Hello, my name is Mrs. Harris and I'm the person who's going to be guiding you through today's lesson.

The lesson today is called "What can we do to create a fairer society?" 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 laws and campaigns have helped reduce discrimination and identify everyday actions, promote fairness in different parts of society.

Some of this content might be new to you, some of it might be quite challenging.

I'm going to guide us both 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 some key words then.

I'm going to say the key word, you can repeat it back and then I will tell you the definition.

Inequality.

Inequality is when people are not treated fairly or equally.

Discrimination.

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

Action.

Action is practical steps designed to try to raise public awareness or influence key decision makers.

Let's start with our first learning cycle then, why do we need to create a fairer society? In the United Kingdom, there are now laws to prevent inequality and discrimination, but this hasn't always been the case through history and in the past, people were treated unequally in lots of different ways.

For example, people of different races were treated differently in certain areas of society, for example in housing and employment.

Laws prevented same sex couples from marrying.

People with disabilities were not provided equal access to education, transport or public buildings.

And women were not allowed to make decisions about their own bodies, such as having access to contraception or abortion, for example.

Lucas here is saying, "When things are not fair or equal for individuals or particular groups of people, it might be seen in the way that people are treated, such as whether they have the same chances to get a good education, a job or healthcare, or it might be seen in of others." All of these inequalities that we've just spoken about are examples of unfair treatment and are all forms of discrimination and we understand that now.

But in the past, discrimination against others didn't have any legal consequence at all because there wasn't any law to prevent discrimination and so this often made the problem of discrimination and unjust treatment even worse.

However as people began to be aware of injustices, lots of people began fighting for fairness for all and not just some.

Jun here is saying, "In response to the injustices people were experiencing and seeing, public pressure and changing society meant that legislation began to be put in place to prevent discrimination." So people began speaking out, they organised protests and they campaigned for change when they or others that they knew faced inequality and people like activists, community groups in individuals, they worked together to demand fairer treatment, which then pushed lawmakers to act and change legislation.

Now these efforts have played a hugely key role in getting important laws passed to protect people's rights and to promote equality.

Over the years in the United Kingdom, laws have been created to challenge inequality and discrimination, to make it unlawful to treat someone unfairly, and some of these laws include the Race Relations Act of 1965, one of the first laws in place to stop people treating people unfairly and unjustly based on their ethnicity.

There was the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 to make sure that all sexes are treated equally.

The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 to make sure that people with disabilities have fair access to opportunities and buildings and so on.

And there's the Human Rights Act of 1998 which essentially is about ensuring that existing rights are protected and enforced.

Laura here says that in 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales all of the various separate laws covering inequality and discrimination against people for their characteristics and identities, they were all merged into one law called the Equality Act 2010.

And here we've got an image on the screen which shows the nine protected characteristics which are covered by the Equality Act 2010.

And this law makes it that every private, public and voluntary organisation cannot discriminate against employees and service users because of nine protected characteristics.

So it brings together all the previous equality laws and makes it simpler, more effective and easier to understand.

You can pause the video to take a closer look at the nine protected characteristics and I'll read them to you now.

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

Anti-discrimination laws in Northern Ireland are slightly different.

Instead of it being one law, it's covered across multiple pieces of legislation.

A quick check for understanding then, complete the sentence by adding the correct word.

Over the years laws were created to challenge inequality and discrimination and make it, hmm, to treat someone unfairly.

Can you fill that space by adding the correct word? I'll give you a few seconds to think.

Okay, let's check.

Over the years laws were created to challenge inequality and discrimination and make it unlawful to treat someone unfairly.

Well done if you got that.

Although there are laws in place in the United Kingdom today to protect people from discrimination and inequality, unfair treatment still happens and sometimes this might happen without an intention so people are not meaning to and it might happen without an awareness, but it can still have really harmful effects on individuals.

And this can happen when rules, systems or ways of doing things are built around one group of people and don't actually properly consider or include, or represent everybody else.

And so the result of that is unfair treatment of certain groups even when that's not the aim at all.

We're going to look at a case study now and this is the story of Stephen Lawrence who lived from 1974 to 1993.

Now, Stephen lived in Plumstead in south-east London.

He excelled at running, he was studying for his A-levels and his ultimate goal was to be an architect when he was older.

On the 22nd of April 1993, Stephen was murdered in a racially motivated attack.

