Common use of Meeting Diverse Needs Clause in Contracts

Meeting Diverse Needs. Forth Valley College strives to improve learners’ life chances ensuring that learners with a disability have the opportunity to access educational provision that, where appropriate, best matches their abilities and allows them to reach their full potential and where suitable, progress on to either mainstream provision, training or employment. The majority of the Access and Progression department’s programmes build on learners’ personal and social development, employability skills, health and wellbeing. College staff are involved in a Youth Transitions Work stream, where we work with Local Authorities and other agencies to identify care leavers, disengaged young people, and learners not in a positive destination in order to put in place local interventions. Currently, provision for learners with severe and complex needs is delivered within our school link curriculum and some of the learners progress onto our full time Lifestart programme either on a full or part time basis, or onto our Opportunities for Young People course. Our Enable Transitions worker supports learners to secure suitable work placement opportunities. Adults with severe and complex needs access our evening provision which is practical in nature (drama, music, art). The programme of study is accredited with SQA units at Access 1 level. Not all learners with complex and profound needs undertake learning which has formal recognition of achievement, so are not all included within the target set for this group. The College is meeting the needs of this learner group by working closer with our partners to ensure smooth transition from school to college, with staff attending transition meetings and hosting events to try to make students and their families feel more supported in moving on to college from school. We invite parents/carers into the College with the young person and conduct tours prior to their interview to help build a relationship with the young person and their families. The College strives to ensure all learners have access to College courses, evidenced by our target of increasing the proportion of activity delivered to learners from the 10% most deprived postcodes by over 1% to 12% over the three year period, which represents a higher percentage than the 7% of the whole Forth Valley population who reside within the 10% most deprived postcodes. Our success rates for students from both the 10% most deprived postcodes, and also from the 20% most deprived postcodes were also the highest in the college sector for Session 2017-18. The College also has above sector average success for Care Experienced students as well as students aged under 18 and aged 18-20. The College has systematically developed Performance Indicator reports to enable all teaching teams to analyse enrolment, retention and success by all protected characteristics, and there is a requirement to report and provide analysis of any under-representation from protected characteristic groups through team self-evaluation reports. Race We have set a target of maintaining enrolments from students from a black or ethnic minority at 3%, which represents a higher percentage than the 2% of residents within Forth Valley who are from a black or ethnic minority. There is more detailed monitoring of our enrolment, retention and success PIs for Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) students through our Access & Inclusion strategy. The College’s Head of Equalities, Inclusion and Learning Services and Diversity Coordinator are members of the Scottish Race Equality Network (SREN) Forum, attend meetings where possible, and receive information and updates. Involvement with the SREN group has facilitated a consultancy programme with CEMVO Scotland. They will help identify steps we can take to improve racial equality. The first appointment with CEMVO is set to occur in late June 2019. The College’s Diversity Coordinator with support from the National Union of Students has facilitated a number of focus groups with BME students in AY 2018/19 to identify how the college can create an environment to xxxxxx improved outcomes. This was in response to data we reported on through our Equality Outcomes monitoring in 2017 that BME student achievement is lower than of white student achievement. Engagement with students has been limited and it will probably take longer than expected to build relationships with students especially those who are resident UK. The majority of focus group participants so far were ‘international’ students. Our Diversity Coordinator plans to engage with the FVSA BME officer to support this process. Focus groups are also a major point in the Scottish Government Race Equality framework as we need to identify barriers before we can start working to minimise them. Gender The College is committed to delivering on its Gender Action Plan, which is published on our website at xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/media/2702/gender-action-plan-2017- 20.pdf. At subject level there is under-representation of females within STEM subjects, which has been highlighted as a target, however this isn’t a quick or easy fix. The College has a number of initiatives with one example being our STEM club which is aimed at primary aged pupils, and has attracted more females than males. The purpose of these courses is to spark an enthusiasm of young (predominantly female) learners in STEM subjects. We have also launched Primary Engineers where College Engineering staff are visiting primary school pupils to engage them in Engineering at an early age. For every school visit female engineering staff have been involved to highlight that Engineering is a career path for both sexes. Our School-College Opportunities to Succeed courses are designed to provide a taster of subjects for school pupils entering their senior phase, and these courses have been deliberately designed to allow both females and males to experience subject areas they may not have experienced before eg females experiencing Construction & Engineering, and males experiencing Hairdressing & Care. In its first year of running, two males progressed on to Childcare courses from this course. The College was successful in its bid to the Equality Challenge Unit for the Attracting Diversity Project, which commenced in session 2015-16, and the work of this project is continuing. A project team has been established within the College, which set targets and has gained insight and experience from other colleges involved within the projects, and benefit, from the experience of staff from within the Equality Challenge Unit. Forth Valley College’s project mission is to ensure that our specialist science and engineering provision and enhanced school/college activity in STEM subjects is actively promoted to women and girls who are currently under-represented in these subject areas. We aim to build on our STEM Assured status and strong partnership links to tackle stereotypical vocational choices in relation to gender. One of the activities which will be undertaken is evidence gathering through a survey of our school link cohort to gather knowledge of the key influencers on subject choice and the rationale of subject choice, to better understand how the College can influence future learners. We are also focusing effort through our Developing Young Workforce Action Plan to adjust our course literature and marketing materials to actively encourage females to engage with STEM subjects. Our offering within this area includes HNC subjects in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science, our SCOTS programme, and the new Foundation Apprenticeship in Engineering. Alongside the marketing material we also have a planned programme of engagement with schools, including pupil and parent information events, CPD for teachers and pupil support staff and visits to the College campuses. In consultation with members of the trans community the College has developed a Transgender Guide, which is intended to support students who identify as trans and non-binary.

