Hello, my name is Mrs. Harrison.

I'm the person who's going to be guiding you through today's lesson.

The lesson today is called, "How far have we made progress on equality in the UK?" And it's part of a larger series of lessons called "Are People treated equally in UK society?" By the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to say, "I can explain how the absence of laws in the past allowed inequality to happen and how the introduction of new laws has helped create a fairer society." Some of this learning might be new to you, some of it might be challenging.

I'm gonna guide us all the way through it and we'll tackle it together.

It's important, first of all, to set some ground rules because some of the content that we're going to be discussing today could be quite sensitive for some people.

So let's have a look at what the Oak Academy pupils say.

Laura says, "Listen to others.

It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

When disagreeing, challenge the statement, not the person." Andeep says, "Respect privacy.

We can discuss examples, but do not use names or descriptions that identify anyone, including ourselves." Jacob says, "No judgement.

We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without fear of being judged." And finally, Izzy says, "Choose your level of participation.

Everyone has the right to choose to not answer a question or join a discussion.

We never put anyone on the spot." Let's start with our keywords then.

I'm going to say the keyword, you're going to repeat it back, and then I will tell you the definition.

Discrimination.

That is treating people unfairly or differently because of things like their race, gender, or where they come from, instead of treating everyone equally equally.

Inequality.

And that's when people are not treated fairly or equally.

It's time for our first learning cycle called "What did inequality look like in the past?" The Equality Act 2010 is a law in England, Scotland, and Wales that protect people from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics.

Now, you can pause this video if you'd like to read them more clearly and spend more time on it, and I'll read them to you now.

At the top there, we have race and ethnicity, disability, religion or belief, age, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnerships.

Now this law, the Equality Act of 2010, it covers all areas of society from schools and employment to transport and to local clubs.

Anti-discrimination laws in Northern Ireland are slightly different from England, Scotland, and Wales because that's written in multiple pieces of legislation, whereas the Equality Act takes all the different anti-discrimination legislation and puts it into one single law.

And discrimination, which this law aims to prevent, that can often arise when there is inequality in society.

Now, inequality means when things aren't fair or equal, and it can happen between individuals or it can happen in bigger ways across society.

It may be seen in the way that people are treated, such as whether they get the same chances to have a good job, a good education, good healthcare, or maybe it's fair treatment by others.

Now, equal opportunity is about making sure that every individual is able to make the most of their lives and talents.

And here Sofia is telling us that having equal opportunity means that no one should have poorer life chances just because of where they were born, what they believe, or whether, for example, they have a disability.

Let's have a quick check for understanding then.

So complete the words in the spaces to make a sentence about inequality.

Inequality means when things are not hmm or hmm.

Fill in those spaces and then we'll check the answer together.

Okay, so inequality means when things are not fair or equal.

Well done if you've got those ones.

Now, inequality doesn't just happen by chance.

It's often linked to the way that people are judged or treated because of things like stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.

Now, a stereotype is a generalised belief about a group of people.

So for example, this person is from this country, so therefore they must be like this.

And generalising everybody to be the same because of where they're from, for example.

Prejudice is when somebody has a negative attitude or feeling towards someone based on the stereotype, so when they start to feel negatively because of this generalised belief.

And then discrimination is the unfair treatment or actions towards individuals or groups based on the prejudices that people have.

In the United Kingdom, there are now laws to prevent inequality and discrimination, but this hasn't always been the case.

This isn't how it always has been through history.

And in the past, people were treated very unequally in lots of different ways.

For example, all women and working-class men didn't even have a vote.

Offers of employment and housing could be based on a person's ethnicity.

Homosexuality was illegal and punishable.

Married women had very few independent rights.

Assault was punishable, but it was ignored if it was domestic.

So for example, if it was between a husband and a wife, it was almost brushed aside and not considered to be assault in the same way if it happened on the street.

And there was a lack of access and protection for those people who have disabilities.

Now, all of these inequalities and examples of unfair treatment are all forms of discrimination.

So not everybody treated others unfairly in the past, and actually lots of people did fight for fairness, but there weren't any laws in place to protect people from discrimination.

