This document discusses Leicester University's efforts to address racial inequalities in degree awarding. It outlines workshops held with academic departments to develop inclusion action plans. The workshops examined awarding gaps between ethnic groups, barriers faced by minoritized students, and ways to make curricula and assessments more inclusive. Challenges included resistance to discussing race, lack of commitment, and discomfort among white staff. Overall, the document aims to share Leicester's process for engaging departments on improving racial inclusion and reducing awarding disparities.
2. (Race) Inclusion
Action Plan
Workshops
- Race Award Gap represents one
of the most pressing priorities for
the sector and the University
- Nationally in 2020, students
from minoritised backgrounds,
particularly Black African,
Black Caribbean and South
Asian Pakistani heritage were
awarded 2:1s and 1sts 10%
less than White students
- Race-inclusion focus for
departments
- Broader inclusion for
professional services teams
3. Action plan and workshops: Process
Workshop
(3 hours)
Team
discussions
Share
potential
actions
Draft plan,
refine details
Approval,
actions
4. Action plan
- Based on the Theory of Change
- 3-6 SMART actions/projects to make curriculum
and support more inclusive
- The plan highlights (not limits) prioritised activities
- Evaluation support provided
- Action plans approved by Pro Vice Chancellor
(Education)/Academic Registrar
What do you want
to achieve/
change?
Why?
How can we go
about it?
5. Ethnicity of all UoL students 2020/21
Asian or Asian
British - Indian
Asian or
Asian British
- Pakistani
Black or
Black
British -
African
White
Arab
Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi
Asian or Asian British - Indian
Asian or Asian British - Pakistani
Black or Black British - African
Black or Black British - Caribbean
Chinese
Mixed - White and Asian
Mixed - White and Black African
Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
Not declared
Other Asain background
Other Black background
Other ethnic background
Other mixed background
White
6. Population comparison
Asian or Asian
British - Indian
Asian or Asian
British -
Pakistani
Black or Black
British - African
White
Ethnicity of UoL Students 2020-21
Arab
Asian or Asian British -
Bangladeshi
Asian or Asian British - Indian
Asian or Asian British -
Pakistani
Black or Black British -
African
Black or Black British -
Caribbean
Chinese
Mixed - White and Asian
Mixed - White and Black
African
Mixed - White and Black
Caribbean
Not declared
Other Asain background
Other Black background
Other ethnic background
Other mixed background
White
Asian/Asian
British: Indian
Asian/Asian
British:
Pakistani
Total White:
British
Ethnicity in
Leicester in 2011
Asian/Asian British:
Bangladeshi
Asian/Asian British: Indian
Asian/Asian British: Other
Asian/Asian British: Pakistani
Black/Black British: Black
African
Black/Black British: Black
Caribbean
Black/Black British: Other
Chinese/Other: Chinese
Mixed: Other
Mixed: White and Asian
Mixed: White and Black
African
Mixed: White and Black
Caribbean
Total Arab
Total Other
Total White: British
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller
White: Irish
White: Other
7. Leicester City census data 2011
Asian, Asian
British or Asian
Welsh: Indian
Asian, Asian British or
Asian Welsh: Pakistani
Black, Black British, Black Welsh,
Caribbean or African: African
White: English,
Welsh,
Scottish,
Northern Irish
or British
Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Bangladeshi
Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Chinese
Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Indian
Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Pakistani
Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Other Asian
Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African: African
Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African: Caribbean
Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African: Other Black
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups: White and Asian
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups: White and Black African
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups: White and Black Caribbean
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups: Other Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British
White: Irish
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller
White: Roma
White: Other White
Other ethnic group: Arab
Other ethnic group: Any other ethnic group
(based on number, not percentage)
9. Awarding data
- University-level awarding data
- Department-level awarding data,
highlight their most significant gaps
- Availability of department-level data
varies by cohort demographics
IMD quintiles
Q1&2 – Q3-5
Age
Mature – Young
Sex
Female – Male
Ethnicity
Black – White
Disability
Declared – no
disability
Incomplete picture
(e.g. mental
health, LGBT+
care leavers)
10. Group Discussion 1: Identify barriers
Some hidden barriers:
- Culture shock (eg studying at HE, independent living
- Unfamiliar rules
- Don’t know who/what to ask
- Unaware of available support
- Unspoken expectations
What do you think the issues or barriers are for your students that can be
related to causing the awarding gap?
