Public Sector Equality Duty: Annual Report 2022
Reporting on the academic year 2021-2022
Introduction: Duties under the Equality Act (2010)
Public bodies, of which the College is one, have both general and specific equality duties. The general duties are to have due regard in decision-making to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010.
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, by
- Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
- Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people; and
- Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, by
- Tackling prejudice, and
- Promoting understanding between people from different groups.
The specific duties are:
- To publish relevant, proportionate information (including quantitative data) showing compliance with the Equality Duty by 31st March each year, and subsequently at intervals no greater than one year from the last publication. This includes information relating to persons who share a relevant protected characteristic who are:
- Its employees (if it has more than 150, public bodies with fewer than 150 employees are still required to report on how they have had due regard to the equality duty but do not need to publish numerical data where this might compromise individuals’ confidentiality) , and
- Other persons affected by its policies and practices (e.g. students)
- To prepare and publish at least one specific and measurable objective that the College thinks it should achieve to meet any of the three aims of the equality duty by 31st March each year. Objectives must be published at least every four years.
- The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sex and sexual orientation. Marriage and civil partnership are also protected in respect of the first general duty, in employment only.
This report is designed to meet first of the specific duties. It has been prepared for Green Templeton’s HR and Academic Committees and will be presented for approval by Governing Body.
The information included relates to the College community’s staff and students. The report covers the academic year 2021-22 (1 October 2021 – 30 September 2022); where data are presented, they refer to academic year unless otherwise stated. The College collects data and information on some of the protected characteristics and also relies upon the University to provide data on students. Not all protected characteristics are addressed for all measures by these data. In some cases the numbers are too small to be meaningful.
This report should be read alongside the college’s Equality and Diversity Policy.
This policy was re-written substantively in 2020-2021 and approved by Governing Body in November 2021.
Governance
The college’s Equality and Diversity Policy states that the Human Resources (HR) and Academic Committees will have responsibility for co-ordination of policy development and the identification of priorities, and will report to Governing Body on an annual basis. The Senior Tutor presents student-related data and the Human Resources Manager presents staff data.
In 2019, an Equality and Diversity Forum was established. The remit of this forum is outlined in the appendix to this document. It met 5 times during 2021-22.
In 2019 the college appointed an E&D Champion, Dr Neo Tapela. Dr Tapela is an Associate Fellow of the college. She co-chaired the E&D Forum (2019-2021) with the Senior Tutor, who is the E&D lead. In 2021 Dr Tapela departed this role to take up a new position outside of Oxford.
In 2021 college appointed a member of Governing Body to be an E&D Champion, with membership of the E&D Forum. This is Professor Susan James Relly. Professor Relly co-chaired the E&D Forum with the Senior Tutor in 2021-22.
The PSED report is reported to GB in Michaelmas annually.
As the College has fewer than 150 members of staff it is not required to publish staff data as part of this report however relevant staff data against our specific equalities objectives is reported alongside student- and fellow-related data.
Equality Report 2021-2022
Green Templeton’s Equality Objectives
The college’s priorities are to:
- Increase the proportion of women and black and minority ethnic (BME) members among its fellowship, and, in particular, on its Governing Body;
- Improve the recruitment and retention of BME staff and their representation among senior roles;
- Improve accessibility for disabled students and other members of the community;
- Embed equality and diversity in all activities, in particular taking a more proactive approach to encouraging people from protected groups to participate in college activities and to ensure they feel supported to do so.
The Equality and Diversity Forum were of the view in May 2021 that these priorities should remain in place for the next reporting period, 2021-2022. However the Forum would like to see timescales included, particularly for objective 1.
Report on Progress with Equalities Objectives in 2021-22
Objective 1: Increase the proportion of women and black and minority ethnic (BME) members among its fellowship, and, in particular, on its Governing Body;
Objective 2: Improve the recruitment and retention of BME staff and their representation among senior roles;
Representation of women in senior staff and fellowship roles
Staff: the representation of women in senior roles remains strong. 9/14 members of the College’s senior management team are women. Data collected on staff in April 2022 identify that across all roles, the gender split is almost 50/50, but 55% of women held senior roles (Grade 6 or above).
