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Hertford Regional College

Equality and Diversity Annual Report

2015-16

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Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Single Equality Scheme ........................................................................................................................... 3

Our community ....................................................................................................................................... 3

Post 16 provision and standards in region .......................................................................................... 3

Demographics ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation .................................................................... 4

Foster good relations between different groups ................................................................................ 4

Advance equality of opportunity ........................................................................................................ 5

Promotion of Equality and Diversity across College and in teaching and learning ............................ 5

Leadership and Management ............................................................................................................. 6

Our partners ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Data relating to student participation and success ................................................................................ 6

Our Staff .................................................................................................................................................. 8

Recruitment and selection .................................................................................................................. 9

Gender balance ................................................................................................................................... 9

Senior Leadership Team and direct reports ...................................................................................... 10

Disability ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Age .................................................................................................................................................... 10

Ethnicity Profile ................................................................................................................................. 11

Performance against equality objectives .............................................................................................. 11

Kayleigh Clayton, 1st Prize 2015-16 Celebrating Diversity Award winner for her poem entry, with HRC Principal and CEO, Tony Medhurst and Brian Cooke, Community Development Manager and sponsor, B3 Living.

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Introduction

This report demonstrates how Hertford Regional College (HRC) is meeting the public sector general and specific equality duties, and provides evidence that the College shows due regard to:

Eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation

Fostering good relations between different groups, and

Advancing equality of opportunity. It encompasses quantitative and qualitative data and provides a summary on progress towards the College’s equality objectives.

Single Equality Scheme

Hertford Regional College has a single equality scheme that sets out in detail its equality objectives and the manner in which it assesses its performance in this area. The scheme can be viewed by clicking on the link below: Click here to access the Single Equality Scheme on our website

Our community HRC is a medium-sized general further education College. It serves communities predominantly in East Hertfordshire, Broxbourne and North London. The College operates from its main campuses in Broxbourne and Ware, and also provides courses in a number of smaller community learning venues throughout the area. The majority of the College’s learners are drawn from the Hertfordshire local authority area, with the rest travelling from out-of-borough locations such as Enfield and North London.

Post 16 provision and standards in region The College provides a wide range of post-16 education and training including study programmes for 16- to 19-year-old learners, adult learning programmes, apprenticeships, higher education programmes, and provision for learners with high needs. The area in which the College sits is well served by sixth forms in local schools and academies. The proportion of Hertfordshire pupils who achieve five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and Mathematics, is above the national average. However, this varies considerably across the county, ranging from 54% in the south to 65% in East Hertfordshire. The corresponding figure for Enfield pupils was 62.4% in 2015/16.

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Demographics The College’s catchment area is large, diverse and relatively prosperous, although there are pockets of deprivation, particularly in the south of Broxbourne and in Enfield and North London. Adults locally have a lower level of qualifications than the national picture. In Hertfordshire, the proportion of pupils who go on to a sustained positive destination at 16 is 96%, and in Enfield, 94%.

Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation The safeguarding team and personal tutors have strong external multi-agency connections including close contact with agencies such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMH), The Anti Bullying Campaign Kidscape, Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP), London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, Muslim Youth Helpline, the NSPCC, social services, key workers, foster carers, police and child protection officers. Induction and group tutorials are used to advise students about how to stay safe and to address issues that are common concerns with the post 16 age group. Students are encouraged to report bullying or e-safety issues through any member of staff, through their personal tutor or through Moodle.

All students are made aware of the limitations of confidentiality at the start of counselling appointments and 1:1s, and confidentiality posters are displayed within all 1:1 tutorial rooms.

All student surveys and complaints are analysed in relation to equality and diversity to ensure that any concerns in relation to equality and diversity are identified.

Foster good relations between different groups The HRC annual Diversity Competition is a celebration of the diversity of our college community. Groups of students and individual students submit entries on the theme of diversity. Judging is held at department and whole college level and the winners are presented with their awards at a formal presentation event. We are very fortunate to continue to be sponsored for this event by B3Living.