He had been in Eltham waiting for a bus home with a friend, when he was set upon by a gang of white youths shouting racial slurs and brandishing weapons.

Stephen's friend managed to escape when hurt, but Stephen died from his injuries, and at the time he was only 18 years old.

And there, you can see a photograph of Elton which was the District of London where Stephen was murdered.

In the months and years that followed Stephen's murder, Stephen's parents quite rightly fought for justice for their son.

However, the suspects in Stephen Lawrence's murder were not convicted because of really serious failings in the police investigation.

So even though members of the public quickly gave the names of the suspects to the police, officers were very slow to act and they didn't properly search the suspects' homes and they didn't collect important evidence.

And the Crown Prosecution Service, the CPS, said there wasn't enough strong evidence and so at the time, nobody was charged for Stephen's murder.

However, there was a growing feeling between people that the police had treated Stephen's case differently because he was black.

And this had caused a lot of anger at the inequality shown by the police and people started calling for a really thorough investigation into how the case had been managed and whether racism had actually influenced the police's response.

After an extremely long campaign by the Lawrence family and growing public pressure as well, a public inquiry was held and this led to something called the Macpherson Report which was released in 1999.

This Macpherson Report was a 350-page document and that reported many, many findings when it had looked very closely into the investigation into Stephen's murder.

A check for understanding then, so how many years after Stephen's murder was the Macpherson report released? Was it four, five or six years? Take some time to think.

Okay, how many years after Stephen's murder was the Macpherson report released? It was six years after his murder.

The Macpherson inquiry was officially launched in 1997 and it took nearly two years for it to be fully investigated and then the findings were reported in 1999.

The Macpherson report found that the police had made certain assumptions about the case.

So they assumed that the crime wasn't racially motivated, despite the clear evidence and witness statement suggesting that it was, officers didn't treat it with the seriousness that it deserved.

They assumed that Stephen and his friend might have been involved in criminal activity.

So instead of immediately treating them as victims, officers questioned their behaviour, which reflected racist stereotypes.

And the police assumed that the suspects weren't a priority.

So even though they had strong leads, police didn't act quickly enough, they follow it up properly, which delayed justice.

The report stated that the police investigation had been full of mistakes and it described the Metropolitan Police as "institutionally racist".

Now what that means is that racist attitudes and beliefs were basically seen as normal in the Metropolitan Police and that these attitudes and beliefs had affected how they'd investigated Stephen's murder.

It's said that these serious mistakes happened not because of one or two people making errors or assumptions, but because of problems with racism in the way the whole system worked.

And Stephen's cases showed that problems with racism, discrimination and inequality, that it can exist in organisations even when it's not even on purpose.

Stephen's legacy then, so what is his lasting impact? Well, there was the Macpherson Report and this made 70 recommendations to improve how police treat victims and how they tackle racism.

And this led to changes in the law and it led to changes in how public services are run.

Another part of Stephen's legacy was Stephen Lawrence Day, and held on the 22nd April, the anniversary of his murder.

This event happens annually and it encourages people, especially young people, to think about how they can live their lives with respect, fairness and kindness and to help build a more equal society.

And there's also something called the Blueprint for All, and this is a charity which supports young people from underrepresented backgrounds in careers like architecture, law and the media, and these are all the fields that Stephen was interested in in his life.

Unfortunately, Stephen's case isn't just in isolation, and other cases have shown that discrimination is present within the way that whole systems work and how it operates, without it even being intended or deliberate.

So as a result of these being brought to attention, the government and other organisations have now been made to take action to try and prevent this from ever happening again.

And so as a result of that, we get things like investigations happening, we get improved staff training, we get rules and policies being changed, and making it into a more open and honest way of working.

All of these steps that have been taken, the intention of those is to stop the same problems from happening again and again and again.

And the overall aim is to prevent inequality and to build a fairer society by seeing what happened in the past, learning from those mistakes and making the law stronger to stop that from ever happening again.

Nearly two decades after Stephen was murdered, so in 2012, two of the original suspects were found guilty of Stephen's murder.

There on the screen, you can see a photograph of the Stephen Lawrence memorial and this photograph was taken just about half an hour after the two people were found guilty of his murder.

So although Gary Dobson and David Norris hadn't been convicted at the time that they had murdered Stephen, they were actually brought back to justice because they were able to be retried.

