Discussion forum's for tomorrow's Moving Towards Excellence conference are at the WEA Training website:
http://train.wea.org.uk #weamte
The aims of today are:
- to identify what it would mean for the WEA to be excellent in equality and diversity across every part of the organisation
- to engage with the concept of Equality Impact Assessments as a tool for organisational excellence
- to discuss the implementation of some of the actions in the Single Equality Scheme and identify support, guidance and training needs
Lynne Smith is introducing the themes of the day and thanking everyone who has helped put the conference together
Lynne says that the Single Equality Scheme and its action plan are key to how the WEA will improve equality and diversity over the next three years. We're hoping that the conference and workshops will allow everyone here and online to suggest ideas that can go into those plans
Liz Cumberbatch says E&D impact assessments can be interesting and useful, not just a box-ticking exercise
Christine Rose, next speaker, is our 'critical friend' who is about to introduce the Impact Assessment tools
Impact assessment only legally required for race, disability and gender - but Christine says it makes sense to include age, sexual orientation, belief and religion while we're doing/getting an assessment
Christine's research showed areas of good practice and problems. She found that some organisations were just using assessments as policies, when they should be working documents. Colleges and adult learning providers are at different stages of the journey. They need to focus not just on learners, but all aspects of practice including staff.
Impact assessments are not just about eliminating discrimination, but about all aspects of what we do; making reasonable adjustments for everybody.
Christine is introducing a mapping exercise. On tables, list all the policies and procedures that relate to your area of work. Staff development, support, communications etc. Very quickly decide which area to focus on and list as many policies and procedures as you can think of
This exercise was to give us a flavour of everything, not just big documents but drilling down into everything we need to look at.
Next thing is to prioritise. On the list they have generated, they can only start a third as high priority:
- is it major?
- or, is it minor but has an important impact on a group?
- or, is it a particular cause of concern
Issues people came up with
People are giving one or two things from their lists:
- selection & performance management
- flexible working
- managing absence
- learners: services to learners & outreach
- job descriptions & induction
- learner health and safety
- enrolment for learners & the tutor handbook
- accomodation surveys
- observation of teaching and learning
- marketing, where material goes to and language
Important to recognise this is not just about policies. Should be embedded into all practices and procedures, so not just about new procedures but about existing catalogue of documents.
Race, disbility and gender - when these policies first came out there was guidance on impact assessment. Advice was that some aspects were race-neutral and that they could screen out these issues - but it soon became clear these would have an impact on other duties (eg carparking would have an impact on disabled people). The reality is, much of what you do will have some impact - you need to prioritise.
Pitfalls in impact assessment procedures in organisations:
- a long list of policies and procedures with the decisions made that no action was needed
- getting 'stuck' because of complicated processes to consider impact assessment - just get on and start
Good practice:
- organisations being flexible about their criteria and identify their own priorities, while accepting that they can't get to everything
Organisations need to gather evidence to inform their impact assessment process.
Marketing - how do you advertise your course? - brochures. If we were doing the impact assessment on course brochures, what evidence would be useful to gather to inform the process?
- what is our 'market'? - do we make assumptions about who will come on our courses? satisfaction surveys -
One of the challenges is that we won't have all the information we want. If we could jump forward to the future and embed equality & diversity into all our strategies, then getting the data should be quite easy to find. Many orgs find they don't have the information to imform the process and it is useful to identify the gaps.
1. We need to be careful we don't screen out procedures that will have an impact on other areas
2. We need to be careful that we don't leap in
For those organisations that are well down the road, they should improve their evidence. They were so enthusiastic they tended to jump in too quickly rather than consider the evidence.
3. Action - we now need to record outcomes on a template
First group is identifying advantages of having a template to complete after they have done the impact assessment. Second group is identifying the disadvantages.
Pros of using template: aide-memoire; allows benchmarking; allows aggregation of data across region/country; saves re-inventing wheel, and makes it easy to show funders , inspectors etc. that we are doing the assessments
Cons of using template: 'yet another form'; it could be inaccessible or otherwise difficult for people to use; encourages a tick-box approach (over people taking responsibility?); needs to put together by people that will do the form well and concisely; can be restrictive for local use in a diverse organisation
Advantages from the floor: template is an aide memoire and an opportunity to benchmark | it allows us to aggregate and compare outcomes across different areas | it's a good starting point, better than a blank sheet of paper | consistency across the organisation | measurable | allows us to evidence what we're doing to key stakeholders eg equality & human rights commission or other organisations & OFSTED
Disadvantages
Whole exercise gets bad PR because it's yet another form - training is important | could encourage a tickbox approach | right people need to put the form together - can become too bureaucratic | can be restrictive for local use, got to be flexible enough to work across the board | people need to see the benefits
One criticisms of the template has been that people see filling in the template as completing the assessment. Training shows how to avoid that.
Models of success:
Train leaders and then expand the team by getting the initial trainees to support other people. The original team can monitor that the assessment is working well.
A group of five people seems to work well. You don't need to be an expert in equality, groups develop confidence well.
We're looking at the models in the pack and thinking about what might work well for the WEA.
All the materials and presentations from the conference pack will be on
train.wea.org.uk around next week
We're talking about Equality Impact Assessments
www.idea.gov.uk #weamte
If you want to add reflections and suggestions you can join
train.wea.org.uk - there is a there button to register
Conclusions:
- A good equality impact assessment should lead to change - has it? are they going to help us get to where we want to be in the future? Does everyone understand what they are and are they integral to what everyone does? All around the room are people thoughts on what the WEA would look like if the WEA was excellent at equality & diversity and it was embedded in every area.
Why should we do it?
- there are legal consequences if we don't. 60 colleges got a letter from the commission for race equality and they were asked to send their last five equality impact assessment. They were told if they didn't provide then they would be taken to the legal enforcement team. They got a 97 %response rate and it was a wake-up call.
- more importantly, asessments are a fantastic way to improve equality and diversity in what we do. Very often improving the aaaexperiences of specific groups of people actually improves the experience of everyone. This isn't just about our journey to equality, it's about our journey to outstanding.
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by cmwhite via Flickr edited by WEA Stoke-on-Trent 2/3/2010 11:19:52 AM
ruth barber
WEA Stoke-on-Trent
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