PROTECTED CHARACTERSITICS

Protected Characteristics across SCARF

Subjects and Issues

How SCARF supports teaching and learning about protected characteristics

The UK government recognises how important it is that "All children gain an understanding of the world they are growing up in, and learn how to live alongside, and show respect for, a diverse range of people. When we inspect schools, we assess how well they equip children to do this."

Ofsted guidance states that inspectors will gather evidence of how schools promote equality and pupils’ understanding of the protected characteristics.

This will be mainly through the Personal Development judgement:

Schools are not required to teach about all the protected characteristics in every year group; that is a matter for the school to decide, and how it plans its curriculum. However, the curriculum should be planned and delivered so that children develop age-appropriate knowledge and understanding during their time at the school.

Crucially, the guidance goes on to state that:

There is a range of ways schools can choose to teach about these issues in an age-appropriate way. Primary schools could, for example, teach pupils about the different types of family groups that exist within society... As stated in the DfE’s statutory guidance, teaching on these matters should be integrated appropriately into the curriculum, rather than addressed separately or in one-off lessons.

Teaching and learning about protected characteristics is therefore fully integrated into SCARF, through age-appropriate content across the SCARF spiral curriculum.

However, some protected characteristics benefit from the in-depth coverage that will give children time to explore the knowledge and attitudes that will help them develop an appreciation of them. We've mapped the SCARF lessons that provide this greater depth to the relevant protected characteristics, but it's important to understand that teaching and learning about them threads through the vast majority of SCARF lesson plans.

PROTECTED CHARACTERSITICS​​​​​​​

Age

Disability

Gender reassignment

Marriage and civil partnership

Pregnancy and maternity

Race

Religion or belief

Sex

Sexual orientation

PROTECTED CHARACTERSITICS