Frequently Asked Questions
“How do I know if my school or department has outcome gaps?”
Each school has an Awarding Gap Representative with privileged access to Access and Participation performance data. Contacting your representative is a recommended means of understanding your local data context.
“Isn’t this a question of capability and attitudes?“
Awarding gaps are the result of structural inequalities which requires us to reconsider our understanding of ‘ability’ and challenge the deficit model. The ‘hidden curriculum’, demands on time and a lack of belonging are all examples of structural factors which affect student attainment irrespective of attitudes and academic ability.
“What are other universities doing about their awarding gaps?”
Wolverhampton’s “What Works?” Evaluation Report (2023) provides evidence of curricular enhancements impacting continuation and awarding gaps.
The University of Kent’s Academic Coaching for Excellence programme of one-to-one coaching – which pairs Black stage two and three students with an academic for tailored support around upcoming assignments – is an example of a co-curricular scheme to target the Black-white ethnicity awarding gap.
“How could teaching activities be solutions to systemic problems?”
Our rationale is that structural inequalities manifest in university life as symptoms which can be proactively addressed. Consider, for example, a student with limited ability to attend in-person classes due to caring responsibilities. Online, recorded lecture materials provide an accessible way to remain engaged.
Note that changes to university systems, standards, policies and processes are considered and implemented, such as enhancements to bursary provisions, at the level of the Access and Participation Committee and above.
For more links between barriers to attainment and student experience, view the student personas.
“Are we at risk of pandering to students?“
Our current students can share useful insights that help us foster a more inclusive culture. Staff voice is equally important to contextualise the student voice into practical, realistic solutions.
Our Inclusion Consultants and Student Partners schemes are based on the principle of co-production: creating a shared understanding to design solutions based on the joint preferences of students and staff.
“Aren’t these recommendations ‘inclusion for some’ rather than ‘inclusion for all’?“
By recognising the diverse needs of all learners through inclusive teaching we can eliminate barriers to success for all student groups (Schneider and Preckel, 2017). Effective teaching and learning solutions often result in narrowing awarding gaps while raising attainment for both the target and comparison groups.
Co-curricular, targeted interventions can be effective in closing awarding gaps and are based on a model of equity which seeks to address the unique factors affecting specific groups.
“I don’t have the time to change my practice.“
It is true that eliminating awarding gaps requires capacity building and investment in infrastructure to tackle the broader structural problems affecting students. However, it is possible to address differential attainment to by enhancing our ‘business as usual’ approaches rather than by adding new, resource intensive components. These types of practical, cumulative solutions require relatively minimal additional resource and may result in time saved in the long-term. Consider, for example, reducing the number of emails received by students through the standardisation of assessment briefs.
“How can I encourage my colleagues to take more interest?“
We encourage colleagues already active in the inclusive teaching space to become champions of inclusive approaches and evaluate their practices, to share the impact with others. Please contact us if you are proactively addressing awarding gaps and would like support with research and evaluation.
We operate a Microsoft Teams space for interested colleagues to share their practice and discuss strategies for closing awarding gaps. Please contact us to request an invitation.
“We already widely use these techniques.“
We welcome any impact and evaluation reports which can be shared to identify ‘what works’. Schools whose gaps align with the APP target groups can request support with evaluating their practices. Please contact us for more information.
“I don’t think the recommended practices apply to my subject area.“
The evidence-based curriculum design principles are considered transferrable across all subject areas. In some cases, it’s not immediately obvious how methodologies such as decolonising the curriculum can be achieved in subjects that are based on technical knowledge, or how peer-group based teaching approaches can be achieved with increasingly large class sizes. For support with adapting the recommendations to your work context please contact CQSD.
“I’ve read these materials and don’t know where to start.“
Here are some recommended first steps:
- Contact your school’s Awarding Gap Representative to understand your local data context and action plans in greater detail.
- Conduct one-to-one meetings with colleagues active in the inclusive teaching space in your school or department. A sample agenda is made available to all staff.
- Attend the ‘Practical Steps for Closing Awarding Gaps’ centrally delivered training workshop via UoRLearn.
“There are awarding gap initiatives in my school that would benefit from greater recognition.“
Please contact the Student Outcomes team who are always interested in facilitating the sharing of good practice between disciplines and developing our evidence base. In each meeting of the Awarding Gap Steering Group, there is a standing agenda item for colleagues to share effective practice. Please contact us if you would like to present.
“I have a research question I would like to explore further.“
Increasing the scientific data on underlying causes and ‘what works’ is critical for sustained success and we encourage analysis of awarding gaps at module and programme level. Please contact your school’s Awarding Gap Representative to discuss potential research opportunities. They can get in touch with the evaluation team for support on how to gather the strongest evaluation evidence.