1
Notes of the College Liaison Group meeting,
19 March 2014, College Development Network, Stirling
Attendance
Bass, David / Equality Challenge UnitBirney, Nancy / Glasgow Clyde College
Brewster, Graeme / City of Glasgow College
Douglas, Freya / Equality Challenge Unit
Dunnett, Sophie / North Highland College UHI
Gilchrist, Brian / Motherwell College
Grant, Susan / North East College
Hall, Chris / Equality Challenge Unit
Inglis, Susan / Edinburgh College
Lawson, Barbara / Equality Challenge Unit
Lingard, Janet / SRUC
Marshall, Suzanne / College Development Network
McAnulty, Halena / Scottish Funding Council
Storey, Caroline / Forth Valley College
Sutherland, Sheena / West College Scotland
1. Welcome and apologies
=Introductions took place,ECU thanked College Development Network (CDN) for hosting the meeting.
2. Notes of the last meeting
=The draft notes from the meeting held on 11 December 2013 meeting were approved.
Action:ECU to include page numbers on future notes.
3. ECU briefing paper update
ECU ongoing work
Priority 1: Equality in regionalisation; responsibilities opportunities and benefits
Mainstreaming equality: delivering on outcomes
=Seven colleges are involved in the first phase of the programme.
=Representatives from colleges involved commented positively on the work they had undertaken so far. Glasgow Clyde has created a cross campus equality group to prioritise, action plan and oversee delivery of its equality outcomes; City of Glasgow’s team has started to develop a more robust equality outcome progress plan witha setof common impact measures; Edinburgh College has identified cross-cutting priorities for delivery of its equality outcomes, such as staff development and good relations.
=ECU can support ten colleges in total through theprogramme. There is space for three more colleges to participate. ECU will advertise the remaining spaces to colleges in April.
=As part of the mainstreaming programme, there will be a sector conference on 4 June to facilitate sharing of practice from the project. Liz McIntyre, Principle of Borders College, as well as Karen Corbett, from Education Scotland, will be presenting.
Actions:
ECU to send a save the date email to all CLG members, to share withtheir colleges.
CDN to distribute invitation to its HR and Guidance networks.
Governance and equality
=ECU has recently held two sessions on equality responsibilities for board members.
=The Glasgow session was well attended. The ‘East’ session was postponed due to low bookings.
=A webinar was produced that can be accessed by board members in all colleges.
=There was discussion about developing work with the NUS relating to board’s activity but nothing specific has been agreed at this stage.
=ECU reminded members that it is offering bespoke sessions on equality and diversity for boards, which could be delivered online via CDN’s facilities if more practical. Contact: .
Actions:
ECU/CDN to share link to webinar with CLG.
CLG to promote opportunity for bespoke session for boards in their colleges.
CDN to liaise with NUS on itsboard activity.
Priority 2: Robust equality evidence
Developing consistent data collection
=Discussion was held around the equality fields in the new FES2 guidance.
=CDN and ECU had made recommendations to SFC for the guidance. This drew on the paper ‘Proposed equality data monitoring framework for further education in Scotland’. That paper had beenproduced by members of the CLG and was submitted to SFC in 2012.
=The recommendations hadnot been incorporated into the new FES2 guidance.
=Susan Inglis offered to share Edinburgh College’s statistics (2012-14) on student recruitment, retention and achievement based on FES data at the June CLG.
=The group was keen for ECU to facilitate sharing of colleges approaches to data collection at the June meeting.
=There was a discussion on staff data. It was felt that many colleges collect equality data on staff and that this is not currently being collected or utilised by the SFC or the sector.
=The CLG agreed it would value ECU undertaking furtherwork on staff data. ECU suggested it could work collaboratively with SFC on this area as part of its next funding agreement with SFC.
Actions:
CDNto forward submitted recommendations on FES 2 guidanceHalena McAnulty (SFC)and the CLG.
Graeme Brewster to forward original proposed equality data monitoring framework to Halena McAnulty.
Halena McAnulty to follow-up with SFC data team on FES2 guidance and on what equality data on staff is currently collected.
June CLG meeting to include a session for members to share their approaches to staff and student data collection and analysis. Susan Inglis to invite Gillian Hamilton, chair of MIS community of practice, to provide input.
Equality in colleges in Scotland: statistical report 2014
=In addition to the usual stats report, ECU is developing online regional data tables for multi-college or recently merged college regions.
