Addressing educational inequities through co-production of inclusive learning

Educational inequities based on race and ethnicity exist in the fields of Occupational Therapy and Psychology. While these inequities are well-documented, very little is known about efforts to address them and the extent of success of such interventions.

This participatory action research project seeks to evaluate the impact of efforts to address race-based educational inequities in Brunel University London's Occupational Therapy and Psychology Divisions. Through this research project, we aim to identify good practices that should be continued or enhanced, as well as areas for improvement. Our findings can help to generate insights contributing towards reducing the race-ethnicity awarding gap in degree classifications. They can be useful for educators and academic administrative leaders in the health and care professions who are actively attempting to take an anti-racist, anti-oppressive approach to learning and teaching.

Occupational Therapy involvement in this project has been partially funded by Health Education England (Capital AHP). We would like to thank the following student co-producers for their involvement in this project: Modolamu Fatimehin, Sydney Lai Mu-En, Gopika Sudhir, Cherif Larbaoui, Winnie Chan, Ellen Chan, Zeth Cabildo, Henry Akintunde-Philips, Maria Rossan Cabello, Klaudia Szollosi, Shana Faiz, Dheg Aidid, Sumiya Malouk, Andy Cheung, Mohd Affan, Mahima Bhuta, Gwyneth Ataderie, Tao Ran, Kripa Gurung, Rushabh Mehta, Zahra Siddiqui.

Project outputs

• Shortlisted for Brunel Research Impact Awards (Educational Impact).
• Open access learning materials: infographics and videos.
• We have contributed to the Council of Deans of Health's report Anti-racism in AHP Education: Building an Inclusive Environment, published in April 2023 – see case studies 2 and 5.
• Results were presented at the Brunel University London Awarding Gap Symposium, the British Education Research Association Annual Conference 2023, and webinars from Health Education England, Capital AHP and the Royal College of Occupational Therapy.