Transcript Document

How do Ethnic Minority Students
Experience Psychology in Higher
Education?
Sanjay Jobanputra
Department of Psychology
University of Westminster
309 Regent Street
London W1B 2UW
[email protected]
June 2006
Background 1: Widening Participation of Minority Students
Recent years have seen an increased focus, in the UK, on promoting widening
participation in higher education of minority students from a diversity of
backgrounds (HEFCE, 2000).
However, while widening participation is a laudable initiative, there are growing
concerns that minority students, upon entering higher education, do not feel
fully included in the learning experience.
Research on minority students has documented a range of problems including
general discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or sexual orientation, difficulties
of expression in classroom interaction with majority students, feelings of fear,
isolation and alienation, and discomfort and detachment involving the curriculum
(Watson et al., 2002; Jobanputra, 2003, 2005; Smith & Pearson, 2005).
Background 2: Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students in H.E.
There is a rich body of (mainly American) research exploring BME students’
experiences in higher education. For instance, Kraft (1991) reported difficulties
expressed by black students in their interactions with white staff and students.
Likewise, Love (1993) found that “The experiences of black students at white
institutions is substantially and qualitatively different than the experiences of
white students in white institutions”.
Feagin and Sikes (1995) point out that while the university setting would appear
to be enlightened and free of discrimination, the reality as far as black students
are concerned is very different. Similar research has begun to explore minority
students’ experiences within the UK context, and initial findings are similarly
worrying.
Background 3: BME and Psychology
The number of black and minority ethnic students represented in UK psychology
departments can be as high as 40+%. Therefore, it is interesting to ask what
impact this increased numerical representation has on the curriculum and
teaching.
Jobanputra (2003, 2005) has shown that many BME students who embark on a
psychology degree will have gone through processes of marginalization,
alienation and racism, with the consequent negative impact on their personal
and social identity. The net effect on the student may be attrition, or struggling
with the study experience within an academically unfriendly environment.
Consequently, there is a sense that BME students are not getting the same
quality of education as their white counterparts.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical underpinning of this research draws from standpoint science
(e.g. Harding, 1991; Hartsock, 1983), highlighting the importance of giving
voice to minority perspectives to enable inclusivity.
In the context of education, the experiences of minority students may not echo
those of white, heterosexual, majority students. Thus, there is a need to allow
minority students to voice and express their own standpoints and perspectives
about their educational experiences. These voices may serve to shed light on
the current state of psychology, and to offer possibilities for enhancement of the
discipline and profession.
THE PRESENT STUDY
The present study, supported by the Higher Education Academy, explored
further the initial findings reported by Jobanputra (2003, 2005) by focusing on
discipline-specific concerns about the experiences of psychology students from
black and Asian backgrounds, within a qualitative research framework. In
particular, the study focused on four main areas:
•black students’ general expectations of psychology;
•their perceptions of the curriculum;
•experiences of the teaching and learning environment; and
•experiences of the personal and social environment.
METHODOLOGY
Design: A qualitative approach informed by grounded theory principles (Glaser
& Strauss, 1967) was employed due to its suitability for analysis of rich and
textual material.
Participants: A total of 26 African-Caribbean and Asian students were
interviewed (22 females, 4 males), their ages ranged from 19 to early 50 years.
Procedure: Semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews were carried
out with existing students (2nd /3rd year) and recent graduates from a range of
psychology departments in the UK. These interviews were tape-recorded and
transcribed.
RESULTS 1: Expectations of Psychology
There were 3 main expectations reported by BEM students:
1) Knowledge of self and others, 2) wanting to be skilled to help others, and 3)
career aspirations in psychology:
It would give me a chance to discover myself, discover what kind of person I really am.
I wanted to interact with people, try and help out in a certain way and psychology seemed
to offer a wide range of careers.
Students felt that on the whole their expectations had been met. While most
students explained that their expectations did not differ as a function of their
ethnic identity, some did refer to expectations motivated by political factors such
as tackling racism:
There’s an issue about black people who are being sectioned because of cultural
differences and their not being understood, so that’s kind of a motivation for me and that
wouldn't’ be for maybe white people.
RESULTS 2: Exclusion at various levels
While the broad expectations were being met, the experience of studying for the
degree revealed disturbing trends involving feelings of marginalization and
isolation, and therefore exclusion, at various levels including the curriculum,
the learning and teaching environment, and the personal and social
environment.
This finding echoes previous results by Jobanputra (2005) that identified a
series of uncomfortable and painful processes that BME students undergo as
part of their undergraduate experience.
This dynamic often resulted in students invoking coping and survival strategies
of gravitating towards other black people on the course:
I do find that I spend more time with the black students than the white students.
RESULTS 3: Curriculum
While students did not report being exposed to overtly racist material, they did
express concerns about the ethnocentric nature of much of psychological
content, which served to impart a sense of cultural detachment from the
material:
I feel it represents me as a British person rather than a British black person…
The partial nature of the curriculum meant that it had limited applicability and
relevance in BME students’ lives:
Because the things you learn, if they’re based on Western cultural beliefs then when I go
home to apply it to my family who don't have Western cultural beliefs, it won’t fit.
There was a strong sense that the psychology curriculum should encompass the
broad spectrum of students’ experiences.
RESULTS 4: Isolation and loneliness
Personal and social environment: The impact of being a minority-status
student was expressed in terms of feelings of discomfort and difficulty in
blending with white students:
[I feel] lonely. I wish there was more Asians...in my own year I was just the only one and I
felt a bit isolated to be honest. I didn’t like it that much, I still don’t like it; actually I wish
there was more…
I don't think that students that aren’t from an ethnic background really have any idea of
what it could be like not to be white.
Learning and teaching environment: Similar feelings were expressed in
relation to white academic staff:
The thing is like I found that some of lecturers would engage better with the white girls or
white boys, more than they did with me, and I felt a bit excluded as well sometimes.
Conclusions:
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Many black students are excited upon entering psychology.
They experience difficulties due to exclusion, leading to feelings of
marginalization, isolation and detachment.
Widening participation needs to incorporate diversity AND inclusivity.
Black student experiences need to be valued at the level of the curriculum,
and social and personal environment of academia.
Cautious optimism: “I think its got a lot to offer and to say. If [only] it were
more flexible and willing to take on board different views…”
Zinkiewicz and Trapp (2004): “the increased diversity of students entering
psychology departments cannot be addressed merely by clustering groups of students into
categories. The solution lies in providing the highest level of teaching and support to respect
diversity and to promote inclusivity”.
References:
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•Kraft, C. (1991). What makes a successful black student on a predominantly white campus? American Educational
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