The WEA's commitment to equality and diversity

The WEA has for over 100 years worked to redress inequality and challenge discrimination on the grounds of social class, race, disability, gender, age, faith/religious belief, and sexual orientation.

Through the WEA’s Single Equality Scheme (SES) we are making a renewed commitment to ensuring equality of opportunity and positive promotion of equality and diversity through our educational provision, our employment practices and in the democracy and governance of the Association.

We describe in the scheme the areas we think we do well and where we need to make improvements. A longer version is available on request, and includes a detailed Action Plan which defines responsibility and accountability is also clearly defined and describes how we will act to improve the way we work and the way we offer our services.

The action plan will be developed further at local level within Regions and Association Services, as part of our operational planning and review processes. We will measure its impact and seek feedback on our activities and consult with our students, volunteers, staff, members and partners on how we are doing.

The trustees and senior managers of the WEA are committed to ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in everything we do. Our commitment to equality and diversity is embodied in the WEA Equality and Diversity Scrutiny Panel (EDSP). This panel is attended by trustees and senior managers. The job of the panel is to champion and review our practice against the actions we have set out in the Single Equality Scheme.

The Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF) will take forward the work outlined in our plan. The EDF is chaired by the WEA’s Deputy President and is made up of operational managers and practitioners from across the Association.

The WEA Single Equality Scheme is available below:

WEA Single Equality Scheme (SES)