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REVIEW OF EQUALITY OBJECTIVES 2012-2016 Report of: The Director of Human Resources

Review of Equality Objectives 2012-2016

The five key areas identified by the College for our Equality objectives were as follows: 1. Awareness, understanding and ownership. 2. Embedding Equality into all areas. 3. Analyse Equality data annually and identifying areas for improvement. 4. Increasing Diversity profile mix for Staff, Students and Governors to reflect the

wider communities we serve. 5. Engaging with stakeholders and wider community re Equality and Diversity

practice.

Objective 1 : Capel Manor College’s vision and policy for Equality and Diversity will be communicated to everyone: to ensure awareness, understanding, responsibility and ownership:

- to all students from enrolment, through induction, the student handbook, lessons, tutorials, posters and all aspects of College life

- to all staff through the communication of the equality and diversity policy and single equality scheme, the core staff and management competencies that staff are measured against (customer focus & managing diversity), staff training and through the Quality Improvement Plan

- conveyed to all stakeholders, partners and the local community through publications and communications

The College has performed well against this objective overall. Clearly with staff turnover and, more significantly, with high student/learner turnover due to regular recruitment the challenge is ongoing. Equality Objectives, Single Equality Scheme(SES), SES Action plans and Annual Data reports have all been published externally on the Capel Manor College website and posters have also been put up to ensure message is conveyed externally, the commitment to E&D is also clear in the staff welcome booklet, the staff induction, the student handbook, the student induction, the College Aims and the Public Value Statement and the College prospectus. The College has also maintained the Positive About Disabled People/Two Ticks Award throughout the period and has also signed the Ambitious about Autism charter.

Key Activities delivered in 4 year period (some these also relate to next objective as well):

All staff attend Welcoming Equality and Diversity training either in a face to face setting or online. Levels of participation have been maintained at 90%. The College has rolled out online E&D training to ensure all staff have undergone core training on both E&D and Disability. This is also used as refresher for existing staff. An online ‘managing equality’ has also been made available to all line managers.


Ensured all new managers are trained in recruitment and selection (creation of Job

Descriptions and Person Specifications as well as selection techniques). The requirements re E&D and merit based decisions are made clear and if a manager whose new and untrained has to recruit they are supported on the panel and in the development process by member of the HR team or a senior manager.

E&D are part of staff competencies expected and managed (Staff Comps, Academic Staff Comps and Management Comps).

‘We Welcome Equality’ poster has been produced and implemented. This sets out the College’s commitment to Equality and Diversity and non-tolerance of harassment or discrimination as well as providing E&D group contact details. Other posters have also been produced to support Equality Events (see below) which has included signing the LGBT pledge.

The College has continued to deliver training and briefing to students (and employers re WBL), informing them about their rights and responsibilities and to promote equality for all protected characteristics’.

College has held regular equality events e.g. Black History week, LGBT day, Mental health awareness and these have expanded to attract more students and have been well received. College has promoted good relations between persons (including learners and staff) who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. Although this is embedded it is supported by the additional Equality Awareness Events held.

Individual Student Information is shared in order to properly support all members of staff who may have to deal with a specific situation. This includes library & restaurant staff, reception staff & drivers. This is also further supported through the recent introduction of one page profiles on high need learners.

Training has been delivered to academic staff to encourage and support them when embedding diversity and equality within the curriculum. There has been a market place workshop to share best practice and there is also now a shared area on Moodle for lecturers to access best practice.

FT/WBL students receive an E&D tutorial as part of the tutorial programme. PT/WBL

students receive E&D booklet to inform and brief them.

A Core Monthly organisational staff induction is held which includes E&D (9 protected characteristics, E&D Group and College expectations).

Continued to deliver specific training to staff to support disabilities and learning difficulties (as part of College CPD in-house programme) as well funding staff to attend relevant public courses.

Equality Guidance has been produced to assist academic staff in implementing

Equality best practice. Guidance & Briefings on: -Learning Support Plan Process

-Embedding equality in curriculum


-Making reasonable adjustments -Overview of equality legislation -Inclusive Risk Assessments

From 2012/13 onwards the staff CPD programme has included a new course called ‘Intro to Management’ which has been specifically targeted to female and BME staff (the course is open to all but BME or female staff are encouraged to attend) as the College does have (based on 31.12.11 data and beyond) some under representation from both groups at management level.


