rncm.ac.uk

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report 2018/19PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2019 EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION FORUM

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Contents

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

1.1 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the RNCM 1.2 Progress on 2018/19 Action Plan

2. Embedding Equality

2.1 Equality objectives and legislative framework 2.2 Gender Pay Gap 2.3 Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)

3. Staff

3.1 Access to Work Scheme (ATW) and Care First (EAP) 3.2 Reward and Recognition monitoring

4. Students 4.1 Support for students with disabilities and specific learning needs

5. 2019/2020 Action Plan

Appendix 1 Staff equality statistics Current staff analysis: 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18

Appendix 2 Student equality statistics Current student analysis: 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 Applicant analysis: 2016-2019 entry

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Executive Summary

This Annual Report provides a summary of highlights from the 2018/19 academic year. It gives an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), as we look back on what we achieved during this time and renew our commitment to making progress on this important issue. The equality-related data gathered over the last year provides an evidence based approach to our equality objectives and meets our legal obligations of the Equality Act 2010. It also enables us to continue to prioritise and focus our resources on specific areas.

The RNCM remains committed to promoting equality and opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership (in employment only), pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation. As a truly widening participation, socially inclusive and therefore diverse Higher Education Institution, we value the diversity of all in our community.

The report contains a reminder of the College’s legal obligations as part of its Public Sector Equality Duty which require equality considerations to be reflected into the design of policies and the delivery of services, including internal policies, and for these issues to be kept under review. We enter the 2018/19 academic year with a focus on not just ensuring that the RNCM is compliant with current legislation but that our practices help us to go beyond our legal obligations.

Student and staff profile

The report provides demographic data of the RNCM’s 926 students (full person equivalent) and 485 staff (full person equivalent), as shown in the 2017/18 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) staff and student report. A summary of our data can be found on page 15 onwards.

Equality Objectives

The Equality Diversity and Inclusion Forum (EDIF) have developed and agreed new evidence based equality objectives which have been published for the period June 2019 to May 2022. The objectives focus on staff, student and the community activities. Full details can be found on Pages 8 & 9. Gender Pay Gap

There has been a reduction in the College’s Gender Pay Gap from the previous twelve month period and as at 31st March 2018, the median pay gap is 9.35% (from 13.7%), compared to 14.0%1 in the HE sector and 18.0%2 nationally. Further details are provided on page 9. Progress on 2018/19 Action Plan

Significant progress has been made towards meeting the objectives identified as a priority in last year’s report over the past academic year. Further details of the progress made can be found at para.1.2 on pages 5 to 8.

1 Data provided by UCEA and sourced from ONS ASHE 2017. 2 Data provided by UCEA and sourced from ONS ASHE 2017.

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Staff Equality training and interventions in 2018/19

During 2018/19 a series of training events and interventions have been facilitated and/or provided by the College.

Examples include equality, diversity and inclusion essentials, equality and diversity: the basics and setting relevant equality objectives, the roll out of online training on equality and diversity and unconscious bias and the delivery of a successful professional services training day. A summary of this year’s staff equality and diversity training events and interventions are shown at para.1.2 of this report.

Suzie Thompson Director of Development and Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Forum

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1. Introduction

1.1 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the RNCM

The Equality Diversity and Inclusion Forum (EDIF) is our principle vehicle for developing strategies and consulting on equality and diversity matters including responsibility for developing equality and diversity-related policies, procedures and guidance. It ensures the College meets legislative requirements and fosters a tolerant, inclusive working and learning environment. The 2019/20 action plan developed and agreed by the EDIF is included at the end of this report.