So that meant that when people did act unfairly or unjustly, they could do so and they would face absolutely zero legal consequences because there wasn't a law that they were going against.

And Andeep says here that equality in the eyes of the law is reasonably modern, with laws to prevent inequality only really beginning to exist over the last century, the last 100 years.

Another check for understanding.

So Jacob is talking about inequality in the past.

Is Jacob correct? And if not, explain why? So Jacob says, "In the past, there was no consequence to breaking the laws on discrimination." Is he correct? And if not, explain why.

I'll give you a few seconds to think.

Okay then, so is Jacob correct? Well, no, he's not really.

He's right in that there was no consequence to breaking the law, but that's only because there were no laws in place against discrimination.

So when people did act unjustly, they did act unfairly, they weren't breaking the law because there was no law.

So if there's no law, then there's no consequence to face for breaking that law because it doesn't exist.

Well done if you got that one.

Now let's move on to look at this gentleman here called Alan Turing.

He was born in 1912 and he lived until 1954.

Now, he was an English computer scientist and mathematician and widely accepted as one of the most brilliant minds of the entire 20th century.

Now, from a young age, he was seen as very, very gifted, very, very talented, especially in maths and science.

Now, it was during the Second World War that Alan really got a chance to prove this brilliant mind of his.

And during that time when the Second World War was, which was 1939 to 1945, Alan worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, and this was essentially a secret code breaking centre.

So they would get these codes coming through and they would have to crack the code in able to decipher what the message was.

And Alan was so good at doing this that he was able to crack some of the most difficult codes and therefore give the allies the chance to win key battles against the Nazis at the time.

This work was so groundbreaking that it's believed to have shortened the war by two years.

And in the process of that, it's thought to have saved 14 million lives.

In 1952, just a few years after the Second World War ended, Alan was prosecuted for having same-sex relationships, which in the United Kingdom at the time was classed as illegal.

Rather than go to prison, which was one of the options as punishment, Alan decided that the punishment he would take would be to take medication, which would change the way that his hormones worked, which essentially aimed to stop his attraction to men.

Now after his conviction, he wasn't allowed to work for the government anymore.

He had a lot of unfair judgement and lots of discrimination in society.

And as a result of that, became extremely isolated.

The medication that he was taking, the one that he took instead of going to prison, it had really cruel and really serious side effects on his body and on his mind.

And in 1954, Alan died, and it was just 16 days before his 42nd birthday.

He actually ended his own life.

In Alan Turing's lifetime, the law just simply didn't protect people from discrimination, and often, it was seen as the cause of the discrimination as well.

Now, being gay was considered to be a crime in the United Kingdom until 1967.

And people who were known to be gay before this time were often treated very badly, often led to people losing their jobs, families rejecting them, bullying, and often even imprisonment because it was against the law.

Now, when the law doesn't protect people, then often society doesn't either, because if something is against the law, then people will consider, well, that person shouldn't be doing that, and they might treat them badly.

And when society sees these unfair laws or treatment as acceptable, so treating people badly because of who they are, then there really isn't any pressure to have to change the law because that is just seen as normal.

And so society and the law often influence each other.

So when the law considers something to be illegal, then society will act against it.

But if the law doesn't see something as illegal, then society often can just accept it as it is.

Sofia here says that when Alan Turing died, there were no laws to protect people's rights and to promote equality.

And many people just didn't question unfair treatment and accepted it because it was just the way things were.

Today though, we recognise that unfair treatment like this is discrimination.

And the reason we recognise it as discrimination is because over time, lots of individuals and lots of groups have actually challenged this unfair treatment and challenged this discrimination, and they've raised awareness about this need for equal rights and to have respect regardless of anyone's background.

And through this pressure from society, this has led to law changes.

A quick check for understanding then.

So being gay was a crime in the United Kingdom until? Was it 1912, 1954, or 1967? I'll give you a few seconds to think.

Okay, so being gay was a crime in the UK until 1967.

That is correct, if you've got that one.

The other two dates are the year that Alan Turing was born, 1912, and the year Alan Turing died.

It's time for your first task, Task A, and for this one, we're going to be thinking about what Alan Turing's life shows us about how society and the law treated people because of their sexuality at the time.