Objective 2 : Capel Manor College will further embed Equality and Diversity into our functions and service delivery:

- Equality and Diversity will be key to the College’s Quality Improvement Plan

- Customer Focus and Managing Diversity will continue to be part of staff and management competencies

- All Staff will continue to be trained to welcome and support equality and diversity, appropriate staff will be trained in equality subjects to support specific areas e.g. embedding equality into the curriculum

- Equality and Diversity will be embedded into all Schemes of Work

- An Equality analysis (previously called Equality Impact Assessment) programme will continue to be implemented

- Analysis of Staff and Learners Satisfaction to determine areas of focus and action

This objective will support all of aims and specifically the following aims:

promote equality of opportunity, positive attitudes and foster good relations between all members of the College community;

provide relevant equality and diversity training to all staff to help them carry out their role with respect to the promotion of equality of opportunity in the College community;

Actions listed above under objective 1 have also delivered progress against this objective.

The annual College Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) has included Equality improvement actions each year, this has become more closely aligned with SES action plan to ensure join up and remove any duplication, the Director of HR is now producing the Student Report and this will be done in line with the SAR to ensure join up to SAR/QIP process. Learner Satisfaction has been analysed and this has informed SAR and QIP annually.

This year QIP for 15/16 contains 220 individual actions, 33 or 15% have a link or direct impact on equality and diversity in the College. Issues addressed by include:

promotion of equality and diversity in teaching and learning

participation of different age groups

outcomes for different age groups

outcomes for students with Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

outcomes for students with Asperger’s Syndrome

using appropriate role models to develop a positive professional culture

promotion of British Values in teaching and learning

promotion of healthy lifestyles


Staff and Management Competences continue to include ‘Student/Customer Focus and Managing Diversity’ this competence is also part of the Academic Staff Competences implemented in 2013.

The Scheme of Work, standard template, has a clear requirement to embed E&D and this has been implemented and is now consistent across courses.

Equality analysis/Equality Impact Assessments continues to be undertaken especially in relation to Policies and Procedures (both Staff and Student), the College management mindset consistently includes equality considerations and this has been well embedded. Records of such thinking does need to be documented more consistently re Plans and Practices.

In terms of staff satisfaction the following key points can be outlined:

o The number of equality questions has been increased as planned from the original 3 (see below)

I am familiar with the organisation's Equality and Diversity policy

Appropriate attention is given to Equality and Diversity

The Organisation provides a suitable environment for people with disabilities

(Equal Opps was replaced with Equality and Diversity), originally in 2012 the 3 general questions were increased to 5 questions plus a general question on each of the nine protected characteristics. Extra Questions:

The College welcomes and supports equality and diversity, providing equal opportunities to all

The organisation is committed to challenging discrimination

The interest of each of the following protected equality characteristics are sufficiently

recognised by the College:

Age

Disability

Gender Identity

Marital Status

Pregnancy and Maternity

Race (including ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality)

Religion and Belief

Sex (Gender)

Sexual Orientation

If you disagree with any of these please explain why and how you think the College can develop

further

Therefore the College moved to 14 questions from the original 3, in 2016 the staff survey was reduced in terms of questions to improve user friendliness and time taken to complete to increase return levels (the survey was made online in 2014). This lead to the question ‘Appropriate attention is given to Equality and Diversity’ being removed

as it duplicated partly other questions (especially question re College welcoming and supporting equality and 9 questions that each characteristic is sufficiently recognised).


When the objective was devised a measure set was to increase the equality questions which has been achieved, the other measure was that the ratings achieved in 2011 would be increased and the College would be in the upper quartile compared to the sector benchmark: Increase by minimum of 5 points staff satisfaction ratings on the three current equality questions, move the College into upper quartile re FE benchmark for all three over next 4 years:

2011 Ratings

With Question 40 removed this cannot be fully measured but none the less progress has been achieved.

2016 Ratings

I

The College has moved into the upper quartile for 2 out of the 3 benchmarked questions. The commitment to challenging discrimination is not a standard sector question so it is not benchmarked. Therefore the College’s performance cannot be compared to the sector.

The ratings achieved have increased by 5 or more for same 2, unfortunately based on 2016 the last question has not gone up in terms of rating (68) but the percentage agreeing has increased from 89 to 92 with a larger number of returns given. The nine protected characteristics questions are also not benchmarked but since their introduction in 2013/14 have achieved very positive results (see below re distance travelled).