Meeting Diverse Needs. Forth Valley College strives to improve learners’ life chances ensuring that learners with a disability have the opportunity to access educational provision that, where appropriate, best matches their abilities and allows them to reach their full potential and where suitable, progress from on to either mainstream provision, training or employment. The majority of the Access and Progression department’s programmes build on learners’ personal and social development, employability skills, health and wellbeing. College staff are involved in a Youth Transitions Work stream, where we work with Local Authorities and other agencies to identify care leavers, disengaged young people, and learners not in a positive destination in order to put in place local interventions. Currently, provision for learners with severe and complex needs is delivered within our school link curriculum and some of the learners progress onto our full time Lifestart programme either on a full or part time basis, or onto our Opportunities for Young People course. Our Enable Transitions worker supports learners to secure suitable work placement opportunities. Adults with severe and complex needs access our evening provision which is practical in nature (drama, music, art). The programme of study is accredited with SQA units at Access 1 level. Not all learners with complex and profound needs undertake learning which has formal recognition of achievement, so are not all included within the target set for this group. The College is meeting the needs of this learner group by working closer with our partners to ensure smooth transition from school to college, with staff attending transition meetings and hosting events to try to make students and their families feel more supported in moving on to college from school. We invite parents/carers into the College with the young person and conduct tours prior to their interview to help build a relationship with the young person and their families. The College strives to ensure all learners have access to College courses, evidenced by our target of increasing the proportion of activity delivered to learners from the 10% most deprived postcodes by over 1% to 12% over the three year period, which represents a higher percentage than the 7% of the whole Forth Valley population who reside within the 10% most deprived postcodes. Our success rates for students from both the 10% most deprived postcodes, and also from the 20% most deprived postcodes were also the highest in the college sector for Session 2017-18. The College also has above sector average success for Care Experienced students as well as students aged under 18 and aged 18-20. The College has systematically developed Performance Indicator reports to enable all teaching teams to analyse enrolment, retention and success by all protected characteristics, and there is a requirement to report and provide analysis of any under-representation from protected characteristic groups through team self-evaluation reports. Race We have also set a target of maintaining enrolments from students from a black or ethnic minority at 3%, which represents a higher percentage than the 2% of residents within Forth Valley who are from a black or ethnic minority. There is more detailed monitoring of our enrolment, retention and success PIs for Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) students through our Access & Inclusion strategy. Gender The College’s Head overall enrolment figures demonstrate our commitment to gender equality with 48% of Equalities, Inclusion and Learning Services and Diversity Coordinator are members of the Scottish Race Equality Network (SREN) Forum, attend meetings where possible, and receive information and updates. Involvement with the SREN group has facilitated a consultancy programme with CEMVO Scotland. They will help identify steps we can take to improve racial equality. The first appointment with CEMVO is set to occur in late June 2019. The College’s Diversity Coordinator with support all enrolments being from the National Union of Students has facilitated a number of focus groups with BME female students in AY 2018/19 to identify how the college can create an environment to xxxxxx improved outcomes. This was in response to data we reported on through our Equality Outcomes monitoring in 2017 that BME student achievement is lower than of white student achievement. Engagement with students has been limited and it will probably take longer than expected to build relationships with students especially those who are resident UK. The majority of focus group participants so far were ‘international’ students. Our Diversity Coordinator plans to engage with the FVSA BME officer to support this process. Focus groups are also a major point in the Scottish Government Race Equality framework as we need to identify barriers before we can start working to minimise them. Gender The College is committed to delivering on its Gender Action PlanSession 2015-15, which is published on our website at xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/media/2702/gender-action-plan-2017- 20.pdfconsistent with the previous session. At subject level there is under-representation of females within STEM subjects, which has been highlighted as a target, however this isn’t a quick or easy fix. Further gender targets will be set through the College’s Gender Action Plan, which will be developed as part of the Access & Inclusion Strategy. The College has a number of initiatives with one example being our STEM club which is aimed at primary aged pupils, and has attracted more females than males. The purpose of these