How to ensure equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at school

Seeing that all pupils receive the same opportunities

Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in schools are essential components required of today’s education providers.

Schools should be determined to ensure all children have equal opportunities regardless of their background. Whilst the Government has its own ways of seeing to the matter, schools can help tackle inequality from the frontline.

By ensuring all children feel respected, valued, and safe in their educational setting, schools create a community in which pupils aren’t treated differently but rather their differences are celebrated.

What is equality, diversity, and inclusion at school?

Equality is the idea that everyone is treated fairly, regardless of their background. This includes their culture, beliefs, age, gender, or any other aspect of themselves. To promote equality in the classroom, institutions will accept and promote pupils’ and teachers’ differences.

Diversity can be promoted in classrooms by utilising a range of activities and principles to help students recognise and respect people’s differences, creating an all-inclusive atmosphere (CPD Online). Classrooms and teaching plans should celebrate people’s unique ideas, strengths, and experiences.

Inclusion at school, also known as inclusive education, is achieved by providing teaching models that allow all students of all abilities to learn simultaneously, together, in the same room. This might come in the form of alternative teaching tools for students with visual or hearing impairments or access ramps, for example. An inclusive classroom is one that is supportive of all students’ needs.

The importance of feeling respected, valued, and safe at school

Not only is EDI a legal requirement, but schools and teachers are also passionate about creating cultures that nurture these policies.

Mutual respect between classmates can alter a student’s experience of school life. When seeing each other as equals, students show more consideration towards each other and look out for each other.

Likewise, recognising and/or commending acts of kindness, talents, and appreciation for ideas shared cultivates an environment in which students feel respected. This supports the idea that their interpretations and personality is valued by teachers.

Where students feel respected and valued, their feeling of safety is deepened. Being surrounded by people who respect and value your contributions creates a sense of belonging and support, allowing them to learn better.

Without fear of being bullied, fear for their physical and mental safety, and with an understanding that their teachers and peers believe they are capable, school pupils have a better chance of taking in and retaining information.

What schools can do

EDI is not just a box-ticking exercise

There are many ways to celebrate diversity and inclusion in a school. It’s not just about ticking boxes; it’s about making sure everyone feels they belong.

Nurturing an inclusive culture in practice this might look like:

• Celebrating the rich diversity of cultures in your school community through assemblies or other events that touch upon all aspects of life
• Introducing a uniform policy to establish a level of equality, which reduces students’ worries of bullying for clothing choice and condition
• Working with parents to ensure they understand their child’s learning experiences at school and how they can support them at home
• Parental engagement days where teachers, students and parents come together during or after learning hours to learn the dynamics of the classroom and the individuality of their children’s classmates
• Ensuring classroom materials avoid discrimination against race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, and those with disabilities
• Making use of resources from around the world

Invest in school leaders

Effective leaders need support from colleagues such as teachers and governors who share the same vision for how education should be delivered. This is so that everyone works together towards achieving shared goals.

For schools to be successful, they must have good leadership at all levels. Leadership in every department affects a school’s culture, from those who select the uniform, to those who assist in the classroom.

Once the goals and values of a school are fed throughout its infrastructure, teachers are then able to ensure all children get the same opportunities for learning regardless of their background. And teachers with the right training and support to deal with issues such as bullying or bias in the classroom are those who are able equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Focus on EDI for Ofsted inspections

The Ofsted inspection process should ensure schools have policies in place to tackle discrimination. This can be done by looking at the school’s equality policy, which should set out the steps taken by a school to make sure no student is disadvantaged because of their race, gender identity or sexuality.

It’s also important that Ofsted assesses whether a school has a culture of inclusion and diversity. This includes making sure that pupils from all backgrounds feel comfortable at school and are given equal opportunities to succeed academically as well as socially and emotionally.

Ofsted inspects and assessing a school based on (CPD Online):

• The quality of education for its disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Effectiveness of school policies and procedures.
• Consistent treatment of pupils by staff.
• A positive and respectful school culture.
• How safe the pupils and staff feel at the school, protected from bullying, discrimination, harassment, abuse and violence (online and offline).
• Effective safeguarding.
• Engaging families and communities in supporting pupils’ education.
• How equality and diversity is promoted across all parties.
• The effectiveness of training so that everybody can understand their role in promoting equality and diversity.
• How incidents breaching equality and diversity policy are managed and resolved.
• How equality and diversity is monitored and performance improved.

Put your own spin on the curriculum

It’s important for schools to ensure the curriculum challenges discrimination and prejudice but that it is also inclusive and accessible to all pupils. That means making sure the content of your lessons reflects all aspects of society, including race, gender, and sexuality.

Teachers should consider how they can make their lessons more relevant for students from different backgrounds. At the same time, they should also ensure the resources currently used in the school reflect diversity and promote inclusivity.

• Do the classroom examples used in lessons reflect people from different backgrounds?
• Are toys and books provided representing a range of identities and cultures?
• Do reading materials make proper use of pronouns and portray a varied sample of backgrounds?
• Do displays and lesson plans allow students with educational needs or disabilities to learn from them too?
• Are physical activities adapted for all abilities?
• Do any of your learning resources stereotype job roles?
• Are children given the resources to portray their own identity? i.e., with the use of differing shades for skin colours in art classes

 

There are many resources online to help develop schools’ EDI policies such as those from Equaliteach, Teach It, The Education People, The Book Trust, and Prodigy Game.

Conclusion

Schools can play a vital role in tackling inequality and ensuring all children have equal opportunities. It’s important that we have schools that are inclusive, safe, and respectful places where every child feels valued.

School leaders, as well as teachers, should be able to challenge bias and prejudice. Empowering all levels and departments in a school to promote EDI by encouraging them to make suggestions and decisions is vital.