Investigating Academic Success And Attainment Gap Of BAME Students In Higher Education

Challenges of BAME Students in Higher Education

A small scale study to investigate both academic success and attainment gap of the BAME students in higher education.

The current situation of society in its way cannot be considered extremely diverse in its mindset. This can be directly reflected in different prospects of society. From opportunities to even gaining basic human rights, the probability of having a positive experience that can lead to betterment in life for a student who comes from a minority community is extremely rare and difficult (Arday 2021). Specific focus on the minorities within the country the understanding of the challenges that many of these students specifically for people who are part of the  BAME communities.The kind of struggle and the effort that they have to exert to reach a similar point as the other population is in its way indescribable.  The following research is focused on establishing a core relationship between the academic success stories of BAME students along with the challenging experiences that they go through in the attainment gap in higher education. It is focused on understanding the BAME attainment gap (Arday,Branchu and Boliver 2022). Its further progress is to present the different challenging factors that students who come from minority have to face and the impact by utilizing different literature and Research data collections of previous researchers.

The focus will be to investigate the academic stories of other BAME students by gathering the different strategies that they adopted to succeed academically despite facing the major attainment gap. The work will further also analyze how higher education institutions address the current attainment gap in support of these students (Arday, J., Zoe Belluigi, D. and Thomas, D., 2021. There is a specific understanding that is established around the realization of what seems to be the issue with the attainment gap for BAME students. Overall the entire education structure remains similar for everyone (Claridge, Stone and Ussher 2018).The increasing amount of difficulty for a specific group or minority of the community is astonishing and an issue that needs to be addressed. The reasoning behind the scene comes from various factors which usually revolve around the factors of racism and indifference towards people coming from a specific culture and skin color. These issues indicate a need to address the issue and analyze the journey that every BAME student faces in their educational career.

The fieldwork of the research will be carried out at North London University as it focuses on providing a diversified approach to the following study.

To understand one of the crucial reasons why I chose to work on this particular topic as a research study it is integral to understand the meaning behind the term BAME. Often used as a term to define different minority communities within the United Kingdom in terms of the following research Associates with undergraduate students from Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic groups.

The reason why I intend to research the following topic is due to my awareness of the existing racial inequality within the United kingdom’s higher education system that can lead to major unemployment for the students of the minority community (DaCosta,Dixon-Smith, S. and Singh 2021). This particular data is also confirmed by NUS (2019) as well as the race disparity audit (2017). Many different factors are taken into consideration from the idea of students’ race and ethnicity being able to impact one degree and in the existing disparities in higher education. The following work is an effort made towards a higher level of understanding of the studies of diversity and equality through a different perception of taking in the academic stories of other BAME students.

Investigating Academic Success Stories of BAME Students

The access can be gained by requesting the same by the gatekeeper which will be done through sending letter requests to approach participants as well as the inclusion of personal information about the research as well as the aim of the study.

The primary stakeholders in the following case scenario are the education system globally and most primarily students of minority communities who will gain a better perspective of the current situation within the education system and their path that will not be completely constructed around factors like racism (Hepworth, Littlepage and Hancock 2018).

1. What is the BAME attainment gap?
2. What are the challenging factors that address the degree attainment gap?
3. What specific strategies have been adopted by the BAME students to succeed academically while facing the attainment gap?
4. What are the reasons associated with the impact of this attainment gap?
5. How do higher education institutions address the attainment gap in the effort to support BAME students?

The primary aim of the following research is focused on establishing a core relationship between the academic success stories of BAME students along with the challenging experiences that they go through in the attainment gap in higher education.

The core intention behind the project is focused on understanding the BAME attainment gap. Its further progress is to present the different challenging factors that students who come from minority have to face and the impact by utilizing different literature and Research data collections of previous researchers .

Racial equality is something that should be a priority in every country. Not only as an essential social prospect but also as a human right, every individual deserves the right to every opportunity and to be treated similarly to every other person as per Isik et al. (2018). However, the route to getting a better opportunity is specifically in countries where the domination of the caucasian population has been prevalent throughout the history the settlement of other minority countries’ populations creates a sense of indifference towards them which is not only a direct is the relative impact of the process of conquering and colonization from the past as stated by Arday (2021). However, with the passing years, the progression has changed and equality among the population has become a major priority. Yet opportunities are often hard to get specifically for people who are part of the BAME communities suggested that Jang and Brutt-Griffler (2019). The following literature review focuses on further analyzing prominent literary works associated with the investigation of the attainment gap of BAME students, specifically in the United Kingdom in terms of Higher Education. The key themes that will be discussed in the following literature review will be academic success, communication and academic barriers, cultural barriers, and social barriers.

