Education (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment
Equality impact assessment (EQIA) for the Education (Reform) Bill.
Stage 3: Assessing the impacts and identifying opportunities to promote equality
Do you think that the policy impacts on people because of their age?
Age
Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
None
Reasons for your decision
Qualifications Scotland’s new governance arrangements and opportunities for being involved in membership of the Board or Committees will not exclude on the grounds of a person’s age. We will look to ensure that there is the full range of representation across and within the new statutory Committees.
Qualifications Scotland’s legislative functions on the delivery of qualifications and assessment will not discriminate based on age. Individuals of any age should be able to take a qualification provided they meet the entry criteria. It will be for Qualifications Scotland, as an operationally autonomous organisation, to determine this and report on how they are promoting uptake of qualifications from different age groups.
Inspections aim to improve the quality of experience and outcomes for all children, young people and adult learners. The aim of the new inspectorate is to put learners at the centre. This will be achieved by ensuring children and young people’s views, alongside adult learners, including those with protected characteristics, are being listened to.
Gathering the views of children and young people of all ages is an important aspect of HMIE in the carrying out of inspection, by supporting learner participation through its inspection practices.
HM Chief Inspector of Education will set up an Advisory Council and the expectation is that its membership will not exclude on the grounds of a person’s age.
Age
Advancing equality of opportunity
Positive
Reasons for your decision
As above.
Age
Promoting good relations among and between different age groups
Positive
Reasons for your decision
One of the core purposes of the Bill is to put learners at the centre of decisions on education. This includes learners of all age groups, particularly empowering children and young people to have clearer roles in the decisions that affect them most.
Do you think that the policy impacts disabled people?
Disability
Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
None
Reasons for your decision
No evidence of a differential impact identified at this time.
The new qualifications body will retain quality assurance functions that the SQA currently has. These include emphasis on ensuring learners with additional support needs are assessed appropriately when seeking to obtain a qualification. There are provisions within the draft Bill which will require Qualifications Scotland and HM Chief Inspector to produce reports that will be in an accessible format to meet the needs of all their users. Decisions as to the specific format will be a matter for the new bodies in discussion with users.
For post-16 learners, including adult learners, the benefits are the same as those for children and young people. As described in the Scottish Government’s Adult Learning Strategy for Scotland 2022-2027, many adult learners require additional support, and may also be experiencing poverty or come from a low socioeconomic background; they will be likely to benefit from the provision of lifelong learning opportunities and it will be important to retain and develop the wide range of qualifications that can accommodate the diverse needs of those learners.
As is current practice, all children and young people attending education provision (from early learning and childcare to adult learning), in Scotland, may be impacted by the carrying out of the inspection of their education establishment, and the use of evidence captured by the Inspectorate of Education in Scotland to secure improvements for all learners. We do not anticipate different impacts for different groups of children and young people or adult learners – the new inspectorate will inspect all provision at different intervals, at differing degrees for different purposes, to be considered by HM Chief Inspector, following consideration of the views of an Advisory Council.
Disability
Advancing equality of opportunity
Positive
Reasons for your decision
As above.
Disability
Promoting good relations among and between disabled and non-disabled people
Positive
Reasons for your decision
As above.
Do you think that the policy impacts on men and women in different ways?
Sex
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
Qualifications Scotland will be subject to the requirements of the Gender Representation on Boards Act 2018. This is the current case for SQA.
Qualifications Scotland’s qualifications and assessment will enable it to deliver different types of awards that meet different needs and requirements of different learners. The legislative provisions will not discriminate based on gender. We recognise there may be a gender gap between the uptake of different qualifications and attainment. As an operationally independent organisation, Qualifications Scotland will be best placed to implement policies to improve this.
Sex
Advancing equality of opportunity
None
Reasons for your decision
Qualifications Scotland’s Learner and Teacher Committees will be able to advise, engage on and scrutinise the body's policies and decisions. Its membership will be made up of a breadth of stakeholders. While these Committees will determine what they advise, we expect them to be well-placed to advise on the impacts of policies and decisions on people of any gender. An example might be strategies/policies for achieving better gender representation in different types of qualifications.
As noted above, Qualifications Scotland’s legislative functions will ensure it can design, assess for and award different types of qualifications that meet the different needs of different groups. There is likely to be unequal uptake and attainment across different subjects and different types of qualifications between males and females. The Bill itself does not seek to address this, however it will be the operational responsibility of Qualifications Scotland to report on these gaps in relation to qualifications attainment and take necessary steps – along with the wider education system – to address them.
The Advisory Council will provide support and challenge to the Inspectorate of Education in Scotland and will be well-placed to advise on the impacts of policies on various groups. Whilst HM Chief Inspector will not be formally required to act on issues/views raised by the Advisory Council (given the independent nature of the role to pursue the interests of learners), the legislation will place a duty on the Chief Inspector to have regard to any advice provided by the Council and, where decisions taken diverge from this advice, to set out the reasons why.