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Advance equality of opportunity The College has a number of services to advance equality of opportunity, including counselling, careers advice, financial support and Additional Learning Support. Examples of the impact of these services in 15/16 include:

a 10.3% increase in careers interventions (856 from 776 in 14/15);

a 75% increase in careers workshops (89 from 51 in 14/15);

a 3% increase in progression into HE (84% from 81% in 14/15).

96% of High Needs learners on discreet LDD provision successfully achieved their qualification.

In the end of year student survey, 81% & 84% of students, respectively, responded positively to the questions: ‘I have had help to decide what to do when I finish this course’ and ‘I know what I am going to do next year’ (1726 responses). “Learners on study programmes receive appropriate advice and guidance to help them make informed decisions about progression to work or further studies”, Ofsted May 2016.

Promotion of Equality and Diversity across College and in teaching and learning At HRC, students work well together and have respect for themselves and each other. Good promotion of equality and diversity across College results in a highly inclusive environment and effective embedding within the wider student experience. In particular:

Comprehensive policies on bullying, harassment and discrimination are well understood and used to protect staff and students;

Highly active Inclusion and Impact Task Group, with strong representation across all departments and attendance by the Principal, promotes significant activity and impact on the student and staff experience;

Support for students is permeated by the College’s commitment to equality and diversity. It is systematically embedded in the College calendar of events and challenged through partnerships nationally with Investors in Diversity and locally with community groups and employers;

Training in equality and diversity is good and 90% of staff have attended E&D training. E&D themes are effectively embedded into the wider staff development opportunities;

An introduction to equality and diversity is included during the college induction event, with additional online training to be completed during the probationary period;

The College prioritises equality and diversity well by requiring all managers to embed EDIMS into their Quality Improvement Plan;

Annual Diversity awards ceremony, sponsored by local employers, sees a high level of contribution from students and is well attended;

Effective and accessible promotion of E&D via the College’s website and intranets. The HRC annual diversity competition, sponsored by the Broxbourne Housing Association, celebrates the entries of individuals or groups of students on this theme. Children, Care and Education and Creative Arts and Industries are examples of areas where the promotion of equality and diversity are strong. However, the extent and skill with which teachers promote equality and diversity themes in lessons and during assessments of apprentices is sometimes inconsistent, varying between curriculum areas.

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A minority of staff rely too heavily on the inclusive nature of the College, and the way diversity is celebrated through cross-College themes, and opportunities to ensure learners develop a good understanding of the diversity of customers and colleagues are not always fully exploited. This was highlighted during the recent Ofsted inspection and is an area of focus for 2016/17.

Leadership and Management A strong line is taken to avoid discrimination, harassment and bullying. Student disciplinaries and complaints are analysed and no group of learners are over-represented in terms of their ethnicity. The Disciplinary Policy has been recently reviewed and updated. An Exclusion Panel is convened in the case of any learner that is being excluded to ensure that all the evidence has been reviewed and that all stakeholders are clear on the action being recommended. Within individual departments there is proactive work around the organisation of positive teambuilding activities, and the rigorous and consistent application of policies relating to behaviour including bullying. During the recent Ofsted inspection, it was identified that “Leaders and managers promote equality across the organisation, resulting in an environment that is tolerant and inclusive”, (Ofsted, May 2016). However, it was also acknowledged that, whilst managers monitor the performance of different groups across the college, further work could be done to sufficiently close the gaps in achievement, and this remains an area of focus for 2016/17.

Our partners We can only achieve an inclusive environment in partnership with our students, staff, parents, employers and community partners. We are fortunate in having many external relationships and work closely with them to our mutual benefit. These range from partnerships with statutory bodies like the police & health services to local businesses and charities for instance, B3 Living and WENTA.

