Learning and teaching to enhance academic achievement among black and minority ethnic students

Learning and teaching to enhance academic achievement among black and minority ethnic students Dr Louise Bunce Dr Naomi King SinittaSaran Mariama Sheriff Nabeela Talib Jody Bell Oxford Brookes University Learning and Teaching Conference 2018 14th June 2018

Terminology • Terminology (legal) • BME • BAME • People of colour (social) • NB: Not a homogenous group @L_Bunce

Introduction • Universities have a legal obligation to ensure BME students not being disadvantaged (Equality Act 2010) • Eliminate discrimination, value diversity, advance equality David Lammy, Labour MP, born in London, one of the first black Britons to study at Harvard @L_Bunce

Introduction • BME students are 15-19% less likely to get a ‘good’ degree (Dillon 2011, Hussein et al., 2009) • Progression and retention rates are lower • Knock on effects for economic employment (DfES 2007) @L_Bunce

Introduction • No inherent reason why this should be the case • Avoid a deficit model that perceives educational equalities arising from BME students as lacking/problematic (Dillon, 2010) • Attainment gap related to experience of teaching and learning, and structural/ institutional inequalities (Stephenson, 2012) @L_Bunce

Introduction • Sam Gyimah, Conservative MP • Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Born in Buckinghamshire Spent childhood in Ghana Studied PPE at Oxford SU president Banker at Goldman Sachs @L_Bunce

Introduction • ECU/HEA (2008) report recommended qualitative research into BME university experience • Our aim: Explore factors affecting experience of university among black and minority ethnic students @L_Bunce

Introduction • Feeling isolated is a significant factor in BME student satisfaction • Difference in previous education experience, parent experience of HE, material wealth (Miller, 2016) • Self Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) @L_Bunce

Self-determination Theory • Extensive research supports the theory that people need to experience the fulfilment of three universal psychological needs to achieve their potential • Relatedness • Autonomy • Competence • These can be supported or thwarted by external environmental factors @L_Bunce

Self-Determination Theory Autonomy Personal control and to be yourself Relatedness Belonging and connected to supportive others Competence Mastery and capability @L_Bunce

Method • Students gave their views in three focus groups • Group led by either a black woman (lecturer), a black man (postgrad), an asian woman (lecturer) • Participants • Mix of years, and mix of UG and PG • Studying in health and life sciences faculty at one university • Many students knew each other in each focus group • N = 6, 7, 4 • Participants given £20 voucher @L_Bunce

Method • Focus group questions were structured around the three headings: • Relatedness • Do you feel supported by other students and teaching staff? • Competence • How do you feel about what you have achieved so far on the course? • Autonomy • Do you think you can be yourself while on your course? @L_Bunce

Findings: Relatedness • Students said there was not enough ethnic diversity in students and academics • They felt ‘isolated’ in class and on campus • “That’s racism! How can you form a class group, a so-called class group and only the black, the so-called black people are not there?” • They felt perceived as ‘different’ • In the whole [accommodation] block, I’m the only Black person […] There’s no-one I can talk to about the culture that I’ve been brought up in.

Relatedness • Students reported experiencing implicit and explicit racial discrimination, but did not want to report this as they felt it was a taboo topic and could reflect back badly on them • My experience [on placement] brought me down because… I had a really racist supervisor, and they were really racist, on the point where he was harassing me, I wasn’t reacting to anything he was saying, so he would put like articles about Muslims in front of me • It’s been such a taboo subject, it’s like something people don’t want to talk about. [. . .] It needs to be spoken about more • you never really want to talk about. . . it’s a very touchy subject

Autonomy • Students felt that they were judged on their skin colour, and trapped within other people’s stereotypes of BME people. • I know that the first thing that someone’s going to see me as is a ‘Black woman’. [. . .] I’m more than that [. . .] but you can’t change people and their perception of you. • This made them feel uncomfortable contributing in class • sometimes you say something, and then you hear people sighing, and saying ‘ohhyou’re not in my culture’ • Before I speak, I am already thinking about what I want to say, how am I going to… present it, because before I speak, I am already thinking about what other people might say, are they going to judge me?

Autonomy • Course material was too restrictive, focusing on white people • For a course that looks at marginalised people within society, there’s just hardly anything on black and ethnic minorities • The people that you learn about or memorise their names . . . most of them are white, middle-class men • They felt that they had to behave in ways that did not reflect their true selves • [BME people need to put on a false mask] Happy ethnic person I call it. Because if you’re anything but that, it’s like, people judge you far harsher • I feel like an imposter […] I put on an act… my accent changes, my voice changes, and I’ll pretend that I am a clever person

Competence • Students agreed that they fell under the ‘twice as good rule’ – to succeed at university and in employment they would need to be twice as good as a white person. • If you’re a minority to achieve something that a white person achieves, you have to be twice as good. Yeah. You can’t just be on the same level as a white person.

Competence • They had been taught this by their families. Even if they achieved a pass they would feel inferior to a white student with the same grade. • Even though I passed, I felt like I still didn’t pass, because it was a C. [. . .] A ‘C’ may be good for someone who’s like classed as white, but for me, I know that for me to like succeed and be successful, l need to get like an ‘A’, a ‘B+’.

Conclusions • BME students do not experience optimal fulfilment of their three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. • Lack of fulfilment of these needs can lead to failure to achieve ones academic potential, higher drop-out rates, and mental ill-health. @L_Bunce

What can we do about this? • Change the environment to support the fulfilment of basic psychological needs among BME students. • Competence: “It’s very important to be listened to and encouraged with positive comments” • Encourage BME students to reach their potential and provide useful feedback @L_Bunce

What can we do about this? • Autonomy: “Shake things up a bit” • Have more discussions about diversity and equality as part of the curriculum • Relatedness: “[One of our best lecturers] hasn’t been judgemental or made anybody feel left out” • Be caring and inclusive @L_Bunce

Next steps • Develop your own awareness • Listen to BME speakers • Read novels / books written by BME authors • Use diversifying the curriculum resources • Hold focus groups with your own students • “I would like to say thank you for having the opportunity to be apart of the focus group and I feel a lot better for having the chance to express my feelings in a confidential setting and hope it can improve certain aspects in the future for BME students” • “Thank you for thinking enough about us to hear our voices and conduct this study. I hope it will make even a slight difference at Brookes for the future students” @L_Bunce

Thank you for listening Any comments/questions? @L_Bunce

Learning and teaching to enhance academic achievement among black and minority ethnic students