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Watch out for details of our forthcoming seminar on Hate Crime
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IEDP Winter Seminar: Managing mental health and well-being at work
 The IEDP’s winter seminar was facilitated by IEDP advisory friend Natasha Broomfield-Reid and featured a fascinating presentation by Christopher Watkins, Senior Disability Consultant from the Business Disability Forum (BDF).
Christopher identified three distinct types of intervention that organisations should make in relation to the mental health of their staff, and argued forcefully that it is important to work on all three areas, as too much focus on one or two of them can actually be counterproductive.
The three categories of intervention he suggested are:
- Culture – addressing the stigma attached to mental ill health, encouraging an environment where people feel able to talk about their mental health
- Proactive – activity focusing on the well-being of staff in terms of exercise, healthy eating, providing a quiet space etc.
- Responsive – identifying people who are experiencing mental ill health, talking to them about to identify specific triggers or barriers, then acting to avoid triggers and make adjustments to address barriers
 The key point that he made was that cultural, proactive and responsive interventions cannot exist in isolation and must be balanced in order to be effective. These may be competing agendas, but any single approach in isolation may be counterproductive or counter-inclusive.
if you are a member of the IEDP you can find Christopher's full presentation here in the members' area of our website.
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Don't forget to renew your membership!
As usual your IEDP membership fee was due on 1 January 2017. You will be glad to hear that we are keeping the cost of membership the same again for this year. Our individual associate membership is £110+VAT, with a reduced rate of £55+VAT for students, retired and volunteers. Don't forget there is also our team membership which is excellent value at just £550+VAT for a team of 6 to 30 people working for the same organisation. Full details of membership fees and benefits are on our website here.
IEDP accreditation dates
If you join the IEDP, or are already a member, you can apply for our accreditation process. You still have time to apply for the next round, as the closing date for expressions of interest is 27 January 2017. Your application would need to be confirmed (and the fee paid) by 17 February 2017 and the deadline for the submission of your portfolio would be 31 March 2017. Or if you need a bit more time, expressions of interest for the following round are due by 28 April for submission at the end of June. Further details on the accreditation page of our website
Recent accreditation successes
 Congratulations to Anita Hobson and Debby Lewis on becoming Registered Members of the IEDP in the last few months. We would also like to congratulate Drew Wilkins, Elaine Bolton and Juliet Simmons on achieving re-registration.
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BBC's 100 women
 Ali Belbin recommended the BBC's 100 women series. During 2016 the BBC produced a series of short interviews with 100 interesting women from around the world. These are a very diverse selection and are accompanied by audio or video clips. Some are household names; most you are unlikely to have heard of. Click on the photo to go to the website..
 Five images of Victorian England that will make you rethink LGBTQ history
This article by Thom Dunn on the 'Upworthy website features five images of LGBTQ people from Victorian times. Click on the photo to read the article.
'Devoted' photo project
 This photo project by Celia Sanchez was highlighted in the Huffington Post and features non-stereotypical pictures of mothers. Celia Sanchez is an American photographer and was inspired to do this project based on her experience of not feeling she fitted the stereotypical image of a mother when she became one herself aged 23. Click on the photo to see her lovely photos.
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Starting again: refugee children, school and belonging
 By Bill Bolloten
This an edited and adapted version of a speech delivered by IEDP advisory friend Bill Bolloten to the NALDIC annual conference at Sheffield Hallam University on 19 November 2016
One of the contexts in which we are reflecting today on refugee children is, of course, what is happening in the world.
People are travelling hundreds and thousands of kilometres over land and over water, from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, risking everything in the hope of reaching safety. Refugee children are amongst the most vulnerable of those on the move. Many are travelling with their families; others are on their own.
In September 2016 UNICEF published a report: Uprooted: The growing crisis for refugee and migrant children. It said that children now make up more than half of the world’s refugees. Further findings included:
- 28 million children are forcibly displaced.
- Nearly one in 200 children in the world is a refugee.
- There were twice as many child refugees in 2015 than 2005.
- Nearly one in three children living outside their country of birth is a refugee.
- Seven in 10 children seeking asylum in Europe are fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
It is common at the moment for people talk about a ‘refugee crisis’. But is this a crisis that we only talk about in terms of refugees’ experiences?
