DET18AB39: Equality and Diversity in Teaching: Strategies & Reflection

This essay discusses the importance of equality and diversity in teaching, emphasizing the role of educators in shaping students into ideal citizens with strong values. It references the Equality Act 2010 and explores strategies for promoting equality and diversity in the classroom, including lectures, visual aids, inclusive seating arrangements, student presentations, and celebrating cultural diversities. The essay also outlines a ten-point classroom rule to communicate the need for equality and diversity, discusses enhancing school programs to promote these values, and suggests working with agencies like the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Furthermore, it reflects on personal teaching practices, identifying key actions that promoted equality and diversity, areas for improvement, and the overall impact on the school's equality and diversity agenda. The goal is to create a safe and enabling environment where students learn to treat each other equally and advocate for equality in the wider world.

Running head: EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
Equality and diversity in Teaching
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
Executive Summary
The purpose of teaching is to mold an individual in such a manner that he or she grows up to be
an ideal citizen of the society. For this purpose, the teacher should ensure that all the right values
are imparted to the student. The main aim of this paper is to show how the values of equality and
diversity has been made essential in the field of teaching. The paper seeks to discuss how these
values can be imparted to a student through the medium of teaching.

2EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
The Equality Act, 2010....................................................................................................................4
Reflection on the promotion of equality and diversity....................................................................5
Strategies for achieving the goal of promoting equality and diversity............................................5
Ten Point Classroom Rule that communicates the need for the promotion of equality and
diversity...........................................................................................................................................7
Equality and Diversity Coordinator.................................................................................................8
Enhancing your school’s programme of initiatives in promoting Equality and Diversity..........8
Work with agencies to promote equality and diversity...............................................................9
Equality and Human Rights Commission................................................................................9
The Runnymede Trust...........................................................................................................10
The United Nations Human Rights Council..........................................................................10
Identify and explain at least five key things you did in your teaching practice that promoted
Equality and valued Diversity in your school................................................................................10
Reflecting on your practice, identify and explain at least three things you could have done
(better) or missed the opportunity to do spontaneously that would have further enhanced your
school’s culture of promoting Equality and valuing Diversity......................................................12
Reflecting on your practice, write a brief report on the impact you believe you made on your
school’s Equality and Diversity agenda........................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................16

3EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING

4EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
Introduction
The right to equality is one such right which has been integral to the human beings ever
since they were born. This right was present during the primitive society when there was no
civilization. With the birth of civilization, the importance of this right was felt to the extent that it
had to be formalized in an international forum so that people can adhere to it (Avis, Fisher and
Thompson 2014). Each country of the world separately guarantees this right to every single
person. The right to equality has been necessitated because of the existing diversity in the world.
People are different from each other in terms of gender, their place of birth, the religious
doctrines they ascribe to and their genders. The right to equality provides that such differences
should not be used against the people by the way of discrimination. Thus, in order to prevent
discrimination, the Right to Equality was deemed to be necessary (Cohen et al. 2010). This paper
seeks to discuss the various ways by which equality can be enshrined within the field of
teaching. The paper also analyzes several measures and strategies by which this aim can be
achieved. The main purpose of the paper is to signify the importance of equality and diversity in
a classroom environment.
The Equality Act, 2010
The Equality Act, 2010 sought to be an umbrella act for all the other existing Acts in the
United Kingdom against discrimination (Thompson 2017). As such, the Equality Act imbibed
within itself the Sex Discrimination Act, 1975, the Race Relations Act, 1976 and the Equal Pay
Act, 1970 (Thompson 2017). All these acts were initially formed to end one kind of
discrimination or the other. The Equality act of 2010 sought to provide a holistic safeguard
which now provides for punishment against any kind of discrimination (Thompson 2017).

5EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
Reflection on the promotion of equality and diversity
The right to equality takes a significant stand in the field of teaching. This is due to the
fact that children are the future of the world. When they are born, they are not aware of the
various distinctions existing in the society (Corder 2012). They consider everyone to be equal. It
is due to the teachings of the society that people get to know about the different kinds of
differences that is applicable to an individual. Thus, before such social teachings can change the
mind set of an individual it is essential that their place of education should undertake various
measures by which such conditioning can be prevented. In my school, I would place a greater
emphasis in trying to make the students believe in the right to equality. Schools are the places
where a student spends maximum of his or her time, besides in his household (Zepke 2010). As a
result, the lessons imparted by a teacher will have a significant impact on a student. It is for this
reason that I would like to take a class every day of every week on the importance of treating
equal people in an equal manner. The lessons learned in these classes will help to create a safe
and enabling environment for the children enrolled in my school. Moreover, these children will
also take the knowledge along with them and try to implement it in the outside world when they
deal with other people and other children (Crawley 2010).
Strategies for achieving the goal of promoting equality and diversity
The first strategy that shall be used by me for the promotion of equality and diversity is
that of imparting lectures to the students. Lectures have proved to be an effective technique of
teaching and has even yielded good results (Duckworth et al. 2010). Students need to understand
what the various implications of discriminations are and how they can be prevented. For this
purpose it is important first to impart the value of equality and the need for the right of equality.

6EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
The second strategy that can be implemented to ensure the promotion of equality and
diversity is that of showing demonstrations to the students by the way of power point slides.
Images have a long lasting impact on the brain of an individual rather than simple verbal lectures
(Griffith and Burns 2012). The imagery demonstrations will help the children see the social evil
of discrimination persisting in the society. If they are made aware of that fact that discrimination
I san evil from an early stage then chances are they will grow up to be advocators of the right to
equality.
The third measure for the promotion of equality and diversity is that of ensuring that
students are made to sit in such a manner that no child feels isolated or left out. The aim is to
make all the children believe that they belong to the society in an equal measure as does anyone
in the society (Hattie 2012). This feeling can only be generated when the students share their
feelings and emotions with one another without any discrimination. Also it has been proved that
through the sharing of meals, the students tend to associate more with each other.
A fourth strategy that can be implemented in order to promote equality and diversity is by
allowing the students to make presentations by themselves. These presentations will showcase
their own definition of equality and diversity that is, how they perceive these concepts.
Moreover, they will also show how the concepts of equality and diversity is violated and what
are the various measures that needs to be undertaken in order to prevent such violations (McGray
2011). This will enable the students to realize the social evil of discrimination by themselves as
the presentations will require some amount of research work on their part. This research will
sensitize them on the issue of equality and diversity and its importance.
The last strategy that can be implemented for the promotion of equality and diversity is
that the students should be encouraged to celebrate the cultural diversities of each other. This

7EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
will enable the students to understand the various cultural diversities that exist in the world and
also understand their approach to the society and the world (Keeley-Browne 2013). This
knowledge will help the students to be more compassionate and tolerant to the ideas of cultural
diversities.
Ten Point Classroom Rule that communicates the need for the promotion of
equality and diversity
1. Students should respect one another and should not partake in any activity which will
adversely affect another student.
2. Students will sit together without any discrimination along any lines.
3. Students must ensure that they should take part in all extra-curricular activities of the school
together.
4. Students are advised to talk to each other and not isolate anyone based on any discrimination.
5. All the students are requested to perform one particular cultural event from their own culture.
6. Students are to seek the help of the teachers if they face any discrimination.
7. Any student who had observed any other student to partake in discrimination is to immediately
inform a teacher.
8. Students must ensure that they do not engage is any verbal or physical conflict with each
other.
9. All the students are requested to respect all the cultures and their unique characteristics.
10. All that is learnt in the classroom must be utilized in the outside world as well.

8EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
Equality and Diversity Coordinator
Enhancing your school’s programme of initiatives in promoting Equality and
Diversity
Schools are considered to be the places where knowledge is disseminated among the
children (Kidd and Czerniawski 2010). However, dissemination of such knowledge does not
only mean the traditional type of lectures. Nowadays, many mechanisms have been introduced in
order to ensure that’s students receive all those information and knowledge which will help him
or her to live a quality standard of living. The aim is to ensure the all-round development of the
child and not simply increase the amount of information available to an individual (Lemov
2010). In the contemporary world of today, education should emphasize in developing the
personality of an individual. His is so because information is freely available to the people in the
form of digital media. The essential element which should be imbibed in a person is that they
should be able to efficiently execute this information with the right attitude, adhering to all the
values and traditions of the society.
In order to meet this aim, my school has initiated the hosting of many programs and
initiatives which will help a student in learning about the values of equality and diversity. For
instance, the initiative to host a cultural program had been undertaken. This cultural program will
showcase some of the important events of a particular culture and will be performed by the pupil
belonging to that culture (Thompson 2016). The main motive behind this arrangement is to make
all the students familiar with all the existing cultures and understand the unique characteristics of
such cultures. In this way, the students will learn that all the cultures are same with some
underlying differences and hence, they warrant the same level of understanding and respect as
the cultures of the individuals. Tolerance to diversity should be encouraged among the students.

9EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
It is only when they are made to realize that the society they live in does not follow only one set
of customs, hat the students will become open minded and try to understand all the existing
differences in the society.
Another way by which the school can enhance the school’s program of initiative in
promoting equality and diversity is to make the students aware about the existing social evils in
the society. The only way by which an evil practice can be eradicated is to educate the society on
the adverse consequences of such a practice. Once the students get to know about the evil
practice of racial discrimination and gender discrimination and are made aware of their
implications on the society, from an early age, then they will grow up to be concerned citizens of
the society (Bennaceur et al. 2018). They will not partake in any activity which will lead to such
discrimination.
Work with agencies to promote equality and diversity
Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Equality and Human Rights Commission was founded under the Equality Act, 2006,
in United Kingdom (Thompson 2017). The main objective of this statutory body is to reduce the
existing inequalities in society with respect to age, race and gender among others. The members
of the Commission provide useful guidance to the people seeking to eliminate such
discriminatory practices. My school can ask some of the volunteers of this Commission to come
and hold a seminar on the importance of equality and diversity in the society (Boylan and
Woolsey 2015). They can also give some useful tips on how to reduce discrimination in the
society.

10EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
The Runnymede Trust
The Runnymede Trust is a think tank, established in the United Kingdom in 1968
(Thompson 2017). This this tank has the important responsibility to formulate policies which
will help to reduce and eliminate discriminations in the society and promote an atmosphere of
equality among the people. Runnymede Trust works for the promotion of equality among the
different existing races in the United Kingdom. My school can ask some of the policy makers to
come and demonstrate to the students how a multi-ethnic British population is beneficial for the
society through the exchange of cultures. Moreover, the students can learn about the social evil
of racial discrimination and understand the importance of the formulation of policies for its
eradication.
The United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is established to look in to the various
allegations of human rights violations arising from the different states of the world (Thompson
2017). The students of my school will be made to follow the work of the UNHRC and analyze
how the members of the Council try to resolve the issue. The students will also be given a tour of
the United Nations Human Rights Council so that they can gain a firsthand experience of how
the members are trying to promote equality and diversity across the countries of the world.
Identify and explain at least five key things you did in your teaching practice
that promoted Equality and valued Diversity in your school.
My role as a teacher was not just to disseminate the course materials and enable the
students to grasp it and pass the examination with good grades. Teachers are also supposed to
disseminate good values that shall be beneficial for upholding the spirit of mutual respect and

11EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN TEACHING
also promote the spirit of equality and diversity. Of all the things that I have attempted upon in
the school to promote equality and diversity, I shall be enlisting five of them which I consider of
utmost importance.
Firstly, I have ensured that there is a parity in the rate of response among the students in
the schools, in order to ensure that a relatively decent rate of equality among the students in
terms of their participation in class is achieved. I have made a keen and observant attempt to
identify the introvert students and have from time to time ensured that I talk to them and learn
about the issues that they have been facing. Based on my personal interaction with the students
whom I had presumed to be lacking in confidence, I had taken steps to ensure that I encourage
them to speak up and respond more in the proceedings of the classes. I personally feel that it is
the duty of the teachers to ensure that all the students at his or her class responds, and the ones
who do not, must be encouraged to do so (Thompson 2016).
Secondly, I had through the example of disability tried to teach the students teach that if a
student in the class is weaker than others, then it is the duty of the other students apart from the
teacher to inspire that candidate. I had made that attempt keeping in mind that it is important to
foster the spirit of equality and be accepting and tolerant towards differences and diversities.
Students must be taught about the importance of being empathetic, as it is virtually impossible
for a teacher to foster the spirit of equality if he or she does not have the cooperation of the
students. Moreover, the students of today are the future and they are supposed to be the
harbingers of the good values of equality and diversity for the future generations. Until and
unless they are taught to practice and implement the spirit of equality and diversity by their
actions, it shall not be possible to realise those values (Alexiadou and Essex 2016).