Inequality and Discrimination in UK Education: A Legal Analysis

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We are all equal before the law
Inequality and discrimination within the education system
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Abstract
The report discusses the extent to which the statement “we are all equal before the law” applies
in real life. It assessed the issue of inequality and widespread discrimination among students in
UK. It discussed the relevant laws that aim at reducing the glaring issue of inequality. It has also
added a real life case study that helps in understanding the prevalence and significance of the
issue better.
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Topic................................................................................................................................................5
Law..................................................................................................................................................6
Practice............................................................................................................................................8
Application of the law in the court..................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference List................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
The report will be based on the issue of inequality and discrimination within the education
system in UK. The proclamation “We are all equal before the law” states that no individual must
be subjected to any kind of discriminatory practices. Each citizen has the right to protect himself
from discrimination of any sort. However, to what extent this proclamation is actually applicable
in real life remains to be a subject of dispute and debate. There are numerous instances of
inequality and discrimination within schools and colleges and these refute the proclamation made
above. This report will discuss the relevant laws related to this issue along with discussing
applications of these laws.
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Topic
In UK, the issue of inequality and discrimination hugely affects the education system of the
country. There are existing laws such as the Equality Act 2010 that stands against all forms of
discrimination to students and talks about making reasonable adjustments for the disabled
students (Barnard and O’Sullivan, 2011). Schools in UK usually implement this equality in
education through two broad approaches. One approach emphasises on the equality of
opportunity and the other, focuses on the equality of outcome. There are numerous instances in
UK where the school authorities have provided grants to the poor families so that they are able to
afford uniforms for their child for going to school. It also provides special coaching for socially
and economically disadvantaged students (Open.edu, 2019).
However, it has been found that UK ranks 16th in terms of wide educational inequality that is
widespread during the secondary school years. Reports also suggest that it ranks 23rd in terms of
inequality in the primary school years (The Conversation, 2018). Cases of gender abuse,
bullying, racial abuse and widespread poverty are becoming increasingly common. Studies have
suggested that even today race, class and gender are crucial factors for determining the extent to
which British students succeed in schools. It has been seen that children from poor families are
half as likely to get good scores in their GCSE. Besides, the black students of Caribbean origin
are mostly excluded and there are rising cases of students with special needs being bullied and
out casted. Though there are many reforms currently existing in UK, this problem of inequality
and discrimination persists. The inequalities surface at nursery and get carried onto primary and
secondary schools and the university. Most of these inequalities relate to colour and race,
disability, poverty and various other factors.
The education system in UK faces lack of adequate number of qualified teachers and a high rate
of teacher turnover. This is especially true for pupils who belong to the working class
comprehensives and they are reported to get less money. Even if these pupils study in the same
schools as the rich children, they get less skilled and less experienced teachers. It has been seen
that the schools that have the largest number of students enrolled in free meals face most severe
funding cuts (Ryan, 2018). Therefore, it can be seen that though there exists equality to a certain
extent within the educational sector in UK, cases of wide inequality and massive discrimination
can still be recurrently identified
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Law
Relevant law
The Equality Act 2010 is a parliamentary Act which has the primary purpose of updating,
consolidating as well as supplementing the prior regulations and acts that have been the basis of
an anti discrimination law in the UK. This act incorporated the Sex Discrimination Act 1975,
Race Relations Act 1976, and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 along with three chief
statutory instruments (Csie.org.uk, 2019).The Equality Act makes it illegal and unlawful to make
any discrimination among the students on the basis of age, gender, marriage, disability,
pregnancy, religion, belief, sexual orientation and so on. This act has covered a varied range
activity areas like service provision , housing but in case of education system, lies in part 6 of the
act which claims that all the prospective and the present school pupils should never be
discriminated by the schools and the HE or FE institutions on the basis of the above mentioned
aspects (Equalityhumanrights.com, 2019).
What it says should happen
In order to prohibit discrimination the act has defined the discrimination in four typical ways and
this are:
Direct Discrimination: Equality Act has stated that when the pupils are being treated in a less
favourable manner it becomes unlawful. The act thus restricts: Direct discrimination by an
association, direct discrimination as per perception, discrimination die to maternity and
pregnancy and so on.
Indirect Discriminations can occur when all the pupils are being treated in the same fashion
which can put some pupils who are at protected characteristics at a disadvantageous situation.