There are many different ways through which students coming from minority communities can define their current situation and do better in their lives. One of the most crucial of them all comes from personal determination but also through the help of a supportive infrastructure provided to them not only by the family but also by the government suggested Claridge, Stone, and Ussher (2018). The best-suited example of the same can be seen in Australia and it is the education system which has in the recent years has made various changes in its entire education policy so that it can insert the different kinds of limitations as well as different kinds of opportunities to be provided to the aboriginal and Torres strait-islander people.

Analyzing Attainment Gap in Higher Education

The progression of Academic success specifically for a minority community is not only based on their capabilities of doing good individually. It requires proper support as well as a basic infrastructure that is dedicated to promoting the same for others. There should be a specific understanding established around many minority community-based students who do not have the fortunate life to attain schooling as well as basic education of high school and graduation from some of the best institutions globally  stated Jankowski (2022). The implication of studying in educational institutions that are more progressively ahead of time showcases a sense of intellectuality and scope of doing better academically among students who have gained it in their life in the earliest stages.

Mostly students who come from families that have economical wealth to a team such establishment and its admission fees but also students coming from proper links that can help them enter reputed establishments as such. On the other hand, for students who come from minority communities or in other words from BAME communities, there is a higher chance and scope for students coming from these places to have a minimum amount of experience with educational systems that are positive in nature and rather essential in setting up a background that can be needed for advanced studying more easily pointed Kermanshachi and Safapour (2017).

Not only does it reduces the chances of academic success for students coming from minorities but also creates more hardship for them overall in terms of achieving the same.

Other than that, the concept of academics success is not limited only to being able to create positive results in exams but also being someone proactive enough in getting the right grades over different projects as well as other extracurricular grade based activities that are essential in the progression of the whole concept of college or higher education and its experience. To be able to remain proactive in most of these specific activities students need to have properly updated financial resources at their hand as well as would enough connections within the educational set up specifically with teachers and other senior members of the faculty to gain a better perspective Khan et al.(2017). However, it can be seen and can be analyzed that most of the minority best students come from family householders who do not have higher economical income which makes these experiences if far fetched idea for them.

On the other hand, many students are part of these institutions of higher education where most of the students coming from minority communities are either coming in through scholarship or welfare prospects pointed out Laland (2020). Support and the never-ending help of seniors and supervisors, in this case, is essential, and if not attained in the right way it can make a prominent effect on the whole progression and achievement of academic success.

Communication plays a very important role in establishing a foundation for education and its success. Utilizing the right kind of communication and the right method of communication proper establishment of knowledge can be created. The establishment of such communication is mostly the job of the educator and the establishment where a student is studying. Creating a transparent communicative environment where all students can understand the different prospects of education is an ideal setup for a higher educational establishment. However, with time the understanding of education and its communication focused on creating itself in a specific language that is understandable by a maximum number of people Lunsford et al.(2017). This led to the inclusion of one default language to be prioritized everywhere as the language to be used by all.

Literature Review on Attainment Gap of BAME Students

On the other hand in particular nations like the United Kingdom which are the ones who have contributed to the language of English will create an education system that is based on the language itself. Apart from being the default language in educational setups, English is also, particularly one such language which is essential to be understood and known all around the world specifically in the professional fields states Mishra (2020). This is one of the reasons why it is prioritized as the language to be utilized in the education system which primarily affects minorities specifically coming from Asia as well as other nations coming from the Middle East or Africa and even in Europe at times.

There is no denying the fact that language specifically English can be changed with other languages depending upon different students as it will create a more conflicting and confusing environment for all students but being lenient towards students who come from other kinds of backgrounds or students who particularly have English as the secondary language and not a primary one is essential points out Parsons (2017). Based on these factors taken into consideration institutions and educational institutes should focus on creating an environment where communication should not become a barrier for such students and they can confidently come forth with the mentality and ease of bringing forth their mindset without the hesitation of not understanding things. This mindset can only be established in a different educational institution if a proper curriculum is dedicated that supporting and promoting different kinds of diversity not only in ethnicity but in languages.

Teachers who are promoted and also instructed to come up with strategies that can help students coming from different cultures get more involved in the educational system also hold a sense of limitation Quaye, S.J., Harper, S.R. and Pendakur, S.L. eds., (2019). The best way possible is to introduce curriculum-based changes that can be minimal in nature or additional curriculum activities that can help many of the students who take English as a second language into consideration and not make communication a barrier to achieving success or attainment gap overall.

