Disbility Equality Scheme

1. Introduction

Macclesfield College is a general further education college serving the further education and training needs of the Boroughs of Macclesfield and Congleton and the surrounding areas. The College provides training for a wider geographical area in some specialist subjects. It is the largest provider of further education and training in East Cheshire.

Macclesfield College is committed to combating all forms of prejudice and unfair discrimination concerning disability and to providing an environment that reflects and respects inclusive learning. The College acknowledges its responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 and the Amendment (Amendment) Act 2006 and this Disability Equality Scheme sets out how it will fulfil its obligations under the act. The Macclesfield College Corporation undertakes to provide the resources necessary to enable its statutory duties with regard to promoting disability equality.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) protects disabled people. The act sets out the circumstances in which a person is disabled:

Disability is a mental or physical impairment, which has an adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The adverse effect is substantial and long-term (meaning it has lasted for 12 months, or is likely to last for more than 12 months or for the rest of your life).

Strategic aim 6 is to demonstrate the College's commitment to diversity and equality of opportunity through a fully inclusive approach which promotes effective learning and the Disability Equality Scheme is intended to amplify this commitment. This scheme should therefore be read in conjunction with the College's Strategic Plan, Self Assessment Report and the Macclesfield High Schools, Park Lane Special School and Macclesfield College Equal Opportunities Policy and Code of Practice, all of which have been endorsed by Corporation. All of these documents are reviewed annually. The Equal Opportunities Policy and Code of Practice are attached at Appendix 1. Promotion of disability equality is important to the College.

2. Disability equality vision, values and principles

The College's mission is:

'Macclesfield College will encourage and support learning and achievement, by young people and adults, to enrich individual lives, promote social inclusion and provide skills required by the local and regional economies. It will do so by delivering the highest quality of education and training, designed to meet the needs and aspirations of individuals, industry and the communities it serves, in an efficient and effective manner.'

The Macclesfield High Schools, Park Lane Special School and Macclesfield College Equal Opportunities Policy is underpinned by the following values, principles and standards:

• equality and social justice
• acknowledging and valuing diversity
• respect for others
• compliance with equal opportunities legislation
• elimination of all forms of prejudice and unfair discrimination
• active challenge to stereotypes, prejudiced attitudes and unfair discriminatory behaviour
• commitment to inclusive education which enables and supports all students to develop their full potential
• commitment to the positive development of all staff and governors
• accountability for compliance with this policy by all members of the School and College communities and others engaged in School/College business or activities.

The Inclusive Learning Steering Group will be responsible for the development of the Disability Equality Scheme. This group consists of staff and students, some with a range of disabilities, and external stakeholders.

The Equality and Diversity Committee is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Disability Equality Scheme. Additionally, this committee will be responsible for the development of a 3 year action plan, for keeping it under review and for evaluating its effectiveness. The 3 year action plan will outline the College's key priorities, outcomes and targets to narrow any identified gaps in the experiences of disabled people compared to non-disabled people.

The Equality and Diversity Committee is chaired by the Principal and meets monthly. It makes recommendations to the Senior Management Team.

Macclesfield College's Equality and Diversity Committee reports to the Quality Assurance Committee and the Principal provides annual reports on the Committee's work and progress to the Corporation's Personnel and Remuneration Committee. These reports then go forward to the full Corporation. Additionally, the Equality and Diversity Committee regularly informs other cross-college committees of its progress. All staff are kept informed through their representatives on the Equality and Diversity Committee, through the publication of minutes and by means of whole College staff meetings and staff development sessions.

3. Actively involving disabled people

The Inclusive Learning Steering Group will be responsible for advising and making recommendations for the Disability Equality Scheme to the Equality and Diversity Committee. The Steering Group membership consists of the Director of Learning and Quality, Inclusive Learning Manager, one Head of School, Student Assessment Manager and the Learning Support Co-ordinator. Additionally, there is representation from the Equality and Diversity Committee, Student Guidance Unit, students, Skills for Life and ESOL teams, and external stakeholders.

At all stages of development disabled people have been involved through attendance at the Inclusive Learning Steering Group meetings, e-mail contact and telephone contact.