And the reason that that was able to happen was because of an important change in the law.

And this law allowed suspects to be sent back to court for serious crimes like murder if new and strong evidence is found.

And this change in the law only happened after the recommendations made in the Macpherson report, which was the report into how the police handled Stephen's murder investigation.

Although two men faced justice for murdering Stephen, other gang members who were involved on the day never faced any charges for their part in Stephen's murder.

And this is down to the fact that the mistakes that the police made very early on in their investigation, well, those mistakes caused harm that couldn't ever be fixed.

And so although the Macpherson report did make recommendations, it couldn't undo, and it didn't undo, all of the injustice and the inequality that the Lawrence family faced, and in particular, didn't reverse the injustice and the inequality Stephen faced when they were looking into his murder.

But, regardless of this, the case has become a really pivotal point in British history in terms of equality legislation.

Because it revealed these really serious problems, action has then been taken and that's led to changes that have aimed now to stop anything like that ever happening ever again, with the ultimate aim to make society fairer for all.

Here's a quote now for you to consider.

"Inequality persists, and our mission to create a world free from discrimination continues.

We will ensure that Stephen's legacy endures, inspiring change and uniting us in the pursuit of justice and equity for all." And that was said in 2023 by Baroness Doreen Lawrence and she is the mother of Stephen Lawrence.

A last check for understanding in this learning cycle then.

So the Macpherson report found that significant errors were made in the investigation because of individuals who made mistakes, a lack of modern forensic technology at the time, problems with racism in the way the whole system worked, or because the police officers didn't work well together as a team.

I'll give you a few seconds to think.

Okay, so the Macpherson report found that significant errors were made in the investigation because of problems with racism in the way the whole system worked.

Well done if you got that one.

It's time for task A then, and for this task you're going to fill in the gaps to complete the paragraph.

And to do this, you can use the words from the word bank below.

So the words are unfairly, laws, racist, discrimination, Lawrence, Macpherson and mistakes.

And the rest of the paragraph is this.

On the 22nd of April 1993, Stephen, hmm, was killed in a hmm, attack.

The police investigation that followed was very poorly managed and full of hmm.

Many people were upset and believed the case was treated hmm, because Stephen was black.

In 1997, a public inquiry was held to examine how the case was handled, resulting in the hmm, report.

This report brought major changes in how racism is understood, influenced new hmm, and transformed police practises.

It also helped increase awareness of hmm, and led to new equality laws.

Pause the video to give yourself the time to do this, and then we'll come back and look at the answers together.

Okay, let's look at the answers together then.

Your answers should be this.

On the 22nd of April 1993, Stephen Lawrence was killed in a racist attack.

Police investigation that followed was very poorly managed and full of mistakes.

Many people were upset and believed the case was treated unfairly because Stephen was black.

In 1997, a public inquiry was held to examine how the case was handled, resulting in the Macpherson Report.

This report brought major changes in how racism is understood, influenced new laws, and transformed police practises.

It also helped increase awareness of discrimination and led to new equality laws.

Well done if you filled those gaps correctly.

It's time for our second learning cycle, what can we do to ensure fairness for all? Alex is thinking about creating a fairer society and he says that creating a fairer society requires more than just law changes and it depends on changes in workplaces, schools, communities and individual behaviour.

When organisations implement fair practises and when people respect and support one another and when communities provide assistance to those facing discrimination, then fairness improves for all.

Practical action being taken across all parts of society really does help prevent inequality and it promotes inclusion and equality beyond just what the law says that it has to do.

So how can we ensure fairness in the parts of society that we might have involvement? So for example education, well, they can teach an inclusive curriculum that reflects a range of backgrounds and experiences.

We can provide staff training on equality, diversity and responding to discrimination.

We can have clear policies to deal with bullying and unfair treatment.

We can create a safe and respectful environment where all learners and staff feel valued.

We can use diverse role models and inclusive materials for all learners.

We can involve pupils in decision-making to support fairness there.

And we can monitor outcomes and see how successful that we've been, to take action to close any gaps in opportunities, again, making it fair for all.

So what might this fairness actually look like? Well, one objective is that a headteacher wants to run an event for Stephen Lawrence Day, and the action taken is that the school holds an assembly focused on racism, both in wider society, but particularly in football.

