Rationale

Darlington Borough Council and Bishop Auckland College shared common concerns about the limited confidence of staff when they addressed equality and diversity (E&D) issues through their teaching, learning and assessment practices. Both partners are situated in largely white, semi-rural communities with little immediate experience of diverse cultures. The partners agreed that staff needed to go beyond “tokenistic” attention to E & D issues, and they hoped to create the conditions that would encourage them to take greater responsibility for making E & D central to each practitioner’s teaching.

Project Activities and Outputs

Approach and Methdology

What do we do with our equality and diversity learning? Feedback from Functional Skills L1 and L2 learners

The core project team was headed by the local authority team lead and included twelve representatives across each institution.  The project aimed to use collaborative practice and high quality CPD to improve staff knowledge and skills so they felt better equipped to

promote and celebrate E&D. The aspiration was that staff would feel more confident exploring E&D within their teaching, learning and assessment practices. It was also hoped that staff would feel better empowered to create space for meaningful dialogue, as well as respond effectively to prevailing issues as and when they arose.

The project research approach involved colleagues investigating their local practices.  The project was initiated by a collaborative CPD event led by an experienced facilitator. This participative approach was consolidated by subsequent activities that sought and valued learners’ contributions at all stages, as the learners were the ultimate recipients (and evaluators) of the project’s effectiveness of raising staff confidence. Case studies illuminating stages in the cycle of planning, implementation, individual and collaborative evaluation leading to wider adoption of approaches can be found in Appendices 1-4.

Issues that are important to us/ that we can teach others. L1 Functional English

Improving staff confidence relied on a strong participative ethos to create communities of practice; thus, the process of Joinery students constructing signs for the FE College’s Pride event was considered as important as their attendance at the event (See Appendix 4).  “Toolbox talks”, was a practice taken from the workplace, whereby workers would have an introductory briefing on that day’s jobs whilst sitting on their toolboxes.  Fundamental topics from E & D issues were foregrounded in this way to become central and integral in each session in the Local Authority provision. As the project progressed, the ‘Toolbox Talks’ became increasingly informed by learners and by staff, with the project team facilitating, rather than determining their content.  The final phase of the project focused upon strengthening learner voice, as well as collecting staff- narratives (e.g. Appendix 2) in relation to how their engagement in the project had affected both their confidence and ability to open up spaces of enquiry for E&D within their teaching, learning and assessment practices.

Professional Learning

Evidence of changes in teaching, learning and assessment practices.

There was high staff participation in pedagogic and research events, and these evaluated very positively. Changes in staff practice were evident in revised lesson plans, schemes of work and assignment briefs; staff and learner self-assessments of fresh approaches to E&D practice within their sessions; learner testimonies; and resources from local initiatives (annotated with staff and learner reflections).  Encouraging staff to ‘try one thing and reflect upon it’ led to a rich data set and generated a locally tested and validated bank of resources and reworked ideas for E&D teaching. Some staff reported reduced levels of fear to take risks and try new things as a result of the project’s emphasis on supportive, collaborative practice and shared problem solving (Meaby, 2018).

Evidence of improved collaboration and changes in organisational practices

Both the established FE College and the small local authority provider benefited from sustained exploration of their comparative approaches.  Within both contexts, staff collaboration and opportunities for focused “teacher talk” proved the basis for organisational change. This was evidenced through the adoption of new practices across both organisations; through contributions to the online shared spaces such as Padlet, and from staff testimonies which report on individuals’ personal and professional growth. Each setting had an existing ‘enrichment calendar’, (Appendix 3) or ‘diversity diary’, and the potential for these E&D topics to be brought to life through the project were explored by the project leads for each setting.

Meaningful debate also took place about how “naturally-occurring” opportunities to promote E&D might be better exploited; with suggestions tested and constructively evaluated within the newly established communities of practice. This “re-centring” of E&D was a progression from previous tokenistic approaches where E&D was regarded as another “add-on” in sessions. Staff more confidently assumed responsibility for introducing topics into their teaching and as such the E&D “champion” in the Local Authority now operates more as a facilitator than a director of activity.  The cultures of both organisations have been influenced as E&D became more actively highlighted through organisation of flagship events, redesign of institutional logos to visually reinforce organisational commitment and active engagement on social media.  (See Appendix 4).  Working more closely with organisational LGBTQ and SEND specialist groups ensured minority learner voices informed each settings’ inclusive approaches.