Policies & Statements

Equality & Diversity Policy

Equality & Diversity Statement

Filton College will treat all employees and students with respect and dignity and seek to provide a working and study environment free from harassment and bullying, discrimination and victimisation. It will not accept any form of discriminatory behaviour on its premises, against its employees or students, either from other employees, students or members of the public.

Filton College believes that all forms of prejudice and discrimination are unacceptable. The College embraces diversity in all its aspects, and aims to employ a workforce and to attract a student body, which reflects, at every level, the community it serves.

The term discrimination means ‘less favourable treatment of an individual on any of the grounds listed below (see Aims).

Filton College will seek to challenge inequality, prejudice and discrimination.

Aims

The College aims to ensure that all actual or potential employees and students are treated equally, regardless of: age, disability, family responsibility, marital status, race, colour, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, trade union activity and unrelated criminal convictions.

To be effective as a College we must, as individuals and teams, take responsibility not just for our own work and ourselves, but for others. We should support each other in this process. Leadership styles should be developed to support the achievement of this.

Objectives

Filton College’s Equality Policy will add value to the future success of all our customers, by

Providing a diverse workforce, which reflects the diversity of our customers and the communities we serve. It will make Filton College more attractive to customers and provide a competitive edge.
Investing in all the available talent, to increase our ability to attract and retain the highest calibre employees and retain our current market position.
Contributing to the success of the business through creativity and improvement.

Monitoring and Assessing the Policy's Effectiveness

Filton College undertakes to conduct comprehensive and effective monitoring of all aspects of staff and the student body to assess the effectiveness of our Policy.

We are committed to the collection and analysis of data to produce meaningful statistics, as well as monitoring on an ongoing basis the policy, practices and procedures relating to employment.

We will use two main forms of monitoring, first the composition of the existing workforce and student body, secondly the recruitment process, looking, in particular, at the issues relating to ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age and marital status.

For staff:

The College will categorise employees according to grade and contract type and records will be kept of training, appraisals, promotions, regradings and discretionary pay awards.

After the employment relationship has ended, Filton College may retain statistics, data about the composition of the workforce, including appraisal and promotion records, for the purpose of carrying out equal opportunities monitoring and will also look at reasons for resignation.

For Students

Student records will be kept regarding age, disability, marital status, ethnicity, recruitment, enrolment, attendance, retention, achievement and destination.

The results of such monitoring will be made available annually and published on the Staff Intranet and College Internet.

Positive Action

Filton College will undertake, where necessary, to follow positive action measures to assist disadvantaged groups into employment. These are temporary measures and will be kept under regular review and can not be used once the special needs have been met, of if under-representation no longer exists.

Positive action allows the College to:

Provide facilities or services i.e. training, education, or welfare, to meet the needs
of people from particular under-represented groups.
Target job training at particular groups that are under-represented in a particular area
of work.
Encourage applications from groups that are under-represented in particular areas of
work.

Dealing with Equality and Diversity Issues

Filton College will seek to provide a supportive environment for students and staff who make claims under this policy.

Acts of discrimination (direct or indirect), harassment, victimization and bullying or abuse will be treated in accordance with Filton College Harassment and Bullying Policy. If the accusation is upheld it will be treated as a disciplinary offence. Where these are from members of the public, Filton College will take appropriate action and provide appropriate support.

Any racist behaviour directed against staff by students will be dealt with under the student disciplinary procedure.