Some pupils got to watch a powerful video which highlighted the abuse faced by players, including some of the top England men's players, who were targeted by their own fans.

The outcome of that was that many pupils were very shocked.

Racism is still a part of life for many people today, even for people that we consider to be high-profile athletes.

The assembly played a big part in fairness because it encouraged pupils to think more deeply about discrimination, and not just that, but the importance of challenging it as well.

How can we ensure fairness in workplaces? Well, we can ensure fair pay and equal opportunities for all staff.

We can use inclusive recruitment practises such as blind applications, that's when the recruiters don't know any other information about the person other than the skills they're talking about, so they don't know their name, they don't know their age or gender, for example.

We can provide regular training on equality, diversity and inclusion.

We can create and enforce strong anti-discrimination policies, so having a no-nonsense, no-tolerance process for discrimination.

We can promote respectful and inclusive workplaces.

We can support career development for underrepresented groups.

We can monitor hiring, promotion and pay data to make sure that any inequalities that happen are identified and addressed.

And so in practise then, what might this actually look like in a workplace? Well, there's an example here of a large company that noticed that most senior roles were held by men, even though women were performing strongly right across the business.

So they reviewed the promotion data and then as a result of that, they introduced a mentoring programme to support women aiming for these leadership roles.

They also made their promotion process much more transparent so everybody knew what was expected and knew what was going to happen.

And they included a wider range of staff in making decisions and had panels and special committees for that.

And over time, more women then progressed into senior positions and staff overall, that's men and women, reported feeling that the workplace was becoming fairer and more inclusive altogether.

Laura is talking now about creating a fairer society.

Do you think she's correct? And if not, why not? Let's have a look at what she says.

Creating a fairer society is all down to the laws that exist.

Do you think Laura is correct? If not, why not? Take a few seconds to think.

Okay, Laura here is incorrect because creating a fairer society much more than just law changes.

It depends on changes in workplaces, schools, communities and individual behaviour to make that a fairer society overall.

Well done if you got that one.

Let's carry on then looking at how we can ensure fairness in the areas that we live and the people that we are with.

So how can we ensure fairness in our communities? Well, we can support local groups that help vulnerable or disadvantaged people.

We can promote respect, inclusion and understanding across all backgrounds, not just some.

We can challenge discrimination and unfair treatment when it happens.

We can provide services like food banks, mental health support and legal advice to people who need it.

We can ensure that public spaces and events are always welcoming and accessible to everybody, not just some.

And we can ensure a fair representation when decisions are being made about the local area and about the leadership in the local area.

And we can raise awareness about rights and encouraging people and telling people how they can report discrimination.

So what's a practical example of this? What might this actually look like in communities? Well, this is an example of a local community group that noticed that older residents were often left out of events and decisions.

And so in response to that, they decided to set up a weekly dropping clinic at the community centre, where people of all ages, so not just older people, but people of all ages could meet, share ideas and take part in activities as well.

They created a small volunteer team to help older people with things like shopping, appointments or just to socialise, just to have a chat.

And lots of people became involved, so from toddlers with their parents to secondary school pupils as volunteering opportunities.

As a result of this, more residents felt connected and valued, again, not just older residents, but lots of residents of different ages, and the community as a whole became stronger and more inclusive.

How can we ensure fairness in our personal lives? Well, we can learn about inequality, discrimination and different people's experiences.

We can research that.

We can talk to people.

We can reflect on our own behaviour and challenge any unfair attitudes or biases that we see.

We can speak up when we see unfair treatment or discrimination.

We can make sure that we treat everyone with respect, regardless of their background or identity, or beliefs.

We can support and include those who might feel excluded or marginalised, or ignored.

And we can use our voices, we could sign petitions or join campaigns, or share helpful information.

And ultimately, we can be a positive role model for fairness and inclusion in everyday life in the way that we live.

So what's a practical example of this? What might this look like? Well, somebody at a school noticed that one of their classmates was often left out during group work because they had a speech impairment.

Now, instead of ignoring it, the pupil invited the pupil who was left out to join their group and helped to explain instructions when needed.

They also encouraged others to be patient and supportive and challenged those who made comments.

This small act of just including somebody and then asking them to join the group made that classmate feel far more included and more confident, and it just shows how such simple personal actions can make a massive difference in creating a fairer and just generally nicer environment for everybody.

