1. Careers and Employability Advisor Education Liaison Officer
LET’S TALK ABOUT RACE
Widening Participation: Challenging and innovative approaches to access and success in higher education and beyond
Zion Sengulay
Careers and Employability Advisor
Robert Temowo
Education Liaison Officer

2. By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
Discuss student and/or staff personal experiences related to race within Higher Education
Identify at least 3 ways of taking positive action within Higher Education

3. Just a few facts

4. We care about diversity at Kingston…..
Inclusive Curriculum Framework
Beyond Barriers (Students and staff)
BME Leadership Programme
Equality online Module
Cultural diversity programme
Kingston University Reading Group
Network of Equality Champions
Inclusive curriculum consultants

5. Kingston’s Institutional Approach
Measuring impact of initiatives
Student
Inclusive curriculum consultants
Student Union partnership
Value Added Score
Steering Group
Attainment Gap as Institutional KPI
BME attainment and diversity considered in Quality Assurance
EDI as academic promotion criteria
Connected access agreement milestone with student success and KPIs
Course and faculty meetings to raise awareness of their VA score
Workshops:
Inclusive curriculum
Equality essentials
Unconscious bias
Course dashboards with the BME attainment gap
People discussing attainment gap with the Inclusive Curriculum Framework

6. Feeling uncomfortable
There is still so much more to be done!
Let me share my experience with you
TERMINOLOGY
Anger
Feeling uncomfortable
Worried
Judged
Frustrated
What is the point of this story – I bestowed privilege, I was called out (remember to do the gestures)
Flipped for some white staff are talking about black students
So when the team are delivering the work around the attainment gap they hearing concerns less and less now about ‘whispering in hushed tones the word black or bme’ stereotyping’
- Why : majority don’t want to offend or be seen as racist so they avoid talking about race and sometimes even to the bME students themselves

7. So what can we do next… Get up close and professional
Group discussion:
Case Studies

8. Feedback

9. Inclusive curriculum framework
Teaching
Create an accessible curriculum
Enable students to see themselves reflected in the curriculum
Equip students with the skills to positively contribute to and work in a global and diverse environment
In the concept
In the content
(case study: question, discussion)
In the delivery
In the assessment
In the feedback/forward
In the review
“Every year in school when we celebrated black history month, I always would hear about the usual topics, things like slavery, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks etc. The type of history that people would celebrate was always halfway across the world, though interesting, I could never properly relate to it. I am black, British, but Somali raised young woman, which has so many of it’s own challenges, trust me. We never got a chance to celebrate our country, culture and identity in schools or my local area, we never learnt about Somali history in school, read Somali literature or even learnt about the achievements from local people. This impacted my confidence with the education system, I felt invisible most of the time and realised over time I became an angry person, which affected my behaviour. Now I am at University, I was hoping that things would be different. It’s still the same type of black history month stuff though, but only time will tell I guess, we will have to see.”

10. In addition to the institutional approach, and the getting up close and professional, disadvantage can still exists, so…

11. ‘People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day
‘People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a life time.”
What they don’t say is, “and it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.”
I would like to finish with this quote which builds on the picture above….
Personalisation, relationship, customer care, time, empathy

12. Key points to consider
Conversation- Talking about race is difficult but needs to be done by everyone
Take responsibility- Do not wait to be told, instead be willing and open to learning more about cultural differences, race, terminology.
Be honest- It always helps to express your lack of knowledge and/or any worries or concerns you have about not knowing how to navigate a discussion on race

13. TIPS
The reality is that disadvantage exists so after talking ‘WE’ still need to take positive action
Find out what your University is already doing
Focus on one or two areas you want to change
Get student union involved
Get buy in from leadership
Set up a student/staff advisory group
Your story and experience can make a difference

14. We would love to hear from you
Zion Sengulay – Thomas
Careers and Employability Advisor
Robert Temowo
Education Liaison Officer
and/or