Title: Mapping Exclusion in Undergraduate Psychology: Towards a Common Architecture of The Minority Student
1Mapping Exclusion in Undergraduate Psychology
Towards a Common Architecture of The Minority
Student Experience
Sue Smith, Anna Jessen, Ian Hodges, Sanjay
Jobanputra, Carol Pearson Corriene Reed
University of Westminster Department of
Psychology 309 Regent Street London W1B
2UW Galway June 2006
2BACKGROUND 1
- Research suggests that minority students in
Higher Education experience a wide range of
challenges and barriers which include - general discrimination
- a sense of detachment from ethnocentric
heterocentric - curricula
- difficulties of expression in classroom
interactions with - majority students
- feelings of fear, alienation/ isolation
- (Berrill, 1992 DAugelli, 1989 DAugelli, 1992
Defour Hirch, 1990 Hurtado, 1992 Waldo, 1998)
3Background 2
Skelton (1999) argued that the Dearing Report
and the Governments Green Paper, the learning
age (DfES, 1998) on Higher Education including
issues of inclusivity merely focus on inclusive
access but neglect inclusive experience which
would require both structural and cultural
changes Along similar lines Vaughn (1990)
suggests that diversity needs to start at the
administrative faculty level before recruiting
minority students, stressing that it is crucial
to create a supporting climate or minority
students before they enter their studies
4Background 3
- Hodges Pearson and Smith Pearson, (2003,
2005) found that lesbian and gay students
experience institutional homophobia' evidenced
through - their expectations of psychology
- the curriculum content described as
homophobic - heterocentric
- the teaching/learning and social/personal
environment resulting in - feelings of inhibition, exclusion
separation
5Background 4
- Jobanputra (2003, 2005) has shown that many black
and minority ethnic students will have gone
through processes which have a negative impact on
their personal social identity these include - marginalization
- alienation
- racism
- There is a sense that these students are not
getting the same quality of education as their
white counterparts
6METHOD 1
Aim To investigate possible common
architecture of the minority student experience
in Higher Education Psychology Design The
study utilised a qualitative approach informed by
grounded theory principles (Glaser Strauss,
1967). Confidentiality was guaranteed
maintained throughout the study for all
participants, as well as in relation to the
universities at which they had studied
7Method 2
Participants A total of 30 lesbian/bisexual
females, 26 gay/bisexual males, 26
African/Caribbean and Asian psychology
undergraduate students took part in the
study Procedure The interview protocol was
based upon the authors previous research and was
adapted for use over the three minority student
groups. A semi-structured framework was adopted
for questioning. Interviews were either face to
face or by telephone.
8Results 1 Common Architecture
- Marginalisation in the form of discrimination,
homophobia and oppression of identities anything
other than the white male heterosexual norm
results from entrenched western cultural and
psychological ideas of normativity - Despite this, there was an overall loyalty to
psychology as a discipline and high expectations
of what it could offer in terms of career and
personal development - Students occupied several contrasting
juxtapositions in their appraisal of psychology,
e.g. disillusionment vs. cautious optimism
9Results 2 Common Architecture
- Coping strategies were developed to counteract a
lack of inclusion in the curriculum, in the
teaching and learning environment and in the
social milieu - The scant relevance of the curriculum to the
lives of minority groups is problematic, not
least because there is a lack of voice and
representation - Separation between university and domestic lives
was evident - Almost without exception, there was an overall
initial expectation that a liberal and
progressive environment would pervade a
university setting
10Results 3 Differences
- The sense of otherness is experienced
differently and possibly more significantly by
black students - Gay men are more affected by social exclusion and
mere toleration than lesbians - Lesbians identified more areas of psychologys
inappropriateness to their lives, embracing the
notions of empiricism, androcentrism and sexism
11Results 4 Differences
- Bisexual identity and lifestyle is the most
excluded and under-researched and therefore the
least understood - The impact and intersection of multiple minority
identity positionings is only cursorily engaged
with by psychology and is thus the most invisible
12Results 5 Ideas for Progress
- Curriculum Content
- Fostering of critical student engagement with
issues from level 1 incorporated into curriculum
development - Less emphasis on pure biology and highlighting
role of biological determinism in social
positionings - More material to reflect minority lived
experiences across a broad range of topics not
specifically linked to identity and sexuality
e.g. attraction, relationships, lifespan
development, the family, health and illness,
personality, motivation
13Results 5 Ideas for Progress
- Teaching
- Discouragement of pedagogy pedagogic attitudes
in teaching styles - Seminars specifically linked to lectures to open
up opportunities for smaller scale discussion of
issues - Psychologists should be encouraged to candidly
explore their own values and beliefs concerning
culture, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and sexual
identity to enable a reflexive approach to
learning and teaching practices
14Results 6 Ideas for Progress
- Teaching
- Recognition of coping strategies adopted by
students to combat marginalisation and exclusion,
e.g. disengagement and contradiction - More attention should be given to appropriate and
reflective pastoral support for minority student
groups - A need for more representative role models,
especially black staff
15CONCLUSIONS
- Psychology as a discipline, and Higher Education
in general should - Acknowledge the detrimental exclusionary impact
institutional homophobia institutional
racism has on minority students in Higher
Education today - Develop policies which will encompass the
diversity of its student population into its
social, teaching and learning practices - Implement strategies that will enable a more
inclusive experience for minority students
16it just always feels veryvery sort of detached
I guessgoing to the lectures and learning and
then my culture and my life is very separate
Universities are just one of those environments
where no one are really bothered.Well in the
sense that no ones really offended by it and
then you know well its your life, if thats how
you live it go on I had this incredibly
romantic idea of academia being you know just
wonderfully liberal and I would never hear
anything that would be remotely negative towards
sexuality It (heterosexism) goes straight
over my head because thats how it is generally
in the world and Im in a minority Contact
details healingamith_at_ntlworld.com Hodgesi_at_wmin.a
c.uk Sanjayj_at_wmin.ac.uk pearsoc_at_wmin.ac.uk Reed_at_wm
in.ac.uk