BME Success Project;
Reducing the BME attainment gap
Dr Helen Barefoot
h.barefoot@herts.ac.uk
@helenbarefoot
UK and UH demographics
UK- domicile students by country and ethnicity (Blandford et al., 2011)
National picture regarding BME
student performance and UH context
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Overall
White
Mixed
Asian
Black
Chinese
Percentage of good degrees awarded according to ethnicity (Data includes
both
Home/EU
Overseas students)
2009-2010)
UK-domiciled
first
degree and
undergraduate
qualifiers(UH
obtaining
a good degree by academic year and
ethnicity (Blandford et al., 2011)
Employment
Building understanding of the BME
attainment gap to inform the Equality
Objectives
Student Challenges
Equality Objectives
• Objective 1 – Further improve equality guidance for, and the support and
treatment of, staff and students
• Objective 2 – Further enhance engagement and communication with staff and
students on equality
• Objective 3 – Reduce the differential in academic attainment between White and
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students by 10 percentage points by 2014/15
• Objective 4 – To identify and remove barriers hindering the recruitment and
progression of staff of protected characteristics
• Objective 5 - Extend the collection and improve the use of equality monitoring
data to meet the Equality Duty
Top Tips to support BME student
success
• Learn student names
• Invite participation from all
students
• Manage student groups to move
students beyond friendship groups
• Assess your own racial or cultural
biases
• Consider opportunities for
students to be inspired by BME
role models (e.g. guest lecturers,
video clips or interviews)
• Whenever possible, use
anonymous marking
Toolkit Development
http://tinyurl.com/7gmmmnu
Inclusive group work
4
3
4
3
5
2
1
1
4
1
5
2
2
2
3
5
3
1
2
1
3
5
4
4
5
5
4
3
1
2
Tutor’s desk
•Set first task in pairs e.g. checking understanding of previous
seminars
•Set next task in 3s and give people roles in the group
Developing the Graduate Attributes
Employability
Social
responsibility
Respect for others
Useful resources
•
University of Hertfordshire Curriculum Design Toolkit Inclusive Culture project work
•
Guidance on teaching in racially diverse classrooms on Harvard’s website (The Derek Bok
Centre for Teaching and Learning): TEACHING IN RACIALLY DIVERSE COLLEGE
CLASSROOMS
•
Guidance on many aspects associated with inclusive teaching from Sheffield University's
Centre for Excellence in Inclusive Teaching (including case studies plus hints and tips)
http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/projects/inclusivelandt
•
The Open University's guidance on Inclusive teaching
http://www.open.ac.uk/inclusiveteaching/index.php
•
The Higher Education Academy's weblinks to Inclusive Teaching
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/subjects/psychology/Teaching_practice_i
ssues_Accessibility_and_Inclusive_Practice
•
National Union of Students’ Race for Equality report
http://www.nus.org.uk/en/campaigns/blackstudents/race-for-equality/