Equality

2015/2016 Distance Travelled since 2010/11

29 Familiar with the Equality and Diversity policy 86 +5 +10

30 Welcomes/supports E&D, providing equal opps 84 +4 =

31 Committed to challenging discrimination 83 +5 +5

32 Provides a suitable environment for disabilities 68 +5 =

Equal Opportunities Flattened

Total

Agree% Rating

Upper Quartile – A

Lower Quartile

– D

39 I am familiar with the Equal Opportunities policy 120 93 76

40 Appropriate attention is given to Equal Opps 119 96 76

41 Org provides suitable environment for disabilities 119 89 68

Equality Flattened

Total

Agree% Rating

Upper Quartile – A

Lower Quartile – D

29 I am familiar with the Equality and Diversity policy 133 98 86

30

The College welcomes and supports equality

and diversity, providing equal opportunities

to all

133 95 84

31 The org is committed to challenging discrimination 133 96 83 N/A

32 Org provides suitable environment for disabilities 134 92 68


Characteristics sufficiently recognised

Distance Travelled since 2013/14

33 Age

81 +4 +4

34 Disability

75 = =

35 Gender Identity 80 +1 +1

36 Marital Status

81 -2 -2

37 Pregnancy and Maternity 81 -1 -1

38 Race

79 -2 -2

39 Religion and Belief 80 -1 -1

40 Sex (Gender)

81 +3 +3

41 Sexual Orientation 81 +1 +1

Characteristics sufficiently recognised – 2015/16 Percentage Agreed Age 100% Disability 95% Gender Identity 100% Marital Status 99% Pregnancy and Maternity 98% Race 98% Religion and Belief 98% Sex (Gender) 99% Sexual Orientation 99%

All nine characteristics have a 95% or above agreement level which is very positive, one area that gets some comment from staff is disability as a small number believe more should be done re disabled access around the Estate. This has been improved but Listed buildings/Limited funding do make this more challenging. The College does find solutions but some staff have an expectation that we should develop to be more accessible for potential disabilities (rather than ensuring we meet actual needs that arise unless completing refurbishment or new build).

The College has ensured compliance with building standards and ensured a checklist for accessibility of new build and refurbishments is completed on each occasion.

In terms of learner satisfaction the questions have been developed in line with

the original objective measure to increase the number of Equality (related) Questions, the majority were added in 2011/12 for the Exit Survey (May 2012), below is an outline of the questions and current levels of agreement (May 2015):

Before You Started at the College Agree%

3 I felt welcome on my first day at College 93

Teaching and Learning Agree%

17 Staff treat me with respect 93

Rooms and Equipment Agree%

36 The rooms I use are suitable for my course 93


All of the 12 questions outlined above have either improved (11 out of 12) in distance travelled this year or been maintained (1of12, Q36), so it is pleasing to note current progress. Clearly this is an area that needs continued focus especially as student turnover means working with new groups each year.

The Equality Poster up at all sites and across sites also demonstrates the embedding and more significantly the number, range and quality of Equality Events now held through the Student Activity team and Centre Heads. This supports promoting good relations between persons (including learners and staff) who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

The number of students with high need has also increased and this has also further embedded equality work around disabilities as more staff have been developed/supported to meet these needs i.e. physical and mental disabilities.

Individual Student Information has been shared in order to properly support with all members of staff who may have to deal with a specific equality situation. This has and does include library & restaurant staff, reception staff & drivers.

The College has continued to deliver training and briefing to students (and employers re WBL) and staff, inform them about their rights and responsibilities and to promote equality for all protected characteristics’.

All Managers are trained in Recruitment and Selection to ensure they support equality and safeguarding and do not discriminate either directly or indirectly

The College has incorporated diversity, equality and accessibility principles into all schemes of work and into student project activity and work assignments where appropriate. Increased awareness of diversity. Raised awareness of mental health issues. Helped to break down the stigma of Mental Health conditions. Building Mental Health awareness into the timetable, having health professionals in for a week each year with sessions for all full and part time courses.

The College has undertaken an annual review of the progress and outcomes to meet the needs of disabled learners where they are different from the needs of learners who are not disabled, this has been done alongside or as part of the annual student equality data report (see next objective).

Wellbeing

Agree%

39 I feel safe at the College 96

43 The College deals with bullying well 88

44 Know that I can get help from Student Services 86

45 The College staff are friendly and helpful 95

46 Students are treated fairly and equally 90

48 Received help with learning diffics/disabs 80

51 On my course the teacher talked about equality 84

General College Facilities and Services Agree%

54 Help I have with disability/learning is good 100

55 The College feels welcoming 92


The College has improved interpretation within the gardens to support people with disabilities and other visitors. Visitors have been surveyed to obtain feedback on our offer in terms of equality

The College has undertaken an annual review of the commitments required as a

recognised user of the Positive about Disabled People symbol in relation to disabled applicants and staff which included an onsite review by job centre plus and has successfully maintained the Positive about Disabled People symbol throughout.


