Taking equal opportunities seriously?

History PGCE courses do not commonly attract people who are bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic or in other ways prejudiced. When I ask if anyone in the lecture theatre is racist or sexist at the start of the lecture on equal opportunities, no hands ever go up. This might be because students are scared to put their hands up in front of such a large audience, but I think it is more likely to be that the vast majority of student teachers do not consider themselves to be racist or sexist, and believe that they will genuinely do their best for all the pupils in their care. It's just that there is a danger that student teachers might underestimate the complexity and ubiquity of equal opportunities issues in schools (can you think if any examples of inequality of opportunity in the school you were at as a pupil, or in the school you are working in?)

Taking equal opportunities seriously – what is there to think about?

There are several strands to this, it might be helpful to think about what we would like all our students to have a sound grasp of when they start their NQT year, what we need to ensure we cover in this area, and what our students need to encounter whilst on school placements so that they are well equipped in this area. This is just a list of tentative suggestions and questions about what we might think about in this area:

• Your understanding of the Every Child Matters agenda – and your understanding of the ways in which your subject, your teaching, and your personal example can contribute to this. For helpful QCA guidance on how history can contribut to the ECM Agenda, go to http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_10659.aspx.
• Which of the QTS standards relate to equal opportunities? (Answer – 1,10, 14, 19,20,21 - have a look at them).
• ‘Duty of care' – An overarching question; to what extent do you do your best to ensure that all the pupils you teach fulfil their educational potential - the quiet ones, the ones who aren't very easy to like, the ones who are quietly coasting along, the very able?
• Your awareness of the range of different groups who sometimes fail to reach their full educational potential and and what can be done to improve outcomes for thes groups … boys, SEN pupils, EAL pupils, cared for pupils, carers, traveller pupils, the quietly disaffected (‘RHINOs'), able pupils...
• The working atmosphere in the classroom as an equality of opportunity issue… This is a massive inequality in the British educational system - the extent to which there is 'a right to learn' in the classroom - the extent to which teachers are in relaxed and assured control of proceedings and able to make sure that some pupils are not able to interfere with the learning of others (see section on Classroom Management).
• Your awareness of legislation, policy and research in this area … The Ajegbo Report, QCA guidance, Gender equality and Disability Discrimination Acts, DfES report, Ofsted race and gender equality schemes…?
• The handling of name calling and racist/homophobic incidents in the classroom and in school - the majority of my students said that they had encountered such incidents whilst on placement, and found it to be a complex and difficult issue. This is certainly something that should be the focus of a PD or mentor discussion at some point.
• To what extent to you share your time with pupils equally in the classroom? Do you give more time, care and attention to difficult pupils, and/or pupils who have bright, lively and positive personas in your classroom?

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