courses is to spark an enthusiasm of young (predominantly female) learners in STEM subjects. We have also launched Primary Engineers where College Engineering staff are visiting primary school pupils to engage them in Engineering at an early age. For every school visit female engineering staff have been involved to highlight that Engineering is a career path for both sexes. Our School-College Opportunities to Succeed courses are designed to provide a taster of subjects for school pupils entering their senior phase, and these courses have been deliberately designed to allow both females and males to experience subject areas they may not have experienced before eg e.g. females experiencing Construction & Engineering, and males experiencing Hairdressing & Care. In From its first year of running, running two males progressed on to Childcare courses from this course. The College was has recently been successful in its bid to the Equality Challenge Unit for the Attracting Diversity Project, which commenced in session 2015-16, and the work of this project is continuingwill continue through Session 2016-17. A project team has been established within the College, which set and as part of the project the team will be setting targets and has gained hope to gain insight and experience from other colleges involved within the projects, and benefit, benefit from the experience of staff from within the Equality Challenge Unit. Forth Valley College’s project mission is to ensure that our specialist science and engineering provision and enhanced school/college activity in STEM subjects is actively promoted to women and girls who are currently under-represented in these subject areas. We aim to build on our STEM Assured assured status and strong partnership links to tackle stereotypical vocational choices in relation to gender. One of the activities which will be undertaken is evidence gathering through a survey of our school link cohort to gather knowledge of the key influencers on subject choice and the rationale of subject choice, to better understand how the College can influence future learners. We are also focusing effort through our Developing Young Workforce Action Plan to adjust our course literature and marketing materials to actively encourage females to engage with STEM subjects. Our offering within this area includes HNC subjects in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science, our SCOTS programme, and the new Foundation Apprenticeship in Engineering. Alongside the marketing material we also have a planned programme of engagement with schools, including pupil and parent information events, CPD for teachers and pupil support staff and visits to the College campuses. In consultation Gender of Board of Management and Staff There are currently 17 members within our Board of Management, which comprises of eight females (47%) and nine males (53%). There is a 50/50 gender split within the twelve non-executive members, and the same 50/50 gender split between both our student and staff board members. Within the College’s overall headcount the gender balance is 55% female and 45% male. Within the College’s Senior Management Team there are four males (57%) and three females (43%). Equal Pay The College undertook an Equal Pay Audit assessment on 30 November 2016. The Equal Pay audit is an independent assessment of pay equity. An initial audit was completed in 2009, further updated in 2012 and 2014. The report is conducted by NGA Human Resources who are independent reward consultants utilising tailored software solutions to provide reward consulting services. The findings were that the College does not have any significant exposure to equal pay challenge. The major job groups which are gender dominant do not present major concern in relation to widespread challenge one role referenced against another. The College has made some considerable improvements to the pay structure since the previous audit analysis of 2014. Concern was expressed over the application of overlapping incremental steps within the support grade structure. This matter has been addressed with members the positive steps taken by the College. Race and disability were assessed along with gender during the November 2016 audit with no significant pay gap being reported in any equal work group British Sign Language Forth Valley College is committed to implementing the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015. The College will take measures to achieve the outcomes of the trans community BSL National Plan for Scotland, where possible to do so. The aim of the legislation is to: Promote awareness and the use of BSL; and Improve access to services for Deaf and Deaf-blind people. The College has developed a Transgender Guide, which is intended ambition to implement the following measures in order to achieve the aims of the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015: • To make more College information available in BSL; • To encourage the use of assistive technology to support students who identify BSL users; • To facilitate the provision of communication support to BSL users; and • To include BSL actions and outcomes in the up-coming FVC Equality Outcome Agreement and Access & Inclusion Strategy. In accordance with the legislation Forth Valley College will develop a BSL Authority Plan. In order to attempt to achieve consistency with the BSL National Plan for Scotland, Forth Valley College will consider guidance from: the BSL National Plan for Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, and the Deaf Sector Partnership. A draft BSL action plan is attached as trans and non-binaryAppendix 3.