With the appointment of a new Principal in September 2020, now one of three members of the College’s executive management team is a woman (Principal, Bursar, Senior Tutor). The Vice Principal is female.
Fellows: the appointment of fellows is overseen by the Fellowship Committee, reporting to Governing Body.
College fellows are elected from among the university’s academic community. The College supports the university’s objective to increase the representation of women in senior roles. To exercise some influence over recruitment, the Principal or Senior College Officer sits on all panels for new appointments to the university which have an association with the College. Data on the proportion of women elected to the fellowship and, particularly, to the Governing Body are monitored by Governing Body.
In 2018-19, 13/43 (30%) members of Governing Body were women. In 2019-20, 11/38 members were women (29%). In 2021-22, 11/35 members were women (31%).
During 2020-21, with the arrival of the new Principal, Governing Body agreed to a review of college fellowship categories and processes, including a detailed review of the membership and process for being elected to GB. This is now underway, though has taken longer than anticipated. It is now expected to be concluded during the next reporting period, 2022-23. A key driver for this review is to support equality objective 1.
The college appoints only a very small number of academic staff responsible for providing clinical teaching, all on a part-time/stipendiary basis (a Senior Doll Fellow, who is a member of Governing Body, plus 5 Doll Fellows). In 2020-21, 2/6 Doll Fellows are women. The current Senior Doll Fellow will retire from role at the end of August 2022. He will be replaced by two current Doll Fellows who will job-share the SDF role. Two new Doll Fellows will be recruited by 1 September 2022.
Representation of BME fellows in the community and on Governing Body
Currently, we do not hold data on fellows’ ethnicity. A new, optional, equality questionnaire will be deployed for fellowship appointment and renewals once the fellowship review of categories, criteria and processes has been completed in the next reporting cycle.
Whilst it was expected that we would be able to report BME data on GB in the 2021-22 report, these data are not yet available whilst the fellowship review continues. A proposed target of 50% for women across all categories of fellowship in college was discussed at the E&D Forum in May 2022 and it was agreed that this should be the aim. The University has set a target of 35% for women in senior roles and on senior committees/boards. Currently 30% of GTC GB are women.
Setting a target for BME fellows is more difficult. Currently the University has no published target, though likely this will be imminent as part of its Race Equality work. According to HESA data (2019 latest available) just 11% of UK academics at professorial level are BME; 18% at all levels of academic achievement. A college target should be agreed only once we have collated data on the percentage of BME fellows across our fellowship.
The college will be recruiting for a number of new Research Fellows in Michaelmas 2022. This is the first time this competition has been run since 2018.
The recruitment and retention of BME staff and their representation among senior roles
Staff data were collected in April 2022. 9% of GTC staff identify as BME, which compared to 22% of the population of Oxford as a whole. This is a decrease since 2021 when the proportion of staff identifying as BME was 18%. The E&D Forum noted that the population of Oxford should not be a limiting benchmark given the significant population of BME students in college. However, whilst Oxford is diverse, Oxfordshire is not, and so geography may continue to be something of a limiting factor in the future as long as staff are required to commute to work in the college. No members of the college’s Senior Management or Executive Management teams are people of colour.
The following statement is being used for all recruitment to encourage applications from LGBT+ and BME groups:
“Green Templeton College welcomes applications from people from all sections of the community and are particularly encouraging those from diverse groups, such as LGBTQ+ and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, who are currently under-represented in the college staff team.”
Additionally, some staff roles are being advertised specific to underrepresented groups, including Black Young Professionals Network (BYP) and Diversity Jobsite.
The number of staff employed who identify as LGBT+ has risen by 10% since 2021.
In April 2022, it was agreed by HR Committee that all college staff would be asked to complete five online EDI courses, within two years, available from the University. Completion of EDI courses would be routinely checked in the annual PDR.
Staff with a welfare-related role undertake training in student mental health.
Objective 3: Improve accessibility for disabled students and members of the College community.