11. What do students think?
- How do you know what students want/need?
- What are students saying or asking for?
- What do you do with feedback?
- How would you describe the sense of
community within the department?
12. What can an
inclusive
curriculum
look like?
“You don't want to express struggle
or needing support because
they already… think the worst of you”
"As Black people we must be
exceptional to be seen.
It becomes demoralising"
“I feel like the world just isn’t
set up for how my brain works”
“If I don’t rehearse what
I’m going to say in my head,
I find it hard to contribute in seminars”
“Do these things really
matter to students?”
13. Inclusivity in context
- Include more perspectives
- Recognise sources
of knowledge and context
- Reflect students' experiences and interests
- Normalise inclusion of countries, cultures
and ethnicities beyond Europe or ‘the west’
- Acknowledging gaps
“I mean can we diversify the
curriculum or reading list?
What I mean by diversify is
not that every time we have a
diversity course we just talk
about slavery, like, Black
people were something
before slavery… can we just
learn about something else
that is not slavery?”
14. Who does analytical chemistry … and where?
… a global endeavour, pursued worldwide
15. Criminology: Visualising Scholarly
Diversity
Aims and Objectives:
- Increase recognition of diversity in
scholarship
- Provide pedagogic check to ensure,
where possible, cited works are diverse
and representative of the field
Work Undertaken:
- CR2003 & CR3023: Visualising
diversity via ‘photo referencing’ to
accompany standard reference list
16. Inclusivity in
assessments
- Vary assessment formats
- Let students explore/discuss/
articulate content related to their own
interests and experiences
- Demystify and support:
- Language/’jargon’
- What does good look like? (give
examples)
- Expectations
Think beyond the essay
Essay/report/dissertation
Oral presentations (solo/group)
Poster presentations
Multiple Choice Questions
Exam
Group project
Lab/practical
Video/audio production
Viva/assessed dialogue
Blogs or journals
17. Group Discussion 2: What can be done?
Discussions may relate to:
- Student recruitment
- The curriculum
- Assessments/assessment support
- Standalone projects
- Facilities/provisions within buildings
- Department-wide initiatives and support
How can you be more racially inclusive in your department?
What do you need to make this work?
18. Positive feedback “I’m so pleased to see this
progress on the workshops and
action plans - this is excellent!”
“I just wanted to feedback on
how much I enjoyed the
workshop… It was really useful
seeing some statistics and great
to have some conversations
about various areas of inclusion,
helping us to reflect on what we
already do well and what we can
improve on”
“Obviously a good session, you
usually see people dropping off
but they were all clearly engaged”
“Everyone said how helpful and
worthwhile the session had felt”
19. Challenges
Some barriers
- Resistance disguised as excuses
- Poor attendance
- “Lack of data”
- Debate for the sake of debate
Required essentials
- Time! (planning, delivering,
attendance)
- Commitment (senior and local)
- Follow up support
20. Approaches to addressing
the ethnicity degree
awarding gap (2023)
“Low levels of confidence in addressing
inequality, and high levels of discomfort in
discussing issues of race and ethnicity, are
barriers to progress for many HEPs.
This is particularly evident with White staff,
who may feel that they lack the expertise or
lived experience to effect change.”
21. Group Discussion: What can be done?
Discussions may relate to:
- Running similar workshops
- Support for academic colleagues
- Culture (awareness/understanding)
- Commitment
- Student experiences and support
How can you be more racially inclusive in your university?
What are the challenges of presenting a similar session in your institution?
(45 mins incl. Q&A)
Refer to departments, but our language is school so if I say school, I mean department, not children
Expertise in the team on widening participation, community engagement, inclusion, international development and student experience
Not here to speak FOR Black students or historically minoritised groups. We don't know their experiences from their perspectives. We're here to start the discussion, acknowledge potential sources of difficulty for our students, and facilitate discussion on what staff are going to try to resolve them
For these workshops, we don't want to assume much knowledge in terms of the awarding gap. Can assume it here as it's the purpose of the conference, but we know that a lot of staff might be 'aware' of awarding gap, but not really much beyond that.
Stress that while the awarding gap refers to degree classifications, we know it's influenced by other factors, like issues in accessing support, unspoken expectations, feeling like you don't belong, and personal challenges like having to work, illness, family and caring responsibilities. So naturally, it can't be fixed by one thing, and what we do to help will look different by team or role.
