The imperative to address the complex problem of degree awarding gaps within UK higher education institutions is multifaceted and messy. Various studies have continually highlighted this persistent undergraduate awarding gap (racial equity gap or/ethnicity gap) between White and racially minoritised students. This disparity in educational…

Evidence suggests that adapting teaching responsively to pupil assessment can be effective in improving students' learning. However, existing studies tend to be small-scale, leaving unanswered the question of how such formative assessment can operate when embedded as standard practice. In this study, we present the results of a randomized trial…

In September 2022, the Institute for Fiscal Studies' Deaton Review drew attention to clear evidence that the UK compulsory education system is failing to tackle inequality. Their analysis demonstrated that attainment gaps between pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and those who are not exist across all stages of education.…

Purpose: The primary aim of this paper is to illuminate the critical issue of the degree awarding gap in the UK, which significantly impacts students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and minority groups. By conducting a systematic review of existing literature following the PRISMA protocol, this study seeks to uncover the complex web of…

Attention paid to awarding gaps in higher education linked to ethnicity tends to focus on outcomes at the final award stage. Our project sought to scrutinise awarding gaps at module level where these gaps may emerge. Our aim was twofold: to identify the most important barriers to student success and determine strategies to reduce awarding gaps at…

The global pandemic caused by coronavirus has highlighted the systemic nature of inequalities caused by racism in Britain: people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups were more likely to be in jobs that had a high risk of exposure to infection, were more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, and were more likely to die from the…

In higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), students from ethnic minorities get lower grades than White students. This study focused on the experiences of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students completing an undergraduate psychology dissertation module. Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and intersectionality…

Awarding gaps between various groups of students persist across the Higher Education sector, yet the responses designed to address the contributors remain localised. The sudden spread of COVID-19 led to various responses across the University sector creating an unprecedented natural experiment and offering the opportunity to compare outcomes from…

The persistence of degree-awarding gaps and anti-Black racism warrant an exploration of the quality and effectiveness of academic support offered to Black undergraduate students in British higher education, and how such support is perceived by students. Our phenomenographic study found that Black students' conceptions of academic support range…

In UK higher education, minority ethnic students are less likely to graduate with a good degree than their White British counterparts, even when prior attainment is considered. Until recently, concerns about this ethnicity degree awarding gap have not received the research attention it deserves. In this paper, we contribute to this gap in…

This paper reflects on a slow-motion video clip of the hands of three young children as they play with toys in the sand tray. It foregrounds sand and toys that are handled, as well as hands that grasp and relinquish things. Through this movement of hands that tug and pull at things, it explores how things animate bodies, and how this produces the…

With the majority of children in the United Kingdom (UK) now learning from home as part of another national lockdown, addressing the digital divide is more important than ever. Without a device, an internet connection, or a suitable space to work, it is much harder for students to keep up with their learning from home, and the attainment gap…

In response to Louise Taylor's article about a White academic's 'challenging journey' as they researched students' experience of anti-Black racism in a university, Sarah Gillborn and David Gillborn further explore how racism is woven through the past and present of psychology as a discipline. [For the original article, "Seeking Equality of…

Reforms to GCSEs were introduced in 2015. The major changes were a move from modules to a focus on final exams, and a change in the grading system from letters (A*, A…G etc), to numbers (9, 8…1 etc). The aims of the reforms were to improve standards overall by making courses harder and increase differentiation at the top of the grade range. This…

The aim of this report is threefold. Its first section provides an overall sketch of the situation across Europe and the underlying mechanisms for the differences in European countries. The second section focuses on the heterogeneities within each country. It examines the disparities among students in order to understand which of those correlate…