1.2 Progress on 2018/19 Action Plan

Progress on the College’s 2018/19 action plan are summarised in the table below

Student

Student Union Activities

• Students Union launched a ‘Zero’ campaign in March 2019• A ‘Zero’ stand as present on the concourse for one week• Campaign was launched on the RNCMSU and RNCM websites• It was widely advertised on social media• Included a pledge, badges, stickers and colouring sheets of the ‘Zero’ logo

displayed at the stand• Fresher’s week ‘Look out for your mate’ campaign• Student-led panel discussions launched in Brodsky, covering range of topics

such as #metoo (Power structures and pressures in the music industry) andControversial Content (How do you deal with subject matter in the programme)

Harassment and bullying

• E-package for students based on University of Manchester model developed• Student Bullying and Harassment policy uploaded on website, co-designed by

SU President• New web page on Bullying and Harassment live online with information and

advice on reporting• Moodle updated September 2019

International Inclusion

• Christmas activities package• Celebrations of key events from different countries• New International rep on UG Programme Board and PG Programme Board• Review of international student experience

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Societies

• BAME society established • Indonesian society established • LGBTQ+ Soc and Pride related programme of events

Disability support

• One-to-one academic and study skills tutorials • Provision of a suitable Personal Learning Plan (PLP) • Specific learning difficulty (e.g. dyslexia) screening on request • Advice on applying for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs)

Staff

Training and Development

• ‘Setting evidence based equality objectives’ – delivered to EDIF Committee Members

• ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Essentials’ - delivered to 19 front of house staff • ‘Professional Services Staff Training Day’ – attended by over 80 PS staff • Online training: Equality and Diversity in Practice, Dignity at Work and.

Challenging Unconscious Bias

Culture and Values

• Updated and reissued Academic Staff Code of Conduct • Diversity, Dignity and Inclusion programme launched for 2018/19 academic

year delivering a series of activities and interventions • Values training promoting good working relationships / cultural change from

industry to education (Heads and Deputies of Schools and P&P staff) • Equality and Diversity training online packages launched (including unconscious

bias) to all staff. Mandatory for key management roles

Gender Pay Gap

• Action plan developed focusing on detailed gap analysis • Raised awareness of promotion processes to underrepresented groups via

Moodle and All College staff email • Developed link with Learning and Participation activities to widen applicant

pool for teaching staff in the long term • Review of recruitment strategies and information materials to remove gender.

bias in advertising language

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Review of recruitment process

• Additional monitoring and analysis of applicants to identify gaps • Recruitment process for academic vacancies revised and changes introduced

for 19/20 • Diversity statement for advertisements developed through EDIF

Induction

• The staff induction process was reviewed during 2018/19 and materials strengthened to fully reflect the College’s zero tolerance approach to harassment.

Dementia awareness

• Volunteers (Staff and Students) recruited to support the awareness campaign and improve understanding of requirements.

• 66 Dementia Friends trained, 2 Dementia Champions now in place

Community

Review programme

• Continuing to monitor and review the programme in terms of the diversity of role models, in particular guest artists that we bring in.

• We have signed up to PRS KeyChange 50:50 pledge by 2022. We will report back on this each year.

• Partnership with Community Arts Northwest on Manchester International Roots Orchestra (MIRO)

Promotion of Learning and Participation activities

• The promotion of RNCM Engage activities more widely across College culminating in delivery of a session at the Annual Staff Conference.

• Introduction of more robust data gathering on access criteria and the Engage Group becoming more focussed in terms of its aims and objectives.

• Targeted L&P activities delivered to those from BAME and areas of deprivation (IMD 1) for example over 50% of participants on RNCM Pathfinder are BAME.

BAME music industry taskforce.

• There was a successful industry day in May in partnership with the BBC around BAME in Composition. This has opened up a series of actions and ideas going forward to help us with this area.

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Policy and communications Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Forum

• New terms of reference agreed, new name for Forum and new members brought into Forum

• Members undertook ACAS training on setting equality objectives • Agreed new evidence based Equality Objectives

Committee membership and diversity

• Membership reviews completed. Chairs of Committees with gender imbalance advised as membership is refreshed improvements to non-officio positions will be made.

