Gender Equality Scheme April 2007 Contents Context Political & Social Context Statement of Intent College Distinctive Characteristics Learner Statistics Staff Gender Statistics Accountability & Leadership & Staff Roles Gathering & Using Information When Carrying Out Impact Assessment Embedding the New Duty into the Core Functions of the College Staff Training & Development The Development of Policies & Procedures The Provision of Services The Provision of Employment Publish, Monitor and Reviewing the GES and Action Plan Documents for Further Reference UK & FE Statistics Context The College already has a statutory duty to promote Disability Equality and from 6th April 2007 this duty applies to Disability Equality and Gender Equality respectively. The Gender Equality Duty introduces both general and specific duties to promote gender equality across educational institutions and within all of their practices, policies and procedures. The general duty requires the College to have regard to the need to: · Eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment · Promote equality of opportunity between men and women The specific duties include the production of a Gender Equality Scheme showing how the College will meet its general and specific duties, report annually on progress made and revise the scheme every three years. The specific duties require the College to: · Consult with employees, unions and stake holders and take relevant views into account · Consider the need to have objectives to address any causes of pay gap · Ensure the scheme sets out actions the College has or will take to: Gather information on the effect of its policies on gender equality Review the scheme in light of the information Assess the impact of current and future policies on gender equality Consult Ensure implementation of the objectives Report on progress annually and review the scheme at least every three years Political & Social Context The Duty is intended to address the fact that, despite 30 years of individual legal rights to sex equality, there is still widespread discrimination, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional as well as persistent gender inequality. Current sex equality laws, eg Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975, have not been wholly effective at preventing discrimination. There is still widespread discrimination in employment. For example, the Gender Pay gap remains, 2005 EOC statistics suggest women who work full time earn 17% less than men who work full time, while women who work part time earn 38% less. Current laws give individuals the right to challenge discrimination only after it has happened. Policies and practices that seem neutral can have a significantly different effect on women and men, often contributing to greater gender inequality and poor policy outcomes. Individual legal rights have not been enough to change this. Statement of Intent The following principles underpin the College’s GES: · The College, through its Governing Body recognises the real educational and business benefits of having a diverse community of staff and learners who value one another. It also recognises the different contributions they can make to achieve the College’s mission. · The College celebrates and values the diversity brought to its learners and workforce, and believes that the College benefits from having male and female learners across all curriculum areas and employing males and females across all areas of work and at all levels of responsibility. · The College aims to promote an inclusive institutional culture that recognises the social and intellectual benefits of a diverse learner population. The College is committed to making all provision widely accessible for all learners who are able to benefit from and succeed in their participation. Participation in a diverse learning community is a pre-requisite for the personal development of all individuals. · We recognise that the successful implementation of our Gender Equality Scheme requires the commitment, involvement and active support of the entire community including its partners and contractors. · Staff and learners are entitled to dignity and respect in the workplace and learning environment. We recognise that discrimination, direct or indirect, based on a person’s gender is unjust and it will not be tolerated. · We aim to address the under representation of men or women on particular courses / programmes of study. · We will provide effective support strategies from enquiry to completion which address issues of gender imbalance in learner registrations and completions. · We will provide flexible employment policies and practices that support effective work life balance irrespective of gender. · Job applicants, appointees and staff will be treated solely on the basis of their merits. · We will provide equal pay for work of equal value. College Distinctive Characteristics Middlesbrough College is a general further education and tertiary College (WP) and is the largest provider of post 16 education and training in the Tees Valley and employs 