During this unit, I have noticed in the workshops, blogs, and in conversations, how despondent and frustrated people are feeling on the subject of the awarding gap. It appears that the scale of the awarding gap is the main factor in feelings of despondency. There is also the consensus that the awarding gaps are not being acknowledged; that not enough is being done to address this systemic and structural issue.
I can relate to feeling despondent, but I would like to suggest that there is much that we can do, and we must do what we can, where we can, and when we can, regardless of our role. Recently (12.05.25) I was in a meeting with the Head of College (LCF), the Dean, Programme Director, Head of Quality, etc. The reason? The course that I lead is under review, due to substantial awarding gap between ‘white’ and ‘B.A.M.E.’ students. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and review the actions that had been made in the past few months to attempt to reduce this gap. Once this was done, there was a space for me to share my concerns/issues. I find the acronym B.A.M.E. to be extremely problematic, so my first response in the meeting was to let them know this, and whenever the acronym came up, I made a point of using it in its full wording, not as an acronymised version. UAL still uses this term, despite that in early 2021, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities published a report in which it found that terms like BAME were “no longer helpful and should be dropped”. (Sahi, N 2023)
In this space I let it be known that it is remarkable that I did not know of these gaps previously, and that this revealed the lack of action that was being taken on a college wide level to address this systemic issue. I stressed that a systemic problem needs an urgent college and university wide proactive approach, as opposed to the current reactive tactic of putting out fires where they show up, via course reviews. Further to this, I stated that the problem with approaching the awarding gap on a course level, is that any positive work done is siloed, not shared with other courses. So, this means that successful approaches are not nurtured or capitalised upon. Therefore, doing nothing to reduce the gap as a college wide strategy.
It’s not that easy to say to the head of college that not enough is being done, particularly when you suffer from imposter syndrome. I get imposter syndrome when eating a bar of chocolate that contains more than 20% cocoa. However, the head of college responded that my point was noted, appropriate, and timely. Apparently, there are discussions currently taking place about developing workshops and initiatives to tackle the awarding gap. So, my point is, that despondency is actionable, dissent is healthy, and it’s okay if you are more Cadburys than Lindt.
References:
Sahi, N. 2023. BAME no longer acceptable. Available at: https://rswlaw.co.uk/bame-no-longer-acceptable/ (Accessed: 09.06.2025)