Dr Sal Jarvis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), co-wrote an article for Wonkhe with Dr Sam Grogan, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Student Experience at the University of Salford, about how changes to teaching and assessment are reducing awarding gaps.
In the article, they wrote: “In both our institutions the awarding gaps between BAME and White British students narrowed during the pandemic, in some cases significantly so. Within the shifts made during, and in response to, the pandemic, are some of the means to addressing longer term structural and cultural issues around awarding gaps.
“Understanding, embedding and expanding the measures that achieved these results is urgent: the pandemic has created a critical juncture, a moment when things are suddenly in flux, and when practice change is easier, before everything solidifies again. We must not slip back.”
Discussing work at Westminster, they wrote: “At Westminster we have a new data driven project, ‘Locating the award gap’…This project has created a model that interrogates data to locate long-term durability of gaps and to isolate and understand the factors involved in reductions in gaps. The model works at as granular level as the data sets allow and aims to identify those factors and practices that can lead to change. The project is at an early stage but among other factors, mode of assessment and semester of delivery are significant.”
They added: “So, what should we learn from all this? That it is possible to achieve a significant reduction in awarding gaps even during, and perhaps because of, disruptive events such as the pandemic. That headline data doesn’t help us drive much change – we need to research outcomes, practice and lived experience at a granular level, but then we must introduce changes institution-wide to reduce – and finally eliminate- awarding gaps.”
Read the full article on the Wonkhe website.