Academic barriers overall are many different prospects that can be taken into consideration as issues that can affect the success and prosperity of an individual in gaining proper education that is considerably better and provided with the essential outlook of how it should all be like. Just as there is the various level of scope in terms of prosperity and scope towards academic ideology in the current time similarly there can be seen that there are various barriers that can distract and even take away the entire consideration of what an academic success should be points Roksa and Whitley (2017). For different people, the prospect of these barriers differ directly or indirectly or have the potential of impacting them if not taken into proper consideration and care.

From having a constant misguided attitude or being completely involved in technological options of the current world to even having major barriers like lack of funding or even lack of learning material or exclusion within this setup are all considered academic barriers. The intensity and the seriousness of an academic barrier also change from person to person and the condition they are in. Roksa and Kinsley (2019) states that for some fortunate people, overall Academic barriers are limited progression and limited changes that can be worked upon if proper care is taken however for some people academic barriers are serious issues that stop them from making change and progress in life. Akademik barriers overall have so much potential of creating issues which can directly be seen from the condition of many of the countries around the world with the worst form of educational or illiteracy rate. Most of these people who do not have a background where they can gain literacy are people who suffer from this particular barrier itself.

Key Themes: Academic Success, Communication and Academic Barriers, Cultural Barriers, and Social Barriers

When it comes to higher education the prospect that specifically focuses on the idea of issues or barriers that can affect educational prosperity becomes extremely difficult for people coming from different minorities. Some of the most common forms of barriers educational barriers for minorities can be specifically the cost of gaining an education. In terms of higher education, the entire prospect is not only determined by scholarships and performances but by the tuition fee which goes above and beyond the whole prospect of scholarships, and even for educational enterprises there is a limit due to the funding which is essential for educational institutions. Sangha ( 2021) states that this is one of the reasons why most of the well-known educational institutions specifically the ones that provide higher education have higher tuition fees that the students have to fill up. However for students who particularly come from BAME backgrounds.

Cultural barriers overall are relevant specifically for minorities in every walk of life. These are prospects that are often not in the control of many of the students who are also part of the educational institution. Swanson,Vaughan and Wilkinson (2017) suggests that Cultural barriers focus on the main idea that different cultures have different prospects and beliefs in life which makes different kinds of decision-making become relevantly approachable and at times unapproachable for different cultures. Suppose a student who comes from any kind of culture where the idea of eating a specific kind of food is prohibited while others come from a culture where it is considered to be completely normal these kinds of differentiation can create a cultural barrier from time to time. Apart from that educational point of view through the educational front, there are also specific topics or specific knowledge which is considered essential for specific cultures while for some talking about those things is considered not to be something encouraged.

These factors become extremely clear when one describes the basic understanding of what cultural barrier is all about as being an issue that arises from a misunderstanding of meaning which can be caused by cultural differences between the 2 different parties at once. Specific body language, as well as gestures or indications of a specific term, holds a different meaning for different cultures which is not limited to religion at all but for culture which differentiates from a geographical point of view as well as ethnicity overall (Yuan 2017).

As a term, the social barrier can be stated as a point within the inequalities that exist between different individuals within a society these differences can be caused by different forms of reasons such as socio economic status or ethnicity former religion, race, and even gender. With several differences and a lack of understanding social barrier is often referred to as one of the strongest forces of indifference that people have to suffer from. Overall within an educational setup social barrier is also relevant and makes their effect more relevant than any other in terms of minority students the effect of social barriers remain prevalent. Firstly to gain success to achieve an opportunity to even become part of an established organization and even another kind of entity the relevant effect of the social barrier has to be defied.

However, organizations in these cases are often better in terms of educational institutions. Educational institutions overall have a major tendency of staying indifferent toward students. In most cases application selection as well as the progression of selecting students for different activities after they are admitted within the educational institution also in the hands of educators where social barriers often make them self-relevant states Jang and Brutt-Griffler (2019).The tendency of creating an environment where social barriers make their effect is relevant in most educational institutions. However, over the years its effect has been seen to reduce from time to time yet in countries where the majority of the population comes from a specific ethnic group or is a specific ethnic social group there is a higher level of chance of seeking indifference towards students who do not match up with the similar social prospects.

The social barrier of race or social circles due to economical factors are some of the major prospects that keep minority students away from other students specifically in terms of social benefits as well as social growth. However social barrier has made itself more relevant in the past years not only due to the very fact that it is relevant in the respect of ethnicity or economical forces but it has been creating a whole certain prospect of the channel in terms of the life of students that is relevant outside of these factors and not offline but online NUS (2019). The effect of these social barriers on the life of students online as well as offline is relevantly problematic as many students coming from a similar educational institution face bullying and another kind of effects from time to time.

