Thesis title:
The Degree Award Gap: Examining its scope, impact and possible explanations at one post-1992 institution
Abstract:
Racially minoritised students are doing less well at university than their White peers. Those attainment disparities lead to lower employment rates, reduced access to further study, and ultimately the underrepresentation of minority ethnic academics working in higher education. In response, policy has turned to address the ‘degree award gap’ as a first step in challenging racial and social inequities in higher education provision.
In the last decade or so, there has been significant investment to investigate the causes and impact of the degree award gap. However, the problem persists. A possible reason for this failure may be to do with gaps in the research to date, which my study engages with. Through a purposive study in one super-diverse university, I compare and contrast the experiences of racially minoritised students in three institutional departments where the degree award gaps are characterised as ‘low’, ‘medium’ and ‘high’, in order to drill down into the phenomenon. One possibility is that dominant discourses of racialised underattainment may be hiding some different outcomes. Second, in many studies, racially minoritised students are ‘taken’ as a homogeneous cohort. My study examines issues of intersectionality and ethnic identities in relation to university experiences and attainment. Third, I interview institutional staff tasked with addressing the degree award gap, for their conceptualisation of the concern and how it plays out at the institution.
My study is framed by Bourdieusian concepts and ‘wicked problem’ theory, to complement what is currently known about the key drivers of the degree award gap phenomenon in higher education. My findings offer a unique contribution towards a better understanding of this longstanding, ‘wicked’ problem.
First supervisor:
Ayo Mansaray
Pathway:
6-Education, Mind & Society
Cohort:
2021-22
Publications:
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference paper: Perumal, R. et al. (2025) ‘Impostorism’, belonging and the harmful problem of achievement gaps among racially minoritised university students
BERA Blogpost Perumal, R. et al (2024) ‘Degrees of Difference: Attainment and Awarding Gaps in HE’
British Educational Research Association (BERA) Symposium paper Perumal, R. et al (2024) ‘How racialised students’ lived experiences of university are implicated in the formation (and persistence) of the degree award gap in HE’
Flynn, N., Teemant, A., Viesca, K. & Perumal, R. (2023) Effective Teachers of Multilingual Learners: A Mixed‐Method Study of UK and US Critical Sociocultural Teaching Practices. TESOL Quarterly ISSN 1545-7249. http://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3224
Viesca, K. M., Teemant, A., Alisaari, A., Ennser-Kananen, J., Flynn, N., Hammer, S., Perumal, R. & Routarinne, S. (2022) Quality content teaching for multilingual students: An international examination of excellence in instructional practices in four countries. Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103649
Perumal, R., Flynn, N., Viesca, K., Ennser-Kannanen, H. & Routarinne, S. (2020) What is effective pedagogy for multilingual learners? Observations of teaching that challenges inequity from the OPETAN project in England. In: Kirsch, C. & Duarte, J. (eds.) (2020) Multilingual approaches for teaching and learning. From acknowledging to capitalizing on multilingualism in European mainstream education. Abingdon: Routledge.
Perumal, R., Paffard, F. & White, R. (2019) Mediating theory and practice for multilingual learners in initial teacher education in England. In, Hammer, S., Viesca, K. M. & Commins, N. L. (2019) Teaching content and Language in the Multilingual Classroom: International Research on Policy, Perspectives, Preparation and Practice
Social Media
Twitter: @Multi_linguals