Our equalities work

CST works with other organisations working in the education sector to demonstrate our commitment to playing our part in acknowledging the issues and
furthering equality, diversity and inclusion in schools and trusts by taking action. We are working in several ways: independently, together and through our networks and others.

We hold each other to account for delivering on these aims and will be held to account by our respective members and stakeholders. By being transparent about our actions, we want to give confidence to pupils and families, staff and leaders and those governing that we are learning, listening and acting on their concerns and ambitions for equality, diversity and inclusion. The progress and impact of these commitments will be reviewed every 12 months and an updated statement published.

Developments since the 2023/24 statement

Since the last publication of this statement of action CST has:

Strand one - Board Diversity

Following the launch of the Academy Trust Governance Code, we reviewed our governance resources to more explicitly add a focus on EDI, making clearer the role of board diversity in ensuring workforce diversity.

We featured diversity in our trust governance conference programme, and published Building diversity into our workforce strategies,  which includes a section on governance with 10 recommendations for trust boards to consider. 

Strand two: Racial Equality in the School Workforce

Building on our contributions to NFER’s Racial Equality in the School Workforce research, we convened a seminar with CST members and other stakeholders (including NFER and DfE) to explore how the system can work together to better reflect the communities our members serve.

We published Building diversity into our workforce strategies and have anecdotal evidence its recommendations have been adopted by our member trusts.

Equality in the workforce was a key feature of our inaugural two-day CEO summit, which brought together system leaders to think deeply about the recruitment and retention crisis, and barriers to the profession.

We have recruited a Director of Employer Policy to support our growing work as the employer body, and expect equality, diversity and inclusion across the entire workforce to be a prominent feature of our support for trusts to be excellent employers. 

Strand three – School Cultures (SEND)

Following the publication of Five principles for inclusion with Ambition Institute, we have supported our SEND and Inclusion Professional Community to take forward the principles. These were a feature of our inaugural SEND and Inclusion Summit, which included keynote contributions from young people and families on their experiences of the education system.

As part of our general election work, we championed SEND and inclusion as an area of focus for the next government and started work to conceptualise an end state for a reformed system. This also featured in our series of papers on funding reform, which call for SEND and AP settings to receive core funding through a reformed NFF and for HM Treasury to commit to protecting and uprating SEND formulae factors. 

Commitments for 2024/2025

Over the course of 2024/2025 CST commits to:

• Convening roundtables to review Building diversity into our workforce strategies and updating it, and our other resources, as relevant.
• Working across the sector on ‘next gen’ governance, including new approaches to recruitment, to promote diversity at board level. This will be a focus of our 2025 trust governance conference.
• Ensuring our developing work as the employer body addresses issues of EDI across the workforce, and as a prominent feature of our Chief executives professional community events and summit.
• Working with the new Government, promoting and supporting SEND and inclusion across the sector including through the SEND and AP Programme Change Board and other working groups.
• Ensuring at least two national SEND/AP representatives are elected to our new elected Policy Advisory Group.
• Ensuring EDI, SEND and inclusion are key features of our conference programme (including Annual Conference) and that speakers reflect the diversity of CST members and the communities they serve.