Sex
Promoting good relations between men and women
None
Reasons for your decision
Both bodies will be subject to the Equality Act 2010 will have a duty to actively promote equality between men and women.
Do you think that the policy impacts on women because of pregnancy and maternity?
Pregnancy and Maternity
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
The same maternity arrangements would be in place as currently exist in both the SQA and Education Scotland which would be available to staff at the new qualifications body and Inspectorate. Therefore, no evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Pregnancy and Maternity
Advancing equality of opportunity
None
Reasons for your decision
Employment terms and conditions will remain the same for the qualifications body staff who move from the SQA and staff who move from Education Scotland to the new inspectorate. No evidence of differential impact.
Pregnancy and Maternity
Promoting good relations
None
Reasons for your decision
As above.
Do you think your policy impacts on people proposing to undergo, undergoing, or who have undergone a process for the purpose of reassigning their sex? (NB: the Equality Act 2010 uses the term ‘transsexual people’ but ‘trans people’ is more commonly used)
Gender reassignment
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
The qualifications body's new governance arrangements and opportunities for being involved in membership of the Board or Committees will not exclude those who have reassigned their sex. The legislative functions of Qualifications Scotland do not discriminate against individuals who have undergone gender reassignment.
The new Inspectorate’s governance arrangements and opportunities for being involved in membership of the Advisory Council will not exclude those who have reassigned their sex.
No evidence of a differential impact have been identified at this time. Both organisations will have operational independence.
Gender reassignment
Advancing equality of opportunity
None
Reasons for your decision
There are no new or direct opportunities for increasing equality, or reducing discrimination, for transgender people in the creation of the qualifications body or the Inspectorate. We would expect both new bodies to deliver their operations in such a way that assessed the impact for this protected characteristic.
No evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Gender reassignment
Promoting good relations
None
Reasons for your decision
As above
Do you think that the policy impacts on people because of their sexual orientation?
Sexual orientation
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
The governance arrangements being put in place for both the qualifications body and the Inspectorate will provide opportunities for being involved in the membership of the Boards or Advisory Committees/Council and will not exclude on the grounds of sexual orientation.
No evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Sexual orientation
Advancing equality of opportunity
None
Reasons for your decision
There are no new or direct opportunities for increasing equality or reducing discrimination in the creation of the qualifications body or the Inspectorate. We would expect both new bodies to deliver their operations in such a way that assessed the impact for this protected characteristic.
No evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Sexual orientation
Promoting good relations
None
Reasons for your decision
As above
Do you think the policy impacts on people on the grounds of their race?
Race
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
The governance arrangements being put in place for both the qualifications body and the Inspectorate will provide opportunities for being involved in membership of the Boards or Advisory Committees/Council and will ensure that no additional barriers on the grounds of race are created.
As operationally independent organisations, it will be the responsibility of Qualifications Scotland and the Inspectorate to identify and report on the impacts of their policies and services on those from different minority ethnic backgrounds, and to take steps to address them.
Stakeholder responses to the consultation highlighted the importance of building and supporting an infrastructure that meaningfully engages with and responds to the views, expertise and experience of learners, families and communities. Issues such as racial and cultural literacy should be fully valued to ensure a better-balanced assessment system which is culturally responsive and minimises the impact of racial bias on qualifications attainment. The Bill makes no specific provision on this, but this is an important aspect that will form part of delivery and design of the new bodies, and the subsequent operational decision making of the new bodies.
No evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Race
Advancing equality of opportunity
None
Reasons for your decision
Both organisations in their recruitment, policies and procedures, and the delivery of services, will be expected to actively promote opportunities for people from different minority ethnic backgrounds. The Bill does not set this out in legislation. This will fall under the operational remit of the organisations, and both will be required to identify, report and set out what steps they will take to address issues and make improvements.
Race
Promoting good race relations
None
Reasons for your decision
As above.
Do you think the policy impacts on people because of their religion or belief?
Religion or belief
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
The governance arrangements being put in place for both the qualifications body and the Inspectorate will provide opportunities for being involved in membership of the Boards or Advisory Committees/Council and will ensure that no additional barriers on the grounds of religion or belief.
No evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Religion or belief
Advancing equality of opportunity
None
Reasons for your decision
There are no new or direct opportunities for increasing equality or reducing discrimination in the creation of the qualifications body or Inspectorate Body. We would expect both new bodies to deliver their operations in such a way that assessed the impact for this protected characteristic.
No evidence of a differential impact has been identified at this time.
Religion or belief
Promoting good relations
None
Reasons for your decision
As above
Do you think the policy impacts on people because of their marriage or civil partnership?
Marriage and Civil Partnership[4]
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
None
Reasons for your decision
N/A
Contact
Email: EducationReform@gov.scot
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