Objective 3 : Capel Manor College will monitor and analyse Equality and Diversity data for both Staff and Students to determine areas of under representation and differences in satisfaction, retention, achievement and success:

- Annual Staff Data report to be produced by 31 January each year and then reported to the E&D Group and the Finance and General Purposes (Governing Body) Committee – the Single Equality Scheme Annual Action Plan will then be developed following the analysis

- Annual Student Data report to be produced by 31 January each year and then reported to the E&D Group and Curriculum and Quality (Governing Body) Committee – the Single Equality Scheme Annual Action Plan will then be developed following the analysis

Please note the 31 January 2012 data reports did not make comparisons to 2011 Census data as this was not available at the time. From 31 January 2013 data comparison to the Census 2011 re London equality profiles has been made.

This objective will support all of the College’s aims and specifically the following aims:

- eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation in connection with the named protected characteristics. Investigate all complaints of discrimination, victimisation or harassment and take prompt and appropriate action;

- monitor complaints received from, and the disciplinary sanctions taken against any member of

the College community (this is actioned in the annual E&D reports);

- take positive steps where workable to address any under-representation of minority groups in the provision of employment and training or widening participation to include socially or economically disadvantaged learners in the provision of education;

- carry out an annual review of the procedures for supporting students who have disabilities and learning difficulties;

- take steps to balance the rights of individuals where the rights of individuals may appear to conflict. This will be done in a sensitive, fair and where possible in a non-discriminatory manner. (The College recognises that rights must be exercised in a way which is compatible with the rights and interests of others. In these circumstances the College may take steps to discriminate against a particular group and objectively justify its position that the action is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim or a necessary means for the efficient and peaceful running of the College.);

- carry out an annual self assessment exercise to evaluate the implementation of the Equality and Diversity policy and produce reports which will summarise any action that needs to be taken to address any identified areas of weakness. In doing this the College will undertake consultation/discussion with Staff and students (via course reps) and other stakeholders (where possible which may include external community groups who represent minority groups).

The annual equality reports (Student and Staff/GB versions) have been completed on time each year and reported to and considered by the Equality and Diversity Working Group in both cases and then to the relevant Governing Body committees (C&Q and F&GP).

The depth of both reports has expanded each year in part because more comparison can be made in terms of the census and distance travelled. In terms of student


report this has become more comprehensive and from 2014 includes a review of the procedures (and effects on achievement) for supporting students who have disabilities and learning difficulties. All of the areas identified for analysis are being completed and the student report this year shows that the College is very strong in terms of limited achievement gaps between protected characteristics.

The annual reports have demonstrated good progress in terms of equality and the diversity mix and has informed the annual single equality action plan created each year with areas of focus and actions being based on the data and the overall equality objectives. The annual reports and the annual action plans have all been published on the Capel Manor College website and are therefore accessible to the public who can see the current diversity levels and the progress being made.

There have been numerous actions devised and delivered in the annual single equality action plans many of which have been outlined in the first 2 objectives above. Please see annual action plans and the annual reports for further details.

In terms of increasing the diversity profile which is reviewed under objective 4 below the College has looked at sources of recruitment and the messages given to attract more diverse learners and staff. Progress has not been as good for learners (partly due to funding restraints) but in terms of both staff and Governing Body profile it has clearly become more diverse. The learner achievement gap levels demonstrate the College is good at supporting all different types of learners but clearly would like to attract more non-white British Learners into Landbased education.

The student data collected has been expanded as planned to include Religion and Sexual Orientation as well as Age, Gender, Ethnicity and Disability. The level of response in these area is lower than desired but some progress is being made and ways to improve data collection are being considered (see Student report 2015).

The level of staff now providing data in the harder to gather areas (Sexual Orientation, Religion and Marital Status) has significantly improved due mainly to the effort of the E&D group/HR as part of the annual plans to encourage staff, again the progress is pleasing but clearly effort needs to be maintained.

The College has undertaken positive action to increase staff diversity profiles i.e. posting all management posts on the Women’s Leadership Network (also trailing the Black Professional Network) and more significantly putting on training to support development and progression which has been targeted at under represented groups.