Establish central (confidential) record of allegations

• Central record established • Executive Committee receive annual (anonymised) summary with any actions

required

Dignity at Work Policy

• Policy reviewed and updated in January 2019. Stronger emphasis on the College’s zero tolerance approach towards any form of bullying or harassment

2. Embedding Equality

2.1 Equality Objectives and legislative framework

The Equality Act 2010 introduced legislation which seeks to end discrimination. It replaced previous legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Race Relations Act 1976. The College complies with the specific duties of the Equality Act, which are:

• Publish information to demonstrate its compliance with the general

equality duty. This information must include in particular, information relating to people who share a protected characteristic who are:

v its employees v people affected by its policies and practices.

• Prepare and publish one or more objectives that it thinks it needs to achieve

to further any of the aims of the general equality duty. The objectives must be specific and measurable.

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The College is fully committed to meeting its duties under the Equality Act and during 2018/19 took the opportunity to review and revise its equality objectives. The development of these objectives through the EDIF was informed on the back of members receiving training on how to set meaningful and evidence based equality objectives.

Three areas of focus have been identified, and the following equality objectives agreed for the period June 2019 to May 2022:

Staff

1. Increase the numbers of BAME applicants from current 17% to 25-30% by end of 2021 academic year

2. Produce action plan to reduce the gender pay gap 3. Aim, where appropriate, to achieve 50/50 gender representation on College

committees, including Board of Governors by 2022

Students

1. Ensure targets for BAME UK students in Access and Participation Plan are achieved (10% by 2022)

2. Ensure targets for Disabled students in Access and Participation plan are achieved (10-12% by 2022)

3. Analysis of recruitment cycle to understand why M/F ratios change across cycle

Community

1. Sign up to PRS Keychange pledge, with target to have 50/50 gender representation with guest artists by 2022

2. Gather more robust data around participation and engagement work from protected characteristics

3. Ensure Honorary Awards given by the RNCM have more balanced representation 4. Increase the number of BAME performers and collaborators in the programme

by 50% by 2020 5. Increase the number of BAME-related partnerships by 50% by 2020

New Objectives will become the focus of activity for future action plans with members of EDIF tasked with supporting progress against goals in their areas.

2.2 Gender Pay Gap

The RNCM’s Gender Pay Gap was analysed and the data published on the prescribed government web portal and RNCM website in March 2019. The RNCM aims to recruit the very best staff and is committed to ensure that all staff have equal access to promotional opportunities and development. Whilst the College’s gender pay gap is smaller than both the sector average and the national average, it remains determined to ensure that equality of opportunity is demonstrated across all of its activities. Whilst recognising that modest staff numbers can have a disproportionate impact on statistics, its response to the gender pay gap is to understand and remove any actual or perceived barriers to entry or progression to more senior roles.

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Key statistics

• RNCM median pay gap has reduced to 9.35% (2018) from 13.7% (2017) in favour of males, compared to 14.0%3 in the HE sector and 18.0%4 nationally.

• Median pay gap for professional services staff is -2.9% (in favour of females). • Academic staff median pay gap is 14.9%. • RNCM staff gender balance is 53% male, 47% female.

The RNCM already:

Ø Uses skill-based assessment tasks in recruitment Ø Uses structured interviews for recruitment

Ø Provides unconscious bias training and equality and diversity training to all

staff Ø Encourages salary negotiation by showing salary ranges and publishing salary

scales Ø Provides transparent promotion, pay and reward processes

Ø Provides shared parental leave

Ø Encourages flexible working; practical teaching staff have flexibility in

determining their working patterns. The RNCM will: Ø Encourage greater engagement with promotion processes within the

academic / tutor community to ensure staff and managers are aware of criteria

Ø Focus on learning and participation activities for under-represented groups to encourage greater gender equality by instrument to support a more gender balanced pool of potential employees for the future

Ø Detailed analysis of recruitment strategy and patterns by subject area to develop detailed actions for areas requiring a change in profile

3. Staff

3.1 Access to Work Scheme (ATW) and Care First Employee

Assistance Programme (EAP)

During 2018/19, ATW contributed over £35,000 which was used to implement adjustments the RNCM agreed to support staff. A significant amount of this was used to arrange additional staff resources to provide accompaniment support for vocal staff. Financial support was also received for transport costs to and from College for staff with mobility concerns. A 24hr free and confidential counselling service, as well as a wider information service is available to all staff through the

3 Data provided by UCEA and sourced from ONS ASHE 2017. 4 Data provided by UCEA and sourced from ONS ASHE 2017.

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College’s EAP provider Care First. Staff usage of the Care First service has doubled over 2018/19, with the total usage against headcount at 7.11% compared with the average EAP usage of 5%. 69% of calls were to telephone counsellors, 25% of contacts were to information specialists and 6% accessed the online counselling service.

