Many years ago I played in a guitar-based band.ÌýWe had a strong set of songs and always pulled in good crowds for our gigs.ÌýAfter being approached by a few singers and brass players asking to join, we agreed.Ìý
At first, this just involved keeping the same songs but sharing vocal duties and swapping the odd guitar solo with a sax one.ÌýWhat soon became clear, though, wasÌýthat we weren’t making the most of this new talent.ÌýWe had simply admitted them into our club but not really included them.ÌýOnce we made that insight, things changed rapidly.ÌýOur set became more diverse and played to our new strengths, we attracted new audiences at new venues while keeping our old fans.
I have thought about this a lot in the past year.ÌýI made it my personal decision to lead the college on race equality because I realised it was an area where I was confusing inclusion and admission.ÌýI realised, in particular, that the college might have a reasonable story to tell on the numbers - student, staff and governor populations more diverse than our patch - but had we changed as this was achieved?ÌýBased on a few conversations with staff, it was clear that we had not.ÌýOur college was doing well on admission but otherwise we were the same college.ÌýStaff from minority groups felt safe and welcome, but still reported lower levels of belonging.ÌýWe clearly have a way to go to move to inclusion.
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I write this article as a confession, in the hope that wiser people in the sector will help me to make faster progress.ÌýOver the year I have read a lot about the subject.ÌýI have engaged a mentor specifically to help me in this area.ÌýI feel very privileged to attend the working group convened by Jeff Greenidge, director for diversity for both the Association of Colleges and the Education andÌýTraining Foundation, an inspired joint appointment.
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Despite this, I feel I am struggling. Is it just me or is inclusion when it comes to race harder than for gender or disability?ÌýOne of my heroes is scientist James Lovelock. He asks us to imagine a world where what you are trying to discover has already been achieved; then look for such places and identify the differences from where you are now.
There seem to be no end of examples for gender or disability-inclusive worlds, that are very different to non-inclusive ones.ÌýA gender-inclusive college would have different student and staff services to a non-inclusive one.ÌýIt might have different work patterns and student timetables.ÌýA disability-inclusive college would be designed differently to a non-inclusive one; for example, in terms of accessibility and signage.ÌýThe changes are easy to visualise and therefore achieve.
Similarly, a few years ago a local authority chief executive asked for my views on their proposed budget cuts.ÌýI said it was hard to comment without knowing what wasn’t being cut and why, but I suggested all the cuts were to services that particularly affected women, families, children and the disadvantaged, and wondered if, given that his entire senior team and most senior councillors were white, male and over 50, this might affect the areas chosen to cut.ÌýIt just feels like some forms of non-inclusion are easier to spot.
Having said that, we have had some successes.ÌýBreaking down our approach to inclusion into specific forums to deal separately with gender, disability and race, and recruiting staff volunteers to lead on each, has been genuinely revelatory.
On the other hand, most of the improvements requested and identified in this particular area have focused on involvement and visibility, which still feels like improving levels of admission.ÌýGetting more people into positions of influence and listening harder seem to be the main changes that our staff want to see.
Perhaps we are just being impatient?ÌýMaybe the gradual improvement in visibility and involvement will bring with it the changes that take us to a better place?ÌýFeel free to share your thoughts on what more I can do and the limitations of my thinking.Ìý
After all, it was only when we started asking our new band members what they would like to do that we uncovered new music and new harmonies that ramped up our enjoyment and made us all better players.ÌýThough even inclusion has its limits: we did draw the line when someone suggested we cover the Rubettes’ Sugar Baby Love!
Ian Pryce is principal and chief executiveÌýof the Bedford College Group
