Strategic and financial management
■ Integrate equality considerations within the strategic and financial planning process.
■ Recognise that equality arrangements could be financially rewarding as well as achieving corporate objectives.
■ Accept that there is a direct link between equality arrangements, access, increasing students numbers through recruitment and retention and achieving corporate goals.
Ethos and Philosophy
■ Continue to reflect the need for strong and positive links and partnerships between the College and the community within the corporate strategies, policies, vision and mission statements, personnel and staffing guidelines.
■ Reward achievements in the promotion of equality targets where appropriate.
■ Encourage all staff and students to contribute to good practice and to accept responsibility for the promotion of equality arrangements.
Advertising, marketing and promotion
■ Advertising in community media and distribution of publicity through community organisations and businesses owned by ethnic minority.
■ Make full use of ethnic minority network.
■ Target schools, clubs and centres with large ethnic minority users
Food, Personal services, cultural and religious needs
■ Encourage multi-cultural activities within and outside the College.
■ Engage counsellors/guidance officers with reasonable understanding and knowledge of the cultural needs of the large ethnic groups and a strong commitment to equality, diversity and multi-culturalism.
■ Provide a wider choice of food including vegetarian and Halal dishes.
Staffing and recruitment issues
■ Carry out awareness training for staff dealing with enquiries and interviews.
■ Ensure applications are re-designed to capture required equality information.
■ Appoint more visible ethnic minority governors and staff.
■ Ensure bilingual staff are available to help with visits by ethnic minority parents and relatives to the College to help them to understand what is going on.
■ Target recruitment advertisements using the ethnic minority facilities.
Environment and communications
■ Display positive images of students, staff and communities.
■ Establish a complaints policy and a grievance policy which includes an anti-racist perspective.
■ Deal firmly with racist graffiti, all forms of harassment, violence, abuse, bullying and provocation.
■ Ensure that staff are made aware of their responsibilities towards equality at planning and operational levels.
*The name of this College has been changed to preserve confidentiality but the action programme is real.