Measuring progress on equality
=ECU’s guidance on qualitative equality evidence and impact measures will be issued in spring.
Priority 3: Supporting colleges to deliver equitable learner journeys
Equitable admissions in colleges
=Eight colleges are involved in a short-life working group to produce guidance for the sector.
=A first meeting took place on 27 March where productive discussions informed the shape of the guidance that will now be developed.
Managing reasonable adjustments
=45 people had signed up to attend a joint event with CDN on 24th March.
=A train the trainer pack would be launched at the event. Following the event this willbe available on CDN’s website for download by all colleges.
Employability
=The employability project is currently on hold while more robust data collection is developedand strategic discussions in the sector take place.
Stakeholder engagement
=ECU updated that the SFC’s Learning for All conference contained more equality content this year, including an ECU/University of Edinburgh session on equality impact assessment in admissions, a HEA session on equality in the curriculum and a keynote by Helen Leitchfrom Perth UHI on their equality outcomes.
=It was recommended that SFC reviewed future promotional material to encourage more colleges to attend in future.
4. CDN Update
=Equality and diversity will re-introduced as a category in the CDNannual awards.
=There will be a conference on safeguarding in May. The programme focuses on social media, child protection, victimisation and hate crime and it is anticipated that equality issues will feature.
=A SQA webinar on reasonable adjustments in literacy which discusses what is and isn’t a reasonable adjustment is available.
=A CDN-hosted webinar by South Lanarkshire College was flagged in the Education Scotland aspect report on admissions.
=Nil by Mouth hosted a session on anti sectarianism issues and Interfaith Scotland is working on materials on cultural differences and asylum seeker experiences.
=CDN is also developing resources for colleges on equality and diversity in the curriculum, learning and teaching.
Action: CDN to send links to the CDN awards and to its new resources to the CLG.
5. Discussion on regionalisation
=Graeme Brewster shared City of Glasgow’s work with Marshall ACM on developing a resource for student induction on equality and diversity. The resource involves a 20 minute presentation designed specifically for the college and would provide consistency across the induction process for all students. The college intends to evaluate the impact of this resource by including questions on E&D in its learner survey. Graeme would be happy to share this with other interested colleges. This was welcomed.
=Marshall had previously had interest in providing a sector wide resource along similar lines; it was noted other providers include Skill Boosters and CYLIX.
=The group discussed where E&D sits within new college structures and cultures. There seemed to be some variation in the roles and staff remits that included E&D and the relative importance placed on E&D in different colleges. The group thought that SFC outcome agreements, with equality as a cross cutting theme, might be an effective tool to promote equality in newly merged institutions. There was also discussion around the role of Principals and senior leaders, particularly in promoting the mainstreaming of equality.
Action: ECU and Graeme Brewsterto schedule a session at a future CLG to shareCity of Glasgow’s induction materials.
6. Discussion on the findings from ECU’s mental health research project
=Chris Brill joined the group via VC to talk about the preliminary findings of ECU’s research project on mental health.
=Responses to the surveys had been received from 12 colleges, including around 100 from students and 150 from staff.
=Key findings included that only 25% of students were aware of support before joining and that only a third disclosed their disability in application or enrolment. For staff, merger processes were increasing the importance of line managers to disclosure and support of staff with mental health difficulties.
Discussion covered:
=The role and importance of line managers, HR and occupational health in signposting support. Line managers and HR professionals should continue to learn how best to respond, individualise support and share knowledge on these matters.
=In larger merged colleges, managers can have a larger group of staff to manage, in various locations, and that people with mental health may fall through the gaps.
=At Forth Valley College they have “Work positive advisers” who can offer support to staff where their engagement with line managers has not been effective.
=Providing quiet spaces where people with mental health conditions can go.
=The previous success of the Scottish Government initiative “See me” was discussed.
Action: Any CLG member with case study material on supporting staff and student mental healthto share please contact Chris Brill
7. A.O.B
=The SFC is interested to hear from colleges on their work supporting learners with disabilities into employment to help it develop a broader idea of what works and is effective.
=Geraldine Ratcliffe (CDN) mentioned that Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability was conducting a survey of colleges to capture activity on autism and learning difficulties.
Action: CLG members to send information on and evaluations of their employability initiatives for students with disabilities to Halena McAnulty at SFC ().
Next CLG meeting:
=12 June2014, College Development Network, Stirling.