Ambition Institute commits to working for better equality, diversity and inclusion
June 10, 2021
Ambition Institute has publicly committed to a joint vision for better equality, diversity and inclusion in the education sector.
Ambition is one of 18 sector bodies and national organisations who have signed a Statement of Actions and Commitments to demonstrate their commitment to tackling issues related to equality, diversity and inclusion in education.
Hilary Spencer, CEO of Ambition Institute, said: “Ambition Institute is a charity that is committed to helping educators serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds to keep getting better. We are, therefore, committed to taking action that will help move equality, diversity and inclusion forward in the teacher workforce.
“We want to use and apply the same rigour and evidence-led approach that we apply to our professional development programmes.”
At Ambition, we are making progress in three areas:
- Increasing our work to ensure Ambition Institute is genuinely inclusive for our staff. We are making changes to how we recruit, manage, develop, support and listen to our staff, and have committed to using data more effectively to inform our decision-making.
- Reviewing our programmes to make sure we attract, retain and develop the widest talent pool. We are assessing recruitment trends to identify specific areas of focus, taking steps to address diversity within our programme content, and improving how it feels to be a participant with us. Crucially, we are evaluating the impact of what we are doing so we can see if it is working and if it is replicable.
- Working with other partner organisations in the education sector. We are working with other organisations to share best practice and evidence, and to define collective actions to address questions of equality in the workforce such as recruitment, retention and progression. We are working with expert academics to increase the evidence base and help guide our work.
As signatories, we want our key stakeholders – pupils, families, staff, governors, leaders – to know that we are prepared to learn, listen and act on their concerns and that together we can achieve our ambitions for better equality, diversity and inclusion.
As part of this ongoing commitment, education sector leaders, trust executives, and front-line practitioners came together to discuss equality and diversity in our sector, and a full record of the discussion can be viewed here.
We will review these commitments every 12 months.