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Further education faces litmus test |
| Written by Mike D | |||
| Wednesday, 01 November 2006 03:07 | |||
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In a bid to ensure that race equality is mainstreamed into the heart of educational establishments, the CRE and the University and College Union (UCU) are joining forces to monitor race equality performance within further education institutions. The CRE and UCU are working together to monitor whether further education institutions are meeting their race relations duty to have the appropriate race equality policies (REPs) in place and to carry out race equality impact assessments (REIAs). The exercise will also identify areas of non-compliance and highlight areas of best practice. The further education sector has a unique opportunity to bring people together, practice integration and put diversity in action. As public authorities they have a clear role to ensure that they reflect the communities they serve and meet legislation requirements. The CRE's director of policy and public sector, Nick Johnson, said: Education is one of the most important sites of social and cultural integration. All education sites offer a chance to promote equality, participation and interaction amongst the whole population, to break down barriers that lead to segregation in our communities. We are keen to see how further education institutions are working towards developing an environment that supports their students and staff by mainstreaming race equality in every level of their service. This should not be for the sake of ticking boxes but ensuring good practice and that these institutions are playing their full part in building an integrated society. As the regulators of the Race Relations Act the CRE is the only body that has the powers to enforce the specific duties to promote race equality and it is committed to using the full range of its enforcement powers appropriately. Fifty further education institutions will be contacted to request their race equality policy. The aim of the project is to improve practice and highlight areas of concern and non compliance. The monitoring exercise will also evaluate employment data focusing on areas such as recruitment of staff and career progression. UCU Head of Equality and Employment Rights, Roger Kline said: The Race Relations Amendment Act should be a really positive tool for colleges to improve how they treat staff and how they ensure their courses meet the needs of local communities.The project will enable us to ensure that colleges understand the importance of race impact assessments on new and revised policies and practices. We are delighted to be working collaboratively with the CRE on this ground breaking project.
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