Positive visualisation of the future as a tool for reducing the attainment gap.
Like many of my peers on the course, I find the continued attainment gap between students of different ethnic backgrounds Higher Education highly dispiriting. We’d all like to believe that we have examined and addressed our own biases, but it is clear that much more needs to be done to act on this issue, and I have been keen to find proactive ways I can improve this within my own remit. Banerjee (2024) provides a useful summary of the research into this matter and describes ‘scarcity of social and cultural capital’ as one of the factors that ‘contribute to significant disparities in degree outcomes, disproportionately disadvantaging students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and minority groups.’
In my experience, differing levels of cultural capital significantly impacts the confidence of new first year students on Fine Art students. Those that have had a more privileged education or upbringing are often more familiar with the dominant modes of Fine Art discourse, and those that are not may be left to feel like an outsider. This confidence can directly impact the ambition of the work a student feels comfortable making, and consequently the progress they make. While social class does not necessarily correlate with race or ethnicity, when they do intersect this can enhance the disadvantage faced by both groups, as ‘class and ethnicity may work cumulatively in reinforcing systematic privilege’ (Carbone, 2019).
Douglas (2019) explores how students from backgrounds of financial privilege have a greater ability to envisage continuing their chosen subject beyond degree level and succeeding in the artworld. Visualising success can have a direct impact on attainment, with Banerjee’s (2024) review of degree awarding gaps finding that ‘minority ethnic students were less likely than their white peers to have a clear vision of their future possible selves and … this can impact their degree attainment.’
This research suggests several actionable areas that I’d like to explore. Firstly, I believe a disparity of cultural capital can be countered to some extend in the manner in which we conduct our teaching. Bamber and Jones (2015) have a number of recommendations around how educators can mitigate this issue, for example making expectations explicit at the beginning of a course and taking care to assume no prior knowledge of subject matter or approaches to study.
The level of impact that a student’s vision of their future selves had on their attainment was a surprise to me, and this really brought home how vital it is for students of minority backgrounds to see their identities represented in positions of power within the university and wider artworld. While I may not have an impact on staffing, I can apply a form of positive discrimination to the artist examples I give within my teaching, weighting them more heavily towards artists that are less well represented within the Western artworld, to provide a broader sense of ‘what an artist looks like’.
I also feel that there are interpersonal ways we can work with students to discuss their futures that would build confidence and help to develop a positive vision of themselves succeeding in their chosen industry. This might be through teaching, but also through building links between students at different stages of their education to construct a network of relatable role models. This is something I am hoping to work further on through the proposed intervention.
References
Banerjee, P. (2024) ‘Connecting the dots: a systematic review of explanatory factors linking contextual indicators, institutional culture and degree awarding gaps’ in Higher Education Evaluation and Development. Leeds: Emerald Publishing.
Bamber, V & Jones, A 2015, Challenging students: enabling inclusive learning. in H Fry, S Ketteridge & S Marshall (eds), A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice. 4th edn, Routledge , Abingdon, pp. 152-168.
Carbone, M.B. (2019) ‘Attainment gaps and the higher education vocational and academic divide: The role of cultural studies in relation to ethnic minority and class intersectional factors’ in Inclusion and Intersectionality in Visual Arts Education. London: UCL Institute of Education Press.
Douglas, L. (2019) ‘Creative curricula: Developing inclusion projects informed by states of identity and alienation’ in Inclusion and Intersectionality in Visual Arts Education. London: UCL Institute of Education Press.