What are the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic students in relation to their progression on an undergraduate social work course in one university in England?

ABSTRACT

This research explored the progression experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (B.A.M.E) social work students that were failing and those that were successful on the undergraduate Social Work Degree. Extant empirical literature found that B.A.M.E students have different experiences of social work education and disproportionately experience progression problems compared to their white counterparts. The research was conducted using constructivist grounded theory with data collected and analysed concurrently, through an iterative process and the use of the constant comparison method. The research was conducted at an English post-1992 city-based university, and data collection involved individual interviews with 16 B.A.M.E participants at different stages of progression and analysis of university records. The findings from this research explain the lived experience of B.A.M.E social work students, especially in relation to how students understand and evaluate their self-concept with clarity, their experiences of racial discrimination, and in how students are supported to nurture their community cultural wealth. These key concepts are interdependent and there is power inherent in each of these areas. Guidance has been developed on how students can be supported to nurture their community cultural wealth in developing high self-concept clarity, tackling inequalities and enabling a more successful course progression.

KEYWORDS:

• Black
• Asian and minority ethnic students
• community cultural wealth
• grounded theory
• progression experiences
• racial discrimination
• self-concept
• social work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval details

Faculty (of Health, Social Care & Education) Research Ethics Panel (FREP), Anglia Ruskin University. Ref: 13/051; 17/18/026

A ‘Participant Consent Form’ was provided to all the participants before the interview took place and was discussed verbally before each interview commenced. All participants signed the consent form and a signed copy was provided to all participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jas Sangha

Jas Sangha is a Course Leader and Senior Lecturer on the undergraduate and postgraduate pre-qualifying social work courses at Anglia Ruskin University. Jas has been teaching on various pre and post qualifying social work courses since 2005 and as a result has obtained significant experience and knowledge in Higher Education. Jas completed his PhD in 2020 where he researched the progression experiences of B.A.M.E. social work students. Jas wanted to know what it felt like in modern society to be a B.A.M.E social work student and the strengths and challenges in trying to succeed in becoming a social worker. His research interests are in higher education, social work studies, race and racism.