Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Our Journey towards Equity Diversity and Inclusion.

“Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, belonging is having that voice be heard.”

Our Vision Statement

We will be an organisation where everyone connected to us – staff, facilitators, learners, board members, stakeholders – will be treated with fairness, dignity and respect, and can truly be themselves, feel that they belong, and reach their fullest potential.

We know that, in order to be the best organisation we can be, we need to access the talents of people who are the best at what they do. Therefore, we aim – in every aspect of our work – to be free from bias or discrimination of any sort.

We will also play our part, as a social change organisation, in removing barriers to full participation. We will lead by example and, through transparency and honesty, commit to making progress on our equality journey.

As a learning organisation committed to social justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) has always been at the heart of everything we do. 

We know that we have to live our values in every aspect of our work and that everyone connected with the Academy – whether as a member of staff, a facilitator, a learner, board member or stakeholder – should be able to truly be themselves and achieve to their fullest potential.

Recognising that there is always more that can be done, and that we are all on a journey towards achieving equality, the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group was set up in October 2020 to provide constructive challenge and help drive this important work forward.

Our key areas of focus:

Key areas 1-3:

1. Ensure the setup and delivery of our learning programmes are fully inclusive and accessible, stress testing them through an anti-racism and discrimination lens

2. Ensure our programmes’ content, theories and models reflect a wider range of culturally diverse global thinkers. 

3. Actively support the feature equity, diversity and inclusion as a topic on our leadership programmes, supporting our facilitators to deliver this.

Key areas 4-6:

4. Ensure our recruitment and facilitator selection processes operate in a way that attracts and provides opportunities for more people from culturally diverse backgrounds.

5. Robustly monitor the demographics of our learners to ensure we are attracting learners that are more culturally representative of the communities we serve.

6. Provide ongoing support for staff and facilitators during our EDI journey, in particular to those who might come from diverse backgrounds.

Key areas 7-9:

7. Support all facilitators, staff and board members with their ongoing learning and development around equity, diversity and inclusion.

8. Engage with and learn from individuals and organisations locally and globally tackling systemic racism and injustice.

9. Share learning from the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group internally and with other organisations.