Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change - 15 June 2015 Stirling Court Hotel - Scottish ...

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Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change - 15 June 2015 Stirling Court Hotel - Scottish ...
Gender:
Actions to Achieve Positive Change

15 June 2015
Stirling Court Hotel
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change - 15 June 2015 Stirling Court Hotel - Scottish ...
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change

Contents                                                                                        Page
Purpose of the day………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...                                      3
Programme…………............................………………………………………………………………………….........…... 4
Workshops…………………………………………...............................……………………………………………...……. 6
Delegate list………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….                                         8
Scottish Funding Council Gender Action Plan……………………….…………….…………………………………                         10
Notes.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15

Purpose of the day

A Gender Action Plan is currently being developed by SFC, in partnership with SDS and the
Scottish Government.

This event will be an opportunity to share good practice and consider how the action plan should
be shaped to support colleges, universities and partners in addressing gender imbalances to meet
the ambitions of Government policy, such as in Developing the Young Workforce: Scotland’s
Youth Employment Strategy.

Whilst the action plan will ultimately have a broader focus, this initial event will be focused on
looking at gender imbalances amongst students.

                                                  3
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change - 15 June 2015 Stirling Court Hotel - Scottish ...
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change

Programme

9.30am          Coffee and Registration

10.00am         Welcome – Alice Brown, Chair, Scottish Funding Council

10.10 – 11.00   Key notes – The case for change and how colleges and
                universities are responding

                   • The student perspective - Rebecca O’Neill
                   • The case for change - Emma Ritch, Director, Engender
                   • A college strategic approach: Ayrshire College –
                     Marla Baird, Equalities and Inclusion Manager
                   • A university initiative: Educated Pass - Neil Speirs, Senior
                     Widening Participation Officer, University of Edinburgh

11.00 – 11.15   Coffee

11.15 – 11.45   The Gender Action Plan – The key issues and achieving
                sustainable change by working together

                   • SFC overview – John Kemp, Director of Access, Skills and
                     Outcome Agreements
                   • SDS overview – Katie Hutton, Depute Director, National
                     Training Programmes

11.45 – 12.30   Table discussions

12.30 – 12.45   Feedback – main themes

12.45 – 1.30    Lunch

                                       4
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change - 15 June 2015 Stirling Court Hotel - Scottish ...
1.30 – 2.25   Workshops – practice sharing

                 1. Challenging gender imbalances in degree courses

                 2. Gender plus: understanding the multiple factors that
                    influence student access

                 3. Achieving non-gendered pathways from school choices to
                    employment outcomes

                 4. Let’s Talk About Sex: utilising funding to kick start STEM
                    gender equality

2.35 – 3.30   Workshops 1 - 4 running again

                 See outlines on next page

3.30pm        Close, with refreshments available

                                     5
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change

Workshops

1. Challenging gender imbalances in degree courses
   The workshop will analyse the complex issue of gender imbalances in degrees. It will
   consider the experiences of Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) students who have
   studied an access programme and are now at University studying nursing, primary education
   and engineering. The workshop will consider the challenges faced by students in breaking
   down stereotypes and practical ways Universities and Colleges can address these issues. The
   participants in the workshop will analyse the effectiveness of intervention at:

       •   raising awareness of opportunities and marketing of programmes
       •   challenging attitudes
       •   supporting the role of the College and University lecturer
       •   developing students as role models

   This workshop will be facilitated by Kenny Anderson, Scottish Wider Access Programme.

2. Gender plus: understanding the multiple factors that influence student access
   This workshop will take gender as the starting point for a discussion about the concept of
   intersectionality and its relevance for access to further and higher education. Using case
   studies, discussion and activities participants will map out the multiple factors that influence
   student access. Participants will also be provided with the opportunity to think about how
   they can take account of these different factors through using existing activities and building
   partnerships within their institutions to tackle gender imbalances.

   This workshop will be facilitated by Gemma Tracey and David Bass from the Equality
   Challenge Unit.

3. Achieving non-gendered pathways from school choices to employment outcomes
   This workshop will discuss Forth Valley College’s STEM and SCOTS program*, the 8-14 and
   14+ school link and transition. Following an overview of the college’s work, delegates will be
   invited to design a STEM Plus course to address gender imbalance across all areas of elivery.

