The whole discussion about tuition fees is skewed – it doesn’t cost anything upfront to go, and the vast majority wont lose anything, over their lifetimes, from going. But seeing as the media has misrepresented it, fewer students and more money flowing into institutions is good.

It works for some desirable items but not all

Love the bag though

I like to think perhaps there is just a lack of people interested in PR and that their skin colour is a coincidence. If they want to introduce a diverse group into PR however, they must be diverse themselves in setting out to do it – targeting all young people in an age range who have qualifications or interests that might mean they could see PR as a possible career route is much better.

As David say’s it would be much better to go back to the drawing board, brainstorm about this and then introduce an idea that actually embraced diversity

When I first read about this I will be honest and say initially I thought it was a great idea, possibly as I obviously can relate or feel that ‘bond’ (for want of a better word) with it as it is specifically designed for people like myself.

However now reading your comments I totally understand where you are all coming from, it is being almost hypocritical in the sense that in trying to help under represented minorities it is also segregating itself from many other minorities. So to only let people of colour into the foundation is racist, again I understand that.

However (contradicting myself again!) there is no getting away from the fact that at the end of the day, ethnic minorities ARE under represented, it is a fact. And the fact that they are simply trying to rectify this is a good thing.

Yes it is annoying that they have only chosen one group of people to try and improve, but that’s who they have chosen to target. They had to create some form of criteria or it just wouldn’t work?

If they were to branch out to all minorities, then well they could go on forever.

I believe they have good intentions as the fact that PR is a predominantly ‘white’ industry is something that is obvious, they’ve picked up on this and are aiming to change it, other organisations can chose other ‘minorities’ and chose to create a scheme for them?

I am trying to think about this from a completely un-biased perspective and believe that even if i wasn’t mixed race that I would still feel the same. Yes it is unfair to other minorities, but surely if you are from a different minority you can empathise with the fact that others deserve to be well represented too. Perhaps in the future something like this will be available for all minorities, but for now, i think it’s a good start.

I think that David’s ideas are indeed much better, but that the TBF should not continue it’s clear racism in the division of people by skin colour for providing opportunities. If they want to embrace diversity, their opportunities should be opened to a diverse group of people.

@Hazel aye, I did. I lead a campaign against unpaid internships within the Scottish National Party too, and hope to speak on it at the national conference as too many political parties put poor folk at a disadvantage – but I don’t want an opportunity opened to only poor people.

Equality should mean equality.

Positive action covers a range of measures which organisations can use where those with a “protected characteristic” (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation):

– experience some sort of disadvantage because of that characteristic;
– have particular needs linked to that characteristic; or
– are disproportionately under-represented in a particular activity.

Where any of these conditions apply, positive action can be taken to overcome that disadvantage, meet that need or encourage participation in that activity. Another example of a positive action scheme is tackling the under-representation of women on boards by providing mentoring to support their career development: http://mentoringfoundation.co.uk/

In an ideal world, everything would be equal and there would be no need for positive action schemes. However, the fact of the matter is that our industry does not reflect modern Britain.
Is positive action a silver bullet that will suddenly make the PR industry more diverse? No it’s not. However, I think it can be part of the solution.

@Kenneth and Dave your ideas to encourage greater diversity in PR are great and are included in the report published by the PRCA’s Access Commission: http://www.prca.org.uk/PRCApublishesindependentCommissionsrecommendations

The issues around access into the industry and diversity are complex and I would urge you to read the research carried out by Dr Edwards: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-000-22-3143/outputs/Download/e2a26fa8-f155-404f-a92a-dd9308d7ce1b

As well as the initiatives that you mention (which also happen to be positive action initiatives), there is a job to be done to engage the hearts and minds of those who are responsible for the recruitment of staff. It is a fact, for example, that people tend to hire people who look like them or who are from a similar social background.

My point is that we need to tackle the issue of under-represented groups on many different levels and, crucially, not in isolation of reviewing the behaviour patterns that exist within our industry. We also need to the time to understand the case for diversity and its impact on the future of our profession.

The sooner these schemes aren’t even needed the better – but they’re probably the kick-start that’s needed.

David – I agree your suggestions are good – but they’ll work best when there are role models who can go back to their school and say – ‘look what job I’m doing – you could do this too’. Hence the benefit of the kick-start.

http://www.hazelblears.co.uk/news/paid-internships-at-westminster
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15444585
http://www.prca.org.uk/PRCA_announces_support_for_Speaker's_Parliamentary_Placements_Scheme

PS Martin Luther King also said “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.”!