41 Managers, 227 Lecturers, 278 Business Support staff, 250 Claim basis staff and approximately 265 Agency staff and delivers programmes for 4,972 (FTE) learners. We anticipated a fall in full time numbers (FTEs) in 2005 / 2006 to 2,570 for 16-18: we achieved 2370 (92%). The College offers a full range of academic, vocational and professional programmes, in 14 of the 15 subject sector areas, as well as bespoke provision for commercial and industrial clients and a growing range of HE provision franchised from the University of Teesside. We are the largest provider of Train to Gain programmes and Skills for Life in the Tees Valley. We have one full CoVE in Hospitality and two partnership CoVEs in Transport & Logistics and Adult Social Care. The College currently operates from four campuses: Acklam Hall for A level provision, Marton Campus for Arts, Music and Media, Sport, Technologies and Skills for Life, Longlands Campus is the base for Engineering and Construction and Kirby Campus provides Health and Care, Hairdressing, Beauty Therapy and Travel and Tourism and Hospitality and Catering programmes. The College franchised 5% of its provision to 14 training organisations in the community and works in partnership with a significant number of stakeholders to provide a responsive, flexible curriculum. Middlesbrough itself is one of the most deprived boroughs in England with 40% of the wards falling within the 10% most deprived. In some neighbourhoods unemployment is five times higher than the national average. The proportion of the working age population with no qualifications at 21.6% is well above the national average of 15.6%. A high proportion of learners aged 16-19 receive an educational maintenance allowance. In August 2008 the College will move to a new single site, purpose built college building in the Middlehaven area of the town. Marketing material is anticipating the move. The planned curriculum offer reflects the benefits of single site working. Learner Statistics Success by Gender and Age 16-18 19+ All Ages 03 / 04 04 / 05 05 / 06 03 / 04 04 / 05 05 / 06 03 / 04 04 / 05 05 / 06 Female 65% 68% 70% 69% 72% 78% 68% 71% 76% Male 58% 61% 64% 71% 74% 76% 68% 70% 72% Contracted FTES Staff Gender Statistics 2005 / 2006 Staff in Post Average No. of Staff Male / Female % Term One Business Support 288.8 Male 29.0 Female 71.0 Lecturers 227.4 Male 52.1 Female 47.9 Management 45.6 Male 54.8 Female 45.2 Term Two Business Support 285.3 Male 29.3 Female 70.7 Lecturers 226.3 Male 51.5 Female 48.5 Management 44.3 Male 55.6 Female 44.4 Term Three Business Support 281 Male 29.5 Female 70.5 Lecturers 227.5 Male 51.0 Female 49.0 Management 42.3 Male 55.6 Female 44.4 Accountability & Leadership & Staff Roles All members of the College, learners, staff, governors, contractors will be responsible for their actions. It is the duty of all members of staff and every learner to avoid discriminatory practices and to actively discourage others who may engage in discriminatory activities; The following specific duties and responsibilities: · The Principal has overall responsibility for the duty and is accountable to the Board of Governors who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the College complies with its obligations under the relevant legislation and the duty. · Senior Management will ensure that the necessary resources and expertise are available to meet the duty. · All staff are responsible for the day to day implementation of the duty and its delivery in their area of responsibility. · The Head of Personnel Services is responsible for all aspects of equal opportunities in employment matters. This includes all staff related monitoring for ensuring the effectiveness of this policy. · All staff and learners are responsible for ensuring that at no time do any of their actions constitute an act of discrimination, harassment and ultimately victimisation. Individuals may be held personally accountable via the College’s Complaints, Grievance & Disciplinary / Code of Conduct Policies and Procedures. Gathering & Using Information When Carrying Out Impact Assessment Under the Gender Duty the College is required to gather and use information on the extent to which College Policies and practices effectively eliminate discrimination and harassment and promote equality between men and women. The College will be using the impact assessment process that was set up in compliance with the DES to establish the impact that policies and services may have in terms of gender and allow any negative effect to be mitigated. The College will be consulting with stakeholders including Trade Unions, learners, and using both hard and soft data to inform our practices. It will also analyse data from existing systems such as customer feedback, learner forums, staff and learner surveys and course data. A staff survey will take place during 2008 and will have specific questions in relation to the duty. A learner survey will take place during 2007 / 08 to provide further opportunity for the learner voice to be heard. Embedding the New Duty into the Core Functions