Another check for understanding then, can you complete the sentence by adding a word to fill the gap? One way to promote fairness in your hmm, life is to speak up when you see someone being treated unfairly.

Which word can fill that gap? Take a few seconds to think.

Okay, one way to promote fairness in your personal life is to speak up when you see someone being treated unfairly.

Well done if you got that one.

So, as we've discussed then, fairness extends beyond laws and policies, and actually it requires everyday actions by individuals and by groups to ensure that everybody is treated with respect and is treated fairly.

Small, but really meaningful actions can include things like listening to people, listening to their point of view and taking on board what they're saying.

Challenging unfair behaviour, if you see it, say something about it and then action can be taken.

Another meaningful action is just showing kindness and support.

And Lucas says here all of these actions, combined with the proper anti-discrimination laws, these contribute to building a fairer and more inclusive society for everybody.

And we're going to finish with one more quote.

"Justice for Stephen is about all of us, every one of us, in society having justice.

I want all our children and young people to feel inspired, be confident and have hope in their own future.

We are building hope but there is more to do." And this was said in 2013 by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, again, the mother of Stephen Lawrence.

True or false then? Baroness Doreen Lawrence is talking about equality linked only to race and ethnicity.

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

Okay, this is false.

She is not just talking about equality linked to race and ethnicity.

Why? Take a few more seconds to think.

Okay, so Baroness Lawrence is talking about all of us, every one of us in society, having justice, not just about race and ethnicity.

Well done if you spotted that one.

It's time for task B then.

So you are going to choose two areas, out of either education, workplaces, communities or personal lives, to analyse how fairness is supported and then you can suggest one way to improve it.

For both areas, I would like you to write one paragraph explaining what fairness looks like in that setting, using what you've learned, and then to suggest one practical action that could be taken now or in the future to help make that area fairer.

It's a good idea again to pause the video to give yourself the time to do this, then we'll come back and look at some potential answers.

Okay, then let's look at some potential responses.

So your answer focused on education might include something like this.

What fairness looks like? Fairness in education means that all pupils feel included and respected and have equal chances to succeed regardless of their background, identity or ability.

It involves teachers using a range of materials and examples that reflect different cultures and experiences and having clear policies to stop bullying or discrimination.

Practical action could be, the school could introduce pupil voice groups that help decide on displays, reading materials or activities and that ensures a wider range of perspectives are included and respected.

Your answer focused on workplaces might include this.

What fairness looks like? In the workplace, fairness means that everyone has equal opportunities to be hired, promoted and listened to.

There are clear rules against discrimination and respectful behaviour is expected from all staff.

People from all backgrounds feel valued and supported to grow.

One practical action is, a company could run regular anonymous surveys to check if staff feel fairly treated and then act on the feedback to improve equality and inclusion.

Your answer focused on communities might include this.

What fairness looks like? A fair society or community makes sure that everyone feels welcome, included and safe, no matter what their age, ability or background.

Public spaces are accessible, local services support those in need and people are encouraged to work together across the differences.

One practical action could be that a community centre could set up regular inclusive events like cultural food nights or shared celebrations which bring people together and promote understanding.

And your answer focused on personal lives might include this.

What fairness looks like? In personal life, fairness means treating others with respect, speaking up when something is wrong and making sure that no one feels left out.

It also means thinking about your own attitudes and learning how to challenge unfair treatment.

One practical action could be if someone notices a classmate or neighbour being excluded, they could take the first step to include them, perhaps by inviting them to join in or simply starting a conversation.

Well done if you managed to get some of those really crucial points of making education, workplaces, communities and our personal lives fairer for all.

Well done.

It's time now to summarise our lesson which has been called what can we do to create a fairer society? In the United Kingdom, laws now exist to prevent inequality and discrimination, but this was not always the case.

Campaigning and speaking out helped bring about important laws to protect rights and to promote equality.

However, despite these laws, unfair treatment still occurs, sometimes unintentionally and can have serious effects.

Cases like Stephen Lawrence's reveal how discrimination can be built into systems. This has forced the government and other organisations to take action and to prevent repeat issues.

Fairness goes beyond laws and policies.

It depends on everyday actions in education, workplaces, communities and in our personal lives to ensure that everyone is treated with respect.

Well done on that lesson today, we've covered some really complex, some really sensitive issues there and I'm really proud of you for sticking with me all the way through.

I hope to see you again soon.