3.2 Reward and Recognition monitoring

In accordance with the monitoring requirements of the College’s Reward and Recognition Policy, summarised below is an analysis of 2018/19 successful applications.

Staff Type Gender Age Ethnic

Origin Disability Award

Professional Services

Male 34yrs and under

White None Accelerated Incremental Progression

Professional Services

Female 34yrs and under

Chinese None One-off payment

Academic Male 35 to 49 White None One-off payment

Professional Services

Female 50 to 65 Information refused

None One-off payment

4. Students

4.1 Support for students with disabilities and specific learning needs

Resource: The College provides the Assistant Head of Registry (Wellbeing) (AHR(W)) and the Learning Support Tutor (LST) as dedicated resources toward the support of students with disabilities.

Profile of students using the Learning Support Service: Any student who has declared a disability/condition that may affect their study is offered the opportunity to set up a Personal Learning Plan (PLP). A PLP details their condition and the effect it has across all areas of their learning, both performance and academic. It also incorporates any reasonable adjustments that the College is required to make in order to support them, such as extra time in examinations.

Academic Year 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017-18 2018-19 Total PLPs issued

102 104 107 112 113

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The breakdown according to sector-standard disability categories was as follows:

Disability type 2014–15 2015–16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Specific learning difficulty

50 52 52 57 52

Mental health condition

37 42 45 66 42

Longstanding illness/health condition

18 14 14 20 18

Sensory impairment 5 5 4 4 5 Autistic spectrum 7 10 10 9 8 Physical and/or mobility impairment

5 4 4 9 5

The number of students reporting mental health difficulties continues to increase, although not all require or have refused a PLP but will be referred for therapy, a trend which is reflected across the HE sector. The College is responding to this in a number of ways, through expanding the counselling team and the employment of a Lecturer in Musicians' Health and Wellbeing.

The College has MindView and ClaroRead assistive software on all its networked PCs; these are being marketed as ‘productivity tools’ in accordance with inclusive best practice.

5. Action Plan 2019/20 The College is committed to ensuring we make progress against the Equality Objectives and developing an inclusive environment. Our action plan for this academic year is outlined below.

Student

Student Union

• Re-run ‘Zero’ campaign in November 2019 with stand present on the concourse for one week

• Fundraising for Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre • Talk arranged with NUS Women’s Office, Rachel Watters • Advice clinic with Musician’s Union and Student Unions in Manchester • Student led concert series, celebrating diversity with the college, dedicating

a concert to a country • Composer of the Week included in SU weekly email, highlighting diverse

composers

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Review recruitment cycle

• Ensure balanced representation at Open Days • Prioritise female representation in recruitment films

UG Programme revalidation

• Ensure female composers are included in final recital set lists • Review programme through lens of inclusive pedagogy

Health & Wellbeing

• There will be a number of monthly wellbeing events throughout 2019-20, led by the Lecturer in Musicians Health and Wellbeing covering areas such as performance anxiety, physio and injury prevention, hearing protection, etc.

• Mental Health First Aider provision will be established in each school within the College, which will be in place in 2019-20

• All counsellors will offer a selected number of drop-in sessions during 2019-20, without the requirement for an appointment

• Fully staff the Alexander Technique team to 3 tutors • The Wellbeing Team will introduce and use a single e-mail address, and logo,

to coordinate wellbeing events and provision across the College - Wellbeing@rncm.ac.uk

• Launch new 3rd year elective in wellbeing related module/health and wellbeing • Student Mental Health is still very important to the College. 2019 sees a

collaboration between the RNCM, the city’s four universities and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care partnership in creating the Greater Manchester Universities Student Mental Health Service. This will complement our existing provision offering risk management specialist support to those with complex mental health need or severe mental illness.

