School Diversity Week was established by the LGBT+ young people’s charity Just Like Us, and last year engaged almost 3 million pupils and students in celebrating sexual and gender diversity. You can engage your school and include every learner by signing up to take part.

You can also explore our kaleidoscope of Pearson initiatives, to keep the good work going throughout the school year.

Pearson’s LGBT+ pages are filled with free resources to inspire year-round support for the community. From Trudy Howson’s moving poem Pride, to our LGBT+ glossary, via top tips for inclusion in the classroom, it’s well worth exploring.

Underpinning our commitment to inclusion are two dedicated guides that Pearson sponsored through LGBT+ charity Stonewall: one on LGBT-inclusive curricula for primary, one on LGBT-inclusive curricula for secondary. In 2020, we were also the first learning company to launch Gender Equality Guidelines, supported by The Fawcett Society. They remain available online, and form our practical guide to making a difference.

It’s two years since our first Plotting Ahead roundtable series launched, with an event that united educators, independent publishers and third sector organisations. The subject that brought them together: How to address the lack of diversity, inclusion and belonging in children’s literature today, including the real lack of LGBT+ books for kids and teens. Our Plotting Ahead report raised a series of aspirations and action points inspired by speakers such as Alba Kapoor, policy officer of The Runnymede Trust, and Daniel Tomlinson-Grey, co-founder of the LGBTed network. And the work to achieve representation hasn’t stopped. A follow-up roundtable is set to take place later this year. Follow @PearsonSchools on Twitter to stay in the loop.

#BeinBusiness is an online initiative created to inspire greater student inclusion in Business and A-Level for all learners. Why? Because being in business is EVERYONE’S business! Over the coming year we’ll be sharing more exciting case studies, thought-provoking interviews, and blogs from business leaders, encompassing topics that include blazing a trail for Black business founders, and the importance of mentoring.

Looking for new role models to line your school walls? Look no further than our Diversity and Inclusion series for maths. Our captivating collection of PDF posters is available to download now free of charge, and features inspirational mathematicians throughout history, including Mary Temple Grandin – animal scientist and spokesperson for autism – the pioneering gay hero and mathematician, Alan Turing, and Al'Khwarizmi, the 8th to 9th century father of algebra.

During 2019 and 2020, Pearson sought the views of more than 2,000+ teachers across the UK, on issues of diversity and inclusion. The results were both significant and far-reaching, with four in five teachers (80%) believing that more can be done to celebrate diverse cultures, people and experiences in UK education. Explore the statistics, and learn how they can continue to shape our work in schools and settings nationwide.

In 2021, as part of Pearson’s ongoing work with The Royal Court Theatre, and the London Theatre Consortium, we added four new performance texts by global majority playwrights to our GCSE Drama qualification – including Tanika Gupta’s post colonial reworking of A Doll’s House, and Bola Agjebe’s multicultural London-based comedy Gone Too Far! Over 25% of our GCSE set texts at Pearson now comprise authors of colour, including Meera Syal, Benjamin Zephaniah and Lemn Sissay.

Do any of your pupils and students think that maths isn’t for them? Flip the equation on it head with Your Future in Maths: A-Z, our new initiative from the Power of Maths campaign to big up the subject and show your learners that we can all benefit from studying maths, whatever our background or interests. From weather forecasters to food nutritionists, watch this space for the film series launching at the end of June!

Have you heard the word about Lit in Colour? Together with Penguin Random House UK, as well as The Runnymede Trust, we’re highlighting the importance of a diverse English Literature curriculum. One hundred colleges and secondary schools signed up to take part in last year’s Pioneers Programme, enjoying free texts, mentoring and CPD.  We’re launching a second application wave for this year’s programme soon – so watch this space!