   * The Schools-College Opportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) programme is jointly delivered with
   Forth Valley’s local authority partners. The programme is for pupils entering S4 who see
   college as a potential post-school destination, but are unclear about their choice of
   vocational area or future pathway and are deemed to be at risk of low achievement and a
   potential negative destination. The programme specifically sets out to challenge gender
   stereotypical vocational choices.
   This workshop will be facilitated by Fiona Jackson and Rob McDermott from Forth Valley
   College.
                                               6
4. Let’s Talk About Sex: utilising funding to kick start STEM gender equality

   This workshop will explore work carried out by Equate Scotland and Edinburgh Napier
   University in tackling gender inequalities in STEM subjects. The presenters will outline the
   strategic intent behind their work, challenges encountered and its impact. Participants will
   then have the opportunity through small group and plenary discussion to share
   experiences from their own institutions in tackling gender inequality in STEM. Common
   themes will be identified and collated.

   The workshop will be facilitated by Allison Johnston, Equate Scotland and Sandra
   Cairncross, Edinburgh Napier University.

                                             7
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change

Delegate list

First name Last name     Job title                                               Organisation                 Table
Rachel      Adamson      Senior Policy Officer                                   SFC                            2
Michelle Anderson        Director of Library Services                            Robert Gordon Univeristy       9
Kenny       Anderson     Director                                                SWAP West                      7
Anne        Ashton       Senior Policy Executive                                 Scottish Government            1
Ruth        Bain         Administrator                                           FOCUS West                    11
Marla       Baird        Equalities and Inclusion Manager                        Ayrshire College               2
Elaine      Ballantyne   Equality Officer                                        South Lanarkshire College     10
David       Bass         Senior Policy Adviser                                   Equality Challenge Unit        8
Nancy       Birney       Head of Equality & Inclusion                            Glasgow Clyde College          8
Stef        Black        Policy & Research Coordinator                           University of Stirling SA      4
Alice       Brown        Chair                                                   SFC                            1
Fiona       Burns        Assistant Director, Access                              SFC                            4
Sandra      Cairncross   Assistant Principal Student Experience                  Edinburgh Napier University    1
Fiona       Caldwell     Policy Officer                                          Abertay University             7
Andrea      Cameron      Head of School of Social and Health Sciences            Abertay University             8
Hollie      Cameron      VP Education                                            University of Stirling SA      2
Maria GraziaCascio       Athena SWAN coordinator                                 University of Aberdeen         7
Janine      Chalmers     Equality and Diversity Adviser                          University of Aberdeen         8
Neil        Croll        Head of Widening Participation                          University of Glasgow         10
Karen       Cullen       Outreach & Community Engagement Team                    Queen Margaret University      6
Patricia    Currie       Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Manager             Glasgow Kelvin College         9
Jill        Davie        Schools & Community Planning Officer                    West Lothian College           7
Edna        Docherty     Policy, Planning and Governance Officer                 University of Stirling         5
Lesley      Dunbar       Director                                                SWAP East                      6
Helen       Duncan       Equality and Diversity Adviser                          Perth College UHI             10
Jennifer    Dunlop       Policy Manager                                          Glasgow Caledonian University 11
Valerie     Egdell       Senior Research Fellow                                  Edinburgh Napier University    2
Clare       Fraser       Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager               West College Scotland         11
Linda       Gibson       Widening Participation Office - Reach Project           University of St Andrews      11
Ian         Graham       Academic Registrar/Lecturer                             Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI          9
Stephanie Graham         Vice Principal Educational Leadership                   West College Scotland          9
Linda       Grant        MIS Officer                                             Edinburgh College             10
Susan       Grant        Head of Quality                                         North East Scotland College    6
Neva        Haites       VP and Champion for E&D                                 University of Aberdeen         9
Pauline     Hanesworth   Academic Development Officer (Equality and Diversity)   HEA Scotland                   9
Jane        Henderson    Widening Access Manager                                 Ayrshire College               4
Gill        Hogg         Acting Vice-Principal                                   Heriot-Watt University         1
Peter       Hughes       Development Manager                                     Skills Development Scotland    8
Katie       Hutton       Depute Director, National Training Programmes           Skills Development Scotland    3
Susan       Inglis       Equalities, Policy and Research Manager                 Edinburgh College             11
Fiona       Jackson      CM                                                      Forth Valley College           4
Allison     Johnstone    Project Officer                                         Equate Scotland               10
John        Kemp         Director of Access, Skills and Outcome Agreements       SFC                            3
Louise      Ker          Policy Officer (Learning & Teaching)                    Universities Scotland         11
                                                        8
First name   Last name     Job title                                              Organisation                 Table
Tracey       Kerr          Widening Participation Manager                         University of Stirling         6
