PRINCIPLES

Overseas Industrial Technical Institute celebrates and values the diversity of its learners and team members and is committed to equality of opportunity for all. The Institute resolves to eliminate discrimination or other unfair treatment against any of its team members, potential team members, learners or users. Overseas Industrial Technical Institute wishes to be recognised as an organisation which provides excellent employment and educational opportunities. We are committed to complying with the relevant legislation and where possible will endeavour to exceed this creating a culture of inclusivity where everyone is treated with respect and dignity. Overseas Industrial Technical Institute does not tolerate any prejudicial behaviour by any member of the Institute.

Our commitment:

Marketing and Access to learning
• Institute publicity and learner recruitment procedures will be designed to encourage applications from all sections of the community and from all levels of ability and will be available in a range of formats.
• The Institute will ensure that admission procedures are user friendly and avoid unnecessary barriers to access for intending learners.
• The Institute will continue to identify and respond to learning needs within the community and will encourage widening participation from under represented, disadvantaged or excluded groups.
• Make clear our expectations and commitments to equality and diversity in our marketing materials and events, during the learner admissions process and again during induction.
• Equal opportunities data will be collected, analysed and used to inform the planning and decision-making process of our Admissions and Marketing policies.
.The learning Environment
• The Institute is committed to the development of learning environments that are welcoming and safe for all learners.
• The Institute will continue to develop its facilities and accommodation to improve access for learners with learning difficulties and or disabilities.
• Through a multi-agency approach, the Institute will meet the targets surrounding the Every Learner Matters Strategy:
• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution and
• Achieve economic well-being Teaching, Learning and Assessment
• Curriculum teams will ensure that teaching and learning materials and delivery methods are free from bias, avoid stereotyping and discrimination.
• Curriculum teams and tutorial team members will encourage learners to explore equality and diversity issues.
• Awareness raising of equality and diversity issues will be part of the general induction and tutorial programme for learners.
• The Institute will ensure that learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities receive appropriate additional support to meet individual learner needs to reach their potential.
• Provide a range of support services and facilities which will enable learners with particular physical, social and cultural needs to participate fully in Institute life, including:
• tutorial support
• additional support with learning
• financial and welfare advice personal counselling
• social/recreational/catering facilities
• multi faith rooms
• Curriculum teams will regularly review course design and delivery to meet the various learning needs to improve access to learning.
• The Institute will ensure that the views and perceptions of learners are included in the process of curriculum review and self-assessment and also curriculum development.
• Resources are available in formats appropriate to the needs of individual learners, including the use of specialist equipment where appropriate. Recruitment, Training and Development
• The Institute will treat all team members with respect and dignity, and seek to provide a working environment free from harassment, discrimination and victimisation. The Institute will not tolerate any form of discriminatory behaviour against its team members, either from other team members, learners or members of the public.
• Individual training and development needs will be identified through the Appraisal process.
• Work towards the achievement of a workforce that is representative of the diversity of the communities from which we recruit and the learner population.
• Ensure progression opportunities are available to all team members
• Ensure all policies and procedures promote equality of opportunity and are not unlawfully discriminatory in their operation.
• Applicants are not treated less favourably because of disability, age, gender (sex), race, religion or belief, pregnancy or maternity, marriage or civil partnership, gender reassignment and sexual orientation.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

This is an overarching policy on equality and diversity that applies across all areas of the Institute, including employment, teaching and learning, procurement and marketing and admissions. This policy should not be read in isolation but cross referenced with all associated policies, procedures and practices, as listed above.
This policy applies to all team members, temporary staff from employment agencies, contractors, visitors, employers and learners. The procedures set out in this policy are intended for implementation across all Overseas Industrial Technical Institute sites. The Institute views discrimination against any learner or team member on any grounds as a serious disciplinary offence.

