Inclusive curriculum and BAME student advocacy in a business school: reflections on three years of inclusive module reviews

This article presents a case study of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) student advocacy and its impact upon the curriculum of a large business school within a post-92 UK university. Learning from the University of Birmingham's (2017) ‘BME Ambassador Scheme’ and the ‘Curriculum Consultants’ model at Kingston University (2017), a programme of BAME Student Advocates was established in 2018 across this university, to raise issues of race equity with staff in positions of power. The scheme has grown from 10 BAME Student Advocates in 2018 to 14 in 2020, offering student advocacy on many aspects of university life, including employability services, the learning environment, academic skills workshops, student community and belonging, and the undergraduate curriculum. The role-holder is employed by the central Student Success Team, and partners with a senior member of staff in each academic school (and several other business functions) to collaborate on specific race equity objectives each year. One recurring aspect of the role involves offering diverse student perspectives on module content, delivery and assessment to achieve a more inclusive curriculum design for programmes with the largest awarding gaps. This article reflects upon the outcomes and lessons learned through conducting 24 such module reviews over a three-year period within a business school and proposes potential future developments.

‘You Learn How to Hate’: Adapting a Healthy Relationship Curriculum Using a Trauma-Informed Race Equity Lens

Teen dating violence is a public health concern that can lead to short- and long-term mental and physical health consequences, including depression, anxiety, risky behaviors, and unhealthy future relationships. Research shows that social and structural determinants of health, such as racism, low socio-economic status, and neighborhood conditions, may predispose certain communities to violence. To better understand methods to reduce TDV among ethnically and economically diverse populations, we used a trauma-informed race equity lens to adapt an efficacious prevention program known as Fourth R. This universal program has been shown to reduce some dating violence, substance use, and risky sexual behaviors, but there remains room for improvement. Specifically, more attention to trauma and the importance of societal risk and protective factors may improve the program’s effectiveness. Thus, focus group discussions were conducted with students and we then adapted Fourth R lessons specific to trauma, racism, and discrimination. Major themes discussed are that Fourth R and other prevention programs should focus attention on social and structural issues, such as racism and discrimination.

A Preliminary Study Interrogating the Cataloging and Classification Schemes of a K-12 Book Discovery Platform through a Critical Race Theory Lens

This article presents the results of a preliminary study to examine the cataloging and classification schemes and ideological factors that play out in book discovery platforms for children’s and young adult books. Using Critical Race Theory and a Rapid Contextual Design approach to exploring the curatorial behaviors of school librarians when searching for diverse books, the study offers design ideas for retooling discovery platforms in ways that bridge the cultural disconnect that young adults from historically marginalized racial backgrounds experience in their libraries. The article concludes that in order for school librarians to find, recommend and teach about books that reflect race, equity and inclusion themes, they need more sophisticated and user-centered features that reflect critical race and multicultural analytic frameworks. This includes the need for a common vocabulary around issues of race, equity and inclusion that can simultaneously cut through the ambiguity of social tagging and yet subvert the status quo of entrenched liberalism and/or racially biased ideologies embedded in traditional classification schemes and hierarchies, such as those used in Library of Congress subject headings. The findings further suggest that school librarians would benefit from enhanced education and training in the intersections of cataloging, classification and critical race scholarship.