Objective 4: Capel Manor College will seek to increase the Equality and Diversity mix of our staff, students and governors over 4 years to 2016:

- Current staff profiles identify under representation re ethnic mix (non-white) compared to London FE and also internally at management level.

o Increase percentage of all staff ‘Non-White’ groups by 10% meaning that overall increases from 10.4% (in 2012) to 11.4% or above by 2016

This has been achieved and exceeded. The College non-white group now represents 14.89% of the staffing population. The College has continued to advertise widely online through key general recruitment sites i.e. CV Library, Jobsite, Reed etc., although there is no longer an ‘equality’ site used (previously we used MyDiversity but this did not actually produce any meaningful number of applications). The College adverts continue to contain our commitment to equality and it is pleasing that the College is becoming more ethnically diverse, this is partly helped by having a wide range of employment opportunities, the landbased jobs are still harder to attract BME candidates into but this is improving.

o Increase percentage of non-white managers by 10% meaning that group increases from 7.2% to 8% or above by 2016

(Actions to support deliver will be achieved through existing plans in the SES, introduction to management training courses, through advertising messages encouraging BME applications and by building links with BME organisations so jobs can be advertised through them. A specific link identified is for the College to join the Network of Black Professionals who works with Colleges and their BME members to increase BME representation. )

The College did make use of Network of Black Professionals in terms of advertising a management post on their site which was quite expensive compared to general online advertising, the advert did not produce any applications so the E&D group agree not to seek full membership or advertise further as it did now prove value for money or beneficial re diversity of applications. It is however pleasing to acknowledge that despite not being to develop successful BME links the College has succeeded in achieving the objective (8%+) and now has 9.31% of Manager being non-white.

In 2012/13 the staff CPD programme included a new course called ‘Intro to Management’ which was specifically targeted to female and BME staff as the College does have (based on 31.1.12 data) some under representation from both groups at management level. This has been well received and was repeated in 13/14 and 14/15 and will run again in 15/16, the course is not ringfenced but underrepresented staff are encouraged to attend.

- Current staff profiles indicate under representation re sexual orientation mix, no comparison has yet been made (the 2011 census data and 2012 SIR data will be used in 2013), however numbers appear low. Currently the College has 1.2% of staff who are lesbian, gay or bisexual – however 43.7% have not provided the data and 12.6% have declined to say.

o Increase percentage of non-heterosexual staff from 1.2% and double it to 2.4% at least by 2016


o Reduce percentage who have not provided data from 43.7% to 10% by 2016

Actions to support this will be by encouraging staff to provide the data and reminding them that use of the data is global not individual, staff will also be told to complete with some answer and not leave as not stated. The College will also contact Stonewall as part of the SES annual plan for 2013 to identify what actions if any may improve College equality (both real and perceived) in terms of Sexual Orientation and as part of this the College will measure current performance against Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index.

This has been achieved with College now having 3.41% of staff who are non-heterosexual. The not provided data has been significantly reduced and is currently 1.7% (4 staff out of 235) and this has been key in achieving the 3.41%. The E&D group and the Director of HR have sent out email prompts in line with above and the Director of HR took advice from Stonewall about how to encourage staff to provide data; this is also covered by the Director of HR in the E&D training he delivers to all staff. These actions along with the collection of data throughout recruitment has improved the accuracy/completion of data held, however it must be noted that 17.45% (41 staff) have declined to specify so the picture is not 100% complete but it is much more valid now. See extract from Annual Data report for 31/12/15:

The All staff percentage of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual has increased very marginally this year and is currently around 3.5% up from 3% last year which when considering that almost 20% have declined to specify or not provided it would appear to suggest that the College may actually closer to 4-5% and therefore more in line with Stonewall’s estimated population figure of 5-7% if every member of staff provided data clarity, this is clearly not reliable but whilst 20% do not declare it cannot be clear that the college is under represented; hopefully the trends of more staff specifying and more staff specifying as Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual will continue and Capel Manor College will move into the 5-7% figure. At the E&D training and also in the E&D group the option of having separate Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual group has been discussed and offered but there has been no take up for this, indeed staff satisfaction as shown section 5 is extremely positive on all Equality characteristics including sexual orientation.

The College has not measured performance against Stonewall’s Equality Index due to other priorities but has built up a good relationship with Stonewall and has developed staff internally through Stonewall to deliver training to teaching and support staff on tackling homophobic bullying which has been well received.

- Current Governor profiles show under representation in terms of the diversity mix of the Governor Body in terms of Age (50% are 60 years+) Disability (no declared disabilities), Gender (83% male), Religion (61% Christian) and Sexual Orientation (61% Heterosexual). (Please note at start 22% of Governors had not yet responded)

o Governing Body’s Search Committee to identify a strategy to increase the diversity mix which does not prevent the current levels of interest from highly experienced and influential individuals. – Strategy to be agreed by end 2012 with clear target identified with timescales.


