UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES DEPRESSING BAME STUDENTS ATTAINMENT Dr Marie

UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES DEPRESSING BAME STUDENTS’ ATTAINMENT Dr Marie Stewart HERAG Think Tank 4 14 June 2017 (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

BAME STUDENTS’ UNDER-ACHIEVEMENT… Should we (a)FIX the students? ‘Deficit model’ (b)FIX the universities? Culture change (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION Where • an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice • puts/would put persons in one group at a particular disadvantage compared with persons in another group • and this cannot be objectively justified (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

DISCRIMINATORY PROCESSES IMPLICIT/UNCONSCIOUS BIAS Unconscious assumptions and beliefs, of which we may be unaware or unwilling to acknowledge, that can affect our behaviour. (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

IMPLICIT/UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES • Beliefs about intelligence/abilities • Negative stereotyping • Attribution: explanations for behaviour (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

MINDSET ‘FIXED’ MINDSET Basic qualities like intelligence are fixed traits Academic success depends on ability ‘GROWTH’ MINDSET Abilities are developed through effort Talent is just the starting point Dweck (2006) (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

STEREOTYPE THREAT Stereotypes are oversimplified, rigid & generalised beliefs about groups of people in which all individuals are regarded as having the same set of leading characteristics. Furnham & Lamb Stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as a self characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s social group. Steele & Aronson (1995) (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

‘IN GROUPS’ / ‘OUT GROUPS’ Attribution of success or failure IN GROUP POSITIVE/ ACHIEVEMENT NEGATIVE/ FAILURE (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com OUT GROUP

‘IN GROUPS’ / ‘OUT GROUPS’ Attribution of success or failure IN GROUP POSITIVE/ ACHIEVEMENT Internal / Permanent NEGATIVE/ FAILURE External / Temporary (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com OUT GROUP

‘IN GROUPS’ / ‘OUT GROUPS’ Attribution of success or failure IN GROUP OUT GROUP POSITIVE / ACHIEVEMENT Internal / Permanent External / Temporary NEGATIVE / FAILURE External / Temporary Internal / Permanent (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

What can teachers do to reduce potentially negative effects of these processes? (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com

Carol S Dweck (2006) Mindset: The new psychology of success Random House Dweck: 2013 Ridley Lecture: www. youtube. com/watch? v=e. Gnqg. Xml. Tk 4 1. 07. 56 Claude M Steele (2010) Whistling Vivaldi: And other clues to how stereotypes affect us W W Norton & Co Pettigrew, T F (1979) The ultimate attribution error: extending Allport’s cognitive analysis of prejudice. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin 5(4) 461 -476 (c) Taylor-Stewart Associates www. taylorstewart. com