Equality and Diversity: Issues for Health Education Friday, 17th March 2006

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Equality and Diversity Issues for Health
EducationFriday, 17th March 2006

• Anne Garvey
• Deputy Dean, Faculty of Health and Social Care

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What is Diversity?

• Diversity is about
• Valuing people as individuals
• Respecting peoples differences (not treating
  everyone the same way)
• Making the best use of these differences for the
  individual
• and the health and social care service
• Celebrating our individual differences and
• uniqueness

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LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY PROFILE

• 21,000 students
• 59 female, 41 male
• 85 countries
• 60 black and minority ethnic background
• 66 25 years
• 4.7 1 of 9 forms of disability
• only 1 in 5 have traditional qualifications on
  entry
• 1700 staff

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Discrimination

• Direct discrimination
• Indirect discrimination
• Institutional discrimination

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What does Diversity mean for LSBU?

• Using peoples talents to the full- ensuring that
  students are supported to achieve their potential
• Ensuring that selection decisions and policies
  are based on objective criteria, not prejudice
  (pre-judgement)
• Improving retention particularly from year one
  to year two
• Identifying individual needs - getting closer to
  students and understanding what they need
• Accepting diversity and being clear where it is
  /is not acceptable
• Clarifying outcomes, and recognising there are
  different ways to achieve them

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Professionalisation

• Education ensures entry into the professional
  group nursing, social work, radiography etc
• Academic experience and challenge professional
  knowledge and understanding
• Practical experience professional know how and
  skills and competence
• Moral/ethical experience professional values
  and conduct
• Need development in all three to join the
  professional group
• What issues does a diversity agenda raise for
  this?

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Academic Experience the baggage we all bring

• Previous education experience linked to
• Age
• Culture
• Ethnicity
• Special Needs
• Previous experiences and personal role models (or
  not)
• Personal psychology personality, fear of
  failing
• Etc. Etc. Etc.

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Academic Experience (cont)

• Current Experience
• Less time to study part time jobs
• Unitised course structure, students make links
• Need to become familiar with academic discourse
  learning a new language
• Continuous assessment everything counts. Less
  opportunity to make mistakes, and learn from them

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Practical Experience likely to have had very
little !

• Range from in service students to absolute
  beginners
• Busy demanding placement arenas student need
  high level skills in self reliance to achieve
  success
• Reduction in placement hours and access to
  individual mentors more reliance on simulations
• Potentially old fashioned and outmoded work
  practices expected to fit in ?

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Professional Values and Conduct it is not a
vocation anymore !

• Post modernism focus on individual rights rather
  than societal values overall
• Limited exposure to professional values nursing
  homes, old style matrons, uniform (might be a
  good thing !)
• Health service can require discipline, clear
  structures, obedience not congruent/familiar
  with many values today
• Behaviours that have served well in the past may
  become a focus of discussion now
• Need advocate to accompany you on this journey
  hidden value set that can be difficult to
  understand and articulate

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Other Issues ?

• Entry to profession is a gate to what extent is
  this open or a barrier ?
• There remains problems with diversity in health
  and social services generally how is that
  visited upon our student group ?
• How flexible can health and social care careers
  be ?

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Vision for Change

• By the year 2010 all staff working in the NHS
  will have access to high quality learning
  opportunities to develop their skills,
  capabilities and competencies in order to play
  their full part in creating a patient led health
  service and to develop personally.
• Bob Fryer . Everyone Counts 2005.