Exploring the factors for inequalities in attainment outcomes within foundation year business and law at CCCU – A student perspective

The main focus of the paper is on understanding the factors in attainment and outcome inequalities from a student perspective within foundation year in Business and Law at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). We will explore and reflect on teaching and learning and critically evaluate the impact of interventions based on the sector bast practices, adapted and implemented during academic year 2023-2024. The research aims at understanding the BAME attainment gap within the foundation year programme through exploration of themes such as sense of belonging and the role of ethnicity.

Critical Race Theory (Rollock and Gillborn, 2011) will be used predominantly reflecting on teaching and learning and understanding student lived experiences and perceptions of the students of colour (BAME: Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups).

Structured interviews (qualitative) will be used to collect data to aid understanding of the individual learning experiences in wider societal context. Participants will be recruited through purposive sampling. The data will be analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke (2006). The results will help to assess the impact of undertaken interventions and inform further interventions to aid pedagogical transformation across our foundation level programmes. We hope to share some preliminary results, and we hope that the final project results will inform good practice across other schools/ faculties in different disciplines.