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Equality diversity and inclusion

Our commitment 

NAHT is dedicated to promoting equality for all its members, and this commitment is enshrined in NAHT’s constitution. 

NAHT’s work on equality is overseen by our diversity and inclusion group, a sub-committee of NAHT’s national executive.

NAHT’s role

Our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) work is centred around three aspects:

  1. Supporting our members as leaders: as school leaders, NAHT members are ideally positioned to create inclusive learning and working environments for all their pupils and staff, one which welcomes diversity and champions equality. NAHT’s role is to empower our members with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to do this effectively. 
     
  2. Supporting our members as individuals: we know members with certain protected characteristics face additional and/or specific challenges in their roles. As a Trade Union, our core purpose is protecting our members; whether proactively, for example campaigning to remove systemic inequities in the system, or reactively, aiding members who are experiencing particular issues in their workplace, through our representation and/or legal teams.
     
  3. As a democratic organisation: NAHT recognises that we are most effective in representing the views and needs of school leaders when we engage with all of our membership. We are therefore committed to ensuring our own democratic structures are inclusive and reflect the diversity of the educational professionals and learners that we serve.

NAHT’s equality networks

NAHT has three informal equality networks for members. These are led by members, for members.

Find out more about our networks, including how to join and planned meetings, by clicking on the links below. 

NAHT's EDI statements

Following a resolution at NAHT Annual Conference, we are developing a series of policy statements outlining NAHT’s views and commitments around equality, diversity and inclusion. These have been developed in conversations with NAHT’s equality networks, our diversity and inclusion group, and our national executive.

Click below to see our EDI statements:

Statements will continue to be reviewed and additional statements may be developed, as led by our membership.

Our statement of action and commitments on EDI in education for 2023/24

In September 2023, NAHT, alongside other key organisations working in the sector, outlined its new actions and commitments to help further equality, diversity and inclusion in education. Find out more and read our statement of action and commitments on EDI in education for 2023/24.

Resources

Advice and support

For more about the advice and guidance available from NAHT, along with resources to support members with EDI in their schools, see our EDI hub page.

TUC equality conferences

Every year, the TUC hosts a series of equality conferences that supplement the general work of TUC Congress. These conferences focus on supporting the advancement of issues that disproportionally impact minority groups. Find out more and how NAHT members can get involved.

Latest news and advice

NAHT’s Diversity and Inclusion Group: supporting diversity within schools, the profession and NAHT itself

As school leaders, NAHT members are in an ideal place to create an inclusive learning and working environment for all their pupils and staff, one which welcomes diversity and champions equality. That is why NAHT is proud to support and promote School Diversity Week and looks forward to developing our relationship with our new charity partner, Diversity Role Models, over the coming year.

The issues that underpin equality and diversity reach far wider than the school gates, and that’s why NAHT’s Diversity and Inclusion Group, have a broad remit, looking not just at the support and guidance that members might need to help make their schools inclusive environments, but also exploring issues with diversity and inclusion within the profession, as well as the association itself.

Over 2019/2020, NAHT, led by our Diversity and Inclusion Group, has developed a series of resources, to support and encourage members to develop the right provisions and conditions for staff with protected characteristics, in order to support career development for all.  The guidance documents work as stand-alone pieces but also fit together to create a ‘toolkit’ of support that can help members to be compliant with the law, follow best practice advice, and offer support on changing cultures and social norms in their settings.

As part of its ongoing efforts to improve the diversity at school leadership level, NAHT’s Diversity and Inclusion Group have recommended that NAHT add support to the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) commitments to improving diversity in the teaching workforce. We have pledged our own commitments as a co-signatory. The group has regularly engaged with the work underway by the DfE and other stakeholders on improving flexible working opportunities in schools, focusing on individuals with protected characteristics, and we are engaged in discussions around the gender pay gap, which is still prevalent across so many sectors. 

NAHT is committed to promoting equality for all members, in order to achieve equal and fair treatment at work.A key area of focus this year for the Diversity and Inclusion Group has been reviewing ways to ensure better representation and engagement across NAHT’s democratic structures for members with protected characteristics. The committee has discussed practices that might inadvertently lead to a lack of diversity at events, such as National Conference, and looked at ways that the Association can better support all members. The committee has steered the Association to build on the work of the TUC and emphasised the importance of utilising the resources that the TUC provide.As part of this work, the group has reviewed NAHT’s submission to the TUC’s bi-annual equality audit, recommending steps to improve NAHT’s data collection around collective bargaining ahead of the next audit. The committee has also recommended that NAHT undertake work to ensure effective equality monitoring of members. As a result, NAHT has been working closely with the TUC and member unions to review its practices and processes. The group will continue to monitor progress in this area during 2020 and beyond.

Improving equality and tackling discrimination are critical tenets of the trade union movement. There is, of course, always more we could, and should be doing to further our work in this critical area, and we recognise that these are very much the beginning steps to further work and focus over the coming years.

Natalie Arnett, NAHT – policy officer

This Friday, Diversity Role Models will be hosting two webinars and you are invited to join!

The webinars are 45 minutes long and will be delivered by Danny Allum. Danny has worked within education for the last eight years, supporting young people outside of mainstream school settings and training staff to do the same. Since moving from Suffolk to London with his husband in 2017, Danny has been an advocate for women’s and LGBT+ rights and volunteering for charities.

Register for the webinars here:

Friday 26 June at 10-10.45.am - What is Intersectionality?

Friday 26 June at 3-3.45pm - Understanding RSE Guidance for Secondary School

First published 24 June 2020
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