IOE achieves Athena SWAN Silver Award

The Athena SWAN Charter is used internationally as a framework to support and transform gender equality within higher education.

The Silver Award recognises a significant record of activity and achievement by IOE since it received the Bronze Award in 2020, promoting gender equality and in addressing challenges in different disciplines.

IOE received its Silver Award through a clear and robust demonstration of how Athena SWAN is fully embedded within the faculty, strong leadership in promoting the Charter’s principles, and evident impact of Athena SWAN activities.

In conferring the Silver Award, the Athena SWAN panel particularly commended IOE for:

• Evident commitment to advancing gender equality from the senior team;
• The creation of a Vice-Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) post;
• Recognition of a wide range of EDI contributions via several routes, including the workload management system and promotion appraisal;
• Undertaking an ‘EDI self-assessment’ by a diverse team with intersectional perspectives. The faculty’s Self-Assessment Team comprises membership across a range of roles (both academic and professional services), grades, lived experiences (including caring responsibilities, disability) and expertise (including intersectionality, mental health, social exclusion of marginalised groups) as well as student representatives (from all study levels).

Dr Victoria Showunmi, IOE Athena SWAN Chair and Vice-Dean, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at IOE said:

“As Athena SWAN Chair, I am proud of the engaged and dedicated work of the team leading IOE’s Athena SWAN efforts, and the wider community in the faculty, to make this great achievement possible. It has been a four-year journey consisting of a data-driven and intersectional approach, open dialogue and culture change, in order to foster an inclusive environment. We look forward to implementing the Silver Action Plan at IOE."

Professor Li Wei, Director and Dean of IOE added:

"My warm congratulations to Dr Showunmi, the Athena SWAN project team and colleagues across the faculty on this very welcome achievement. I am incredibly proud that IOE’s commitment to gender equality, particularly its intersectional approach to such matters, has been recognised with the Silver Award. We are fortunate in having world-leading expertise to draw upon in that regard. Now, we have a clear action plan to work to in order to make our commitment to gender equality evident to the whole of our community and stakeholders. I know this will be inspiring and galvanising for the faculty."

Links

• Athena SWAN
• Successful Athena SWAN Applications at UCL
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at IOE

Image

Mat Wright for UCL IOE