Race Equality

Impact assessing the race equality policy

As part of the statutory requirement, education authorities must make arrangements for schools to assess the impact their policies have on pupils, staff and parents from different racial groups.

The CRE’s statutory code lists 10 questions that can be used to help assess impact:

  1. Is the school making sure that the policies, for example on exclusion, bullying, the curriculum, parental involvement, community involvement and race equality, are not having an adverse impact on pupils, staff or parents from some racial groups?

  2. How does the school help all staff to develop and reach their full potential?

  3. How does the school encourage all parents to take part fully in the life of the school?

  4. Does the school help all its pupils to achieve as much as they can and get the most from what is on offer based on their individual needs?

  5. How does the school explain any differences? Are the explanations justified? Can they be justified on non-racial grounds such as English language difficulties?

  6. Does each relevant policy include aims to deal with differences (or possible differences) in pupils’ attainments between racial groups? Do the policy’s aims lead to action to deal with any differences that have been identified (for example, extra coaching for pupils or steps to prevent racist bullying)?

  7. What is the school doing to raise standards and promote equality of opportunity for pupils who seem to be underachieving and who may need extra support?

  8. What is the school doing to:
    a. prepare pupils for living in a multi-ethnic society?
    b. promote race equality and harmony in the school and in the local community?
    c. prevent or deal with racism?

  9. Is the action the school has taken appropriate and effective? Are there any unexpected results? If so, how are they being handled?

  10. What changes does the school need to make to relevant policies, policy aims and any related targets and strategies?

To support the monitoring of impact of policies, the former CRE’s statutory code of practice states:

To monitor their pupils’ attainment, schools should collect information about pupils’ performance and progress by racial group. They will need to analyse the information and use it to examine trends. To help interpret this information, schools may find it useful to examine other areas that could have an effect on pupils’ attainment.

The other areas include: 

  • Exclusion

  • Racial harassment and bullying

  • Curriculum, teaching and learning (including language and cultural needs)

  • Punishment and reward

  • Support advice and guidance

  • Parents’ and guardians’ involvement in the school.

Analysis of monitoring information will help schools to:

  • highlight any differences in attainment between pupils from different racial groups

  • ask why these differences exist and test the explanations given

  • review how effective their current targets and objectives are

  • decide what further action may be needed to meet the three parts of the general duty and to improve the performance of pupils from different racial groups.