Seminar on Ethnicity and Attainment Addressing race-based exclusions in Assessment: From conceptualising barriers to making measurable change

Speaker:
Dr Paul Ian Campbell is an award winning academic and Associate Professor in the sociology of race and inclusion at the University of Leicester, Visiting Professor at the Open University and University of South Wales and Loughborough, and National Teaching Fellow. He is the leading voice in race and assessment in the UK and also Academic Advisor for the Centre for Transforming Assessment and Student Outcomes (TASO) and supports over 10% of the UK HE sector in addressing racial inequalities in their curricular and assessment processes and policies (16 Universities). Prior to this, Paul was the Inaugural Director of the University of Leicester Institute for Inclusivity in HE, which oversaw Leicester's 4% reduction in the race award gap.

Abstract:
There is a current dearth of sociological and empirically substantiated evidence as to what works with regards to equalizing the uneven educative experiences of racialized students in higher education. There are even less empirically substantiated answers to what works with regards to addressing the barriers specifically manifest within HE assessment and related practices that are experienced by domicile students of colour in UK Higher Education Providers (HEPs).

Drawing on the findings of the first holistic, large-scale, UK, multi-institution and mixed-methods evaluation of an intervention explicitly designed to reduce the racialised barriers that exist within HE assessment, presented in my recent book ‘Race and Assessment in Higher Education' (Emerald), this paper explores the answers to these questions. Utilising Ahmend and Cushing (2021) ‘ideal student' frame, this talk shines light on the Racially Inclusive Practice in Assessment Guidance Intervention's (RIPIAG) impact for improving (1) Teaching staff's ability to identify and reduce the racialised inequities that are manifest in their assessment practice. (2) Students from minority-ethnic backgrounds' experiences of assessment. And (3) its capacity to foster a reduction in the race award gap in student outcomes in assessment at the module level across all types of assessment in all disciplines. In doing so, this paper provides a case-study example of how to move from sociological enquiry to measurable change.