Thursday, March 28, 2024
 
Opinion
‘Class bias’ prevents poorer students from succeeding at university:- Chris Green
 

University students from the poorest parts of Scotland are more likely to drop out, get lower grades and secure less prestigious jobs than their richer peers, research has shown. A report by Professor Sir Peter Scott, the Scottish Government’s Commissioner for Fair Access, suggested that people’s bias against those of a lower class may explain the trend.
The underperformance of students from deprived backgrounds may be partly explained by imperceptible discrimination on the part of university staff, he added. His report on how well students do at university shows that those from the poorest areas are typically 5 per cent less likely to complete their degrees than those from elsewhere. It also suggests that fewer than half of the poorest students achieve a 2:1 honours degree or better, compared to 63 per cent among their wealthier peers. Such students are also around 5 per cent less likely to secure professional level jobs after leaving university, the data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows. Poorer students were defined as being from the 20 per cent of areas at the bottom of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). “Part of the reason for ‘underperformance’ by SIMD20 students may be that our current definitions of academic ‘performance’ are deeply interwoven with largely unacknowledged assumptions about behaviour linked to class and culture,” Sir Peter wrote. He added that while it is “commonplace to talk about ‘institutional racism’ that is so deeply entrenched it may go unrecognised”, people were reluctant to accept “the same is true of class”. Discrimination He continued: “However much support [poorer students] receive during their time at college or university, they still suffer discrimination. “Not so many enjoy the positive reinforcement of families and peers that helps stop more socially privileged students dropping out. “Faced with competing social, and maybe financial pressures, they need more resilience to stay the course. “Far fewer have the ‘middle-class’ habits, and actual social connections, that smooth the paths into professional jobs. So higher education too has to change.” Read more: Scottish universities told to drop entry grades The study also found that most students from poorer areas studied at newer universities, with a lower proportion attending the prestigious “ancient” institutions of Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen. Sir Peter also called for Nicola Sturgeon to set a new 2030 target for universities to close the achievement gap between poorer and richer students. Arguing that merely improving their access to universities was “not enough”, he said it was “more difficult” to ensure that such students succeeded as a result. Higher Education Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville said the report “brings in to sharp focus the extent and the range of the barriers which result in students from the most deprived backgrounds experiencing inequality at every step of their journey through university and into adult life”.
 
 
 
 
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