Education [Early Childhood Centres] Regulations 2008: 47 1 a, b(ii), c (i), e

RATIONALE

The Directors of Early Childhood on Stafford support the development of an equal employment opportunities programme to create an environment that encourages and supports the full participation of all staff.  As Directors we appoint staff for the skills, knowledge and experience they will bring to our centre and we openly acknowledge that these will be different for every individual teacher.  We celebrate this diversity and we openly seek to employ both male and female teachers.

Our centre is committed to the goal of freedom from discrimination (e.g. free of sexual and racial harassment and actively promote the use of non-sexist and non-racial language) and recognise the need for an active approach to attract and retain a diverse staff. This is consistent with our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The purpose of this policy statement is to ensure that all employees and applicants are treated according to their skills, qualifications and abilities on an as equal basis as possible.

Objectives

To identify and eliminate discriminatory practices.

• The opportunity to raise any employment concerns will be provided for at staff meetings
• Staff will be invited to complete an annual EEO questionnaire inviting anonymous feedback on employment conditions
• If a member of staff feels they are being discriminated against then they should follow the centre complaint procedures.  Such action can include the use of mediation from outside agencies
  To attract and retain a diverse staff
• Job vacancies will be advertised, if required, through a variety of publications
• There will be an interview held for all appointments -- support people including whanau will be welcome to attend
• Access to and participation in professional development and personal growth opportunities are encouraged and supported by the Directors.  Funding is made available annually for this.
• The annual EEO survey will be designed to help identify any retention issues that can be acted upon
• Staff will be invited to an exit interview when they cease employment to help identify any employment/retention issues.
  To create an environment that encourages and supports the full participation of all staff
• Staff religious, spiritual and ethnic beliefs will be supported as far as practically possible
• Annual EEO survey results will be considered when this policy is reviewed
• ECOS will develop an environment that supports the use of tikanga and te reo Maori

The Directors will be as supportive as practically possible with all requests for leave for personal and professional reasons

Adopted: September 2020

Review Date: September 2021