Increasing the Diversity profile of Governors was discussed by the Governing Body’s Search Committee and when governor vacancies arise they are advertised on the Women’s Leadership network. The national press was also used to recruit a new Chair of Governors as well as a range of General Websites and the MyDiversity website. The turnover of Governors is very limited and normally Governor’s serve a 3 year term which is often renewed, the College also is fortunate to have a waiting list of prospective Governors meaning that advertising is often not required. All this makes changes to the Diversity profile both slow and somewhat limited, this is especially true re age as Governor tend to retired individuals who are position to volunteer their time (with the exception of the Principal Governor, the Staff Governor and the Student Governors), that being said the College does have a number of Governors who are not retired. It most also be noted that the number of Governor has increased from 18/19 to 20. The Diversity profile has improved in terms of mix in most areas:

Age: The percentage over 60 has increased from 54.6% (31/12/11) to 55% (31/12/15) however this is only an increase of 1 Governor, the spread of other ages has remained fairly static with the main growth being in age group 45-54 which has increased from 13.6% to 20%, the main reduction has been in the 25-34 group this mainly due to Student Governor changes (i.e. on 31/12/11 both Student Governors fell into this group where as it is normally an older student and a younger student), indeed this is supported by the other main increase in the under 24 group which increased from 0% to 5% based on one student governor being in this age group.

Disability: The percentage disabled has increased from 0% to 10% meaning that the Governing Body is more diverse than the staff percentage of the census data so this is very positive.

Gender: The male percentage has reduced from 83% to the current 65% again this is pleasing especially as this has been achieved without any gender bias.

Religion: The mix here has not changed significantly, in fact the percentage of Christians remains highest now with 70% from the original 61% (it is also highest in the College Staff profiles and also the London 2011 Census), all 20 Governors have provided data but 2 have chosen don’t wish to state (10%) so full picture is unknown. Clearly as non-religious organisation Religion has no baring on appointments and it would not be appropriate to seek Governors of certain religions therefore the search committee have set no target here.

Sexual Orientation: The not provided percentage (22.7%) has been removed and is now 0%, however 1 Governor (5%) has declined to specify, Heterosexual is now 95%. No target has been set here but clearly it would be positive to have more diversity although it should be noted that 1 has declined to specify so the full picture cannot be gleaned.

Marital Status and Transgender have not been collected from Governors and is not planned in the future.


Current Student profiles show under representation in terms of data as the College only currently collects Age, Disability, Ethnicity and Gender, data has not yet been compared to the 2011 Census as it was not available. Based on the data produced for 31.1.12 the College is under represented College wide in terms of ethnicity.

The College will develop a strategy to further increase the ethnic diversity of its student population by 10% to 19.2% or above overall by 2016.

Academic Year 14/15

Year

All Other Ethnic Groups White British Start

Difference No. of Starts

Proportion %

No. of Starts

Proportion %

19+ Students

2012/13 902 31.2 1985 68.8 1083

2013/14 675 31.2 1490 68.8 815

2014/15 428 27.8 1110 72.2 682

Under 19 Students

2012/13 234 21.1 877 78.9 643

2013/14 218 18.5 960 81.5 742

2014/15 190 20.7 729 79.3 539

Whole College

2012/13 1136 28.4 2862 71.6 1726

2013/14 893 26.7 2450 73.3 1557

2014/15 618 25.2 1839 74.8 1221

The table above is taken from the Student EDI report for 2014-15, the last year of analysis. As can be seen the percentage of white British has increased over the last 3 years and this also true of the year before. The number of starts that are White British has reduced year on year but as a result of year on year reductions in adult funding causing a reduction in the number of part-time adult learners (i.e. 10% cuts to funding year on year) has meant a reduction of over a third in terms of adult numbers. At the same 16-18 (Under 19) numbers have increased but not at the same rate and although the non-white British number did increase in 2013-14, it reduced in 2014/15 but is still higher than 2012/13.

The College marketing has been developed to try to attract more BME learners by stressing the opportunity for self employment/running your own business which Black members of the E&D group suggested would help attract BME people. This has been analysed in the 2014/15 report where the following was stated and again the Landbased curriculum was recognised as a barrier to attracting more BME learners; the College does over recruit 16-18 learners in terms of taking on unfunded learners but clearly this cannot exceed group sizes so it is worth recognising that there is not full flexibility. Clearly the College would like more diverse learners in terms of ethnicity but most important is to attract appropriate learners based on Merit and the College has continued to attract more 16-18 learners each year:

- Ethnicity

- The absolute level of ethnic diversity has fallen this year which is slightly

disappointing although this is affected by changed recruitment resulting from funding

changes. When you compare to industry (Green Spaces) the College is much more

ethnically diverse but is quite different to the London Census profile with a white

population of more than 85% compared to the census showing London as around

60%.