Meeting Diverse Needs. Forth Valley College strives to improve learners’ life chances ensuring that learners with a disability have the opportunity to access educational provision that, where appropriate, best matches their abilities and allows them to reach their full potential and where suitable, progress from on to either mainstream provision, training or employment. The majority of the Access and Progression department’s programmes build on learners’ personal and social development, employability skills, health and wellbeing. College staff are involved in a Youth Transitions Work stream, where we work with Local Authorities and other agencies to identify care leavers, disengaged young people, and learners not in a positive destination in order to put in place local interventions. Currently, provision for learners with severe and complex needs is delivered within our school link curriculum and some of the learners progress onto our full time Lifestart programme either on a full or part time basis, or onto our Opportunities for Young People course. Our Enable Transitions worker supports learners to secure suitable work placement opportunities. Adults with severe and complex needs access our evening provision which is practical in nature (drama, music, art). The programme of study is accredited with SQA units at Access 1 level. Not all learners with complex and profound needs undertake learning which has formal recognition of achievement, so are not all included within the target set for this group. The College is meeting the needs of this learner group by working closer with our partners to ensure smooth transition from school to college, with staff attending transition meetings and hosting events to try to make students and their families feel more supported in moving on to college from school. We invite parents/carers into the College with the young person and conduct tours prior to their interview to help build a relationship with the young person and their families. The College strives to ensure all learners have access to College courses, evidenced by our target of increasing the proportion of activity delivered to learners from the 10% most deprived postcodes by over 1% to 12% over the three year period, which represents a higher percentage than the 7% of the whole Forth Valley population who reside within the 10% most deprived postcodes. Our success rates for students from both the 10% most deprived postcodes, and also from the 20% most deprived postcodes were also the highest in the college sector for Session 20172016-1817. The College also has above sector average success for Care Experienced students as well as students aged under 18 and aged 18-20. The College has systematically developed Performance Indicator reports to enable all teaching teams to analyse enrolment, retention and success by all protected characteristics, and there is a requirement to report and provide analysis of any under-representation from protected characteristic groups through team self-evaluation reports. Race We have set a target of maintaining enrolments from students from a black or ethnic minority at 3%, which represents a higher percentage than the 2% of residents within Forth Valley who are from a black or ethnic minority. There is more detailed monitoring of our enrolment, retention and success PIs for Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) students through our Access & Inclusion strategy. The College’s Head of Equalities, Inclusion and Learning Services and Diversity Coordinator are members of the Scottish Race Equality Network (SREN) Forum, attend meetings where possible, and receive information and updates. Involvement with the SREN group has facilitated a consultancy programme with CEMVO Scotland. They will help identify steps we can take to improve racial equality. The first appointment with CEMVO is set to occur in late June 2019. The College’s Diversity Coordinator with support from the National Union of Students has facilitated a number of focus groups with BME students in AY 2018/19 to identify how the college can create an environment to xxxxxx improved outcomes. This was in response to data we reported on through our Equality Outcomes monitoring in 2017 that BME student achievement is lower than of white student achievement. Engagement with students has been limited and it will probably take longer than expected to build relationships with students especially those who are resident UK. The majority of focus group participants so far were ‘international’ students. Our Diversity Coordinator plans to engage with the FVSA BME officer to support this process. Focus groups are also a major point in the Scottish Government Race Equality framework as we need to identify barriers before we can start working to minimise them. Gender The College is committed to delivering on its Gender Action Plan, which is published on our website at xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/media/2702/gender-action-plan-2017- 20.pdf. At subject level there is under-representation of females within STEM subjects, which has been highlighted as a target, however this isn’t a quick or easy fix. The College has a number of initiatives with one example being our STEM club which is aimed at primary aged pupils, and has attracted more females than males. The purpose of these courses is to spark an enthusiasm of young (predominantly female) learners in STEM subjects. We have also launched Primary Engineers where College Engineering staff are visiting primary school pupils to engage them in Engineering at an early age. For every school visit female engineering staff have been involved to highlight that Engineering is a career path for both sexes. Our School-College Opportunities to Succeed courses are designed to provide a taster of subjects for school pupils entering their senior phase, and these courses have been deliberately designed to allow both females and males to experience subject areas they may not have experienced before eg females experiencing Construction & Engineering, and males experiencing Hairdressing & Care. In From its first year of running, running two males progressed on to Childcare courses from this course. The College was successful in its bid to the Equality Challenge Unit for the Attracting Diversity Project, which commenced in session 2015-16, and the work of this project is continuing. A project team has been established within the College, which set targets and has gained insight and experience from other colleges involved within the projects, and benefit, benefit from the experience of staff from within the Equality Challenge Unit. Forth Valley College’s project mission is to ensure that our specialist science and engineering provision and enhanced school/college activity in STEM subjects is actively promoted to women and girls who are currently under-represented in these subject areas. We aim to build on our STEM Assured assured status and strong partnership links to tackle stereotypical vocational choices in relation to gender. One of the activities which will be undertaken is evidence gathering through a survey of our school link cohort to gather knowledge of the key influencers on subject