Promoting Equality and Valuing Diversity
This handout will cover:
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What is equality?
Equality Act (2010)
Protected Characteristics
Types of discrimination
What is diversity?
Valuing equality and advancing diversity
Ways to promote equality and value diversity
What is equality?
Equality is about the rights of learners to have access to, attend, and participate in
their chosen learning experience, this should be regardless of their circumstances.
Inequality and discrimination should be tackled to ensure fairness, decency and
respect amongst all learners. In the past, equality has often been described as
everyone being the same or having the same opportunities. Nowadays, it can be
described as everyone being different, but having equal rights. Equality of
opportunity is a concept underpinned by legislation.
Equality Act (2010)
The Equality Act (2010) replaced all previous anti-discrimination legislation and
consolidated it into one act for England, Scotland and Wales (there are separate
requirements in Northern Ireland).
The Act provides rights for people not to be directly discriminated against or
harassed because they have an association with a disabled person, nor must people
be directly discriminated against or harassed because they are wrongly perceived as
disabled.
Reasonable adjustments must take place during teaching and learning activities to
lessen or remove the effects of a disadvantage to a learner with a disability.
Reasonable adjustments can include:
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Ensuring access to areas, rooms and toilets.
Offering facilities to meet various needs, for example, diet options, prayer rooms,
handouts in different fonts/sizes/colours, adjustable desks, lifts, loop/minicom
systems, interpreters etc.
Using activities that everyone can participate in and that do not exclude anyone
for any reason.
A comprehensive list of reasonable adjustments can be found on pages 80 and 81 of
Gravells A & Simpson S...