- In terms of participation the College needs to continue with its aim of making the

student body more diverse this is not easy due to the Landbased

historical/generational barriers that exist but it is clear that the best was to make our

industries and our own staffing more diverse is to provide Landbased education and

skills to ethnic minority people. Capel Manor College has a much more diverse

student body than other Landbased Colleges but clearly continued effort is required;

the E&D Group will focus on this and determine actions, it has been agreed that

newly appointed Marketing and Events Manager will become a member of the group

to ensure this fully joined up; she will attend her first meeting on 17th

of March 2016.

- Pass rates are fairly consistent across all ethnic groups. In terms of pass/success

rates there are no significant concerns in part due to a fairly consistent pass rate but

also where the average rate is not met it is based on very low numbers which can

easily distort based on individual cases. At 16-18 the main ethnic minority groups are

performing as well or better than White British. Clearly the College would like to

increase ethnic minority numbers and continue to monitor differences; in the past

focus groups have been held with learners however ethnicity is spread across courses

so at this stage does not appear to form a pattern for action to be taken.

In terms of the diversity of the student population the following improvements has been achieved:

Religion and Sexual Orientation have been added to existing equality data (Age,

Gender, Ethnicity, Disability) collected for the last 2 years, unfortunately students

have declined or not provided data in the main but the range collected/sought has

been expanded as planned, improvements are currently being implemented in terms

of how capture data to encourage greater clarity i.e. learners will from 16/17

complete equal opps forms away from the main application form and their parents so

they can be free(er) to express should they be willing to do so (currently Religion:

53% unknown, Highest group Christians (31.7%), followed by No Religion (10.13%),

Sexual Orientation: 80.5% unknown; 18.4% Heterosexual, 0.4% Gay/Lesbian, 0.6%

Bisexual).

The gender diversity across the college as a whole has improved and is now closer to London census data (Male: 49.3%/Female 50.7%):

Academic Year 14/15

Year

Female Male Start

Difference No. of Starts

Proportion %

No. of Starts

Proportion %

19+ Students

2012/13 1782 61.7 1105 38.3 677

2013/14 1328 61.3 837 38.7 491

2014/15 939 61.1 599 38.9 340

Under 19 Students

2012/13 697 62.7 414 37.3 283

2013/14 680 57.7 498 42.3 182

2014/15 520 56.6 399 43.4 121


Whole College

2012/13 2479 62.0 1519 38.0 960

2013/14 2008 60.1 1335 39.9 673

2014/15 1459 59.4 998 40.6 461

The disability profile was already a strength for the College in terms of comparison to

the London population and industry and it continues to be so as demonstrated by the

annual data report for 14/15.

Not Disabled Disabled

Not Provided

Declined to say

Capel Manor College Students (14/15) 86.9% 13% 0.1%

Green Spaces Survey 2009 94.54-

89.54% 5.46-

10.46%

Census 2011 (Households only) 95% 5% - -

The College continues to have a higher proportion of disabled learners compared to

be the population of London (albeit that 5% is based on households and there could

be more than one disabled person in the home) and also compared to industry; this

may also have something to do with students being more willing declare as we start by

asking about support requirements and therefore students are much more willing to

disclose compared to employees etc. There is however, a significant decline this year

in terms of the number of disabled learners following a high last year in the main this

is because of a complete reduction in students with certain disabilities according to

the current national coding and our student data reporting system i.e. the first 9

categories are all 0 this year; some of these may have been declared under Multiple

Disabilities and Other; this needs to be monitored to see if previous levels return;

coding is being reviewed to ensure greater clarity going forward. The College is now

part the scheme called Ambitious about Autism and it is pleasing to see the number in

this disability group has increased from 66 to 102 (an increase of 55%).

