A fairer Scotland for all: race equality action plan and highlight report 2017-2021
The race equality action plan sets out the key actions for the Scottish Government to drive positive change for minority ethnic communities.
Section 2: Education and Lifelong Learning
Minority ethnic young people achieve better results in education than their white counterparts, with the exception of Gypsy/Travellers. That this is not carried through into the field of employment has been noted above in that section of this Action Plan. This does not, however, mean that no actions are required in Education. In addition to the urgent necessity to improve educational outcomes for Gypsy/Traveller young people, Kaliani Lyle refers to the need to equip teachers properly to deliver anti-racist education and to challenge racist bullying in schools. As with Housing, workforce issues are also a concern, with Ms Lyle noting that the minority ethnic percentage of the teaching workforce fell by 0.5% in the five years from 2011 to 2016 from 1.9% to 1.3% Against the backdrop of the Scottish Government's extensive programme to drive up attainment in our schools, our actions on Education are aimed at addressing all of these points.
In 2015-16, 85.6% of school leavers in Scotland achieved 1 or more award at SCQF level 5 or better. Asian pupils are high achievers with the highest achievers were pupils of Chinese origin at 96.4%, followed by African/Black/Caribbean at 95.4%; the lowest were 'Other' at 82.9% and white Scottish pupils at 85.4%.
Source: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/9699/0.
| Actions Staff Resources |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| Using an expert peer review group led by Education Scotland and involving key stakeholders, we will review existing resources to deliver race equality education across the curriculum and identify a suite a resources to be used in early learning and school education to deliver the specific objectives of race equality education by summer 2018. |
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In higher education, students who declared their ethnicity to be 'White' constituted 87.7% of all students with an ethnicity recorded in 2015-16. Students who declared their ethnicity to be Asian, Black, Mixed or Other made up the remaining 12.3%, which is higher than the wider population.
Source: SFC Students and Qualifiers 2015-16.
| Early Learning and Childcare |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| We have committed to almost doubling funded Early Learning Childcare ( ELC) provision to 1140 hours by 2020. Local authorities have been asked to ensure that their expansion plans ensure accessibility for all families and they will be expected to consider the impact of expansion on families of all ethnicities, taking into account cultural and religious needs where relevant, to ensure that provision is accessible to all. |
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| We will publish an on-line resource for parents, including minority ethnic families, to empower them to make choices about the right ELC setting or combination of settings for their child. The Scottish Government published our Quality Action Plan for ELC in October 2017, with a specific action to develop this online resource to ensure that families are getting information in the way that is most helpful to them. |
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| We aim to create an ELC workforce which better reflects wider society including from minority ethnic communities. We estimate that the expansion of ELC will require up 11,000 additional staff across a range of roles. |
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| We will include equality as a theme of the 2018-19 Blueprint Action Plan for Early Learning & Childcare. We will carry out an equality impact assessment on the expansion, to ensure that high quality ELC is accessible to all families. We will consider the impact of expansion on families of all ethnicities, taking into account cultural and religious needs where relevant, to ensure that provision is accessible to all. |
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| Anti-Bullying |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| Over 2018, we will introduce a new approach for local authorities and schools to record and monitor specific information on bullying incidents (including prejudice based bullying) and will identify any improvements required in SEEMiS, the information management system used by schools, working with COSLA, ADES and local authorities. |
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| We published the refreshed National Approach to Anti-Bullying for Scotland's Children and Young People, "Respect for All" and we will review it in full at least once every five years with interim reviews carried out by the Scottish Advisory Group on Behaviour in Schools to identify future areas for improvement in the national approach. |
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| We will work with "respectme", Education Scotland, ADES and the Scottish Council for Independent Schools to identify how current anti-bullying approaches (including for prejudice based bullying) can be improved in schools by 2019. |
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| Over 2017-2018 we will work with key delivery partners and respectme to support the development and dissemination of a race equality focussed anti-bullying resource for teachers. |
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| Staffing and Staff Development |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| We will work with Education Scotland and key organisations to review how the National Improvement Plan considers and delivers equality and intercultural competency training by the end of 2019. |
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| We will fund a series of high level staff development seminars for leaders of Scottish education services to develop knowledge and capacity to lead, manage and deliver for race equality in their respective areas. |
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| We will work with the short-term working group on Diversity in the Teaching Profession that has been established by the Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which will look at increasing the number of teachers from under-represented groups at all levels in Scottish schools over 2017-18. |
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| We will encourage GTCS to increase the profile of equality and intercultural competence in their ongoing review of professional standards for teachers by summer 2019. |
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| In conjunction with the Scottish College for Educational Leadership and Education Scotland, we will review the "Into Headship" programme over 2018-2019 to ensure equality and intercultural competency training is embedded in it. |
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| We will work with Education Scotland and regional collaboratives in the development of new professional learning in leadership and ensure that minority ethnic teachers are encouraged and supported to join programmes. In creating new programmes of professional learning for teachers and school leaders we will ensure Education Scotland undertakes effective equalities proofing including by seeking the views of external experts. |
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| Careers Guidance |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| We will direct the partnership task group which is focussed on continuously enhancing the career services delivered by partners, to undertake the activities around enhancing career information, advice and guidance services. |
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| We will build on the Developing the Young Workforce commitment to embed the Career Education Standard and ensure the partnership group considers the barriers and enhancements that need to be made to existing services to meet the needs of all young people, including those from ethnic groups. |
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| We will work with Education Scotland to consider the development of learning resources in partnership with Regional Collaboratives for subject teachers and PSE programmes that seek to broaden minority ethnic young people's knowledge and awareness of the range of future learning and career paths and challenge assumptions about expected direction of travel. |
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| We will work with Education Scotland to develop professional learning resources in partnership with Regional Collaboratives for Skills Development Scotland ( SDS) and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance ( CIAG) staff, teachers and practitioners that raise awareness of minority ethnic employability issues and the priority actions that can help address these challenges. |
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| Parental Involvement |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| We will increase the involvement of minority ethnic parents in their children's learning by consulting on legislative changes to strengthen the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006, as part of our consultation on the new Education Bill. |
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| Further and Higher Education |
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| Key Actions |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
| Building on the data and findings for minority ethnic students from the Scottish Funding Council ( SFC) Triennial Review on Widening Access, the SFC will seek further evidence to identify any potential barriers for minority ethnic students in FE and HE and will continue the monitoring of the participation, success, attainment and destinations of minority ethnic students through statistical publications and Outcome Agreements over 2017-18. |
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| We will work with the SFC and the Equality Challenge Unit ( ECU) to deliver a further and higher education roundtable event in 2018 to identify possible barriers for minority ethnic students in FE and HE with a follow on practitioners' event for colleges, universities and key agencies to address identified barriers. |
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| The SFC will refresh and strengthen their commitment to promoting race equality in the 2018-20 Outcome Agreement guidance and to work with ECU, universities and colleges to support the implementation of the Race Equality Framework. |
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| The SFC will continue to fund ECU over 2017‑18 to provide best practice, guidance and advice to both sectors via the Scottish Race Equality Network forum and will encourage and support Universities to apply for the ECU Race Equality Charter. |
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| The SFC will monitor the uptake of the Race Equality Charter Mark and report this to the Scottish Government by 2019. |
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| The SFC will provide an annual report on outcomes by racial group and, where necessary, will work with the Scottish Government to develop new measure for future OA guidance by March 2019. |
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