choice and the rationale of subject choice, to better understand how the College can influence future learners. We are also focusing effort through our Developing Young Workforce Action Plan to adjust our course literature and marketing materials to actively encourage females to engage with STEM subjects. Our offering within this area includes HNC subjects in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science, our SCOTS programme, and the new Foundation Apprenticeship in Engineering. Alongside the marketing material we also have a planned programme of engagement with schools, including pupil and parent information events, CPD for teachers and pupil support staff and visits to the College campuses. In consultation Gender of Board of Management and Staff There are currently 17 members within our Board of Management, which comprises of eight females (47%) and nine males (53%). There is a 50/50 gender split within the twelve non-executive members, and the same 50/50 gender split between both our student and staff board members. Within the College’s overall headcount the gender balance is 55% female and 45% male. Within the College’s Senior Management Team there are 3.5 FTE males (64%) and two FTE females (36%). Equal Pay The College undertook an Equal Pay Audit assessment on 30 November 2016. The Equal Pay audit is an independent assessment of pay equity. An initial audit was completed in 2009, further updated in 2012 and 2014. The report is conducted by NGA Human Resources who are independent reward consultants utilising tailored software solutions to provide reward consulting services. The findings were that the College does not have any significant exposure to equal pay challenge. The major job groups which are gender dominant do not present major concern in relation to widespread challenge one role referenced against another. The College has made some considerable improvements to the pay structure since the previous audit analysis of 2014. Concern was expressed over the application of overlapping incremental steps within the support grade structure. This matter has been addressed with members the positive steps taken by the College. Race and disability were assessed along with gender during the November 2016 audit with no significant pay gap being reported in any equal work group British Sign Language Forth Valley College is committed to implementing the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015. The College will take measures to achieve the outcomes of the trans community BSL National Plan for Scotland, where possible to do so. The aim of the legislation is to: Promote awareness and the use of BSL; and Improve access to services for Deaf and Deaf-blind people. The College has developed a Transgender Guide, which is intended ambition to implement the following measures in order to achieve the aims of the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015:  To make more College information available in BSL;  To encourage the use of assistive technology to support students who identify as trans BSL users;  To facilitate the provision of communication support to BSL users; and non To include BSL actions and outcomes in the up-binarycoming FVC Equality Outcome Agreement and Access & Inclusion Strategy. In accordance with the legislation Forth Valley College will develop a BSL Authority Plan. In order to attempt to achieve consistency with the BSL National Plan for Scotland, Forth Valley College will consider guidance from: the BSL National Plan for Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, and the Deaf Sector Partnership.

Meeting Diverse Needs. Forth Valley College strives to improve learners’ life chances ensuring that learners with a disability have the opportunity to access educational provision that, where appropriate, best matches their abilities and allows them to reach their full potential and where suitable, progress from on to either mainstream provision, training or employment. The majority of the Access and Progression department’s programmes build on learners’ personal and social development, employability skills, health and wellbeing. College staff are involved in a Youth Transitions Work stream, where we work with Local Authorities and other agencies to identify care leavers, disengaged young people, and learners not in a positive destination in order to put in place local interventions. Currently, provision for learners with severe and complex needs is delivered within our school link curriculum and some of the learners progress onto our full time Lifestart programme either on a full or part time basis, or onto our Opportunities for Young People course. Our Enable Transitions worker supports learners to secure suitable work placement opportunities. Adults with severe and complex needs access our evening provision which is practical in nature (drama, music, art). The programme of study is accredited with SQA units at Access 1 level. Not all learners with complex and profound needs undertake learning which has formal recognition of achievement, so are not all included within the target set for this group. The College is meeting the needs of this learner group by working closer with our partners to ensure smooth transition from school to college, with staff attending transition meetings and hosting events to try to make students and their families feel more supported in moving on to college from school. We invite parents/carers into the College with the young person and conduct tours prior to their interview to help build a relationship with the young person and their families. The College strives to ensure all learners have access to College courses, evidenced by our target of increasing the proportion of activity delivered to learners from the 10% most deprived postcodes by over 1% to 12% over the three year period, which represents a higher percentage than the 7% of the whole Forth Valley population who reside within the 10% most deprived postcodes. Our success rates for students from both the 10% most deprived postcodes, and also from the 20% most deprived postcodes were also the highest in the college sector for Session 20172016-1817. The College also has above sector average success for Care Experienced students as well as students aged under 18 and aged 18-20. The College has systematically developed Performance Indicator reports to enable all teaching teams to analyse enrolment, retention and success by all protected characteristics, and there is a requirement to report and provide analysis of any under-representation from protected characteristic groups through team self-evaluation reports. Race We have set a target of maintaining enrolments from students from a black or ethnic minority at 3%, which represents a higher percentage than the 2% of residents within Forth Valley who are from a black or ethnic minority. There is more detailed monitoring of our enrolment, retention and success PIs for Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) students through our Access & Inclusion strategy. The College’s Head of Equalities, Inclusion and Learning Services and Diversity Coordinator are members of the Scottish Race Equality Network (SREN) Forum, attend