Age is an area where the College does not the same flexibility as funding is linked to

age and as stated Government funding for Adult learners (19+) has reduced. The

College is doing well in terms of increasing 16-18 participation as shown by extract

from latest Student EDI report:

College Participation by Age Groups (14-16 are excluded where they are funded by

Schools directly rather that College allocation)

Year

No. of Starts

Proportion %

Start Difference

19+ Students

2012/13 2887 72.2% 1776

2013/14 2165 64.8% 987

2014/15 1538 62.6% 619

Under 19 Students

2012/13 1111 27.8% 1776

2013/14 1178 35.2% 987

2014/15 919 37.4% 619


As can be seen in line with funding the proportion of 16-18s/under 19 is increasing

year on year whilst the proportion of 19+ decreases. The figures are based on starts

and 19+ tend to be part-time in the main so although according to starts the College

appears to approximately 1/3 under 19+ and 2/3 19+ based on guided learning

hours/full-time status of our under 19 students they are dominant in terms of hours at

college. There is no action to take here as funding is in the main key to determining

the College Age splits; the College does wish to maintain close to a 50/50 split

between the two group and this supports a professional learning environment and

based on hours is achieving this well.


Objective 5 : Capel Manor College will consult further with our stakeholders and wider community, especially our students re Equality and Diversity to ensure the College is listening to their needs and advancing the Equality and Diversity agenda in a really meaningful way:

- Capel Manor College’s Equality Objectives will be circulated and consulted upon once agreed and confirmed by the full Governing Body on 4 April 2012 (this will include all staff, all students (via Capella) and appropriate local community and equality groups) – the E&D policy and Single Equality Scheme were produced through the work of the College’s E&D Group and all staff have been consulted.

- Equality and Diversity will become a standing agenda item on the monthly course representative group meetings, Course Representatives will be consulted on these objectives. Students will be encouraged to set up a student Equality and Diversity Group.

- The College will set up further Equality groups as requested e.g. a Student Equality group or a BME Staff Focus group etc. – Currently there has not been sufficient interest in creating such groups – all are welcome to join the E&D Group which is now chaired by the Chief Executive. Equality and Diversity will also become standing agenda items on the Manager and Quality meeting agendas.

This objective will support all of the College’s aims and specifically the following aims:

take steps to balance the rights of individuals where the rights of individuals may appear to conflict. This will be done in a sensitive, fair and where possible in a non-discriminatory manner. (The College recognises that rights must be exercised in a way which is compatible with the rights and interests of others. In these circumstances the College may take steps to discriminate against a particular group and objectively justify its position that the action is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim or a necessary means for the efficient and peaceful running of the College.);

carry out an annual self assessment exercise to evaluate the implementation of the Equality and Diversity policy and produce reports which will summarise any action that needs to be taken to address any identified areas of weakness. In doing this the College will undertake consultation/discussion with Staff and students (via course reps) and other stakeholders (where possible which may include external community groups who represent minority groups).

Staff were consulted on the Equality and Diversity Policy created in 2012 along with the Equality Objectives and the Single Equality Scheme. The Equality and Diversity group have continued to be the driver of the SES Annual Action Plan, the Director of HR through his delivery of the Welcoming Equality and Diversity training also engages new starters and those refreshing in the subject and invites views which he then feeds back (to SMT or E&D group) or actions as required. There has not been one request to set up a further working groups beyond the E&D Group; this is explored at every E&D training session but no request has been made and instead the message is that staff believe a general E&D group is better as separate group are not necessarily useful and can isolate/segregate groups. Membership of the E&D


group has grown and now includes the two student Governors which had added to the richness of the group as well as ensuring there is a student voice.

Equality is a standing item on the Course Representatives agenda and views are fed

into both SMT and the E&G group by the Deputy Principal and Director of Estates and Buildings as appropriate. Clearly having the student governors on the E&D group which was implemented in 2015 has improved the student voice further. Course representatives have been asked if they want to set up their own E&D group but this has not required by learners.

The College has worked with a number of organisations to develop in terms of equality practice and to develop staff. For example the College has worked with LSIS re developing staff, worked with Stonewall in terms of supporting learners and encouraging staff to provide equality data, worked with Disabled Go to provide online development or e-learning on disabilities to both staff and learners.

The Annual Equality Reports and Annual Action Plans are published on the College

website for the public to review along with the College Equality and Diversity Policy and the Single Equality Scheme. The website also provide contact details and welcomes feedback and comment from the wider community or members of public. Unfortunately no feedback has been provided to date.

The Director of HR has sought views for example from the Enfield Racial Equality Council (EREC) but they like other Equality Groups have also suffered from funding cuts and do not have the time to provide consultation or feedback unless this is paid for. The college has agreed to pay for feedback/consultation on the Equality Objectives and the Single Equality Scheme/E&D Policy but this has been deferred so it is given on the new (4 Year) objectives set out below.