David        Killean       Vice Principal - Quality and Innovation                Borders College                1
Andrew       Kinnell       Student Union President                                University of Stirling         7
Louise       Lauchlan      Policy Officer                                         SFC                            6
Dorothee     Leslie        Director of Curriculum (Higher Education)              Dundee and Angus College       8
Ian          Lowe          Project Manager - Dundee Academy of Sport              Abertay University             9
Lesley       Macniven      Development Partner                                    Edinburgh Napier University    3
Alison       Malcolm       Policy Officer                                         SFC                            7
Priscilla    Marongwe      Equality and Diversity Business Partner                SRUC                           3
Suzanne      Marshall      Advisor- Equalities                                    College Development Network 4
David        Marshall      Director of Student Services                           Glasgow Clyde College          6
Julie        Martin        Policy Executive                                       Scottish Government            7
Muriel       Masson        Student Retention and Surveys Officer                  Queen Margaret University      7
Halena       McAnulty      Senior Policy Officer                                  SFC                            8
Janet        McCauslin     Director – Projects                                    Fife College                  11
Rhona        McComiskie    Project Co-ordinator                                   Robert Gordon University      11
Rob          McDermott                                                            Forth Valley College           3
Joanna       McGillivray   AP Learning, Teaching & Quality Enhancement            Fife College                   3
Megan        McHaney       Policy and Public Affairs Officer                      NUS Scotland                   1
Stephanie    McKendry      Widening Access Manager                                University of Strathclyde      4
Mairi        McKinnon      Depute Manager                                         LIFT OFF                       2
Michelle     McNeill       Policy Officer                                         SFC                            9
Alison       Meldrum       Outcome Manager                                        SFC                           10
Sam          Mucha         Caseworker                                             Edinburgh College SA           2
Alison       Murray        Head of Department Engineering, Science & Technology   SRUC                           1
James        Nicholson     Head of Student Services                               Abertay University            10
Karen        Nimmo         Skills Planning Policy Manager                         Skills Development Scotland   10
Rebecca      O'Neill       Student                                                University of Stirling         3
Andrew       Quickfall     Head of Planning                                       Edinburgh Napier University    4
Emma         Ritch         Director                                               Engender                       5
Alison       Robertson     CfE Officer                                            Aberdeenshire Council          6
Helliate     Rushwaya      Project Manager                                        Creative Loop                  3
Bernadette   Sanderson     Director                                               FOCUS West                     1
Lindsay      Seywright     Assistant Principal                                    West Lothian College           1
Carron       Shankland     Athena SWAN lead, Professor of Computing Science       University of Stirling         8
Mhairi       Shillinglaw   Equalities Manager                                     Forth Valley College           5
Gillian      Simmons       Policy and Project Manager                             University of Edinburgh        5
Elaine       Sinclair      Wider Access Team Leader                               Robert Gordon Univeristy      10
Neil         Speirs        Senior Widening Participation Officer                  University of Edinburgh        4
Seamus       Spencer       Outcome Manager                                        SFC                           11
Nick         Stansfeld     Policy Officer                                         SFC                            5
Caroline     Storey        Diversity Co-ordinator                                 Forth Valley College           7
Ruth         Swan          Senior Student Recruitment Officer                     Edinburgh Napier University    5
Rhiannon     Thompson      Athena SWAN Project Officer                            University of Aberdeen         6
Gemma        Tracey        Senior Policy Adviser                                  Equality Challenge Unit        9
Carol        Turnbull      Principal and Chief Executive                          Dumfries and Galloway College 5
Sharan       Virdee        Equality and Diversity Partner                         Heriot-Watt University         2
Emma-Jane    Whitehead     Strategic Development Officer HWB                      Aberdeenshire Council          5
Mark         Wild          Policy Officer (Learning & Teaching)                   Universities Scotland          2
Helen        Young         Depute Head of Engineering                             West Lothian College           2

                                                          9
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change

Scottish Funding Council Gender Action Plan

An individual’s gender should not determine their life’s course, but too often at the moment it
does, with early life experiences differing for boys and girls in fundamental ways that go on to
determine outcomes and earnings. As part of our ambitions to ensure equality lies at the heart of
Scotland’s education system, the Scottish Funding Council is developing a gender action plan, in
partnership with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Consultation event

Today’s event is an opportunity for the Scottish Funding Council to hear from both sectors on
how the action plan should be shaped to support colleges, universities and their partners in
addressing gender imbalances, as well as what level of ambition for change we should have.
During the course of the morning, delegates will hear about the development of the plan and will
be asked to discuss the following questions:

  1. Of the work currently being undertaken by Scottish colleges and universities to address
     gender imbalances at a student level what do you think is and is not working well and why
     do think this?
  2. What level of change can we expect from both sectors in 10 years?