of the College The College will consider the high level strategic processes and planning activities such as business planning, budget development, etc which will need to incorporate equality processes and practices. The College will need to have clear gender equality objectives as part of the organisational plan and report against these in any document reviewing this plan. The current College Self Assessment Report has a specific question about social inclusion and about customer needs, the College will need to ensure that departments are aware of their requirements under the Gender Duty and that as a result of any strategic objectives departments are incorporating this into their processes. The actions put into these sections of the improvement plans need to be reviewed. The College has an established record of celebrating diversity and promoting gender equality of opportunity, for example through the celebration of International World Women’s Day. Staff Training & Development All managers and staff will be trained in the duty. Where staff require specialist training this will be provided. Staff and managers carrying out impact assessments will receive appropriate training. The Development of Policies & Procedures New College policies and procedures will be subject to consultation through the College Impact Assessment Panel to ensure that they promote equality of opportunity for men and women and action will be taken to ensure barriers are not created, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Key statistics such as applications, enrolments, appointments and retention of staff and learners will be monitored to help the College assess the impact of its actions. Targets will be set to help ensure equality. The Provision of Services The College will seek to ensure that the services it provides are accessible to both men and women and will undertake research and seek feedback to ensure that this is the case. The College will consider whether men and women use the services differently, have different needs from the services and whether they receive different outcomes based upon their gender. The Provision of Employment The College will seek to meet its requirements under the Gender Duty as an employer. This will involve the following actions: · Ensuring a fair recruitment process · Avoiding a concentration of women and men in particular areas of work and taking steps to address it where it exists · Promoting and managing flexible working · Ensuring high level part time work and support part time workers · Managing leave for parents and carers · Managing pregnancy and return from maternity leave · Eliminating harassment and sexual harassment · Grievance and disciplinary procedures · Redundancy · Retirement · Equal pay · Work based training opportunities Publishing, Monitoring and Reviewing the GES and Action Plan The GES and Action Plan will be made available to all staff on the College intranet, to learners via the VLE and in a range of more traditional formats, on request. The GES and Action Plan will also be published on the College website. It will also be signposted to shortlisted job applicants as part of their application pack. References to the GES and Action Plan will be included in the learner handbook and during the learner induction process. It will become part of the electronic staff handbook. There will be ongoing involvement with staff and learners to identify the effectiveness of our GES and Action plan, for example, what is working well, where can improvements be made and further priorities for action. We welcome feedback on this Gender Equality Scheme and Action Plan and the way it operates. We are interested to know of any possible or actual adverse impact that this scheme may have on any groups. We would also like to know how effective this scheme and Action Plan are in promoting and delivering gender equality. Feedback can be sent by email to e.clare@mbro.ac.uk, or Emma Clare, Equality & Diversity Coordinator, may be contacted by telephone on 01642 298885. Documents for Further Reference · GES Action Plan · Equality & Diversity Policy · Equality & Diversity Annual Report 2005 / 06 Appendix - UK & FE Statistics UK Resident Population 2004 Age Group Females Males 000s % 000s % Under 16 5,489 18 5773 20 16-64 18847 63 18668 66 65 and over 5353 18 3994 14 All ages 29690 100 28435 100 (Source : ONS (2005) Mid-2004 population estimates, corrected December 2005). Further Education 2005 Learners on LSC funded FE provision – England Area of Learning Females Males 000s % 000s % Hairdressing & Beauty Therapy 107 93 8 7 Health & Social Care 444 66 231 34 Business Administration 237 64 134 36 English, Languages & Comms 159 63 92 37 Science & Mathematics 91 62 57 38 ICT 447 60 302 40 Engineer, Technology & Manufacturing 21 13 137 87 Construction 6 5 104 95 All Areas1 2496 59 1710 41 1Including areas not listed separately above. Source : Learning and Skills Council (2005) Further education, work based learning for young people and adult and community learning – Learner numbers in England 2004 / 05, ILR / SFR08.