meetings where possible, and receive information and updates. Involvement with the SREN group has facilitated a consultancy programme with CEMVO Scotland. They will help identify steps we can take to improve racial equality. The first appointment with CEMVO is set to occur in late June 2019. The College’s Diversity Coordinator with support from the National Union of Students has facilitated a number of focus groups with BME students in AY 2018/19 to identify how the college can create an environment to xxxxxx improved outcomes. This was in response to data we reported on through our Equality Outcomes monitoring in 2017 that BME student achievement is lower than of white student achievement. Engagement with students has been limited and it will probably take longer than expected to build relationships with students especially those who are resident UK. The majority of focus group participants so far were ‘international’ students. Our Diversity Coordinator plans to engage with the FVSA BME officer to support this process. Focus groups are also a major point in the Scottish Government Race Equality framework as we need to identify barriers before we can start working to minimise them. Gender The College is committed to delivering on its Gender Action Plan, which is published on our website at xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/media/2702/gender-action-plan-2017- 20.pdf. At subject level there is under-representation of females within STEM subjects, which has been highlighted as a target, however this isn’t a quick or easy fix. The College has a number of initiatives with one example being our STEM club which is aimed at primary aged pupils, and has attracted more females than males. The purpose of these courses is to spark an enthusiasm of young (predominantly female) learners in STEM subjects. We have also launched Primary Engineers where College Engineering staff are visiting primary school pupils to engage them in Engineering at an early age. For every school visit female engineering staff have been involved to highlight that Engineering is a career path for both sexes. Our School-College Opportunities to Succeed courses are designed to provide a taster of subjects for school pupils entering their senior phase, and these courses have been deliberately designed to allow both females and males to experience subject areas they may not have experienced before eg females experiencing Construction & Engineering, and males experiencing Hairdressing & Care. In From its first year of running, running two males progressed on to Childcare courses from this course. The College was successful in its bid to the Equality Challenge Unit for the Attracting Diversity Project, which commenced in session 2015-16, and the work of this project is continuing. A project team has been established within the College, which set targets and has gained insight and experience from other colleges involved within the projects, and benefit, benefit from the experience of staff from within the Equality Challenge Unit. Forth Valley College’s project mission is to ensure that our specialist science and engineering provision and enhanced school/college activity in STEM subjects is actively promoted to women and girls who are currently under-represented in these subject areas. We aim to build on our STEM Assured assured status and strong partnership links to tackle stereotypical vocational choices in relation to gender. One of the activities which will be undertaken is evidence gathering through a survey of our school link cohort to gather knowledge of the key influencers on subject choice and the rationale of subject choice, to better understand how the College can influence future learners. We are also focusing effort through our Developing Young Workforce Action Plan to adjust our course literature and marketing materials to actively encourage females to engage with STEM subjects. Our offering within this area includes HNC subjects in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science, our SCOTS programme, and the new Foundation Apprenticeship in Engineering. Alongside the marketing material we also have a planned programme of engagement with schools, including pupil and parent information events, CPD for teachers and pupil support staff and visits to the College campuses. In consultation Gender of Board of Management and Staff There are currently 17 members within our Board of Management, which comprises of eight females (47%) and nine males (53%). There is a 50/50 gender split within the twelve non-executive members, and the same 50/50 gender split between both our student and staff board members. Within the College’s overall headcount the gender balance is 55% female and 45% male. Within the College’s Senior Management Team there are 3.5 FTE males (64%) and two FTE females (36%). Equal Pay The College undertook an Equal Pay Audit assessment on 30 November 2016. The Equal Pay audit is an independent assessment of pay equity. An initial audit was completed in 2009, further updated in 2012 and 2014. The report is conducted by NGA Human Resources who are independent reward consultants utilising tailored software solutions to provide reward consulting services. The findings were that the College does not have any significant exposure to equal pay challenge. The major job groups which are gender dominant do not present major concern in relation to widespread challenge one role referenced against another. The College has made some considerable improvements to the pay structure since the previous audit analysis of 2014. Concern was expressed over the application of overlapping incremental steps within the support grade structure. This matter has been addressed with members the positive steps taken by the College. Race and disability were assessed along with gender during the November 2016 audit with no significant pay gap being reported in any equal work group British Sign Language Forth Valley College is committed to implementing the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015. The College will take measures to achieve the outcomes of the trans community BSL National Plan for Scotland, where possible to do so. The aim of the legislation is to: Promote awareness and the use of BSL; and Improve access to services for Deaf and Deaf-blind people. The College has developed a Transgender Guide, which is intended ambition to implement the following measures in order to achieve the aims of the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015: • To make more College information available in BSL; • To encourage the use of assistive technology to support students who identify as trans BSL users; • To facilitate the provision of communication support to BSL users; and non• To include BSL actions and outcomes in the up-binarycoming FVC Equality Outcome Agreement and Access & Inclusion Strategy. In accordance with the legislation Forth Valley College will develop a BSL Authority Plan. In order to attempt to achieve consistency with the BSL National Plan for Scotland, Forth Valley College will consider guidance from: the BSL National Plan for Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, and the Deaf Sector Partnership.