Is our response to the arrival of refugees also a crisis?
 Look at the language used in newspapers and opinion columns for movements of people, and how they are described in fluid terms: a flood, a wave, a stream, a tide, an influx - things seen as threatening to settled populations.
The primary problem is seen as the “flow” of migrants into Europe, that Europe is experiencing a migration crisis, rather than what might be a far more accurate reversal: that migrants are experiencing a European crisis: a crisis of fences, vigilantes and a storm of xenophobia.
Hannah Arendt, herself a refugee, reflected after the last war that our own sense of citizenship and belonging is best ensured by recognising the stranger’s right also to belong.
What does this mean for teachers and educators? What might be the role for our schools in reimagining our shared responsibilities to each other?
The authors of the book The Adventurous School propose the concept of the 'empowering school' as opposed to the 'controlling school'. An empowering school is one that encourages children to ask:
- Why am I here?
- What’s going on in my world?
- How can I contribute?
Are we trying to give children the education to be what an American educator called 'solutionaries'? Are we encouraging children’s natural tendencies to create solutions to the problems around them.
In the UK we have built up a body of good practice on supporting refugee children that is rooted in schools’ values and commitment to equality. Key elements of this include:
- Admission and induction systems for new arrivals
- Teacher confidence and skills in teaching children acquiring a new language
- Peer support and friendship building.
- A culturally inclusive curriculum that values diversity, and includes learning about refugees
- Tackling bullying, derogatory language and myths about refugees.
- Engaging with families.
What will the future tell us about who were thought we were? In post-Brexit Britain there might be a number of questions we ask ourselves:
- Can we contribute to a vision in schools that is outward looking and commits to an ethos of belonging for everyone?
- Can we continue to see new arrivals to our schools as young people with enormous potential with aspirations to learn and rebuild their lives?
- Can we see refugee and migrant children as fully part of our communities?
- Can we work with schools to challenge media and far-right narratives on refugees and migration?
If we want our young people to become 'solutionaries' then it is time to assert and create a wider and  more ambitious vision than the sterile nativism of “British values”.
This might mean more active mobilisation around core values in schools of friendship, equality and kindness that might lead to acts of compassion and solidarity.
Sebastian Chapleau, the headteacher of La Fontaine Academy, a primary school in Bromley, put this well when he called to schools across the UK to play their part in welcoming refugee children and families from Syria:
'We owe this to our students, too. They may be meeting their targets in English and maths, but we have failed in our responsibility as educators if they do not leave us as caring, active citizens in their communities.”'
References:
- https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/childrenonthemove/uprooted/
- The Adventurous School: Vision, community and curriculum for primary education in the twenty-first century, by Jane Reed, Kathy Maskell, David Allinson, Rosemary Bailey, Fernanda Bates, Sian Davies, Catherine Gallimore, Institute of Education (2012)
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Forthcoming event
BDF conference: Disability-smart suppliers and partners
 The Business Disability Forum (BDF)’s 2017 conference, generously hosted by Royal College of Nursing, will focus on equipping HR, recruitment, diversity and inclusion and technology leads with practical insights and best practice to help their procurement colleagues secure more disability-smart outcomes.
In order to do well for disabled colleagues, candidates and customers, it is essential that suppliers and partners are disability-smart across all key areas of the business such as recruitment, ICT, facilities management, training & development, the customer experience and occupational health & safety.
When your suppliers and partners do not factor in disability:
• Disabled candidates do not apply for, or get interviewed for roles.
• Colleagues that become disabled or acquire health conditions are less likely to be retained.
• Disabled customers move their business elsewhere.
• Facilities become progressively more inaccessible as employees age and become disabled or acquire health conditions.
• Disabled visitors and customers may also find access to your facilities challenging.
Building disability-smart organisations relies on suppliers and partners having the right know-how to improve inclusion for all employees, candidates and customers, including those with disabilities.
BDF’s November 2016 research report ‘Key aids and barriers to effectively engaging suppliers and partners’ reveals that:
• Only one in four businesses review contracts with third-party suppliers and partners to ensure that they deliver on the requirements for inclusion and accessibility.
• Less than two in five businesses report having had discussions with suppliers and partners about how they approach disability outside of formal processes.
