Exploring the engagement of students who identify as Black, Indigenous (and/or) People of Colour (BIPoC) with Learning Development practitioners: reviewing the value, impact, and recommendations for future practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi31.1169Keywords:
awarding gap, ethnicity, student support, Learning developmentAbstract
The need for universities to effectively support students identifying as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour (BIPoC) remains a pressing element of strategies to close awarding gaps. Within overall support packages, the contribution of Learning Developers merits investigation, since these staff are often responsible for nurturing growth in students’ academic abilities. Through this small-scale, exploratory, qualitative study, we sought to better understand how Learning Developers can contribute to narrowing awarding gaps by exploring the benefits of and barriers to students engaging with Learning Development (LD). These benefits and barriers were elicited in interviews with twelve BIPoC students within one school in the Humanities and Social Sciences faculty in a UK university. The study explored their experiences of the value of LD interactions and how it might be enhanced. Aspects deemed valuable emerged broadly as anticipated, centring around how Learning Developers assisted students to learn academic practices such as: decoding assessment instructions and marking rubrics, referencing, breaking down tasks, and feedback uptake. More specifically relevant to BIPoC students, however, was the desirability of a flexible approach to the number and length of LD tutorials, enabling them to build relationships, understand guidance, and ask questions. Secondly, they mentioned the need to see ethnic diversity represented in the LD staff base and amongst student champions for LD. These factors were noted as good practice when evident, but open to further improvement. We conclude that whilst effective foundations were in place, the task of supporting BIPoC students remains one for ongoing reflection and action.
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