Inclusion can be a tricky area to get right, so how can we help schools focus on this key part of education in the year ahead?

The 10 suggestions below come from Equality: Making It Happen - A guide to help schools ensure everyone is safe, included and learning, published by CSIE, which is sponsored by the NASUWT teaching union and won a Zero Project Innovative Practice Award 2016.

1. Teach children and young people about equality and human rights, and put them at the heart of monitoring children’s rights in school.
2. Clarify and articulate your school’s values: make sure that they are clearly visible in school as statements as well as being reflected in day-to-day interactions. Advertising the school’s commitment to equality at the entrance can be powerful, especially if a poster, or something similar, has been created by pupils.
3. Carry out a whole-class or whole-school equality audit to get the perspectives of pupils, parents, staff and governors: equality monitoring questionnaires are included in Equality: Making It Happen. Use your findings to establish opportunities for personal or whole school development.
4. Take every opportunity to educate pupils and colleagues away from prejudice.
5. Review your processes for reporting and responding to bullying, and ensure that all forms of bullying are challenged effectively and consistently.
6. Respect people’s identities as they are now, without expecting that these will remain unchanged, or that they will change in the future. Remember that sexual orientation is experienced as constant by some people while for others it can fluctuate.
7. Ensure equality issues are considered with regard to every aspect of school life. As each school policy is reviewed, consider which, if any, of the protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010 should be specifically mentioned and how the Public Sector Equality Duty is being met. Ensure policies clearly describe what reasonable adjustments will be considered when helping disabled pupils learn and show good behaviour.
8. Ensure that your language and expectations do not reinforce gender stereotypes; encourage pupils to choose from the full range of books, games, subjects or people to socialise with, and valued and respect their choices.
9. Ensure you and your colleagues fully understand gender diversity and trans identities; request or arrange trans awareness training as relevant. Try to avoid a binary representation of gender at all times, including in biology and other curriculum areas.
10. Ensure that you are aware of all the ways in which disability can be understood. Make sure to request or arrange disability equality training as relevant.

Dr Artemi Sakellariadis is director of the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education
@artemi89