This conference includes high profile guest speakers, as well as sharing lessons and best practice from 12 businesses that have innovated their approaches to working with suppliers and partners to deliver better disability-smart outcomes for colleagues, candidates and customers.
BDF is also delighted to provide all delegates with free access to new guidance they are launching, 'Step by step: Achieving disability-smart outcomes in work with suppliers and partners' which gives delegates practical tips and advice to support each stage of any procurement process to achieve more for your people and your customers with disabilities and health conditions.
Click here for further details and to register your place.
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Sound statistics
 Compiled by Elaine Bolton
As well as being a Registered member and Board Member of the IEDP and being a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) I also run my own company Beckwith Consulting www.beckwithconsulting.co.uk which provides learning, development and coaching for staff, managers and Board and Elected members. The most popular programmes that I provide include Managing Change, Managing stress, Developing resilience and Having those difficult conversations.
I therefore keep up to date with what is going on with regard to mental ill health issues and use my professional networks to do this, plus I attended an excellent three day programme run by MIND – Mental Health First Aid in 2015. Looking at the stats below it shows that employees need support in raising mental ill health issues and support in getting them back to good mental health! |
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Absence management 2016
- Two fifths of organisations claim an increase in reported mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression
- The fifth most common cause of short term absence (up to four weeks) is mental ill health
- The third most common cause of long term absence (four weeks or more) is mental ill health (for example clinical depression and anxiety)
- One third of organisations have a policy that covers mental health and a further 12% report they are in the process of developing one. The majority of organisations are taking some action to promote good mental health , most commonly through flexible working options/improved work life balance, employee assistance programmes and counselling.
- Organisations are better at supporting people with mental health problems than actively promoting good mental well-being.
- Respondents are divided regarding how well senior leaders support mental health and respondents are more likely to disagree than agree that managers are confident and compete to spot early warning signs of poor mental health.
- Two fifths also disagree that staff are well informed about common mental health risks and symptoms.
Mental health in the workplace
- Almost one third of employees in UK workplaces have experienced unmanageable stress or mental health issues while in employment. Only 41% feel confident disclosing this to their employer
- The rate of reported mental ill health had risen 5% to 31% over the past year
- 46% said that their organisation supported employees with mental health issues 'very well' or 'fairly well'
- 3% of organisations had trained mental health first-aiders; 5% had access to mental health champions
Prevalence
- 1 in 4 of us will have a mental health problem in any year
- Mental health issues such as stress or depression are now the largest cause of illness in the workplace, with more than 11 million working days lost last year (2014)
One to know about:
Stigma and discrimination
- 9 in 10 people who have a mental health problem will experience stigma and discrimination as a result
- ACAS has produced useful guidance on what can an employer do to promote positive Mental Health at work, plus a free e-learning module on Mental Health Awareness for employers
One to think about:
Cost
- An estimated £30 billion a year is lost through production, recruitment and absence in relation to mental health issues
Sources
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Shades of grey: from simplified to complex thinking
By Professor Lynn Davies
 This article first appeared on the Connect Futures website. Connect Futures is an independent social enterprise bringing people together to build trust and collaboration between organisations and their communities, using research, facilitation and training. Their approach combines academic excellence with extensive practitioner experience and is informed by their strong ethical framework and commitment to justice.
'He does get angry… politically and Islamically…. he was very divisive at that stage. And very two tone: black and white, right and wrong, and Islam, tawhid and shirk. And there’s nothing in the grey. There’s no middle ground there.'
This was the observation made by a relative of a (former) violent extremist about their sibling . We know from all the research that extremists have a simplified view of reality, seeing the world in polarised black and white terms, right or wrong, friend or enemy.
But this is not just about surface attitudes: developments in neuroscience are telling us that it links to actual structures in the brain. A psychological measurement termed ‘integrative complexity (IC) can determine the cognitive lens through which you see the world. Those with high IC are able to see multiple viewpoints, to see any connections between them, perhaps to empathise with those who think differently. Those with low IC exhibit ‘value monism’ – having only one set of values, unquestioned and unquestionable. In extreme sectarianism, in the end no one is pure enough. Under threat or stress, we all start to exhibit low IC – the fight, flight or freeze responses. We can shift in and out of low and high IC depending on the context. But extremists, especially violent extremists, spend all their thinking time in this mode. IC is not about what you think, but how you think.
