Gender Action has four levels of award.
Supporter
At Supporter level a school commits to taking action. This level requires Senior Leadership Team support.
Initiator
At Initiator level a school begins its action research, finding out what the problems are in school and making some plans.
Champion
At champion level evidence is provided of these plans having been actioned, and further planning has taken place.
Beacon
A Beacon level school will have shown evidence across all areas of school life that gender equity is being implemented.
Champion
Six Areas of Change
The Champion documents detail six areas of nursery/school life.
These documents have been developed together with experts in education and gender equality issues. They detail what ‘good’ looks like in each area, some ideas to get you started, and the types of evidence you could submit to display the impact you have had.
It’s crucial that projects in school are not isolated – they need to start conversations and be designed to lead to change across the school.
Download a PDF of the Six Areas of Change to pass on to colleagues.
supporting staff to reflect
It’s important to involve all staff within the school, to ensure everyone is working towards gender equality, trained to play an active role, and aware of the effects of unconscious biases.
Student voice: putting children and young people at the heart of change
A crucial step is supporting children and young people to understand and challenge gender injustice and stereotypes, and allowing them ownership of the issues.
Curriculum and learning
Resources and the curriculum should be balanced to ensure equal opportunities. Learners should be able to choose subjects and activities based on their preferences and skills, rather than being guided by their gender.
Progression, choices and Jobs
Everyone has a role to play in opening learners’ eyes to the diversity and range of options available for their future, without their own or others’ gendered expectations.
Internal and external communications
Schools communicate with a wide variety of audiences, including parents/carers, students, staff and the wider community. Processes should be put in place to make sure communications materials are not reinforcing gender bias.
Engagement with parents, carers, and the wider school community
The biggest impact will be made when the whole school community works together. Involving parents/carers from the start can help children and young people challenge gender inequality in wider life.
Champion Level Application
The submission for Champion Award is open to all schools who have achieved Initiator level.
It is in two parts:
- A commentary on progress on the Initiator Action plan including evidence.
- An Action Plan (AP) covering all 6 Focus Areas (FA). For the 2 FAs that were used for Initiator, the same actions can be used although, normally the situation will have changed sufficiently that schools will wish to modify them. As for Initiator, there should be a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 actions for each Focus Area.
Once you have completed your Action Plan, please submit it to us at: info@genderaction.co.uk.
There is currently no accreditation cost to schools.
Committing to this level gives:
- access to 6 hours of whole-school training to ensure all staff are on board with Gender Action and agree further areas for Champion status;
- access to 6 hours of support from the Gender Action team to help further progress your Action Plan;
- submission of your Action Plan for assessment.
Here is a summary of evidence to collect for Champion status. Do read this in conjunction with the application form.