The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.
The Equality Act replaced all of the anti-discrimination laws such as Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Equal Pay Act 1970, Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, Employment Equality (sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 with one law covering them all.
Types of discrimination
- Direct Discrimination
- Associative Discrimination
- Perceptive Discrimination
- Indirect Discrimination
- Harassment
- Harassment by a third party
- Victimisation
Why is it important to promote the rights of all children to participation and equality of access
It is important to support participation and equality of access so that every pupil has the same opportunities offered to them regardless of personal background. In order for us to achieve this we must involve the children in finding out what works well in school and what doesn’t. I believe that involving the children in this process would make the children more confident and feel more valued.
It is important that that school has regular reviews of the policies, procedures and practices to make sure that there is no discrimination against anyone with one of the protected characteristics. In addition, it is also important as it promotes good relations and positive attitudes towards people from different ethnic groups. Talking to the children about different religion, cultural, beliefs, background/class etc is important as it leads to us asking questions to gain further understanding.
It is important:
- to reduce the gap of educational achievement between different ethnic group;
- to improve relationship between different racial groups;
- to improve the behaviour of pupils;
- to promote greater involvement of parents and the community;
- to ensure that staff working in the school reflect cultural diversity of society.
In my setting we make sure that we don't discriminate anyone in any ways and if we see something we need to prevent and report it. In addition, a school must not:
- discriminate in the way it provides education for a pupil;
- discriminate in the way it gives a pupil access to any benefit, facility or service;
- refuse to provide education for a pupil for discriminatory reasons;
- refuse to give a pupil access to a benefit, facility or service;
- harass a pupil;
- victimise a pupil.