And with this, you might want to consider what the law said about being gay at the time, how Alan Turing was treated because of this law, how people in society acted towards Alan and why, and then what this shows about the link between the law and how people behaved, and also how attitudes and the law might start to change.

So you're going to write a response to what does Alan Turing's life show us about how society and the law treated people because of their sexuality at the time.

It's a really good idea now to pause the video to give yourself the time to do this and then we'll come back and look at some possible responses.

Okay, let's look at some responses to this question then.

So your answer might look something like this.

Alan Turing's life shows that in the past, people were treated very unfairly because of their sexuality, both by the law and by society.

At the time, being gay was a crime in the UK, which meant that Turing was arrested just for who he loved.

He was also discriminated against because he was considered to be a criminal.

Turing lost his job, was forced to take damaging medication and became isolated from society.

People didn't question his unfair treatment because the law said that it was wrong to be gay.

Turing's life helps us understand that when the law doesn't protect people, society often doesn't either.

When people stand up against unfairness and raise awareness of the importance of equality and respect, this can lead to the law changing because it shows that people care.

Well done if you've got some of the major points in this here.

Excellent.

It's time for our second learning cycle now called "How has the law changed on inequality?" After Alan Turing's death in 1954, so much of his code breaking work was still a secret because people just weren't allowed to divulge what happened during the war for confidentiality reasons.

And so that meant that very, very few people actually knew the full story of his life.

However, as more information became public over the years that followed, people did began to first of all understand the importance of his achievements and what he'd done and the hugely groundbreaking work that that was.

But as a result of that, they also began to understand the horrible way that he'd been treated simply for being gay.

Now, this injustice of his conviction shocked a lot of people, and there began to be sort of a growing feeling that something really did need to be done to recognise the harm caused to Alan, which caused the end of his life.

Now, Alan's family, including his great niece called Rachel Barnes, they really supported this and played a key role in a campaign to clear his name.

So let's look at some of the key moments in the fight to clear Alan Turing's name.

So in August 2009, there was a petition set up, and this was launched by John Graham-Cumming, who is also a computer scientist like Alan Turing.

And with this, over 30,000 signatures were gained.

In September 2009, there came an official apology, and this came from Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the time who apologised saying that the treatment of Alan at the time was utterly unfair, and he expressed really deep regret on behalf of the UK government.

In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted Alan Turing a Royal Pardon, which essentially cleared his criminal record.

And this was a really big acknowledgement of the injustice that was done to him at the time.

A quick check for understanding then.

So true or false? Alan Turing's family started the fight to clear his name.

Is that true or false? Take a few seconds to think.

Okay, so Alan Turing's family started the fight to clear his name, this is false.

No, they didn't start it.

Why? Have a few seconds to think.

Okay, so Alan Turing's family didn't start the fight to clear his name because the online petition was launched by John Graham-Cumming, who was a computer scientist, and he wasn't related to Alan.

However, Alan's family, including his great niece Rachel Barnes, they actively supported this campaign to clear his name.

So they were involved in it.

Well done if you got that.

The Royal Pardon of Alan Turing in 2013 led to the UK Parliament passing something called the Policing and Crime Act of 2017, and that is better known as Turing's Law.

Now, this law gave posthumous pardons, so posthumous means after people have died, they gave posthumous pardons to thousands of men convicted under the outdated laws that criminalised homosexuality.

And in that same year, the UK government also apologised to military veterans who'd been punished or had had their medals taken away from them because of their sexuality.

And these actions that the UK government took really helped to recognise and address the injustices and the discrimination that people had faced in the past simply because of their sexuality.

Now, over the years, the UK has made a lot of legal progress for equal rights based on sexuality, and a lot of this has been driven by public pressure.

So the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, it decriminalised sex between men over the age of 21.

The Adoption and Children Act of 2002 allowed single people and same-sex couples to adopt, which previously was not possible.

The Civil Partnership Act of 2004 granted same-sex couples the rights that were very similar to that of marriage.

In 2008, same-sex couples were allowed to access fertility treatments with both partners recognised as legal parents in 2010.

