Holding Together, Equalities, Difference and Cohesion: Guidance for School Improvement Planning

Schools have legal responsibilities to promote equality in relation to disability, ethnicity and gender and to promote community cohesion. Further, they are expected to observe the spirit of legislation concerning age, religion and sexuality. The various pieces of legislation were introduced at different times and in different contexts and use slightly different terminology. There is a danger they may in consequence be seen as a miscellany of fragments rather than as parts of a whole, and as a tedious bureaucratic chore rather than as a positive benefit. This book shows ways the legal duties can be harmonised with each other and how they can be applied holistically to all curriculum subjects, and to a school's organisation and ethos. It is a follow-up to the best-selling Here, There and Everywhere, published by Trentham Books for Derbyshire County Council in 2004. It will be invaluable for senior leadership teams in all kinds of school, for all classroom and subject teachers, for school improvement partners and inspectors, and in initial teacher training.

Robin Richardson is a director of the Insted consultancy. In addition to Here, There and Everywhere his books published by Trentham include Daring to be Teacher (1990) and In Praise of Teachers (2002). His most recent, written with Berenice Miles, is Racist Incidents and Bullying in Schools (2008).