This is a key consideration as the College embarks upon a new estates project (‘New Build’, formerly ‘Tennis Court Project’), led by the Bursar and Domestic Bursar and overseen by the Buildings Committee, which includes the development of new student accommodation, a café and dining hall. This project is currently waiting for the results of its planning application.
Disabled students are supported in College by the College’s disability lead (Senior Tutor) and Disability Co-ordinator (Academic Registrar). The Academic Registrar regularly provides alternative examination arrangements in College for students with specific requirements. Disabled students’ support is overseen by the College’s Welfare Committee.
It was reported last year that definitions of and attitudes towards disability vary across the world and some students may not feel that disclosure is appropriate or indeed safe for them. To support students in deciding whether or not to disclose, we will dedicate a slide to this issue in our 2022 induction materials.
The Student Welfare Committee this year organised talks and Q&A with experts in particular fields relevant to the welfare of graduate students. Topics included suicide and addiction.
In April 2022, 28% of staff disclosed a disability. This is an increase on 2020 (20% staff). The majority of these are mental health related, such as depression or anxiety, but 18% of those with a disability have a chronic long-term condition. Staff are supported by line managers, by the HR Manager and by referrals to Occupational Health, as required. The college has an EAP (Employment Assistance Programme) which is available to staff to use 24/7. The college also appoints two staff representatives each year, who are available to listen to staff concerns or worries and signpost to the best support for the issue.
The college continues to roll out its electronic door access controls to make the grounds more accessible for wheelchair users. Fob/card access points are located at levels suitable for wheelchair users if the building is suitable. The gate into college from Observatory Street has been upgraded as it was very difficult to open, making it easier for disabled access.
The student accommodation block at 33 St Margaret’s Road is being upgraded during 2022. Phase 1 work at RAC was completed and means that the entrance is now accessible for all students and visitors. Phase 2 work will take place in 2022.
The college has funded a children’s play area for students with children under the age of 6 to play safely in college while accompanied by parents. This area is a quiet and relaxed space for children who may have a disability or issues with busy or noisy play areas.
Plans are underway to improve the external lighting across college, this includes the pathways around the main quad, access to the Observatory, Rewley Abbey Court and 13 NG. These improvements support college members who are partially sighted and people with sensory/neurological processing difficulties are able to negotiate spaces.
A printer/scanner is being installed at Rewley Abbey Court to support residents living at that site with easier access to printing facilities.
The college underwent a disability audit during the early part of 2022 and a full report was issued. At the time of writing, the report is being reviewed by the Domestic Bursar and her team, along with help from a GB Fellow. Many areas were listed as good practice. The report has been published in the University Access Guide and is now in a standardised format for easy reading: https://www.accessguide.ox.ac.uk/green-templeton
The college is bringing its website in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (2.1) Level AA (WCAG) and is working with developers XIST2 to address the non-compliant elements of our website (detailed on a webpage of Accessibility known issues). During summer 2022, we undertook work on several accessibility issues identified as ‘medium priority’ by AbilityNet during a January 2021 audit. This follows completion of addressing issues identified as ‘high priority’ in April 2021. We will continue to work with our developers to tackle the known instances of non-accessible content that require more technical input. All new content published will aim to meet the accessibility criteria. Our aim is to make the website fully accessible and continue to work within our college to provide training and guidance on best practices for digital accessibility. We are also taking steps to improve the accessibility of our social media posts and email communications.
Objective 4: Embedding equality and diversity in all activities, in particular taking a more proactive approach to ensuring that people from protected groups feel supported and are encouraged to participate in college life.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the college was again required to significantly reduce its operations in 2020-21, particularly as a result of two further national lockdowns (in MT20 and HT21). Many college staff were required to work remotely, and most academic and social activities took place online. Some of these restrictions extended into MT21, however the college was operating at close to pre-pandemic levels from HT22 onwards.
