Publishing equality objectives: guidance for schools

To comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), schools must publish at least one equality objective. This makes their priorities for equality available to the public.

The objectives should be:

• clearly defined
• specific and measurable
• agreed with the school's governing body or academy trust board
• reviewed and published at least every four years (this is a legal requirement).

The approach should be proportionate: larger schools are likely to have more objectives than smaller ones. We recommend that schools:

• publish more than one objective at least every four years
• include their objectives in their school's improvement and development plans.

As far as possible, the objectives should align with the most significant equality challenges facing the school.

Showing whether you have achieved your objective

Schools should be able to measure how successful they have been in achieving the objective. For example, if the objective was to improve low levels of attainment in mathematics for girls, or reduce the number of homophobic incidents, how will your school know it has succeeded?

We recommend asking pupils about their attitudes to, or experiences of, their school. This may reveal problems that lead to new policies. Following the creation of any new policies, schools can ask the questions again to see if pupils' attitudes or experiences have changed. This could help with increasing understanding between faith groups, for example.

The PSED will help to focus attention on performance gaps between groups of pupils, for example:

• girls and boys
• pupils from different ethnic groups
• disabled and non-disabled pupils

As part of its improvement plan, the school will continue to monitor the achievement levels of Gypsy and Roma pupils and where the pupils go after they finish school. The school is able to report a positive impact of its targeted activities.

This example shows that decision-makers will have to balance competing priorities and use their discretion when setting their equality objectives. It also illustrates the importance of having good evidence in the early stages of decision-making. In this case, good evidence supports the school’s decision to focus on this group of pupils. It shows that it is reasonable to set an equality objective focused on this group attainment.

Further reading

• The Department for Education's statutory guidance on Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education 
• Department for Education's guidance on the Equality Act 2010