Shropshire Music Hub

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy           

This strategy has been developed in conjunction with Shropshire Council’s EDI policy and its related objectives for 2020-2024. It has been developed by Shropshire Music Hub’s Inclusion working group, the Hub advisory group and approved by the Hub Governance Board.

Key Definitions

Equality: Ensuring every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents.

Diversity: The presence of different and multiple characteristics that make up individual and collective identities.

Inclusion: Creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to participate fully.

Equity: The process of identifying and removing the barriers that create disparities in the access to resources and means, and the achievement of fair treatment and equal opportunities to thrive.

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act is the legislative framework that supports good decision making by ensuring we have policies and services in place which are accessible to all and meet different people’s needs by reducing barriers and promoting equality of opportunity. Shropshire Council’s duty is to create a society in which everyone fees valued and where their skills and talents are used to the full. Its commitment to social inclusion is central to our EDI strategy: ‘a society in which everyone feels they have a part to play, and in which people respect the views of other people, is a resilient and caring society’. These commitments inform the work of Shropshire Music Hub.

Our commitment is to ensure that the right services and support are in place for the most vulnerable, including groupings described as having ‘protected characteristics’. These groupings are:

·        Age

·        Disability

·        Gender reassignment

·        Marriage and civil partnership

·        Pregnancy and maternity

·        Race

·        Religion and belief

·        Sex

·        Sexual orientation

In addition to the characteristics protected in law, we will consider additional factors that create barriers to participation in Shropshire, for example, rural isolation, caring duties, financial circumstances, and refugees and asylum seekers.

Equality is an important concept that affects young people’s lives every day. Harmful behaviour (such as bullying) can arise from a lack of understanding of diverse cultures, lifestyles, beliefs, and differences. We are committed to educating children and young people about identities, diversity, and equality to help them learn to respect and celebrate difference.

Our Equality Duty

In working with children and young people and delivering our services, we have a duty to:

·        Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act.

·        Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

·        Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Having due regard for advancing equality involves:

·        Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics.

·        Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people.

·        Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.

Musically Inclusive Practice

Musically inclusive practice ensures that all children and young people who want to make music, can make music. We commit to providing opportunities to all children and young people to support them as musicians across all styles and genres. Therefore, we commit to:

1.      Identifying and breaking down any barriers to music-making that children and young people may face.

2.      Supporting a diversity of high-quality music-making across a wide range of genres, styles, and activities, placing emphasis on children’s self-expression and musical creativity.

3.      Actively working to ensure all practitioners involved in music education develop their understanding of different approaches to teaching and learning.

4.      Placing the voice of children and young people at the centre of our work to ensure our delivery is relevant to their needs and interests.

How will we achieve this?

Shropshire Music Hub will regularly review its strategy against Youth Music’s EDI self-assessment tool. This assessment will be conducted on a termly basis and progress against actions will be formally reviewed quarterly via the Hub Governance Board. Actions will focus on four categories:

1.      Governance and Leadership

2.      Workforce

3.      Children and Young People

4.      Organisational Development

Actions will be informed by needs analysis which is subsequently informed by participation data and stakeholder feedback. This ensures that our strategy is regularly reviewed in the local context. Whilst overarching principles may inform our strategy, actions will be informed entirely by the needs of children and young people in Shropshire.