Race Equality Toolkit 2006.pdf - Universities Scotland

RACE EQUALITY TOOLKIT2. USING THIS TOOLKITThis Toolkit can be used as a self-evaluationresource. It can help academic staff to evaluatehow well they are delivering for race equality inlearning and teaching.The Toolkit has four key sections, coveringn curriculum,n learning and teaching,n assessment, andn institutional action.Most sections contain self-evaluatory questionsto help staff identify areas of good practice aswell as gaps requiring further consideration.The Toolkit provides information to assistindividual lecturers, schools, and universitiesas a whole to respond to the questions posed bythe Commission for Racial Equality in its bestpractice guidance on race equality for furtherand higher education institutions as outlined inChapter 1.Quotations within the Toolkit representthe views of minority ethnic home andinternational students as well as those ofacademic/teaching staff.The Toolkit is not a template or blueprint onhow race equality should be addressed withinlearning and teaching. It is designed to assiststaff in universities to consider issues of raceequality and to reflect upon ways in which raceequality can be mainstreamed into learningand teaching.2.1 Using the Toolkit at an individual levelIndividual members of staff should be providedwith opportunities for self-evaluation oftheir practice in relation to the four key areascovered. Staff could be asked to consider whatfurther continuing professional developmentrequirements they have in order to assist themto mainstream race equality effectively intotheir practice.The Toolkit is also useful for raising awarenessof how racism and racial discrimination aremanifested in Scotland.2.2 Using the Toolkit at a school/departmental levelSchools and departments should consider howthey can make further use of this Toolkit. Forexample, is there a school/department Learningand Teaching Committee or Equality andDiversity Committee that could take the leadrole in considering the four key sections ofthe Toolkit, in identifying examples of goodpractice as well as gaps requiring attention?How would any good practice be disseminatedacross the school or department so that othersmay learn from these examples? How wouldgaps be addressed? Mainstreaming is defined by the Scottish Executivein its Equality Strategy of 2002 as ‘the systematicintegration of an equality perspective ... [which] tacklesstructures, behaviours and attitudes that contributeto or sustain inequality and discrimination’. For moreinformation about mainstreaming, see Appendix 3.12