Meeting Diverse Needs. Forth Valley College strives to improve learners’ life chances ensuring that learners with a disability have the opportunity to access educational provision that, where appropriate, best matches their abilities and allows them to reach their full potential and where suitable, progress on to either mainstream provision, training or employment. The majority of the Access and Progression department’s programmes build on learners’ personal and social development, employability skills, health and wellbeing. College staff are involved in a Youth Transitions Work stream, where we work with Local Authorities and other agencies to identify care leavers, disengaged young people, and learners not in a positive destination in order to put in place local interventions. Currently, provision for learners with severe and complex needs is delivered within our school link curriculum and some of the learners progress onto our full time Lifestart programme either on a full or part time basis, or onto our Opportunities for Young People course. Our Enable Transitions worker Workplace Co-ordinator supports learners to secure suitable work placement opportunities. Adults opportunities within our Preparation for Employment programmes, theses can either be in Construction, Customer Service or Business, with severe and complex needs access our evening provision which is practical in nature (drama, music, art). The programme of study is accredited placements supplemented with SQA units at Access 1 level. Not all learners with complex and profound needs undertake learning which has formal recognition of achievement, so are not all included Employability Units delivered within the target set for this groupcollege. The College is meeting the needs of this supported programmes learner group groups by working closer with our partners to ensure smooth transition from school to college, with staff attending transition meetings and hosting events to try to make students and their families feel more supported in moving on to college from school. We invite parents/carers into the College with the young person and conduct tours prior to their interview to help build a relationship with the young person and their families. This involves Alternative Curriculum courses across all campuses, although delivery differs across the different council areas, with an additional cohort added in 2021 specifically for Interrupted Learners. In August 2020 we also commenced a pilot programme in Stirling called “Progression Advantage Stirling”, this is aimed at S3 pupils who have either already offended or are on the verge of offending and bringing them into college one day per week try and improve engagement and deliver units very different to the school curriculum. We additionally run the following 2 partnership programmes for learners with Additional Support Needs: This Centre Forward programme is delivered in partnership with Falkirk Football Community Foundation. The programme is designed for young people who have additional learning support needs and who wish to become more active whilst learning and developing their confidence. Combined with certificated SQA units, learners have a unique opportunity to take part in a range of on the pitch activities – encouraging practical learning and improving health/wellbeing at the same time. They also benefit from real-life work placement opportunities. DFN Project SEARCH is a one year internship programme, supporting young people with additional needs to gain skills and experience aimed at helping them move into sustainable employment. Locally it is delivered in partnership with Falkirk Council, NHS Forth Valley, Forth Valley College, Serco, Skills Development Scotland and Department of Work & Pensions. The programme enables 12 young people per year to receive support to undertake work placements across a range of job areas, all based within Forth Valley Royal Hospital/Serco, Larbert. On-site, interns will be assisted throughout by a college lecturer and a job coach, as well as hospital staff and supervisors. The College strives to ensure all learners have access to College courses, evidenced by our target of increasing the proportion of activity delivered to learners from the 10% most deprived postcodes by over 1% to 12% over the three year period, which represents a higher percentage than the 7% of the whole Forth Valley population who reside within the 10% most deprived postcodes. Our success rates for students from both the 10% most deprived postcodes, and also from the 20% most deprived postcodes were also the highest in the college sector for Session 2017-18. The College also has above sector average success for Care Experienced students as well as students aged under 18 and aged 18-20. The College has systematically developed Performance Indicator reports to enable all teaching teams to analyse enrolment, retention and success by all protected characteristics, and there is a requirement to report and provide analysis of any under-representation from protected characteristic groups through team self-evaluation reports. Race We have set a target of maintaining enrolments from students from a black or ethnic minority at 3%, which represents a higher percentage than the 2% of residents within Forth Valley who are from a black or ethnic minority. There is more detailed monitoring of our enrolment, retention and success PIs for Black and Minority Ethnicity (BME) students through our Access & Inclusion strategy. The College’s Head of Equalities, Inclusion and Learning Services and Diversity Coordinator are members of the Scottish Race Equality Network (SREN) Forum, attend meetings where possible, and receive information and updates. Involvement with the SREN group has facilitated a consultancy programme partnership with CEMVO Scotland. They will help identify steps we can take