This has profound implications for work in education to build resilience to the lure of extremism. At the University of Cambridge, pioneering programmes have been developed across countries as far apart as Scotland and Pakistan to enable people to emerge from ‘tunnel vision’: that is, to see one’s own viewpoint, another’s viewpoint and how to work together despite disagreement. Participants engage with real life, ‘hot’ topics (those that can bifurcate the world and polarise groups) to surface alternative perspectives. But this is not just about learning superficial skills of argument: it involves interactive games, role plays and movement, and involves work with all five senses in order to access one’s deepest values – and what a ‘value’ is.
Role plays in teams show how quickly what starts as an artificial distinction can become an established identity and then contempt for the other team. Techniques such as ‘the trick’ invite an ‘expert’ to come in to fool participants into low IC thinking by telling them absolute ‘facts’ on climate change, the Bible/the Koran, the economy or whatever. The discussion afterwards centres round how messages are conveyed and how we can be fooled by the authoritative voice.
The integrative part of IC is seeing whether what seem like opposing views can be brought together under some overarching umbrella of values. Sacred and secular, for example, do not have to be antithetical. They are not either/or choices, but can be combined, as in the organization British Muslims for a Secular Democracy, which recognises the value of secular governance for the protection of all religions. The Cambridge team have produced reports of their programmes such as ‘Being Muslim, being British’ and ‘Being Kenyan, being Muslim’. High IC enables us to find an overarching framework that makes sense of why reasonable people can maintain differing views. Such ‘value pluralism’ leads to the discovery of realistic but value-complex solutions to moral and social issues.
It must be stressed that value pluralism is not the same as moral relativism, that anything goes. There can be problems with the mantra of ‘tolerance’: I do not tolerate FGM or honour killings or caste-based exclusion, regardless of whose culture they are deemed to represent. A basis is needed to make judgments on what to tolerate and what not to tolerate. The best foundation for this is knowledge of human rights and children’s rights, whereby viewpoints and behaviours can be assessed against a framework which is an international one and cuts across all religions and none. A rights-based approach enables, for example, the discussion of the complexities around freedom of speech as a qualified right, that is, when it becomes hate speech and therefore illegal, and when expressing a view is to be encouraged as part of the ‘safe spaces for discussion’ which are part of good anti-extremism education. IC thinking is not creating some seething morass in the brain, but an understanding of the in- and out-group’s value hierarchies, while preserving the core of one’s own.
Complex thinking is crucial in conflict resolution. Apparently, when political actors’ IC drops from the baseline, real world conflict or even military action is predicted within weeks. When IC rises, peaceful solutions ensue. Low complexity reasoning often leads to conflict because nuanced, collaborative solutions are by definition screened out, as the black and white, intransigent demands of one group are pitted against the black and white demands of the other. Research shows that conflicts that have a religious base are more intractable than others, because there is no negotiation or exchange potential. You cannot bargain over interpretations of the divine in the way you can bargain over resources, over land, over power-sharing.
IC programmes have a developed impact assessment. We know they can work to shift the structures of thinking in people of all ages, types and professions. Military personnel are undergoing such training, as part of conflict resolution and negotiation strategies. Clearly, the chance of getting top ISIS or white supremacist personnel to do a complexity thinking course is near zero. But resilience to extremist thought can be built in young people; and willingness to engage with ‘the enemy’, or at least with their perspectives, can enable us not to fall into the black and white trap of painting all extremists as evil, cowardly and immoral. Understanding extremist mindsets is a key part of resilience.
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A toxic concoction means that women of colour are hit hardest by austerity
 This interesting article by Maya Goodfellow in The Guardian argues that Black and Asian women are hardest hit by austerity but constantly written out of the picture. It was recommended by Ben Davies. Click photo to read
This trans headteacher has become the first known to transition without leaving position
 This article by Meka Beresford in Pink News, was recommended by Manchester Pride, and is about academy head Claire Birkinshaw. Click photo to read
Schoolgirls say FA paper on football treats them like brainless baby Barbies
 Liz Skelcher drew our attention to this article by Sally Weale in The Guardian. Click photo to read
Sharia law has no place in UK family courts. Listen to women who know.
