LEARNING TO LEARN
( Equality Act 2010 : Section 13-19 , 26-27 ). In reality , though , the rationale taken to ensure that disabled people are treated fairly is often just as necessary to aid those who identify as one or more of the other eight protected characteristics . For example , if all students are treated equally when it comes to race , the often significant barriers to learning for certain students and groups remain in place . However , when student experience is factored in ( whether that be through curriculum review , pastoral support mechanisms , or teacher training such as unconscious bias training , or dealing with micro-aggressions ) then the performance of those groups , and indeed the whole cohort , are enhanced . To effect genuine change , therefore , equity rather than equality , should be the guiding force behind every decision in education .
The case for equity in education
Clare Ives , Senior Deputy Head
The concept of equity is not a new one , but it certainly seems that it is becoming an increasingly important principle and frequently displaces its associated principle , equality . That is not to say that it is more important . What could be more just than a society where all people genuinely have the same opportunities ? Equality , therefore , remains the end game . However , there is increasing recognition that the principle of equity provides the means to reach that goal . By providing those who need it with more support , we are travelling further down the road towards genuine equality . Indeed , this is recognised by the UN Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development , which calls for “ inclusive and equitable quality education ” as one of its key objectives ( United Nations , 2015 , p . 18 ).
This has long been the rationale which sits behind the concept of Learning Support in schools . The adjustments made in school settings for those with additional learning needs has been transformative in so many students ’ lives . This is recognised in the 2010 Equality Act ( Section 20 ), which stipulates that employers , groups or citizens have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for a person who is identified as disabled ( which is defined as long-term mental or physical impairment ). For all other protected characteristics , however , the act is rather less expansive , stipulating only that no employer , group or citizen shall discriminate against someone who is identified under one or more protected characteristics
Learning
This affirmative approach has been seen over the last thirty years in the treatment of boys and girls within school and university settings with positive adjustments made for girls in order that greater balance between the sexes is achieved . As a result , the education of girls and women has made progress at every level . Today , women make up a majority of undergraduates at university ( THE and UNESCO , 2022 ), and are now more represented in fields which historically had been seen as male dominated , such as the STEM subjects . The focus on women in education created a backlash however , with critics suggesting that boys were the new disadvantaged group , facing discrimination in schools which were now designed to favour girls . In the US this debate was encapsulated by the incendiary publication The War Against Boys : How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men ( Sommers , 2000 ). However , more recent publications such as Where the Girls Are : The Facts about Gender Equity in Education ( Corbett et al 2008 ), have dispelled these concerns and show that far from bringing about a crisis for boys , the increasing equity in education of the sexes is having positive outcomes for both sexes . The authors cite that in the US , whilst women now make up the majority of the college population ( as in the UK ), the numbers of young men graduating high school and attending college is at an all-time high . This is also true when it comes to performance , where again , in the US context , high school grades for both sexes are higher today than in 1990 . This evidence suggests that when equity is pursued the result benefits everyone , not just the person or group being targeted . Education , put simply , is not a zero-sum game .
So , if it works for SEN and to level the playing field in terms of education of the sexes , then why not apply the principle of equity to everything we do ?
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