review process to ensure ongoing relevance. This is not the end, rather the start of the journey.