Data relating to student participation and success

Participation The table below shows the number of funded learner enrolments for each type of provision in 15/16

Type of provision Number

16-18 Study Programmes 2179

Adults (19+) 2082

Apprenticeships 587

High Needs Learners (counted within the three categories above) 56

School Partnerships 101

Additional referrals from schools 40

Princes Trust Teams 144

Higher Education 304

The graphs on the following page give some information about the characteristics of the E&T funded enrolments.

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Learner work from the 2015/16 Diversity Competition

Our Staff Each year a staffing report is provided, with an analysis of the staff profile and their participation in staff development activities. The objective of the analysis is to identify whether there are any particular discrepancies in participation based on the protective characteristics identified and to take remedial action where necessary. HRC’s Equality and Diversity Staffing Profile (Comparison at August 2016) is provided on the next page.

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Recruitment and selection In line with the College’s Resourcing Procedure, Managers are not provided with candidate’s diversity information prior to interview and so short listings are only based upon the essential and desirable criteria of the post. However, we are a Disability Confident Employer and therefore to comply with our duties, we do make Managers’ aware of any applicants declaring a disability.

In order to encourage a wide range of applications, College advertisements are neutral in their design to encourage applications from all sections of the community, opposed to stereotyping a role with images.

Gender balance Flexible working for both men and women to work part-time is equally available to men as it is to women and is highlighted at induction. The gender balance of permanent staff is identified in the chart below.

It would appear that the gender balance for both applicants and permanent staff are of equal comparison.

70%

30%

Female Applicants

Male Applicants

71%

29%

Female

Male

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Senior Leadership Team and direct reports The overall profile for the above positions in College

Disability 6% of the total College workforce have disclosed a disability. The percentage of disabled staff within the College has remained static for the past 2 years. Promotion of the importance to disclose a disability, for the College to offer support, will continue to be made via induction and through internal communication.

Age There has been an increase in staff aged 22-30 at the College, the age group 41-50 has remained static. There has been a decrease in staff aged 51-60. The college does has an ageing workforce and therefore and increase in the age category 22-30 will assist with succession planning.

Male24%

Female76%

050

100150200

21 &under

22 - 30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-64 65+Nu

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Age Band

The overall staff age profile of staff 2015/16

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Ethnicity Profile

The local ethnicity profile for Broxbourne District1 and East Herts District2 shows the College’s workforce is generally representative of its area having a 15% of a non-white establishment.

Performance against equality objectives These objectives were based on analysis of the student cohort completing in 2013/14. The progress against these objectives has been based on an analysis of the student cohort completing in 2015/16.

Monitor participation and success of a wider range of learners by increasing the number of groups in the annual equality and diversity report by two per year over the next four years. The most recent analysis of success has included an analysis of the success rates of high needs learners and looked after learners. For 15/16, 96% of High Needs learners on discreet LDD provision achieve their qualification, which is outstanding performance. High Needs learners on mainstream programmes achieve slightly lower at 86%, but this is still good performance. In the case of looked after learners, 73% achieved their qualification in 15/16, which is a significant improvement on 14/15 (+24%).

Reduce the gender success gap for three curriculum areas with a traditional gender participation gap. For 15/16 data this gender gap has decreased in 11 curriculum areas.

Increase the success rate of BME heritage learners at Level 2 by 3% over 4 years. Level 2 13/14 = 69.2%; 14/15 = 76.0%; 15/16 = 79% (exclude White British and Not Known)

Increase the success rates of male 16-18 year-old learners by 5% over 4 years. Male 16-18: 13/14 64.1%; 14/15 67.5%; 15/16 71.2%.

Increase BME participation for apprenticeship starts by 5% over 4 years. For 13/14 5.7% participation, for 14/15 3.2%, for 15/16 6.7%

Increase employee declaration rates in all categories to at least 95%. Overall employee declaration rate in 13/14 was 89%, for 14/15: 91%, for 15/16: 94%.

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200

400

600

BME WHITE BRITISH WITHHELD UNKNOWN

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Ethnicity

The ethnicity profile of staff 2015/16