Tda 3.6

Lindsay Jarvis

TDA 3.6 Promote equality, diversity and inclusion in work with children and young people.
1. Be able to promote equality and diversity in work with children and young people.
1.1 Equality ensures that individuals or groups are treated fairly and equally at all times regardless of their needs, race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age. Promoting equality will help to remove discrimination in all areas. Diversity recognises; respects and values the difference of all people.
There are 6 areas of diversity; these areas of diversity in law are disability, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and religion / belief. Legislation for these areas including: Sex Discrimination Act 1975 Race Relations Act 1976 (amended 2000) Human Rights Act 1998 Equal Opportunities Act 2004 DDA – Disability & Discrimination Act 1995 DDA Part 4 Code of Practice 1995 SENDA – Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 Equality act 2010 United Nations Convention on the rights of the child 1.2 Ways in which we can promote equality and diversity throughout the school setting is to: • treat all staff and students fairly and equally • create an inclusive culture for all staff and students • ensure all students have equal access to opportunities which will enable them to participate in learning to the best of their ability • enable staff and students to develop to their full potential •making sure that staff and students have all the skills they need to challenge inequality and discrimination in their work/study environment • make sure that learning materials and classroom setting do not discriminate against anyone • making sure policies, procedures and processes don't discriminate against anyone

1.3 In our school we study all types of religion, cultural, beliefs, background. As a multi-cultural school we try our best to make sure that all children are aware of each others backgrounds and beliefs and try to teach them that although people believe different things all people deserve to be treated equally. Throughout the school year we celebrate many different festivals and religious days from all religions everyone in the school gets involved, this helps all children to learn about different religions and cultures, why they are important to the people who follow this religion/beliefs.
Working in a school where most of the children come from deprived backgrounds I find it hard to get children to sometimes understand the differences between the background/classes of children from other cultures. Some children are aware of the differences and often question why are these children different to me. This can often lead to discrimination between certain children, some children may never have come across children from other cultures and may find it hard to adjust to the way they do things. For example all cultures have different ways with dealing with discipline, some cultures are very strict whereas others are more lenient with discipline. Other children can bully children from different cultures and backgrounds because they are different from themselves and find this hard to deal with. Children learn from watching others especially adults, therefore as professionals we need to make sure we always show each other respect and treat everybody the same way. If a child sees or hears you disrespecting other people they will this is ok to do so and this is where problems can occur, such as bullying. In our school we have an inclusion policy that states how we must insure every child is included, this includes supporting all children who use English as a second language. In the year 4 class I work in we have a child who speaks Spanish and Slovakian, he finds it very hard to understand English but we are working with him to help with his understanding. We understand his needs to learn his and use his native language but we are making sure we work on his comprehension and understanding as much as possible. Understanding and taking account of our pupil’s background and culture is essential for us to build effective relationships and provide support.