4. Leadership and Management

The Equality and Diversity Committee is chaired by the Principal and the Inclusive Learning Steering Group is chaired by the Director of Learning and Quality. Each of these staff members play an active part in promoting disability equality and have been fully involved in the development of the scheme. The Corporation fully endorses the Disability Equality Scheme and is committed to ensuring that disability equality is actively promoted throughout all practices and policies within the college.

The College Management Team consists of senior and middle managers, who take full responsibility for ensuring that policy with regard to all forms of unfair discrimination and the promotion of disability equality is adhered to within the College. Additionally, it ensures that disability equality is communicated to all staff members in various ways such as staff development sessions, full staff and team meetings and that all staff take full responsibility for its implementation.

5. Impact Assessments

The Disability Discrimination (Amendment) Act 2006 places a duty on Macclesfield College to assess the impact of each of its policies on students and staff. Assessing the impact of disability equality on all practices and policies within the College will be monitored and driven by the Senior Management Team. This requirement will be built into the College's policy review processes. Currently the College reviews each of its policies and procedures annually and procedures are audited during the quality audit cycle. Impact assessments will be embedded into this process and driven by the Senior and College Management Team.

The annual self assessment will form part of the College's Self Assessment Report and, where appropriate, the outcomes will be reflected in the College's Strategic Plan and Disability Equality Action Plan.

At each stage of this process disabled staff and students will be actively involved.

The Equality & Diversity Committee will be responsible for prioritising the policies and practices to carry out impact assessments.

6. Gathering Information

Information will be gathered from a variety of sources. In so doing these sources will include the following:

• student review forms
• student and staff questionnaires
• feedback from students, carers, parents, student advocates and staff with disabilities
• feedback from external agencies and partners
• analysis of complaints and grievances and their outcomes
• analysis of suggestions
• annual course reviews
• annual quality reviews of business support and academic support functions
• quality audits.

To achieve this the Director of Learning and Quality will develop the guidelines for conducting quality audits to include consideration of the impact of the policies and procedures on students or staff from different disability groups. The Director of Information and Planning will work with the Inclusive Learning Manager to clarify how disability is recorded on admission. Baseline data will be produced on the admission and progression of students with disabilities in the College. Finally, the Director of Customer Services and HR will produce similar baseline data for staff recruitment and career progression.

The Quality Assurance Manager will be responsible for the production of a yearly report for the Equality and Diversity Committee on the outcomes of quality audits with respect to their impact on students and staff with disabilities. The Quality Assurance Manager will discuss with them any action required to address adverse impacts. Changes to procedures may be authorised by the responsible senior manager. Where policy matters are concerned, the responsible senior manager will propose a solution to SMT.

In addition to the College's annual self assessment process, information gathered from student reviews and student perception of courses is reported termly to the Senior Management Team. Information related to staff will be captured annually through the annual Human Resources Survey and on an individual basis through issues raised during College's appraisals.

7. Putting the Scheme into Practice

The College's Disability Equality Scheme will be published as follows:

• on the College website, staff and student Intranet;
• as part of the Staff Handbook;
• in summary form, in the student Diary.

The Equality and Diversity Committee will consider, and keep under review, the publication of the scheme in different languages. The scheme will be made available in braille or on tape on request.

In addition, a statement of the College's commitment to promoting disability equality and combating discrimination will be displayed throughout the College.

Progress reports on implementing the Disability Equality Scheme will be published annually on the College website, in the Customer Focus newsletter and College Annual Report. This will enable information to be communicated to governors, staff, students, parents and external stakeholders.

The Equality and Diversity Committee is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Disability Equality Scheme, and progress in achieving the targets set out in the Disability Equality Action Plan. The Principal, as Chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee, is responsible for ensuring that the Disability Equality Scheme is regularly reviewed. The Disability Equality Scheme will be reviewed after one year of operation, then triennially. The Disability Equality Action Plan will be regularly reviewed throughout the year.

To enable governors to fulfil their responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination legislation, the Principal will report annually the progress to the Personnel and Remuneration Committee in May. The reports will then go forward to the full Corporation.

June 2006

Approved by the Corporation 11 July 2006
Corporation minute 34/06 refers.