There are various kinds of forces that all together play a very crucial role in determining the chances of success and attainment gap for a student coming from a minority group. From major themes that include factors as relevant as academics access communication, as well as academic barriers, cultural barriers, and social barriers together, create an impact in the life of a minority to achieve the right direction. Not only does the literature review brings the reality of the world where students coming from a different ethnicity or race and even at times gender have to  suffer so many obstacles to achieve things that are considered normal the fortunate ones who are not completely taken over by the prospects of these in differences in their life from time and again.

However, lack of realization remains relevant among people around this issue due to which know certain level of development has been able to make itself relevant. This is one of the reasons wife due to which so many obstacles and so many differentiation make the experience of gaining higher education a difficult factor a lot of students coming from minority communities are unable to continue to pursue education at a higher level.

Overall this literature review puts forward a sense of the information around the different prospects of difficulties that remains relevant in the life of minority students and how to reach a point where they can gain success academically as well as gaining a perspective that helps determine not only a positive attainment gap but also to have a situation where the students can reduce the scope of disruption within the upcoming generation where such issues overall will not put forth a student below in their experience and opportunities.

The following research will be conducted from an interpretive perspective where the expectation will be to bring forth participants who have attended higher education and come from the BAME community. The questionnaire of the research design will be a research tool that will be used in the process of research to obtain different kinds of supportable information over the proper statistical figure itself.

The reason why the following method will be utilized is due to the very fact that questionnaires are considered an effective method that will allow for acquiring in-depth data and utilizing a mixed-method approach will be used as the specific technique of collecting the right form of data itself.

One of the core methodology tools that will be used to evaluate different kinds of disparities of the attainment gap which are experienced by the students. Apart from that another necessary factor to be considered is the very fact questionnaire research design is a considerably successful research tool which is utilized by researchers for various reasons specifically for being one of the best techniques to be used to allow gather a higher number of data in a shorter period as well as provide participants time to answer the question anonymously.

The following research study will look for 20 participants to take part which will involve full-time students within the years 2 and 3 from the black Asian other ethnic communities and focus on participant ages which will range from the 18 to 25. Each participant within the whole premise will be provided with an online questionnaire so that it can create a sense of anonymous prospect and it will be provided by the gatekeeper.

Further the step methodology will be interviewed which will be utilized to allow us to see the participant’s real emotions in life thoughts as well as their impact on the attainment gap within the institution. The interviews overall can become a beneficial prospect which can help in providing in-depth information of any kind of conversation in a smaller sample. Other than that the whole project will carry out his semi-structured one-to-one interview with 3 particular participants where the participants are considered to be within a full-time education from year 2 or 3 and have an age range of from 18 to 25 plus. Due to the limitations that have occurred due to the pandemic of most of the interview process a sense of anonymous prospect is also maintained while assuring to keep safety for the people who are becoming part of the research.

Overall utilizing all these methodologies together will help in coming up and resurfacing the understanding of the following research and its end goal as an understanding of a discovery that should be made to bring forth the struggles and the issues faced by the minority communities in some of the biggest establishments of United Kingdom.

As the finding suggests with the help of the questionnaires and the different questions associated with the 20 participants who took part in the following research coming from years 2 and 3 from black Asian other ethnic minorities the participants discussed how the whole progression of the situation takes place for them and how difficult it was overall for them to create a proper situation for themselves where the discussion of academic success along with the attainment gap that they suffered with was difficult to achieve. Through their answers to the various questions within the questionnaire, it could be seen that achieving success overall is the biggest issue while the attainment gap remains unessential trouble that is part of their process to become included in a higher education training system. Overall all answers suggested that there is a crucial level of struggle for them to become part of her prestigious institution and one of the biggest issues in the reason behind that comes from their mere existence has been people coming from popular as well as powerful families that can help them have better alternatives and choices in life which was an idea that was not relevant for students who come from minority communities.

The utilization of the second methodology which will focus on allowing participants real emotions and life thoughts, as well as the impact on the attainment gap, was discussed majorly with a few students which are 3 participants who are accepted to provide a proper description of the current situation in detail. Through proper discussion of the situation at hand and the condition of the students overall, it was seen that there was a progressively bigger struggle taking place at every step of the way for the students coming from the minority communities. They discussed how the experience of joining the institution was a difficult one but also how difficult it is to remain relevant in a place such as this. How there is a level of effort that has to be extra in comparison to the lucky people to attain proper success. The following findings and their understanding were able to highlight how both academics success, as well as attainment gap, are some of the most difficult prospects to handle at once. Not only discussing the issues that they face in everyday life but they also shared their routines that were in many ways problematic to understand how working or even studying is a similar form of the educational setup students who come from different backgrounds get affected by the situation differently.

