Academic support and the BAME attainment gap: Using data to challenge assumptions

Lucy Panesar

Academic support and the BAME attainment gap: Using data to challenge assumptions

Lucy Panesar

Abstract

Within higher education, multiple factors are said to be causing a gap between Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and White students. Whilst there is the will to close it, some underlying assumptions amongst university staff maintain the idea of a BAME student skills deficit that tends to point towards academic support as a form of salvation. This article explains how a data driven approach effectively challenged assumptions about BAME student engagement with academic support by discussing a quantitative study of students at London College of Fashion (UAL), and highlights issues connected with using institutional data to research ethnic inequalities.

Keywords

Academic Support; BAME; Attainment; Institutional Data; Monitoring Engagement; Ethnic Categorisation

Full Text:

HTML PDF

References

Alexander, C. and Arday, J. (eds.) (2015) Aiming higher: race, inequality and diversity in the academy. London: Runnymede. Available at: http://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/Aiming%20Higher.pdf (Accessed: 22 November 2016).

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2016) Success as a Knowledge Economy: Teaching Excellence, Student Mobility and Social Choice (Cm. 9258). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523546/bis-16-265-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-web.pdf (Accessed: 22 November 2016).

Equality Challenge Unit (2014) Embedding equality in student services. Available at: http://www.ecu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ECU_Equality-Student-Services-Report-2014_web.pdf (Accessed: 22 November 2016).

Ferguson, B. and Scruton, J. (2015) ‘How do support mechanisms for adult Black and minority ethnic students affect retention, progression and attainment?’, Race Equality Teaching, 33(2), pp. 43–46. https://doi.org/10.18546/RET.33.2.09.

Havergal, C. (2016) ‘Ethnic minority students less satisfied with university experience’, Times Higher Education, 9 June. Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ethnic-minority-students-less-satisfied-university-experience (Accessed: 22 November 2016).

Lawrence, L. and White, S. (2010) ‘Ethnicity and study skills: active intervention in the library setting’, SCONUL Focus 50. Available at: http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/16_4.pdf (Accessed: 22 2016).

Mountford-Zimdars, A., Sabri, D., Moore, J., Sanders, J., Jones, J. and Higham, L. (2015) Causes of differences in student outcomes. Available at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2015/Causes,of,differences,in,student,outcomes/HEFCE2015_diffout.pdf (Accessed: 22 November 2016).

Smith, E. (2008) Using secondary data in educational and social research. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

University of the Arts London (2016) Student Attainment Report Undergraduate 2014/15. Internal UAL Report. Unpublished.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Article views: 378