2021-22: Activities Promoting EDI
The college, in collaboration with the GCR, has hosted a number of inclusive events and undertaken a range of inclusive activities this academic year. These include:
The second GTC Diversity Dinner in celebration of LGBTQ+ History month, held in February 2022. The Diversity Dinner is overseen by the E&D Forum, which has agreed it will rotate annually to mark LGBTQ+ History Month, Black History Month or International Women’s Day. This year’s celebration included a non-alcoholic drinks reception, a vegan meal, and poetry readings on the theme of LGBTQ+ history.
Led by the GCR’s Black Students’ Rep, the college marked Black History Month 2021 with its #DIFFERENTEQUAL campaign, providing all new students with lanyards and label pins to wear. It also held a symposium Sankofa followed by dinner and music.
Students were also encouraged to explore the Maarifa collection in the library, which celebrates Black history, culture, writers and experiences. This was created in June 2021.
The GCR LGBTQ+ reps hosted regular bar nights throughout the year.
The college’s medical student society (Richard Doll Society) ran a conference on ‘Diversity and Inclusivity in Healthcare’ in October 2021. This included a range of speakers from across the UK spanning varied healthcare disciplines, followed by an afternoon panel discussion focusing on LGBTQ+ healthcare inequalities.
The Library team created and promoted two further book collections to celebrate LGBTQ+ (February 2022) and Disability History Months (November 2021).
We support religion and belief through the provision of a prayer room.
In conjunction with the college’s E&D Forum, the Communications Team have been working on establishing an annual calendar that promotes and celebrates particular E&D activities/festivals/notable dates. Through 2021-22, in addition to we celebrated the following via social media and relevant college bulletins:
- Pride month
- Ramadan
- International women’s day
- LGBTQ+ History month (x2)
- Lunar new year
- Black history month (x2)
- Disability history month
- Hanukkah
- Diwali
Additionally, the college catering team organised the following celebrations:
- Diversity 3 course dinner for LGBTQ+history month
- LQGBTQ+ bar night- provided cocktails in the 11 colours of the pride flag
- Halloween dinner
- By the fireside GTC Black Cultural Diversity Event Supper
- Lunar New Year supper and Lunar New Year bar night in conjunction with the GCR
- Burns Night 3 course formal dinner
- Christmas formal dinners x 5
- Christmas Bar nights with themed cocktails
- Diwali Bar night in conjunction with the GCR
- Take away meals for students observing Ramadan to reheat after sundown
- Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday lunch
- International Women’s Day themed Domus dinner.
The college’s initiative to support student-led academic projects, run as part of the Annual Fund competition, specifically welcomes applications on subjects that address issues related to equality and diversity. It has supported a number of the activities listed above, along with others related to E&D, including a series of events to support student parents.
The college runs an Associate Member Scheme for partners and families of students. This scheme provides funds to support a number of parent and families events each year, run in collaboration with the GCR family rep. In 2021-22, the scheme supported 90 active members. It ran the following events:
- Welcome meet and greet for student parents and their families
- Welcome drinks in the Tower evenings for partners
- Toy GTC Badges
- Halloween Themed Trick-or-Treat Trail
- Easter Egg Hunt
- Trip to the Story Museum
- Trip to the Oxford Playhouse
- All About Anna’s Animals – Summer themed families event
- Takeaway art kits (piggy bank kit in Hilary Term & Painted rock kits in Trinity Term)
- Summer Cream Tea and Fizz picnic packs for Associate members
- Pub Quiz for Associate members
- Installation of the GTC children’s playground (in progress, will be completed for the start of term in October)
- Toys for the GTC playgroup drop in which took place every Saturday morning during term time.
The college raised the progressive pride flag to mark LGBTQ+ History Month and Pride. It also raised its own ‘Different Equal’ Flag to mark Black History Month.
In 2021 we committed to supporting a Gender Expression Fund, which enables trans students to apply for some financial support specifically related to the hidden costs of transitioning.
