WMS Awarding Gap Group
Introduction
What is the awarding gap?
The awarding (attainment) gap is measured as the difference in proportion of white versus ethnic minority students who are awarded an upper 2nd class or 1st class degree, and stands at an absolute national gap of 13% as reported by the Office for Students (Stevenson et al, 2019).
In medicine, the awarding gap is harder to identify and measure since degrees are unclassified, awarded as pass or fail with varying rules for distinction/honours awards in different medical schools. Consequently, the gap between white and ethnic minority students in attaining distinctions and honours is less straightforward to ascertain.
During our analysis, we defined the awarding gap in medicine as the difference in proportion of white versus ethnic minority students that are awarded merit, distinctions and honours, and identified a gap of 12.5%.
Why is this significant?
Warwick Medical School (WMS), the largest graduate-entry medical school in the UK, admits students who have undertaken an undergraduate or post-graduate degree. Students have achieved an upper second class or first class in their first degree. This affords a unique position to explore differential attainment as students have already excelled in previous HE studies. Our findings are therefore significant as it appears that many high-achieving UK ethnic minority students subsequently underperform at the medical school.
What causes the attainment gap?
Research by Woolf et al, (2008, 2013) suggests that there are multiple factors that accumulate to create inherent disadvantages for ethnic minority students. These include ethnic stereotyping, the impact of stereotyping and student-teacher relationships in a learning environment amongst others. Similar findings were also reported by Morrison et al, (2019) wherein ethnic minority students experienced relationship issues with other students as well as academic / clinical staff, lack of trust in the institution as well as experiences of racism and lack of intercultural awareness from peers, staff and patients, which impacted their experience and learning.
The ethnic minority awarding gap is now widely acknowledged to result from institutional practices rather than student deficits as it remains after controlling for students’ pre-university attainment, socio-economic status, parental job, language, motivation for being a doctor, study habits, whether living at home or not, and personality types (Broecke 2007, Wolf et al 2013).
Why did we form the WMS Awarding Gap Group (previously Attainment Gap Group)?
In September 2018, we formed the Attainment Gap Working Group to identify areas where we need to take action as a School, and to agree our approach. This is led by Professor Olanrewaju Sorinola.
To find out more about what we've been doing to create lasting change, click here.
Purpose and Remit
The Awarding Gap Group (AGG) is a sub-group of the LTQC committee.
The AGG is responsible for collecting the data on attainment gap in WMS medical students, analysing possible causes of the attainment gap, and identifying measures that need to be implemented with the aim of closing the attainment gap.
AGG is responsible for reporting and advising the MB ChB Learning and Teaching Quality Committee (LTQC) and through to the WMS Education Committee who will then take responsibility for wider implementation of recommended measures.
Contact Details
Awarding Gap Group Chair
Professor Olanrewaju Sorinola PhD | FRCOG | FRANZCOG
E: olanrewaju.sorinola@warwick.ac.uk
Medical Teaching Centre Rm 022 / Tel: 02476 528208
Awarding Gap Group Secretary
Laura Cranshaw
Medical teaching Centre Rm 014 / Tel: 02476 572710