Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As an organisation, Eastern Education Group recognises its legal responsibility under the Equality Act 2010 to publish equality information and to set meaningful equality objectives. We commit to publishing annually:

• information about the protected characteristics of our staff and learners;
• our equality objectives and progress towards meeting them;
• evidence of how we are eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations between different groups.

Under the Equality Act 2010, Eastern Education Group has three general duties:

• to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
• to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not;
• to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
  These duties require us to take positive and proactive steps in our policies, practices and everyday activities.

The protected characteristics include age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race (including colour, nationality and ethnic origin); religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation.
We must consider how our policies, procedures and decisions affect people who share any of these characteristics and whether there are inequalities which need to be addressed.
In practice this means we will ensure:

• the needs of different groups are considered, especially where their needs differ to the majority;
• reasonable adjustments are made for disabled staff and learners to ensure full access and participation;
• monitoring and data collection cover the protected characteristics, so we can identify issues and act upon them.

Our approach includes meaningful engagement with staff, learners, stakeholders and communities so that we can understand their lived experience and identify barriers to inclusion. We will use data, feedback, equality impact assessments and other evidence to inform decisions and ensure we embed equality, diversity and inclusion into strategic planning and governance.

We will set specific, measurable equality objectives which reflect our strategic priorities and the needs of our learners, staff and communities. These objectives will be reviewed annually, progress reported publicly and refreshed when necessary to ensure they remain relevant and ambitious.

We will publish our objectives, monitor progress, report on outcomes and review our action plan to ensure continuous improvement.

Eastern Education Group recognises that leadership and governance play a crucial role in delivering equality, diversity and inclusion. Our governing body, senior leadership team and all managers are accountable for the implementation of this policy. We will ensure transparency by publishing relevant data, progress reports and making our plans available.

Our policies and performance will be subject to regular audit, review and scrutiny to ensure we deliver our commitments.