Staff

Staff Training

• Dignity at Work - online training package roll out during 2019/20 • Professional Services Staff Training Day – inclusion of equality, diversity and

inclusion awareness training • Contribute towards 2019/20 Bullying and Harassment Staff/Student campaign

and launch associated training materials online

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Staff Diversity & Recruitment

• Further work to be carried out on analysing recruitment statistics – more detailed report to be prepared and provided to EDIF, Autumn term 2020

• Identify and promote alternative recruitment routes for under-represented groups. Developing links with local Colleges and communities

• Additional guidance of recruitment leads concerning equality, diversity and inclusion. Advice produced on how to draft job description and personal specification to ensure inclusivity

• Diversity statement to be included on all recruitment materials, including board recruitment

Gender pay gap action plan

• Academic working group to undertake gap analysis by school/programme to identify actions

• Awareness raising for promotions process • Informal mentoring/workshop for female applicants for promotion

College Committees

• Review progress in January 2020 to identify those committees which have potential to improve gender balance (i.e. focus on non-ex-officio)

Community College Honorary Members

• Develop online portal for staff and students to submit suggestions for Honorary Members

• Provide feedback on unsuccessful nominations

Performance Programme

• Continue to monitor and collect data in the performance programme, with particular emphasis on female and BAME role models, to get a clear picture on how we are developing

• Ensure RNCM website is accessible

Widening Access

• Invite some key alumni to become BAME ambassadors. • Develop a stronger monitoring and evaluation of Access data to create a

shared understanding of targets among key staff • Continue to create a greater presence of RNCM Engage work internally and

externally • The Engage Pass to be established and launched externally.

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Staff equality statistics: 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 The following statistical analysis of staff is based on a Full Person Equivalent (FPE) of all RNCM staff, rounded to the nearest 5. The data is an analysis of the 2017/18 HESA Staff Return for all available conservatoires and local institutions for comparison and presented using the HEIDI Plus report tool. The Full Person Equivalent for 2017/18: 490 staff Staff Age: (Page 16) The majority of the College’s workforce at 40.8% are aged between 35 and 49 years, and this is comparable across all CUK and Manchester Institutions apart from the Royal Academy of Music who have the majority of their staff aged between 50 and 65 years. 19.4% of the workforce are aged 34 years and below with only 8% aged 66 years old and over. These figures reflect a similar trend over the past three year period. Staff Disability: (Page 17) The RNCM has the highest number of staff who have declared a disability within the benchmark group, along with MMU at 5.8%. This is an encouraging sign in that the College has carried out a lot of work in creating a culture whereby staff feel confident in declaring a disability with the College engaging with staff to introduce reasonable adjustments to support them where necessary. This compares with only 5 individuals out of a staff population of 435 who have declared any type of disability at the Royal College of Music. Staff Ethnicity: (Page 18) A common feature along with all other CUK and Manchester Institutions is that the majority of the College’s workforce describe themselves as ‘White’. Whilst relatively small there has been an increase in ‘Asian’ and ‘Black’ staff over the past twelve months. A College equality objective has been agreed to increase BAME staff applications by the end of 2021, which in turn is hoped will lead to a more diverse workforce. Staff Sex: (Page 19) 53% of staff are male and 47% female. Five out of the nine comparators have a majority of male staff. The RNCM profile has remained relatively stable and similar of the past three years.

