How do Ethnic Minority Students Experience Psychology in Higher Education

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How do Ethnic Minority Students Experience
Psychology in Higher Education?
Sanjay Jobanputra Department of
Psychology University of Westminster 309 Regent
Street London W1B 2UW sanjayj_at_wmin.ac.uk June
2006
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Background 1 Widening Participation of Minority
Students Recent years have seen an increased
focus, in the UK, on promoting widening
participation in higher education of minority
students from a diversity of backgrounds (HEFCE,
2000). However, while widening participation is
a laudable initiative, there are growing concerns
that minority students, upon entering higher
education, do not feel fully included in the
learning experience. Research on minority
students has documented a range of problems
including general discrimination on the basis of
ethnicity or sexual orientation, difficulties of
expression in classroom interaction with majority
students, feelings of fear, isolation and
alienation, and discomfort and detachment
involving the curriculum (Watson et al., 2002
Jobanputra, 2003, 2005 Smith Pearson, 2005).
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Background 2 Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)
students in H.E. There is a rich body of (mainly
American) research exploring BME students
experiences in higher education. For instance,
Kraft (1991) reported difficulties expressed by
black students in their interactions with white
staff and students. Likewise, Love (1993) found
that The experiences of black students at white
institutions is substantially and qualitatively
different than the experiences of white students
in white institutions. Feagin and Sikes (1995)
point out that while the university setting would
appear to be enlightened and free of
discrimination, the reality as far as black
students are concerned is very different. Similar
research has begun to explore minority students
experiences within the UK context, and initial
findings are similarly worrying.
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Background 3 BME and Psychology The number of
black and minority ethnic students represented in
UK psychology departments can be as high as 40.
Therefore, it is interesting to ask what impact
this increased numerical representation has on
the curriculum and teaching. Jobanputra (2003,
2005) has shown that many BME students who embark
on a psychology degree will have gone through
processes of marginalization, alienation and
racism, with the consequent negative impact on
their personal and social identity. The net
effect on the student may be attrition, or
struggling with the study experience within an
academically unfriendly environment.
Consequently, there is a sense that BME
students are not getting the same quality of
education as their white counterparts.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical
underpinning of this research draws from
standpoint science (e.g. Harding, 1991 Hartsock,
1983), highlighting the importance of giving
voice to minority perspectives to enable
inclusivity. In the context of education, the
experiences of minority students may not echo
those of white, heterosexual, majority students.
Thus, there is a need to allow minority students
to voice and express their own standpoints and
perspectives about their educational experiences.
These voices may serve to shed light on the
current state of psychology, and to offer
possibilities for enhancement of the discipline
and profession.
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• THE PRESENT STUDY
• The present study, supported by the Higher
  Education Academy, explored further the initial
  findings reported by Jobanputra (2003, 2005) by
  focusing on discipline-specific concerns about
  the experiences of psychology students from black
  and Asian backgrounds, within a qualitative
  research framework. In particular, the study
  focused on four main areas
• black students general expectations of
  psychology
• their perceptions of the curriculum
• experiences of the teaching and learning
  environment and
• experiences of the personal and social
  environment.

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METHODOLOGY Design A qualitative approach
informed by grounded theory principles (Glaser
Strauss, 1967) was employed due to its
suitability for analysis of rich and textual
material. Participants A total of 26
African-Caribbean and Asian students were
interviewed (22 females, 4 males), their ages
ranged from 19 to early 50 years. Procedure
Semi-structured face-to-face and telephone
interviews were carried out with existing
students (2nd /3rd year) and recent graduates
from a range of psychology departments in the UK.
These interviews were tape-recorded and
transcribed.
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RESULTS 1 Expectations of Psychology There
were 3 main expectations reported by BEM
students 1) Knowledge of self and others, 2)
wanting to be skilled to help others, and 3)
career aspirations in psychology It would give
me a chance to discover myself, discover what
kind of person I really am. I wanted to
interact with people, try and help out in a
certain way and psychology seemed to offer a wide
range of careers. Students felt that on the
whole their expectations had been met. While most
students explained that their expectations did
not differ as a function of their ethnic
identity, some did refer to expectations
motivated by political factors such as tackling
racism Theres an issue about black people who
are being sectioned because of cultural
differences and their not being understood, so
thats kind of a motivation for me and that
wouldn't be for maybe white people.
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RESULTS 2 Exclusion at various levels While the
broad expectations were being met, the experience
of studying for the degree revealed disturbing
trends involving feelings of marginalization and
isolation, and therefore exclusion, at various
levels including the curriculum, the learning and
teaching environment, and the personal and social
environment. This finding echoes previous
results by Jobanputra (2005) that identified a
series of uncomfortable and painful processes
that BME students undergo as part of their
undergraduate experience. This dynamic often
resulted in students invoking coping and survival
strategies of gravitating towards other black
people on the course I do find that I spend
more time with the black students than the white
students.
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RESULTS 3 Curriculum While students did not
report being exposed to overtly racist material,
they did express concerns about the ethnocentric
nature of much of psychological content, which
served to impart a sense of cultural detachment
from the material I feel it represents me as a
British person rather than a British black
person The partial nature of the curriculum
meant that it had limited applicability and
relevance in BME students lives Because the
things you learn, if theyre based on Western
cultural beliefs then when I go home to apply it
to my family who don't have Western cultural
beliefs, it wont fit. There was a strong sense
that the psychology curriculum should encompass
the broad spectrum of students experiences.
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RESULTS 4 Isolation and loneliness
Personal and social environment The impact of
being a minority-status student was expressed in
terms of feelings of discomfort and difficulty in
blending with white students I feel lonely.
I wish there was more Asians...in my own year I
was just the only one and I felt a bit isolated
to be honest. I didnt like it that much, I
still dont like it actually I wish there was
more I don't think that students that arent
from an ethnic background really have any idea of
what it could be like not to be white. Learning
and teaching environment Similar feelings were
expressed in relation to white academic
staff The thing is like I found that some of
lecturers would engage better with the white
girls or white boys, more than they did with me,
and I felt a bit excluded as well sometimes.
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Conclusions

• Many black students are excited upon entering
  psychology.
• They experience difficulties due to exclusion,
  leading to feelings of marginalization, isolation
  and detachment.
• Widening participation needs to incorporate
  diversity AND inclusivity.
• Black student experiences need to be valued at
  the level of the curriculum, and social and
  personal environment of academia.
• Cautious optimism I think its got a lot to
  offer and to say. If only it were more flexible
  and willing to take on board different views
• Zinkiewicz and Trapp (2004) the increased
  diversity of students entering psychology
  departments cannot be addressed merely by
  clustering groups of students into categories.
  The solution lies in providing the highest level
  of teaching and support to respect diversity and
  to promote inclusivity.

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