Inspire Education Group (IEG) has become the first further education provider in the country to sign up to a new Anti-Racism Charter from trade union UNISON.
IEG, home to Peterborough College, Stamford College and University Centre Peterborough, signed the charter today, committing the organisation and its leaders to a range of pledges designed to prevent racial bias.
The charter includes championing a racially diverse workforce, having a clear programme of anti-racist initiatives and providing equality training for all staff.
And IEG will be expected to report on its ethnicity pay gap and monitor disciplinary and grievance processes to ensure outcomes are fair.
It comes shortly after IEG signed a landmark recognition agreement with UNISON and fellow unions UCU and NEU, setting out how the group and its unions will work together for the benefit of staff and students.
Rachel Nicholls, Principal of Peterborough College and deputy CEO of IEG, said: “We are proud to sign UNISON’s Anti-Racism Charter and we are committed to ensuring we fully implement these pledges.
“We have recently set up five Special Interest Groups as part of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity agenda, one of which is around Anti-Racism – it is simply not enough to be non-racist, we want to go further at IEG and ensure our processes, policies and practices prevents racial bias and that our organisational culture celebrates and champions a racially diverse workforce and student body.
“We are pleased to be working with UNISON on this important agenda.”
UNISON Eastern regional organiser Alex Porter said: “I congratulate IEG for making a firm commitment to tackle discrimination in all its forms.
“This won’t only improve the experiences of Black staff across the group, but lead to fairer and better workplaces, helping improve the quality of education for students.
“It’s great that IEG have made the pledge so soon after signing a union recognition agreement. It shows how much we can achieve by working together.”