 Pragma Patel of Southall Black Sisters, writing in The Guardian, highights a statement published by Open Democracy and signed by 300 women, mainly Muslim. Click photo to read
Researchers need to acknowledge bi men's unique needs
 Marlene Ellis and Phoebe Crace have both recommended this article by Lewis D Oakley on the bisexual.org website. Click photo to read
H&M's diverse advert mirrors the real world. Shame the ad industry doesn't
 Jenny Garrett tweeted this article by Arwa Mahdawi from the Guardian. Click photo to read
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LGBT Jakartans: worse than a nuclear bomb?
 Adam Howarth spotted this article by Stanley Widianto in The Guardian. It is about LGBT people in Jakarta who just want to be accepted in an increasingly homophobic and transphobic society. Click photo to read.
Hate crime: avoid polarising language politicians told
 Ben Davies pointed out this article from the BBC news website Click photo to read.
Some garbage I used to believe about equality
 Katrice Horsley recommended this reflection by Jonathan Nightingale, a white straight man, writing in the Huffington Post about how his thinking about equality has moved on. Click photo to read.
Michael Rosen absolutely nails why Britain's obsession with immigration is complete and utter nonsense
 Zoe Nosworthy liked this article by Tom Roberts on the Evolve Politics website which features a poem by Michael Rosen. Click photo to read.
It's not trivial to worry about the pink gendered toys aimed at girls
 As a parent of young children, Cara Donald was interested in this article about gendered toys by David Barnett from the pool.com website. Click photo to read.
Men killed 900 women in six years in England and Wales figures show
 Liz Skelcher was interested in this article about 'femicide' by Helen Pidd in The Guardian. Click photo to read.
Pregnant British man to be first to give birth after finding sperm donor
 Ruth Wilson liked this article by Robin de Peyer in the Evening Standard which is less sensationalised than the same story in some of the other media. Click photo to read.
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Fab films
This issue's videos have been recommended by Ruth Wilson, Juliette Brown and Mary-Ann Nossent.
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How do you define yourself?
Excellent TED talk that I hadn't seen before by Lizzie Velasquez from December 2013
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French singer Christine and the Queens on being pansexual
This interview is part of the BBC's 100 women series
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People with autism shouldn't be underestimated
This video from ABC2 was recommended by both Juliette Brown and Mary-Ann Nossent
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Account of the last IEDP board meeting
By Ruth Wilson
 As usual, here is a brief account of the most recent IEDP board meeting. This was held on 7 December 2016 and was a Skype meeting
Finance
Management accounts for the period up to 30 November were briefly discussed.
Publicity and marketing
There was considerable discussion about how to move forward with the IEDP's Linked In group. A new Linked In group has been set up with the new name of the organisation (i.e. Institute of Equality and Diversity Professionals instead of Practitioners). We talked about ways of alerting people to the new group and encouraging them to join it. We have a new intern who has a target of increasing our Twitter followers to 1000. Ideas for the this newsletter were also discussed.
Accreditation update
Kate had circulated an accreditation update before the meeting which was briefly discussed. She had also produced a document setting out the detail of her role in managing the IEDP's accreditation process. This is part of succession planning for when Kate steps down, which she is planning to do in 18 months time. The possibility of splitting the tasks between two people was considered.
Events
We briefly reviewed the recent winter seminar and discussed plans for the next one. This will be on the theme of Hate Crime and we hope to include the perspective of targets, government and police. The date and venue are not yet confirmed but likely to be early in March and in London.
Next meeting
The next Board meeting will be on Tuesday 24 January and will be a Skype meeting.
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Contact us
The Institute of Equality and
Diversity Professionals
2 Old College Court, 29 Priory Street, Ware, Hertfordshire, SG12 0DE
tel: 0844 482 7263
fax: 0844 8225 215
email: info@iedp.org.uk
web: www.iedp.org.uk
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And finally...
We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter and would welcome any feedback or suggestions about how we could improve it for the benefit of our members. If you have any ideas for future editions or would be interested in writing an item for the next issue please contact Ruth Wilson on:
ruth@equalitiesineducation.co.uk
The deadline for contributions to the next issue is 3 February 2017. Please circulate this newsletter to anyone who may be interested in our work or who may wish to join the Institute.
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