And the Marriage Act of 2013 legalised same-sex marriage in England, Scotland, and Wales, and in Northern Ireland, this followed in 2020.

So you can see there's been lots of progress made there with legislation to make things more equal for everybody.

Another quick check for understanding then.

How many years after Turing's Royal Pardon was Turing's Law passed? Was it four, five, or six years after? Take a few seconds to think.

Okay, so how many years after Turing's Royal Pardon was Turing's Law passed? Well, it was four years, and that's 'cause Alan Turing was granted a Royal Pardon in 2013, with the law, known as Turing's Law, being passed in 2017.

And the official title of that law is the Policing and Crime Act of 2017.

And the section is specifically related to is Section 164.

Well done if you've got that.

Now, Andeep says here, "When society rejects unfair treatment, the law is more likely to change." And because of so many different campaigns and movements against discrimination in the past, there've been so many legal changes in the UK.

For example, the Race Relations Act of 1965, the Equal Pay Act of 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, Employment Equality Regulations of 2003, which is about religion and belief, and then the Employment Equality Regulations of 2006, about age, and the Equality Act 2006, Part 2.

And all of this here has been down to public pressure and society recognising inequality that has been present.

Now, the Equality Act 2010, that law we mentioned right at the beginning of this lesson, that brought together all of those laws into one single law.

And that provides so many different protections against discrimination on various grounds, so including the things we mentioned earlier, like age, gender, disability, and sexual orientation.

Over the years, the United Kingdom has worked towards creating a fairer society for everybody.

And the aim of that really is to tackle inequalities in the different areas of life and ensure overall everybody is treated equally.

Another check for understanding then.

Explain which came first out of these two pieces of equality legislation.

Was it the Race Relations Act or the Equality Act? Take a few seconds to think.

Okay, so it was the Race Relations Act was passed in 1967 and was one of the first pieces of anti-discrimination legislation in the UK, and that was the first law that made racial discrimination in public places unlawful.

The Equality Act came in in 2010 and combined all anti-discrimination laws together in one.

Well done if you've got those in the correct order.

It's time for Task B then.

So you are going to write one paragraph explaining the changes in equality laws for sexuality in the UK.

Something that will help you will be including key laws or acts that have been passed to protect rights.

So for example, changes is to marriages, adoption, fertility treatment, and anti-discrimination legislation that can support you with this.

And you might choose to use these sentence stems to help structure your paragraph.

So for example, in the past, the law was, or changes that have been made include, and this has resulted in, and then you can write about the impact of the changes.

So write a paragraph explaining the changes in equality laws for sexuality in the UK, and you can use the support here to help you with that.

Pause the video now to give yourself the time to do that, and then we'll check out some possible responses.

Okay, let's go through some responses together then.

And yours might look something like this.

I feel that there is more equality for all based on sexual orientation in the UK today than in the past due to both legal and social changes.

In the past, people like Alan Turing were considered criminals just for being gay and were treated very unfairly.

Over the years, laws were introduced to bring equality to all regardless of sexuality.

Some of these laws include the Sexual Offences Act 1967, the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and the Marriage Act 2013.

Same-sex couples can now access fertility treatment and adopt children.

And the Equality Act 2010 made discrimination based on sexual orientation unlawful.

These changes show how the UK has worked towards greater equality and protection from discrimination based on sexuality and is fairer today than in the past.

Well done if you managed to include some of those key acts, key legislation and the key changes there.

Well done.

Let's summarise our lesson then, which has been called "How far have we made progress on equality in the UK?" In the UK, there are laws to prevent inequality and discrimination, but this has not always been the case.

In the past, people were treated unequally in many ways, but there were no laws to protect people from discrimination.

Some actions that are now considered discriminatory, such as being punished for one's sexuality, were once considered as criminal offences.

Cases like Alan Turing's have highlighted the unfairness and injustice of these kinds of criminal convictions.

Many people have raised awareness and pushed for positive change.

The law has gradually shifted to ensure greater protection for everyone with the Equality Act 2010 aiming to prevent all forms of discrimination.

Well done if you've stuck with me on that lesson today.

There's been some really sensitive content, some quite upsetting content, but some really important things to consider.

So well done with that.

Hope to see you again soon.