Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning minutes: April 2024

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Co-Chair)

• Kathryn Dawson, Rape Crisis Scotland (Co-Chair)

• Matthew Sweeney, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

• Katie Horsburgh, Zero Tolerance

• Anna Ritchie Allan, Close the Gap

• Selma Augestad, Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)

• Tara Lillis, NASUWT

• Carrie Lindsay, Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)

• Clare Furze, Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government

• Gemma Crompton, Health and Wellbeing in School, Scottish Government

• Mélina Valdelièvre, Education Scotland

• Judith Ballantine, Scottish Government (Secretariat)

• Emma Bunting, Scottish Government (Secretariat)

Apologies

• Victoria Bruce, Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government

• Laura-Ann Currie, Education Scotland

• Sean Stronach, Education Reform, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and introductory remarks

The Co-Chairs welcomed everyone to the meeting and reflected on the renewed focus of the Taskforce. They reflected on the recent work that has been undertaken with regards to behaviour in schools, including the recent summits and publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) and the intersection with the work of the Taskforce. The Education Reform agenda offers the opportunity for a system-wide re-set.

Round table introducations, apologies and housekeeping

Members introduced themselves and the Secretariat set out the logistics for the meeting.

Draft terms of reference

Members reflected on the draft Terms of Reference (ToR) circulated as a paper ahead of the meeting. There were several comments and suggestions:

• Members felt that the draft ToR reads well, is clear and has a strong focus
• under point 3, Members would like to see ‘lack of gender equality’ changed to ‘gender inequality’
• under point 3, Members would like to see ‘gender competent’ changed to ‘gender equal’
• the focus on a Whole School Approach, including references to staff was welcomed
• under Point 8 can, Members requested that consideration should be given to how to articulate the incorporation of lived experience and making sure that safe discussion spaces are available. On this point it was felt that a sensitive approach to identifying people with lived experience is needed. Need to consider that a large majority of the workforce is female and may have lived experience of gender-based violence (GBV)
• Members would like to see reference to the Theory of Change model, they felt that it might sit well under the principles related to taking an intersectional approach
• consideration is needed around where implementation will sit within the ToR. Members are keen that the group do not simply agree a further set of recommendations and no action is taken
• Members would like to see reference to work around addressing the gender pay gap
• on the topic of recommendations, Members reflected that they need to be taken in the context of sustainability, recognising the current workload and capacity issues

Behavior in Schools Action Plan

A draft of the Behaviour in Schools Action Plan was circulated ahead of the meeting with the papers. Members were reminded that the current draft is confidential and not for further sharing just now.

The background to the Action Plan was outlined, including its links to the work of the Taskforce. Over the past 5 months SAGRABIS has been developing an action plan that will seek to address issues that the BISSR captured. The plan will be jointly owned by COSLA, and will represent a collective commitment to addressing a range of behaviours in schools. Misogyny was highlighted as a key theme in BISSR.

In order to strike a balance and to prevent the Action Plan becoming too big, while gender is not explicitly referenced in it, the work and recommendations within the Action Plan are being considered through a gendered lens.

It is hoped that the Action Plan will publish later in the Spring.

Members had several reflections on the Plan:

• Members welcomed the specific references to staff that are included. Under the section on LGBT+ the Action Plan talks about gathering pupil experiences, members thought it would be good to see reference here to staff too
• there were some concerns raised that the Plan references the need for learning and development.  Given the current workload and capacity context, there is a need for increased resourcing to ensure that teachers can properly engage
• Members felt that there may be too many actions contained within the plan and that as a result there is a risk that the focus is lost. There may be something around referencing the work of other groups who are taking some of the actions forward already
• Members were glad to see explicit reference to gender based violence within the Plan. They reflected that there are actions in the table that aren’t directly related to gender but that actions to tackle issues related to gender will impact (e.g. bullying, attendance issues and other types of violence)
• it was deemed useful to see links to the Public Sector Equality Duty, particularly given the context of the review around it currently. This is something that education authorities should already be doing but at times is captured at a higher local authority level so loses an education focus
• under action 4, on recording incidents, members noted that it is important to be mindful that recording is not the end of the matter. It is known that when sexual harassment is reported women are often left unhappy with how it is dealt with. Need to give equal importance to reporting and handling
• Members thought the document is necessarily complex and this means that careful comms around it is essential. Members gave the work around Nutshell as an example
• it was noted that often GBV is thought of as separate to behaviour. There is a need to remember that it is one aspect of the wider behaviour issue, the two are not separate

Next steps

Ahead of the next meeting, the Secretariat will share an updated version of the Terms of Reference and the minutes of this meeting.

Action: Secretariat to liaise with Cabinet Secretary's Private Office to agree next date for meeting of the Taskforce.

Any other business

Members felt that it would be helpful for resource planning purposes for a rough timeline outlining the work of the Taskforce for the coming financial year, this will allow particularly smaller organisations to participate most effectively.

The Cabinet Secretary reiterated the importance of the Taskforce and suggested that it should meet regularly.