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Turn on the heating! Tackling the BAME awarding gap by beating the ‘cold climate’ in our classrooms
Mazal Oaknin, UCL Social & Historical Sciences
Project date: October 2022 – October 2025
Summary
The aim of this student-staff collaborative project is to address the ‘cold climate’ in our classrooms that according to Tate (2019) is the leading cause of the BAME attainment gap at UK universities. This ‘cold climate’ is the result of different factors such as micro racisms, lack of support for BAME students, “invisible” racism, and stereotyping, which alienate students, thus negatively affecting their sense of belonging and making them more likely to drop out, and less likely to achieve 2:1 or First class marks and to pursue postgraduate studies. The project will tackle the ‘cold climate’ in the classroom from four angles: student involvement, redevelopment of modules, support from peers and tutors, and teacher training. This will include the involvement of BAME student representatives, workshops for SELCS tutors, the establishment of a student-staff support network, and the delivery of a seminar series focused on ‘Tackling the BAME Awarding Gap in Translation and Modern Language Education’.
References:
Tate, S. (2019) ‘The Student of Colour Attainment Gap in Higher Education and the Institutional Culture of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion’. In R. Papa (ed), Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education. Switzerland: Springer Nature.