This year, the E&D Forum agreed to support the following principles associated with facilitating student ‘belonging’ with the idea that these should be factored into our induction and welcome processes in particular:
- If belonging can be defined as the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included and supported by others then elements include:
- Supporting students to form connections with other students, staff, other members of college
- Assisting students to identify with the college: sense we are living shared values
- Ensuring stability: reliable support services and facilities. Clarity on what is available
- Enabling active student voice mechanisms: regular opportunities for students to be heard and to feel that views are taken into account/responded to
Student Feedback
The college has two main mechanisms to capture student feedback in a regular and timely manner. A twice-termly Staff-Student Liaison Forum is co-chaired by the Senior Tutor and GCR President, and attended by members of the GCR and senior college staff.
The Annual Student Feedback Survey runs in Hilary Term and is reported to Academic Committee.
Equality and Diversity questions from Annual Student Feedback Survey 2022
Students are invited to respond annually to the following question: “Green Templeton aims to live by its values of inclusivity, equality and diversity. What would you like to see us do in order to achieve this?”
42 respondents provided comments. 15 these are praise the college’s efforts so far; several respondents note that they chose the college for its progressive, non-hierarchical and ‘modern’ attitude. This year, there is specific praise for LGTBQ+ activities, which had been a point of criticism in recent years. This is credit to the activities of the GCR LGBTQ+ reps and the organisation of our diversity dinner to coincide with LGBTQ+ history month. Other issues raised include:
- Accessible prayer room
- Support for mature students and those with families
- More diversity in senior positions
- Greater consideration or students with socio-economic disadvantage and/or facing hardship
Equality & Diversity Data from Student Feedback Survey 2022
The E&D Forum recommended that equalities data be collected as part of our annual student experience survey (shared in Hilary Term) so we can monitor how far this feedback exercise reflects the college student community.
This section is optional.
Data from HT22:
Gender: 108 respondents. 73 women (67%), 32 men (30%), 3 prefer not to say. Cf. 66% women in 2021. 97% of 103 respondents said their gender is the same as that assigned at birth.
Ethnicity: 108 respondents. 65/108 White (60%); 38/108 (35%) black or minority ethnic. Cf. 55% white and 24% BME in 2021. 4 respondents commented that the HESA categories do not include an option for Latinx/Hispanic
Disability: 106 respondents. 14/106 identify as disabled (13%). Same as 2021.
Sexuality: 103 respondents. 84 respondents identify as heterosexual (81%); 11 as LGBTQ+ (11%) cf. 18% in 2021
Caring responsibilities. 15 of 104 respondents reported that they have caring responsibilities (14%). Cf. 10% in 2021
According to E&D data provided by the university, of GTC students in December 2021: 59.7% are women, 46.7% are black or minority ethnic and 13.7% are disabled. Data are not available for sexuality or caring responsibilities. Women and white students are therefore again over-represented in the student survey (as they were in 2021), though the proportion of our BME respondents has increased (24% in 2021).
Report on equality practices not covered by the objectives
Student data reporting: gender, race and disability
As the college is not the admitting body for students it has limited influence over its population. All equalities data are collated and reported by the university.
Gender: the balance at GTC remains in favour of a female majority. There have been some small fluctuations in this over the last few years. A gender balance towards a female majority is in line with the representation of women on postgraduate programmes in UK universities (according to HESA).
2021-22: 59.7% GTC students are women cf. 50.2% OU (all students). This compares with 57.7% in 2021-22.
Students of colour: the university uses the term BME to collate these data.
The proportion of Green Templeton graduate students reporting as BME (45.8% in 2019) has risen since 2016 and continues to be higher than the University average.
2021-22: 46.7% BME students at GTC cf. 34.2% OU (all students). This compares with 47.1% in 2021-22.
Black students at GTC:
2021-22: 8.1% of graduate students (7.8% of all students) cf. 4.2% at other graduate colleges and 3.4% OU.
Disabled students: the proportion of our students who disclose a disability is broadly in line with the wider graduation student population, though is lower than the UG population. This is understood to be because of the greater number of international students among the graduate population.
Student disability data 2021-22: 13.7% GTC cf. 16.8% OU (all students). This compares with 12.2% in 2020-21.
Author: Dr Alison Stenton, GTC Equality Lead
9 September 2022
Reported to HR Committee and Academic Committee: MT22
Approved Governing Body: MT22
