Tackling barriers to student success

Research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has exposed gaps in the higher education outcomes between different student groups. The project ‘Changing Mindsets: Reducing stereotype threat as a barrier to student success’, funded from HEFCE’s Catalyst Fund, will benefit students likely to drop out or perform less well.

The university is one of five partnering institutions involved in the project which is being led by the University of Portsmouth. Brighton’s share of £64,000 will be used to coordinate, deliver and evaluate the project, with at least £15,000 going to students as incentives to take part. Brighton is matching the funding with leadership, research expertise and development from staff involved.

The thinking behind the project is based on the belief that ability develops through effort and embracing challenge. Developing this ‘growth mindset’ has been shown to have profound motivational impacts on learners and on staff expectations of learners that have effects on attainment gaps.

Professor Gina Wisker

Catherine McConnell

The project, to run to 2019, will see the University of Brighton’s Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) delivering staff-facing workshops through existing staff development events and courses. The aim is to engage approximately 625 students and 100 academic staff in years 2017-18 and again in 2018-19 and evaluate their experiences of being involved.

The intervention will be embedded in to the existing peer-assisted study-sessions training for students which engages over 100 student mentors every year with over 1,000 first-year students across the university.

The project is being run by Professor Gina Wisker, CLT head and Professor of Contemporary Literature and Higher Education; Catherine McConnell, Senior Lecturer; and Dr Rachel Masika, Senior Research Fellow.

In a joint statement, they explained how the project will work: “It aims to take staff and students through a process in which they explore their own beliefs around the nature of ability and intelligence. From here they explore strategies to develop a 'growth mindset', inclusive behaviours, high expectations and enabling language for all learners.

“We are delighted to have been awarded Catalyst funds to be able to trial this activity which focuses on developing students' potential. This offers us an exciting opportunity to help students develop an awareness of, and language for learning, and to find out if this approach can address some of the inequalities in higher education attainment.”

Dr Rachel Masika