The Act restricts any such indirect discrimination so that those pupils who have protected
characteristics must not be treated in the same manner
Disability discrimination: Often the people who are mentally or physically disabled are being
discriminated in the schools and colleges. The act however restricts the discrimination of all the
disabled students. The Act has stated that the school and its responsible bodies should never
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discriminate people in case of admission agreements, different provision related to education and
out the pupil under any form of detriment (Equalityhumanrights.com, 2019).
The act has also incorporated prohibition of harassment that are related to a protected
characterises that are relevant. It restricts sexual harassment of the students and it also restricts a
less favourable attitude towards the pupil who has not submitted to any form of sexual
harassment or any form of harassment that is related to sex.
Changes with Brexit
The Equality Act 2010 has been enforced in the year 2010 on 1st October. This however went
under amendments especially after Brexit. The UK now has the power to amend the Equality Act
without giving any regard to the EU law. The government is however committed for ensuring
that all the protections in the act will be continuing to apply once UK has left the EU ( Ferreira et
al., 2016).
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Practice
Application of the law in the court
There has been a case in 2017 that required the utilisation of the Equality Act of 2010. The case
was noted against Bolton St Catherine’s Academy. The case was put up by O’Brien on the
grounds of discrimination through unfair dismissal and disability. She was head of the
department for a particular subject. A pupil attacked her within the school premises and even
though she did not incur serious injuries, she found the pupils highly aggressive that were not
punished by the school. She went off work with large amounts of stress. The school wanted
clarification regarding her return to which she did not respond well. She was assured for her
stand. Her problems were aligned with the lack of strictness demonstrated by school that led to
the increase of aggressiveness in the students. Due to such disputes, she was dismissed from the
school rather than receiving assurance against the aggressive students at school. They were asked
to participate in a formal hearing for medical incapacities. O’Brien was able to gain favour on
grounds of discrimination. The court of appeal provided guidance on the long term dismissals
and sick leaves to the employers based on the Equality Act of 2010 (Team, 2017).
There was a list of guidance that included that it is not appropriate for an employer to make
decisions regarding dismissal of employees on the grounds of absence more than 12 months
along with uncertainty of their return to the place of work. The strictness of the influence on the
employer of an organisation due to absence of an employee must be justified as a significant
constituent for dismissal. A court expects a certain level of disruption in the business due to the
absence of the employee (Menzies Law, 2019). The decision of dismissal must be fair based on
the available information of the employee collected during the period of putting the appeal
forward. Therefore, schools and such other organisations must develop legal agreements after
considering the Equality Act of 2010 in order to prevent such issues in the future. Therefore, it
has been proved that every individual is equal before the law and everybody receives justice due
to such laws put forward and developed by the government.
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Conclusion
The main heading of this report is “We are all equal before the law” and the following discussion
has been presented catering to the various aspects of the Equality Act of 2010. This act has been
studied on the basis of discrimination activities taking place in school and on academic grounds.
A particular case study has been presented and discussed that proves the validity of the statement
“We are all equal before the law”. The employer of Bolton St Catherine’s Academy
discriminated an employee based on absence of 12 months without understanding their issues
after an accident that took place within the premises of the school. The court of law guided the
school after favouring O’Brien’s appeal and providing justice to the discriminated individual.
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Reference List
Barnard, C. and O’Sullivan, J. 2011. What about Law? , Oxford, Hart Publishing
Menzies Law., 2019. O'Brien v Bolton St Catherine's Academy Archives - Menzies Law. [online]
Available at: https://www.menzieslaw.co.uk/tag/obrien-v-bolton-st-catherines-academy/
[Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
Open.edu. 2019. Exploring equality and equity in education: View as single page. [online]
Available at: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?
id=47639&printable=1 [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
Ryan, F. 2018. ‘Choice’ is code for inequality – and it has polluted our education system |
Frances Ryan. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/03/choice-inequality-education-system-
social-segregation [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
Team, E., 2017. Employment Law Case Update: O'Brien v Bolton St Catherine's Academy .
[online] Warner Goodman. Available at:
https://www.warnergoodman.co.uk/site/blog/news/employment-law-case-update-obrien-v-
bolton-st-catherines-academy [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
The Conversation. 2018. Inequality of education in the UK among highest of rich nations.
[online] Available at: https://theconversation.com/inequality-of-education-in-the-uk-among-
highest-of-rich-nations-105519 [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
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