While these workshops for the departments focus on race inclusion, we also touch on broader aspects of inclusion too (disabilities, carers, parents, mature students…) because being inclusive to one group will have an impact on others, because no one fits into one group.
Structure and expectations around action plans
Based on theory of change, just a few actions, we help them with the development. Once they've got ideas, we can help them fill in their ToC, think about what they need, how they go about it, and methods of evaluation (area of weakness/uncertainty)
Really important to include to set the context – for our staff so they can see the bigger picture and how they relate to it. But also for you. Recently attended some presentations on work on awarding gaps, but they didn’t have a diverse cohort, which can have an impact on students’ experience.
Chart:
No majority ethnicity – diversity has increased from 20/21 but look at how diverse it already was back then
Superdiverse university in a superdiverse city
Most recent census, religion is really similar between the university and the city
Impact – eg inconsistent rules around assessment types (consider Christmas, not Ramadan), consider for exams, not written assessments
Then move on to department-level data; demographics of UG, PGT, PGR, maybe Home and International or Campus-based and DL if relevant
Show them university level data in other awarding gaps
Then look at department-level data, pointing out their biggest gaps
Look at department-level demographics too so they can see this data in relation to how they work
Group discussions within sessions – what they think barriers are, not just in statistics but experiences and conversations
We ask about how staff talk to students – the issues they're identifying – how do they know? Are they just assumptions? Have students said they feel a certain way? Do students feel like you listen? Where is the evidence?
I ask for examples of what an inclusive curriculum can look like – tentative answers, usually none of them wrong.
We’ve been asked about some of the changes you might make, especially the “smaller” ones like diverse imagery and case studies, whether they really matter to students…
I don't want to lecture you on what makes for an inclusive curriculum, because you very likely already know and if you don't, I'm certainly happy to point you to some amazing resources.
We don't make that assumption with staff, because not everyone is equally confident.
Quote on left from a student about what it means to them to have an inclusive curriculum – to be authentically reflected, rather than reaching for the stereotypical examples.
Typically include a lot of quotes from our students so they know that we're not being abstract, this is what our students experience
Example of an approach from Chemistry – visible inclusion and representation
The map identifies where sources have come from in the world. And in doing that, you could talk about why that might be – why is research focused to one country, why are there gaps?
Can open a discussion about the gaps in diversity, or you might see someone like yourself
Physics example – female student saying thank you because in her third year, she had only just seen a slide feature a female Physicist – and that wasn’t even the point the lecturer was making, they just used this person as an example
We talk about what that looks like so they can reflect on their own practices.
There's research to suggest that the most effective way of tackling the awarding gap is to review the approach to assessments.
Having a diverse range of formats, allowing students to explore topics of interest to themselves, and explaining what you actually expect from them.
Demystifying assessments – not everything is as obvious as we might assume, so we don’t want to put students at a disadvantage.
Consider what you actually want from your students, what do you want them to do, and is it obvious to them?
It's at this point where people who are willing to be inclusive but they don't know how are starting to think 'is this it?' 'where's the race bit?' - a lot of staff worry about "not having the expertise" but working towards an inclusive curriculum – removing barriers, providing suitable support, and being able to work on topics you care about – will make it a racially inclusive curriculum too.
Once we’ve talked about a few approaches, group discussion to think about staff might apply them, or be inspired by them
After this, we come back to talking about their action plan
Refocus on the practicalities, Highlight great suggestions they might want to include in their plan
Very end: Signpost for available support and training
A lot of the comments we get relate to how people just don't have the time to sit down and talk about this stuff as a school, so even if we have people who already get it and we haven't taught them anything, they still benefit from having the dedicated opportunity
Senior commitment – visible – a lot of staff disheartened if they don't see senior colleagues actively leading from the front with this work
Local commitment – attendance is all well and good, but after the workshop, it needs to go somewhere
Recent TASO paper on the awarding gap. Pulled out this quote that hits the nail on the head from what we've seen. There's a defensiveness and lack of confidence in affecting change. When it comes to racial inclusivity and decolonising, we often hear 'it's okay to get it wrong, we need to keep trying'. But there's an insecurity that holds people back when it comes to the curriculum.
If there's time, one for the group
Or if there's not time (finish 12/12.45):
Any initial thoughts in the room about our approach, or reflections on opportunities in your own universities?
