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FACE Conference 2009

FACE Conference 2009. Report in Progress: BME Students: Great Expectations. Aims for session. Doing educational research The project in progress Issues when ‘taking on’ an existing project Collaborative research at a distance Tentative results Sharing knowledge and experience

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FACE Conference 2009

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  1. FACE Conference 2009 Report in Progress: BME Students: Great Expectations Veritas Working with You

  2. Aims for session • Doing educational research • The project in progress • Issues when ‘taking on’ an existing project • Collaborative research at a distance • Tentative results • Sharing knowledge and experience • Next steps Veritas Working with You

  3. Getting in and staying in • Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin Lifelong Learning Network • An invitation • Original project proposal • Negotiations with sponsor and stakeholders • Revised project and action plan Veritas Working with You

  4. Kicking Off • Consultation with LLN and stakeholders • Three FECs • Meetings with individual FECs and key players • Development and delivery of questionnaire • Focus groups ‘out in the community’ • Individual interviews with respondents Veritas Working with You

  5. Harsh Realities • Securing ‘buy-in’ from college staff • Meeting deadlines • Developing and proposing alternative ways to obtain relevant data • Liaison with sponsor and stakeholders Veritas Working with You

  6. “Hands-on” • Literature Review • Issues – defining BME learners • Constructing the questionnaire • A closer look at the questionnaire • Interim results and some key findings Veritas Working with You

  7. Great Expectations Literature Review Why the Difference? A Closer Look at Higher Education Minority Ethnic Students and Graduates (Connor, Tyers, Modood, Hillage, 2004 ) Key Messages Veritas Working with You

  8. Minority ethnic people are more likely to take HE qualifications than White people • …aspirations and expectations of the value of, and benefits from, higher qualifications is a more significant positive ‘driver’ for minority ethnic than for White students • ‘Great Expectations’ • But when the findings in Why the Difference are disaggregated Connor et al found: Veritas Working with You

  9. The minority ethnic population does not participate in HE in a uniform way • All minority ethnic groups do not do as well in degree performance as White students on average Veritas Working with You

  10. when gender is also taken into account, …the female Bangladeshi participation rate … drops below that of both the White male and female groups • Minority ethnic students are clustered at certain universities, mostly post-92 universities in London This pattern relates to locality (high representation of minority ethnic population in the London area and many students stay locally) Veritas Working with You

  11. So BME is not really a very useful aggregation as it is very difficult to say anything about this ‘group’ that you do not have to qualify immediately • ‘The Devil is in the detail’ • Questionnaire design is rather like playing ‘battleships’ – you phrase the questions hoping to hit some aspect of truth Veritas Working with You

  12. Construction of questionnaire • Initial review of literature • Brainstorming • Feedback from stakeholders including key members of ethnic minority communities • Final draft reviewed by LLN Steering Group • Test administration with a small number of BME FE students to check general comprehensibility Veritas Working with You

  13. Questionnaire structure • Five sections – • Ethnicity (using Census categories) and other demographic data • Education experience to 16 • Present experience if in education now • Any discontinuities in education - reasons • Future plans – focused on HE Veritas Working with You

  14. Questionnaire content • Aim to obtain rich data field – hence length • Mixture of multiple choice, checklists and short-answer open-ended items • Attempt to reduce complexity by using sectional structure Veritas Working with You

  15. The sample • Convenience sample of minority FE and 6th FC students (N=47) • Includes mature students recently arrived in UK • At present shows bias towards Indian and Pakistani origins (No Bangladeshi respondents) Veritas Working with You

  16. The questionnaire in use • Average completion time 15-20 minutes • Apparent length may be inhibiting some respondents • Poor response to some items • Difficulties in comprehending some questions (e.g. Q.28) • See questionnaire - Veritas Working with You

  17. Some Data • Age: Range 16-48 yrs, Median 21 yrs • Sex: Males = 23, Females =24 • 29 different languages spoken in homes: Veritas Working with You

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  24. Thank you • For your interest and participation • Any further questions? Key Reference: Why the Difference? A Closer Look at Higher Education Minority Ethnic Students and Graduates Connor, Tyers, Modood and Hillage , Institute for Employment Studies 2004 Veritas Working with You

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