The Changes Summarised
The wording of the 'equalities' judgements changed with effect from 01/01/09, to place more emphasis on the PROGRESS of learners according to race, gender and disability. Schools are expected to have well-defined procedures in place to measure the IMPACT of their 'equalities' schemes and to monitor and report their effectiveness.

A project is currently underway with Children's Services, working with schools and other key staff to develop a model Single Equalities Scheme, which schools will be able to adopt and then adapt to fit their own particular needs. To assist in developing this scheme a simple self evaluation pro-forma for schools has been circlulated via MI Sheet 33/09.

Although the current schools inspection framework ('Section 5') is due to be superseded in September 2009, Ofsted has nevertheless continued to amend the existing requirements. All schools, but particularly those due to be inspected under the current 'Framework' (i.e. between January and August 2009), should take note of the following:

General Duties
There are three duties with which schools must comply in terms of equalities. These are:

	Disability Equality
	Gender Equality
	Race Equality

A school must have a scheme (comprising a policy and an action plan to ensure compliance) for each of these duties, but it is not necessary to have three separate documents. It is perfectly acceptable - and indeed sensible - for these to be addressed within a single equality scheme, which combines all three areas.

Having a scheme is not, however, enough. Schools must be able to show that:

	appropriate stakeholders have been involved in developing policy;
	there are procedures to assess the impact of policies on learners, parents and staff and within the broader community served by the school; (N.B. Note the link with community cohesion)
	the impact of policies is monitored and reasonable steps are taken to report on progress annually;
	the scheme is reviewed every three years.

Specific duties

Race Equalities
A school has a duty to:

	Promote good relations between people from different racial groups
	Promote equal opportunities
	Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination

In addition to informing the parents, schools will need to record and notify the governing body and local authority of any racist incident. Inspectors may also check governing body minutes to ensure that a report on this has been considered at least once a year.

Gender Equalities
The gender equality duty requires a school to:

	Promote gender equality
	Eliminate sex discrimination

Inspectors will be looking at the curriculum to consider how it promotes gender equality and whether the school monitors discrimination in access to sports facilities, trips and educational visits, out-of-hours provision etc.

Disability Equalities
All learners with learning difficulties (LDD) are included within the remit of the Disability Equality Duty. It applies to any child who, under the Code of Practice, requires any different or additional provision. This means that it is unlawful to discriminate in respect of:

	Admissions
	Provision of education and services
	Exclusions

Inspectors will be seeking to ensure that the school has 'due regard' for:

	Eliminating discrimination
	Eliminating harassment of disabled people
	Promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people
	Encouraging participation by disabled people
	Taking steps to meet their needs, even if this means they receive more favourable treatment

Making and reporting the judgement

Inspectors have three crucial judgements to make in respect of equalities:

	How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners (i.e. the progress of learners according to race, gender and disability) ;
	How well learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make progress;
	How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated

Inspectors will spend very little time in checking schemes. Schools will either have the three duties covered, or they won't. Most of the time will be spent on:

	checking whether they are effective in promoting equality and eliminating discrimination
	ensuring that the school itself is reviewing their impact

To be satisfactory in respect of the 'three equalities', a school must meet its legal obligations but also have an impact. If this is not the case, the equalities judgement will be 'inadequate', which will adversely affect judgements around Leadership and Management, Achievement and Standards and Care, Guidance and Support.