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Notes of the College Liaison Group meeting,
19 March 2014, College Development Network, Stirling
Attendance
Bass, David
Birney, Nancy
Brewster, Graeme
Douglas, Freya
Dunnett, Sophie
Gilchrist, Brian
Grant, Susan
Hall, Chris
Inglis, Susan
Lawson, Barbara
Lingard, Janet
Marshall, Suzanne
McAnulty, Halena
Storey, Caroline
Sutherland, Sheena
Equality Challenge Unit
Glasgow Clyde College
City of Glasgow College
Equality Challenge Unit
North Highland College UHI
Motherwell College
North East College
Equality Challenge Unit
Edinburgh College
Equality Challenge Unit
SRUC
College Development Network
Scottish Funding Council
Forth Valley College
West College Scotland
1. Welcome and apologies
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Introductions took place, ECU thanked College Development Network (CDN) for hosting the
meeting.
2. Notes of the last meeting
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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
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Seven colleges are involved in the first phase of the programme.
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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 with a set of common impact
measures; Edinburgh College has identified cross-cutting priorities for delivery of its equality
outcomes, such as staff development and good relations.
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ECU can support ten colleges in total through the programme. There is space for three more
colleges to participate. ECU will advertise the remaining spaces to colleges in April.
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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 with their colleges.
CDN to distribute invitation to its HR and Guidance networks.
Governance and equality
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ECU has recently held two sessions on equality responsibilities for board members.
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The Glasgow session was well attended. The ‘East’ session was postponed due to low
bookings.
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A webinar was produced that can be accessed by board members in all colleges.
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There was discussion about developing work with the NUS relating to board’s activity but
nothing specific has been agreed at this stage.
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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:
freya.douglas@ecu.ac.uk.
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 its board activity.
Priority 2: Robust equality evidence
Developing consistent data collection
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Discussion was held around the equality fields in the new FES2 guidance.
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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 been produced by members of the CLG and was submitted to SFC in 2012.
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The recommendations had not been incorporated into the new FES2 guidance.
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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.
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The group was keen for ECU to facilitate sharing of colleges approaches to data collection at
the June meeting.
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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.
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The CLG agreed it would value ECU undertaking further work on staff data. ECU suggested it
could work collaboratively with SFC on this area as part of its next funding agreement with SFC.
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Actions:
CDN to forward submitted recommendations on FES 2 guidance Halena 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
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In addition to the usual stats report, ECU is developing online regional data tables for multicollege or recently merged college regions.
Measuring progress on equality
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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
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Eight colleges are involved in a short-life working group to produce guidance for the sector.
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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
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45 people had signed up to attend a joint event with CDN on 24th March.
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A train the trainer pack would be launched at the event. Following the event this will be
available on CDN’s website for download by all colleges.
Employability
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The employability project is currently on hold while more robust data collection is developed
and strategic discussions in the sector take place.
Stakeholder engagement
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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 Leitch from
Perth UHI on their equality outcomes.
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It was recommended that SFC reviewed future promotional material to encourage more
colleges to attend in future.
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4. CDN Update
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Equality and diversity will re-introduced as a category in the CDN annual awards.
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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.
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A SQA webinar on reasonable adjustments in literacy which discusses what is and isn’t a
reasonable adjustment is available.
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A CDN-hosted webinar by South Lanarkshire College was flagged in the Education Scotland
aspect report on admissions.
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Nil by Mouth hosted a session on anti sectarianism issues and Interfaith Scotland is working on
materials on cultural differences and asylum seeker experiences.
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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
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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.
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Marshall had previously had interest in providing a sector wide resource along similar lines; it
was noted other providers include Skill Boosters and CYLIX.
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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 Brewster to schedule a session at a future CLG to share City of
Glasgow’s induction materials.
6. Discussion on the findings from ECU’s mental health research project
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Chris Brill joined the group via VC to talk about the preliminary findings of ECU’s research
project on mental health.
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Responses to the surveys had been received from 12 colleges, including around 100 from
students and 150 from staff.
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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.
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Discussion covered:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Providing quiet spaces where people with mental health conditions can go.
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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
health to share please contact Chris Brill Chris.Brill@ecu.ac.uk
7. A.O.B
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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.
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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 (hmcanulty@sfc.ac.uk).
Next CLG meeting:
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12 June 2014, College Development Network, Stirling.