Diversity and inclusion in UK Higher Education: staff perspectives on institutional representations and their reality

Figures & data

Table 1. Statements examined in the survey. Each statement represents the policies, understandings and approaches to the specific group considered.

Theme	Statement
Staff overall	“We must support our remarkable staff to continuously upskill and take advantage of new pedagogies and technologies to ensure their classes are of the highest quality … We are committed to supporting staff career growth —building on the capability, leadership, skills and motivation of our staff … while creating a rewarding and engaging place for our people to work.”
Students	“Our students are at the core of everything we do, we provide excellent teaching, engagement and curricula embedded with the latest research, and this is externally recognised. We develop our students socially, culturally, and prepare them for their future careers.”
LGBTQ+	“This institution values all staff and students equally regardless of sexual orientation and is committed to supporting staff and students who identify as LGBTQ+ and against any discrimination or barriers to opportunities for LGBTQ+ staff and students”.
Gender equality and women	“This institution is committed to gender equality for all and at all levels of staff for recruitment and promotion. It follows the ATHENA Swan charter and approaches in line with key government Acts and is recognized by government and industry for its efforts.”
BAME	“We are committed to equal opportunities for all students and staff regardless of race, colour and ethnicity, for recruitment, promotion, pay equity, and are against discrimination. We have dedicated working groups to promote equality for BAME students and staff and all backgrounds.”
Disability	“The institution is committed to ensuring equality in recruitment and opportunities for all students and staff with disabilities, to improving working environments, accessibility, and any required adjustments and specialist support, and is against any unlawful discrimination.”
Carers and those with dependants	“The institution fully appreciates staff may have caring and dependants responsibilities and many policies relate to flexible working and unpaid leave. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests but they are not guaranteed or automatic and must be balanced with work obligations.”
Mental health	“In line with governments Acts and those such as ACAS, we recognise positive mental health to improve performance and poor mental health to cause stress and reduce effectiveness. We encourage openness and confidentiality and provide services to help.”

Table 2. Mean ratings, M, of statements and standard deviation, SD, given in parentheses.

Theme statement	Representation	Reality for staff	Reality for student
Staff overall	3.83 (SD=1.03)	2.87 (SD=0.88)	N/A
Students	4.24 (SD=0.90)	N/A	3.47 (SD=0.92)
LGBTQ+	4.32 (SD=0.77)	3.61 (SD=1.01)	3.67 (SD=0.92)
Gender equality and women	4.20 (SD=0.94)	3.23 (SD=1.01)	3.52 (SD=0.95)
BAME	4.01 (SD=1.01)	3.05 (SD=1.12)	3.22 (SD=1.10)
Disability	4.23 (SD=0.84)	3.24 (SD=1.13)	3.47 (SD=1.06)
Carers and those with dependants	4.05 (SD=0.87)	3.36 (SD=0.97)	3.25 (SD=1.04)
Mental health	3.96 (SD=0.94)	3.03 (SD=1.15)	3.45 (SD=1.03)

Table 3. Percentage agreement with statements and average percentage agreement across all statements (bottom row).

Theme statement	Representation		Reality for staff		Reality for student
	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)
Staff overall	84%	64%	70%	21%	N/A	N/A
Students	96%	78%	N/A	N/A	84%	46%
LGBTQ+	93%	82%	73%	51%	70%	49%
Gender equality and women	92%	79%	72%	40%	70%	47%
BAME	89%	71%	59%	33%	60%	35%
Disability	96%	80%	65%	39%	68%	44%
Carers and those with dependants	82%	65%	67%	36%	51%	29%
Mental health	89%	71%	63%	36%	72%	43%
Average percentage agreement	90%	74%	67%	37%	68%	42%

Note: For ‘representation’ the percentages were calculated grouping: (a) ‘Somewhat similar’ with ‘similar’ and ‘Extremely similar’; (b) ‘similar’ with ‘Extremely similar’. For ‘reality’ the percentages were calculated grouping: (a) ‘Somewhat accurate’ with ‘accurate’ and ‘Extremely accurate’; (b) ‘accurate’ with ‘Extremely accurate’.

Figure 1. Survey answers (percentages). Legend: 1 = Extremely different/Extremely inaccurate; 2 = different/inaccurate; 3 = Somewhat similar/Somewhat accurate; 4 = similar/accurate; 5 = Extremely similar/Extremely accurate; 6 = not sure.

Table 4. T-test results comparing ‘representation’ vs. ‘reality’ for staff and for students.

Theme statement	Representation vs reality for staff	Representation vs reality for students
Staff overall	t(287) = 15.87, p = 0.000, d = 0.935	N/A
Students	N/A	t(282) = 14.31, p = 0.000, d = 0.850
LGBTQ+	t(244) = 11.70, p = 0.000, d = 0.747	t(224) = 10.29, p = 0.000, d = 0.686
Gender equality and women	t(280) = 15.47, p = 0.000, d = 0.923	t(245) = 10.04, p = 0.000, d = 0.640
BAME	t(255) = 13.80, p = 0.000, d = 0.862	t(233) = 11.46, p = 0.000, d = 0.749
Disability	t(256) = 14.44, p = 0.000, d = 0.901	t(243) = 11.65, p = 0.000, d = 0.746
Carers and those with dependants	t(231) = 10.75, p = 0.000, d = 0.706	t(187) = 9.26, p = 0.000, d = 0.676
Mental health	t(269) = 13.06, p = 0.000, d = 0.795	t(247) = 7.72, p = 0.000, d = 0.490

Table 5. T-test results comparing ‘reality’ for staff vs. ‘reality’ for students.

Theme statement	Reality staff vs students
LGBTQ+	t(220)  = -0.68, p = 0.496, d = -0.046
Gender equality and women	t(243) = -6.38, p = 0.000, d = -0.408
BAME	t(223) = -3.18, p = 0.000, d = -0.209
Disability	t(232) = -4.80, p = 0.000, d = -0.314
Carers and those with dependants	t(188)  =  2.06, p = 0.041, d = -0.150
Mental health	t(247) = -7.03, p = 0.000, d = -0.446