The Institute will not tolerate any forms of discrimination based upon:
• Direct discrimination
• Indirect discrimination
• Associative discrimination
• Perceptive discrimination
• Harassment
• Victimisation
• Third party harassment

The Institute will not tolerate any form of discrimination, bullying or harassment on the grounds of:
• Age, disability, gender; gender reassignment, maternity and pregnancy, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership or socio –economic status. Breaches of this policy will be regarded as misconduct and will therefore be subject to the learner and team member Disciplinary policies.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This policy applies to all team members, including agency staff, learners, employers, work placement providers, visitors, and contractors working on campus and sub-contractors. Directors It is the responsibility of the Director to ensure that the Institute meets its legislative responsibilities in respect of equality and diversity and for receiving and responding to monitoring information.

Senior Leadership Team

They are responsible for ensuring that team members and learners are familiar with their roles and responsibilities and the content of this policy. It is committed to providing support and equality and diversity training to promote a positive and inclusive culture for learning and for work. The Executive is responsible for monitoring the profile of the learner and team member profiles by age, gender, race and disability.

Heads of Faculty/Team Managers

They are responsible for the promotion of equal opportunities for learners with respect to curriculum planning; materials and resources, assessment, role models, teaching and learning methods, the management of the environment, and social and economic aspects of learning.

Human Resource Team

It is responsible for ensuring that the recruitment and selection policy does not discriminate in any way and that job advertisements are fully inclusive. This will include advertising through recognised minority group’s publications. The Institute will ensure that recruitment and selection procedures are open, consistently applied and free from bias, stereotyping and discrimination. Additionally, the Institute will endeavour to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to arrangements and premises to ensure both current and potential team members with a disability have equality of access.

Heads of Faculty/Team Managers

They are responsible for the promotion of equal opportunities for learners with respect to curriculum planning; materials and resources, assessment, role models, teaching and learning methods, the management of the environment, and social and economic aspects of learning.

The Quality Improvement Group- Teaching and Learning

The purpose of the QIG – Teaching and Learning meeting is to strategically lead all aspects of equality and diversity, ensuring that we meet the needs and interests of our team members and learners, that wemonitor performance and champion excellence, implementing improvements, in order to identify andw here required to effectively narrow any achievement gaps and to monitor how effective we are at promoting equality, diversity and tackling discrimination.

Team Members and Learners

All team members and learners are responsible for ensuring the implementation of this policy, and for their own conduct. All team members should challenge discriminatory behaviour by learners, placement providers, outside contractors and other team members. It is the duty of all team members and learners to avoid unfair discriminatory practices. The Institute is committed to the general health and wellbeing of its learners and team members, and encourages them to develop positive relationships, to respect others and to celebrate diversity. Bullying or discrimination or any other form of discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated. Safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure that learners have a safe and secure environment. The Institute will seek to provide a supportive environment for those who make claims of discrimination or harassment according to the policies listed in this document.

IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS

New team members are made aware of the policy and procedure during the formal Institute induction process. Updated and amended procedures are disseminated and reinforced in training sessions and team meetings. Team members and parents will have access to this policy on the Institute website and Notice Boards.

MONITORING AND REVIEW

The Equality and Diversity Policy is subject to regular review. The policy and the implementation arrangements which underpin it will be formally reviewed on an annual basis. This review will take into account the views of team members and learners and relevant legislation. The Institute monitors the profile of its learners and team members by age, gender, disability and ethnicity. Monitoring for learners is undertaken by the Quality Improvement team and, for team members, by the HR team. Data collected for monitoring purposes will be published on our website at least annually and will be reported to the senior leadership team in respect of staff data, and annually to the Board of Governors. The presentation of such information shall observe the Institute’s legal and contractual responsibilities in respect of individual confidentiality particularly in regard of sensitive data and will not unnecessarily identify individuals.

Monitoring at course level will be integrated into the programme review process. Learner analysis is reported in the monthly Quality Performance Reviews (QPR) these are reported to:
• the Institute Executive
• the HR Committee (team members)
• the Institute Governors annually Learner enrolment, retention, and achievement, learner survey and complaints are annually monitored by ethnic group, gender, age and disability and the findings are used to inform the Self-Assessment Reviews. Learners’ views are identified by means of satisfaction surveys, learner representatives and the equality and diversity groups. Complaints made to the Institute on grounds associated with equality and diversity are actioned and analysed to establish any trends.

Director
Overseas Industrial Technical Institute Date: 01st January, 2023