BAME Awarding Gap Funded Project: Department of History

Mind the gap! UCL History’s approach to tackling inequality through enhanced belonging and inclusive pedagogy

Eleanor Robson, UCL Social & Historical Sciences

Project dates: October 2021 – December 2024

Summary

This project aims to narrow the History Awarding Gap by means of two interventions. Preliminary student survey data, collected for the project, show that there is a strong correlation between students attending 1:1 meetings with their module tutors and achieving first class results. However, many UK BAME students enter UCL either believing that they should not bother their tutors outside class, or not knowing how to approach them. 

Strand 1 of this project aims to develop an effective belonging strategy to empower incoming students to use office hours and feedback sessions confidently and regularly, right from their first weeks at UCL. Strand 2 of the project targets inclusive pedagogy in the compulsory second-year research seminar (SYRS) as an efficient way to improve UK BAME students’ marks. 

The voice of the project is a student-produced Zine, The Lapis, which aims to foster a sense of belonging amongst all History undergrads, and celebrate the diversity of talent and approaches to history within our community.

The rationale for the project stems from data analysis, surveys and discussions in the History department prior to the development of the project proposal. This research identified two main areas where it was anticipated interventions may significantly reduce the awarding gap: creating a sense of belonging for all UCL History undergraduates, from first-year enrolment onwards, including a sense of entitlement and confidence to make full use of 1:1 learning opportunities with tutors; and improving the inclusivity of teaching and learning in the compulsory Second-Year Research Seminar, as a gateway to further improvements in second-year and final-year modules