Work

The black award gap

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: The Learning Development team at the University of Northampton has been developing research projects to understand the extent and potential causes of award gaps (Coulson and Loddick, 2020; Loddick and Coulson, 2020; Coulson, Loddick and Rice, 2021). However, the team was not prepared for other findings that emerged from this research related to the Black award gap. Firstly, Black students who engage with a tutorial can see an improvement of up to 4 sub grades. Secondly, analysing award gap data revealed that the Black award gap could be reduced by 50% by eliminating non-submission of assignments. This mini keynote outlined the projects that have been developed: a project with Black students within the Foundation degree framework to ascertain why they might not submit their assignments and a second project to engage ‘Black Student Advocates’ will also be outlined. The challenges of this work were also shared. Questions posed: How has your institution approached the Black award gap? How might you contribute to the reduction (or elimination) of the Black award gap? Can we eliminate the Black award gap?

Source: Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education

DOI: 10.47408/jldhe.vi29.1111

Author: Kate Coulson

Institution: University of Northampton

Language: English

Topic: Higher Education Research Studies

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: University of Hull, University of Reading