2.4. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

Its important that we have these guidelines, policies and legislations in schools and organisations as they are there to protect all students and employees. All children have the right not to be discriminated against in any way. Its also partition is encouraged regardless of sex, race, culture or religion. It is important to support participation and equality of access so every pupil has the

Each school must produce a range of policies which formally set out the guidelines & procedures for ensuring equality. These must take account of the rights of all individuals & groups within the school. When considering the way policies work to ensure equality & inclusion, we often just think of the teaching & learning that is happening within the classroom. Policies must also pay regard to the values & practice which are part of all aspects of school life.

There is various legislation and codes of practice relevant to the promotion of equality and valuing of diversity in including:

The organizations where I work promote equality, diversity and inclusion in both policy and practice. Staffs should regularly be reminded the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in day to day practice. Staff should respect the choice, preference, ethnicity, origin, rights, and wishes of service users. Care staff should be allocated to service user to make sure that

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2001 outlines the statutory guidance for policy and the procedures and responsibilities towards children and special educational needs. It includes the levels of support which should be provided to children depending upon their individual needs.

Page 5 - 1.1 - Identify the current legislation and codes of practice relevant to the promotion of equality and valuing diversity

All schools must have policies that are designed to reflect the rights and responsibilities of those within the school. These policies should provide guidance to staff and visitors who attend the school on ways to ensure inclusive practise is used.

So is important that we, critically, self-assess our attitudes and values, to find out what is necessary to improve or to change, towards a better understanding of the school diversity, a better awareness of possible barriers and how to face them, in a way to promote inclusion on school environment. Not making suppositions about children and young people and have a wider knowledge about their backgrounds, interests, abilities, individual needs and positive attributes, will help us to provide more efficient, suitable and personalised support for them. Is also important, to take in to account, at all the time, the importance of that diversity and the ways to avoid discrimination. Schools (in their policies) and we, as component part of the school, have the duty to guarantee that, anti-discriminatory practice (and not discrimination), is promoted.

Legislations and codes of practice help us to better understand the school policy in which we work. We are not expected to know all the details of each and every code and legislations but as a practitioner working with children, we need to identify the main one that has to do with promoting equality and valuing diversity in school. We need to show that we are aware of them in our practice. Each school must produce a range of policies which formally sets out the guideline and procedure for ensuring equality. These must take into account of the rights of individuals and groups within the school. Policies should also provide guidance for staff and visitors to the school on ways to ensure inclusive practice. There may be a number of separate policies or they may be combined. Policies must include ways that schools work in relation to:

n a childcare setting it is vital that each and every practitioner is aware of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and procedure and it is also vital that this policy is implemented in the everyday provision. With practitioners being aware of this policy they should ensure the activities they plan and provide involves equal opportunities and that every child in the setting is also treated equally.

Put into place and implement written procedures to deal with dangerous, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a legally-binding international agreement setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.

There are many legislations relating to diversity, equality and discrimination, on October 2010, the Equality Act 2010 came into effect. This Act replaced previous legislations (such as the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995). This act ensures that people are protected from discrimination in the work place and in wider society.

Additional needs- whether these are additional educational, physical, dietary needs the setting needs to be able to accommodate for anyone who is there. For example Smarties has a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) to help and advise parents, staff and children who have additional needs.

Since a school’s policies and procedures are adopted from laws passed by the Government it means they are official documents and as such need to be regularly checked and audited to see if they are still correctly serving their purpose. When a school decides to create a new policies/ procedures, or review an old one, new documents have to be drafted, checked, ratified and signed off before they can be put into practice. It is the schools responsibility to ensure that all Staff have been made aware of the new policies or changes and that any necessary training can then be provided for