128 pages
A4
April 2009

Senior leadership teams in all kinds of schools, all classroom and subject teachers, school improvement partners and inspectors, and everyone involved in initial teacher training will find this book invaluable guidance on how they can improve the education they provide by fulfilling the statutory requirements.

Schools have legal responsibilities to promote equality in relation to disability, ethnicity and gender and to promote community cohesion. They are also expected to observe the spirit of legislation concerning age, religion and sexuality. This book shows ways in which the various legal duties can be harmonised which each other and how they can be applied holistically to all curriculum subjects, and to a school's organisation and ethos.

All the different strands are explained in Part 1: age, class,cohesion, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender, sexuality, global issues. In Part 2 all the strands are brought together to show what equality and diversity mean for school policy and action. The implications for every curriculum subject are outlined in Part 3, and Part 4 sets out practical guidance in the shape of legal frameworks, relevant organisations, useful websites and publications.

Robin Richardson is a director of the Insted consultancy. His books published by Trentham include Daring to be Teacher (1990) and In Praise of Teachers (2002) and with Berenice Miles, Racist Incidents and Bullying in Schools (2008).

Holding Together is published by Derbyshire County Council and Trentham Books It is the follow-up to the best-selling Here, There and Everywhere, published in 2004 for Derbyshire County Council by Trentham.