This particular idea of the findings in its way highlights the current issue of the generation and the analysis of the results in their way suggests how difficult it is specifically when talking about the educational institutions that are established in the United Kingdom where children are not treated fairly and equally with one another. One of the biggest reasons associated with the same came not only from the people who regularly struggle to achieve factors like success. This not only proves the very point that to attain success further in life the whole course of action taken by a person coming from a black or Asian or other minority community suffers highly in comparison to other races.

The following research in its way develops a sense of understanding of a situation that is occurring not only in the United Kingdom but globally. The idea that education can make such a prominent scale of effect on the life of people is an understatement in its way. Overall education has been able to create a sense of dependency in the life of people that no one could have contemplated. Yet education which is supposed to be considered more as a human right as crucial as breathing or even eating and even talking to one’s mind is still not accessible to all people 2 its highest limits. Not only does the profit of understanding how one can gain basic education like schooling or the graduation all best phase in their life but the right of gaining higher education should be similarly provided to all.

As the world becomes more progressive and developing with passing time the responsibility of people within the Society of gaining a higher level of knowledge and understanding of different things is also something that needs to be evolved. Even if the planet is evolving if the focus of the progression is over one specific ethnicity while ignoring the others there will be a chance that the planet and its differentiation will grow further with time. It is the lack of achievement or the lack of opportunities provided to people which pushes them back while putting others ahead of them that creates and maintains the cycle of racism and indifference from time to time. Even now in the current world where things are changing for the best for every community with the progression of a time where everyone can speak their mind and open up their mindset from things that took place years ago there is a scope of understanding that with time it should be established in a way that people should recognize how basic human necessities should be addressed as a normal thing.

On the other hand as the different students through the research surface and discuss their different potential levels of struggle to gain what they can do now through academic success but one can easily contemplate that the entire journey and its progressive approach is difficult to attain for them in comparison to other people. On one hand, there is a major population who can gain these prospects more easily while when even talking to these people coming from minority communities considerably these events like even getting the opportunity to gain higher education is if the fact that is more of an opportunity to them. The world at present needs to develop itself to a point where these prospects are not only considered as an opportunity for specific ethnic minorities but as a basic necessity that needs to be fulfilled for all.

This research and its outcome are more of an eye-opening prospect that discovers and talk about how the situation of life and the situation of the general public has changed prominently with time yet many progressive factors need to be taken into consideration and only then the current society will be able to uplift itself to a point where there is no sense of indifference among people. Taking into consideration of countries as prominent as the United Kingdom one can understand that history of the country and the life it has laid over the years play a very integral role in creating and highlighting factors as crucial as education.

Conclusion

It can further be stated that the entire progression of both academics success and attainment gap for students coming from a black, Asian, and other minority ethnicities are in many ways is difficult in comparison to other communities. Some certain themes and ideologies can often be referred to as one responsible for this sense of inequality. Factors like social as well as cultural and economical barriers are some of the crucial reasons that have led to the situation where students coming from ethnicities that are considered minorities are treated negatively in comparison to other students. The progression of gaining academic success comes with various factors to be taken into consideration such as personal struggle and personal journey which continues and takes place for a longer period. On the other hand attainment gap for a student after getting access to an organization or an educational institution comes forth as a journey that also needs to be taken into consideration from time to time.

The whole progression of the attainment gap overall is not easy and comes with various roadblocks that have to be crossed one way or the other. However, various particular strategies are often followed up by students to assure that they can gain access to some of the most important prospects of life. From majorly focusing on providing better Academy quality in comparison to other students but also facing a sense of constant fear and uncertainty that helps in preparing an individual for a circumstance that does not go along as per their view. The following research with the utilization of various systematic research methods of interviewing 20 random students studying within different colleges and attaining higher education and coming from the minority communities was able to discover the level of difficulty that students face from time to time not only in attaining success but also filling up the attainment gap. On the other hand, the next progression of the research method considered 3 particular students from 3 different individual educational institutions.

Here the progression gave away better responsibility and a better chance of speaking up one’s mind where students were able to come forth and discuss the entire progression of achieving success and how difficult it becomes from time to time for them while also discovering how attainment gap is also far more superior for students coming for minority communities to attain in comparison to other students. Their various experiences also showcased how social, as well as cultural and economical weakness, can lead to a situation where no one in their correct way holds a positive opinion towards a student. Not only does this particular research brings forth a sense of understanding towards the current connection of the society but also makes people wonder question how long this sense of indifference will continue in the world and how is it constantly defying the system of equality for all species in a place as integral as educational based institutions.

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