At the University of Brighton, we have introduced a number of initiatives to the Bioscience courses with the aim to reduce inequity of outcome for all demographic groups. With the introduction of Smart Worksheets, LabSims and rubric marking, we have enabled students a more flexible approach towards their coursework and build confidence in what they are learning. However, whether this is impacting on all demographic groups and making it more accessible was a question we needed to ask ourselves.

When discussing the equity of outcomes in Higher Education (P. Bolton & J. Lewis, 2024), the focus is often on factors that affect students, prior learning and financial issues. These associations often seem to put the onus onto the student population yet we as educators need to evaluate our own pedagogical practices and innovate in ways to ensure parity of outcome for all students. With structural changes in the way by which we assess and provide feedback, these innovations potentially give students more ability to succeed and make sure they can continue in their degree without the added cost of repeating modules and potentially withdrawing from the course.

To find out whether our approach worked, we needed to take a data-based approach to review whether the innovations in assessment and marking were having a positive impact on all demographic groups from the Biosciences courses across 3 years (224 students 2021-22, 258 students 2022-23 and 214 students 2023-24). We found a reduction of the statistically significant attainment gap between students in Level 4 from lower-income (IMD Q1) and higher-income (IMD Q5) areas from a gap of -6.3% (2021-22) to a -1.7% gap (2023 – 24). As the innovations were introduced to the 6 modules, the overall pass rate gap narrowed year-on-year, indicating improved equity in continuation onto the second year of the degree. This positive outcome indicates that providing students with LabSims (to better understand the lab class), Smart Worksheets (for the analysis of their own data) and in written assessments, rubrics for understanding how marks are achieved, has had a cumulative effect on their ability to pass and then continue in the degree course.

Looking at other demographics, we see a similar move for decreasing the achievement gap. For example, the students from all ethnic backgrounds also decreased the achievement gap, and were more likely to gain a ‘Good’ grade of a 2:1 or 1st class outcome in each module taken. While Level 4 module marks do not translate directly into the final degree classification, it does boost confidence for students to see what they can achieve and give them more chance of success.

The collective success of the decreasing achievement gap in the Biosciences is being used to change approaches in other courses in the School, with the greater aim to remove all inequity of outcome for all students for all aspects of their degree courses.

Reference:

P. Bolton, J. Lewis, Equality of access and outcomes in higher education in England; research Briefing, Library of Commons Library, July 2024