Online course helps council with equality & diversity

Sunderland City Council is aiming to raise awareness of equality and diversity issues for its 14,500 staff, and fulfill its obligations under the Equality Standard for Local Government, with a new online training course.

Called Equality and Diversity, the online course from Balance Learning sets out to highlight the laws and essential concepts of diversity and equality, the standards of conduct and behaviour expected and the implications of equality and diversity on customer service and communication.

The Equality Standard for Local Government is a performance measure for applying fair principles in policy-making, service delivery and employment.

Mike Frankland, training manager at Sunderland City Council, said: "We wanted to find an engaging way of providing training on equality and diversity, across the organisation, in order to reach the higher levels of the Equality Standard.

"Balance Learning had already worked with us to create an online induction resource and we decided that their Equality and Diversity course would be an ideal solution. The beauty of Balance's courses is that they come complete with a very effective learning management system which tracks and monitors each user's progress. This enables us to keep a record - and provide proof - that the mandatory training has been undertaken and understood. We can also identify any extra support that employees may need to improve their understanding of the issues."

Sunderland City Council formed a steering group which worked with Balance Learning to tailor the course to the council's needs.

The council, which serves around 300,000 people in north east England, says all 14,500 staff, including the Chief Executive, will go through the course over the next 18 months. Those who do not have access to a computer will come into council offices to undertake the training.

"Although the course runs for 90 minutes, people can dip in and out of it at their own convenience, as it remembers the sections they have already visited," said Mike Frankland. "This means that people can undertake the learning at their own speed, wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them."

All users take a built-in test when they complete the course. "So far, the average post-test score is around 80%, which shows that the course is successfully promoting a high level of understanding of the key issues," said Mike Frankland.

"The e-learning course has proved to be a very efficient and cost effective way of reaching everyone and getting consistent messages out across the entire organisation," added Mike Frankland. "The greater awareness of diversity, which the course provides, will enable our staff to better respond to the needs of our local community."