Following the event, to enable as many people as possible to contribute to the development of
the plan, we will be distributing the following information widely, with a broader range of
questions posed at the end, inviting responses within 6 weeks (see page 14).

Our approach in developing the plan

We are adopting a phased approach to the development and implementation of the plan. Whilst
it will ultimately have a broader focus, our first phase will outline how we plan to address gender
imbalances amongst students, as we were tasked to do by the Government through Developing
the Young Workforce: Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy (DYW). Our action plan will however
go beyond the expectation of that strategy to identify the key actions to tackle gender imbalances
within colleges and universities, as well as outlining the aspirations and ambitions of both sectors.
We believe that an aligned action plan between the sectors is necessary as we recognise the
systemic issues underpinning gender imbalances across both sectors require action from partners
across the educational system and beyond, if they are to be tackled. Secondly, there are many
different routes an individual’s journey through the education system can take and an aligned
plan will help address the issues at each stage of the journey in a more coordinated fashion than
when addressed separately. To ensure alignment across the sectors, we are working closely with
Skills Development Scotland.
                                                 10
Actions and ambitions for the first phase of the plan will be published by the end of 2015, at
which time we will also signpost our key priorities for the second phase of development, those
associated with broader issues of gender inequality. These priorities will then be developed into
concrete actions during the beginning of 2016. In parallel, we will enhance our expectations on
both sectors to tackle gender imbalances in the next round of Outcome Agreement (OA)
negotiations (guidance to be published in summer 2015). The full action plan, covering both staff
and students, we propose will be published by the beginning of the next three year cycle of OAs,
with the OA guidance updated to reflect this (summer 2016).

In parallel with the development of the plan, we will be allocating funding from the Scottish
Government to support the further implementation of DYW, in particular colleges’ ambitions to
tackle gender imbalances, as well as commissioning research to understand and evaluate current
approaches to tackling gender imbalances across both sectors.

The rationale

Many courses in both sectors are heavily gendered: that is, their students tend to be mainly men
or mainly women. These courses are often those most closely related to particular occupations.
They therefore have a significant effect on subsequent career options. This is the main issue we
want to address. There are other gender issues in further and higher education. These cannot be
separated from the main focus of this work and we will address them in the second phase of its
development.

While there are many arguments for reducing gender imbalances in subject choices the principal
reason for SFC is that the course choices students make affect the career pathways that create
‘women’s jobs’ and ‘men’s jobs’, this affects wages and perpetuates a system where young
people can’t make genuinely free choices on their futures. Changing these patterns cannot be
done by colleges and universities alone – but gendered choices in college and university are such
a big contributor to patterns in the workforce that they have to be part of the solution.

The challenge

There are people who believe that as gender imbalances at a subject level reflect individual
choices, there is not an issue to solve or that the issue is so deeply rooted within society, that
colleges and universities cannot play a role in tackling them. We do not agree with either
position. With sociocultural factors impacting differently on boys and girls from birth, we believe
it is essential that both sectors work in close partnership with their school and local authority
partners to affect change in the structural barriers that prevent both boys and girls making
genuine choices.

                                                 11
We will do it through…..

                                          Culture change

     • An improvement culture - where practice development, learning, sharing and
       accountability are welcomed
     • A transformation in culture in which the links between equality and quality are fully
       recognised
     • Alignment with broader equality and diversity efforts committed to through the Equality
       Act and its Specific Duties for Scotland

                                    Leadership and partnership

     • Leadership at a national and institutional level with ambition for change - only engaged,
       committed and consistent leadership across education at all levels will promote the
       required change
     • A strategy for partnership – only with aligned agendas that seek change from school to
       employment and corresponding focused actions across all stakeholders in further and
       higher education will progress be made
     • Accountability – we will work in partnership with institutions to agree their aspirations
       and ambitions and will hold them accountable for upholding their commitments

Our focus

For the first phase of the plan, our outcomes will be focused on three key parts of the learner
journey: getting in, staying in and moving on. For each of these stages, we will outline in terms of
gender imbalances:

     •   The key outcomes we wish to achieve
     •   The current situation
     •   The action we will take to support colleges and universities to achieve the outcomes; and
     •   How we will know we are making progress.