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Appendix One

Workforce data analysis

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Student equality statistics: 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 Student analysis is based on a Full Person Equivalent (FPE) of all students, rounded to the nearest 5. The student data is from 2015-16 to 2017-18, from the HESA Student Returns for all available conservatoires and local institutions for comparison and presented using the HEIDI Plus report tool. Student Age: (Page 21) As you would perhaps expect, the majority, 82.8% of all RNCM students are aged 24 or below, 17.3% being aged 25 and above (17% in 2016-17 and 15.7% in 2015-16). Over the last three years there has been a slight decrease in the proportion of under 25 years, and a slight increase in those 25 years and over. This is encouraging as our College encouragement in increasing widening participation to those not straight from school/college is positive. Across other institutions, the RNCM is similar to the Royal Academy of Music, behind all other CUK institutions presented. However, the Manchester Universities and Salford still show a greater distribution of ages in their student populations. Student Disability: (Page 22) During 2017-18 14.2% of RNCM students declared a disability, the highest in recent years (12.6% in 2016-17 and 12.7% in 2015-16). The average against all comparator institutions is 14.9%, and so the College is below the average. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland once again had the highest percentage of students declaring a disability at 26.7% and the Royal Academy the least at 9.3%. The changes in the provision of Disabled Students allowance (DSA) may have had an effect on this data - (provision in Scotland is funded differently to England/NI/Wales, where students receive an allowance up front. Student Ethnicity: (Page 23) 63.3%, down from 65.1% in 2016-17 and 64% in 2015-16, of the College’s student population identify as ‘white’ which is comparable with the other HEI’s being analysed. Unknown ethnicity category has shown an increase this year to 31.4%, from 29.7% and 31.2% previously. The challenge for the sector is to increase the percentage of BAME home students, as well as encourage self-reporting of ethnicity across the student populations in order to reduce the percentage of Unknown/not available data. Student Sex: (Page 24) In 2017-18 49.5% of the student population were male and 50.5% female which is the closest to 50/50 of recent years (2016-17 - 50.8% male and 49.2% female and in 2015-16 52% male/48% female). Trinity Laban has a much higher female student population than male at 65.1%, however the provision of dance at this conservatoire will have an effect on this proportion. The RNCM is almost identical to the UK male/female population as a whole which is 49.4% male/50.6% female (Office for National Statistics, August 2019)

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Student data analysis

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Applicant equality statistics

APPLICANTS

Applicant analysis is based on all applicants for entry across 4 entry cycles (2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 entry), expressed as a percentage of all applicants. Applicants by Age (at point of entry)

The College applicants are still predominantly based within two age groups – ‘18 years and under’ (normally applicants for undergraduate programmes) and ‘21-24 years’ (normally applicants for postgraduate programmes upon completion of a 4-year UG programme at College or another institution). Interestingly the numbers of ’25-29 years’ and ’30 years and over’ applicants have also increased over the last two admissions cycles, showing the increasing acceptance that a conservatoire (HE) education can be accessed by individuals who have had time within the industry or other areas, rather than straight from FE.

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Applicants by Disability

The number of applicants declaring a disability (‘Yes’) has continued to increase over the last 4 years, and now stands at almost 10%. However, the numbers of those declaring that they do not have a disability (‘No’) has also increased at the expense of the ‘Unknown’ group. The increase in those responding ‘Yes’ again is a pleasing statistic in highlighting that applicants do not feel that self-declaration will be a barrier to an education at College.

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Applicants by Ethnicity

Applicants grouped by ethnicity has been skewed in recent years due to the recording of ‘Unknown/not provided’, which seems to have largely affected the recording of ‘White’ as an applicants ethnicity. It is unclear as to why this has happened, but we must be mindful of the fact that applicants self-declare their ethnicity. Therefore, when we consider the data from 2016 and 2019 we can see that there has been a dip in ‘White’ applicants and an increase in all other ethnic groups – ‘Asian’, ‘Black’ and ‘Other’ (which does include ‘Mixed’ groups). The movement is in the right direction to increase a diverse population, however, there is still work to be done and projects within the sphere of the College Access & Participation plan are seeking to address this.

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Applicants by Sex

Applicants grouped by sex has remained fairly static across the previous 4 entry cycles, but 2019 entry shows a slight dip in Male applicants. When registered, the first year population is split female 53.08%/male 46.70%/other 0.2%, which is closely correlated to the admissions data. The College should undertake more work in trying to understand the challenges faced across the cycle from application through to registration.