to improve racial equality. The first appointment with CEMVO is set to occur in late June 2019. The College’s Diversity Coordinator Coordinator, with support from the National Union of Students Students, has facilitated a number of focus groups with BME students in AY 2018/19 to identify how the college can create an environment to xxxxxx improved outcomes. This was in response to data we reported on through our Equality Outcomes monitoring in 2017 that BME student achievement is lower than of white student achievement. Engagement with students has been limited and it will probably take longer than expected to build relationships with students especially those who are resident UK. The majority of focus group participants so far were ‘international’ students. Our Diversity Coordinator plans to engage with the FVSA BME officer to support this process. Focus groups are also a major point in the Scottish Government Race Equality framework as we need to identify barriers before we can start working to minimise them. Our Principal recently signed the College up to a sectoral anti-racism declaration. Following this, we are undertaking a ‘Tackling Racism on Campus’ project, supported by Advanced HE. Key staff, including Leadership Management Team members and a Board member have attended ‘Introduction to race Equality’ training and will support embedding an anti- racism agenda across the organisation Gender The College is committed to delivering on its Gender Action Plan, which is published on our website at xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/media/2702/gender-action-plan-2017- 20.pdfxxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/media/2702/gender-action-plan-2017-20.pdf. At subject level there is under-representation of females within STEM subjects, which has been highlighted as a target, however this isn’t a quick or easy fix. The College has a number of initiatives with one example being our STEM club which is aimed at primary aged pupils, and has attracted more females than males. The purpose of these courses is to spark an enthusiasm of young (predominantly female) learners in STEM subjects. We have also launched Primary Engineers where College Engineering staff are visiting primary school pupils to engage them in Engineering at an early age. For every school visit female engineering staff have been involved to highlight that Engineering is a career path for both sexes. Our School-College Opportunities to Succeed courses are designed to provide a taster of subjects for school pupils entering their senior phase, and these courses have been deliberately designed to allow both females and males to experience subject areas they may not have experienced before eg females experiencing Construction & Engineering, and males experiencing Hairdressing & Care. In its first year of running, two males progressed on to Childcare courses from this course. The College was successful in its bid to the Equality Challenge Unit for the Attracting Diversity Project, which commenced in session 2015-16, and the work of this project is continuing. A project team has been established within the College, which set targets and has gained insight and experience from other colleges involved within the projects, and benefit, from the experience of staff from within the Equality Challenge Unit. Forth Valley College’s project mission is to ensure that our specialist science and engineering provision and enhanced school/college activity in STEM subjects is actively promoted to women and girls who are currently under-represented in these subject areas. We aim to build on our STEM Assured status and strong partnership links to tackle stereotypical vocational choices in relation to gender. One of the activities which will be undertaken is evidence gathering through a survey of our school link cohort to gather knowledge of the key influencers on subject choice and the rationale of subject choice, to better understand how the College can influence future learners. We are also focusing effort through our Developing Young Workforce Action Plan to adjust our course literature and marketing materials to actively encourage females to engage with STEM subjects. Our offering within this area includes HNC subjects in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science, our SCOTS programme, and the new Foundation Apprenticeship in Engineering. Alongside the marketing material we also have a planned programme of engagement with schools, including pupil and parent information events, CPD for teachers and pupil support staff and visits to the College campuses. In consultation with members of the trans Trans community the College has developed a Transgender Trans Guide, which is intended to support students who identify as trans Trans and non-binary. Gender Based Violence The College is currently developing a plan around Gender Based Violence (GBV) and is committed to the aims outlined in Equally Safe. We work closely with Forth Valley Student Association (FVSA) to ensure a joined up approach, as we know that both staff and students can be affected by gender based violence. The College is currently working in partnership with Forth Valley Rape Crisis and we now host a support officer based on our Falkirk campus one day per week. As well as hosting a support worker, this partnership also aims to deliver sexual violence prevention workshops to students via the Learning Development Workers timetabled slot with non-advanced groups. In terms of ‘early intervention’, we have delivered Bystander training for FVSA and some class reps as well as training in tier one GBV awareness; trauma informed approaches and how to respond to disclosures trainings to key College support staff (Learning Development Facilitators, Learning Resource Assistants, Learning Development Workers, Learner Advisors, Mental Health Ambassadors).