For universities

SFC analysis has indicated that the most extreme gender imbalances for undergraduate entrants
are in the following subjects: Subjects Allied to Medicine; Education; Computer Sciences;
Engineering; Technologies; European Languages, literature and related subjects; Social Studies;
and Architecture, Building and Planning. We propose this is where our focus will be. Further
analysis will determine specific imbalances within these broad subject areas which we need to
address, as well as differing patterns for higher levels of study.

                                                 12
For Colleges

The Scottish Government, through DYW, has set out its ambitions for the Colleges in tackling
gender imbalances. The relevant KPI from DYW is to ‘increase by 5 percentage points the minority
gender share in each of the 10 largest and most imbalanced superclasses among 16-24 year olds
by 2021’. Table 1 (below) shows the first two years of data for this KPI.

Scotland                                 2012/13                     2013/14
                                               Minority                    Minority
Superclass                      Enrolments                  Enrolments
                                             Gender share                Gender share
Hair/Personal Care Services       8254             4%         8043             4%
ChildCare Services                3383             5%         3610             5%
IT: Computer Science/
                                  1545
Programming/Systems                                9%         1641             10%
Engineering/Technology (gen)      4054             9%         4197             12%
Mechanical Engineering            2610             7%         3037             7%
Vehicle Maintenance/Repair        2311             4%         2732             5%
Electrical Engineering            2806             4%         3373             4%
Construction (gen)                4708             4%         4863             4%
Build/Construction Operations     2425             3%         2104             6%
Building Services                 1604             2%         1567             3%

The Government has gone on to reproduce these KPIs for regions. We propose that the KPIs are
shared at a regional level with negotiation about how each region will contribute. We hope such
an approach is aligned with our aim to work in partnership with the sector - ensuring alignment
with the sectoral KPIs for DYW but not undercutting the strategic and practical approaches to
tackling gender imbalances, for all ages, already being undertaken by the sector. This approach
should lead to an improving picture, owned by each region, which will ultimately impact on the
overarching KPIs.
Whilst there was good overlap between the 10 KPI superclasses and the largest and most
imbalanced subject areas across the regions, there were four exceptions in Newbattle, SMO,
SRUC and Borders, where there was limited or no overlap with the KPI superclasses. We will
discuss with these institutions how best to tackle subject imbalances. Furthermore, as the
Government’s KPIs are focused on 16-24 year olds, we will ask for regions to address imbalances
for those above 24 years old as well as particular issues of representation for part-time students.

Key outcomes

     • Gender is mainstreamed throughout institutional policy and practice
     • All institutions have targeted approaches to tackling underrepresentation at a subject
       level
     • No subject at entry level has an extreme gender imbalance (75: 25)
     • There is no difference in recruitment patterns between male and female students
       entering from deprived backgrounds and the wider student population
     • There is no difference between male and female engagement and retention
                                                   13
Consultation questions

(See page 10 for the two questions to be discussed at today’s event)

1. Of the work currently being undertaken by Scottish colleges and universities to address gender
   imbalances at a student level:

          a) What do you think is working well? Why do you think this?
          b) What do you think is working less well? Why do you think this?
          c) What could be done to improve this work?
          d) What could be done to improve this work and what do you think the gaps are, and
             how can these gaps can be filled – by the sectors, SFC and SDS?

2. Much of the work to tackle gender imbalances by the sectors requires close partnership
   working with schools:

          a) How can colleges and universities enhance their work with schools?
          b) What are the current issues in working with schools?
          c) What can SFC do to support this work?

3. The key outcomes and subject focus for the gender action plan are outlined in the consultation
   document:

          a) Do you think they are appropriate? Why/Why not?
          b) What outcomes do you think are missing? Why do you think they are important?

4. What are the key activities colleges and universities should undertake to meet these
   outcomes?

5. How can SFC best support the sectors to deliver these outcomes?

6. What level of change can we expect from both sectors in 10 years?

7. Is there any further evidence you would like to draw to our attention on what works to address
   gender imbalances?

                                                14
Gender: Actions to Achieve Positive Change

Notes

        15
Scottish Funding Council
                 Apex 2
  97 Haymarket Terrace
              Edinburgh
              EH12 5HD
        T 0131 313 6500
        F 0131 313 6501
          www.sfc.ac.uk
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