Social class inclusivity is a problem in UK higher education.
Research demonstrates that working-class students report being less likely to apply to university than their middle-class peers – and when working class people do enter higher education they may face discrimination and social exclusion. This is exacerbated in creative arts subjects.
We interviewed students currently studying creative arts subjects at a Russell Group university to hear more about their experiences of social class inclusivity. Speaking to ten undergraduate and eight postgraduate students studying a range of creative fields including music, drama and film, we found that working-class students find it difficult to attend class, are disadvantaged in terms of accessing the cultural resources needed to succeed on their course, and feel excluded from social life on campus.
Economic disadvantage presents a considerable barrier to students completing arts subjects at university. To be inclusive, university staff may have to adjust teaching and learning. We would like to make the case for those working in higher education to consider what classed assumptions are made about students in our institutions and accordingly reassess our expectations of those studying the creative arts.
Many of the disadvantages or challenges that working-class students face are connected to wider structural inequalities that are deeply entrenched in our society. At the same time, there are still meaningful interventions that staff can make to support working-class students. We suggest four ways in which university staff can make their practice more inclusive to working-class students.
Discuss working-class stories as present and live
Universities are middle-class spaces. In creative arts subjects, students often make work referring to their class identity. This can be at odds in institutions where middle-class experience is the “norm”.
Class diversity must be present within teaching. More working-class mentorship and role models would help students to feel like they belonged at university – including visiting working-class creatives. Our participants also advocated for contemporary working-class experience in the curriculum, in academic texts, and in the artworks discussed.
Staff must maintain a supportive and safe space when discussing issues pertaining to social class. Staff should also recognise that not everyone wants to talk about their background or experience. Additionally, staff must be aware of social class-based stereotyping that might exist in other students’ creative work, and be prepared to intervene when necessary if (often unintended) prejudices around work, class, accent, or lifestyle emerge.
Adapt teaching to the multiple demands on working-class students’ time
More and more students are undertaking part-time work alongside their studies. It is difficult to devise our curricula for only those students who can commit all their time to studying, when significant numbers are balancing their studies with multiple part-time, temporary and precarious jobs, or with care responsibilities.
Working-class and carer students may be commuting considerable distances to engage with their studies. This is creating a two-tier system of engagement, and many of the students we interviewed felt that teaching and learning on their courses was not flexible enough to support their participation. The same issues are present when students try to engage in extracurricular and cultural activities.
Working-class students asked for more online resources and access to course materials immediately at the start of modules, alongside concerns over early starts and late finishes and travel costs. They wanted permission to speak to staff about part-time work without feeling like they were “doing something wrong” or not taking their studies seriously. The normalisation of working alongside studying is something that staff may have to accept and work with, rather than try to push against.
Early intervention is important
The early stages of the student’s degree are a key time when social class difference and disadvantage is felt, with high levels of anxiety around finance and budgeting in comparison to more affluent peers.
Working-class students asked for the university to provide information to support their transition into economic independence. Examples include advice on budgeting, lists of free resources, inexpensive alternatives and free access to cultural resources.
Peer support plays a huge role in the transition to higher education. Working-class peer support groups and mentorship are as significant interventions to help.
Adjust assumptions and reassess expectations
University staff can make a difference to the experience of working-class students through simple adjustments of the assumptions we make.
Interviewees believed staff made assumptions about what creative arts students should know, or the kind of experiences they should have had prior to university. These assumptions corresponded with a more middle-class experience, for example knowledge of university life, or access to (and the ability to afford) cultural resources or engagement with extra-curricular activities. Participants were particularly frustrated by assumptions from staff that students could afford to pay for learning resources not available in the library.
Extra work is also needed to ensure that working-class or other marginalised students feel comfortable and entitled to ask for help from staff.
Because many students now must work alongside studying, students may have less time to complete their work outside of class. Stronger steers on the amount of time to complete activities and prioritisation of reading, and the removal of blame for those struggling to balance time constraints of working whilst studying can all be effective.
Working-class creatives
Class inclusivity means students feel like they belong on their course, alongside having the financial security to take the time and space to study.
This is particularly important in the creative arts because the more time and space students have to engage with their course or with extracurricular activities like arts societies, the more working-class stories will be represented in the creative work they make. Creative arts subjects must better support working-class students to engage fully with their studies – and not to be disadvantaged by financial pressure, lack of resource, or through feeling like they don’t belong on their course.
Whilst a number of the conclusions might be valid here, the sample can not be considered representative of the experience of students studying “creative arts” degrees. It has included 18 students studying at “a Russell Group” university, and seemingly no students studying Fine Art or Design, which ought, surely, to be included in a consideration of “creative arts” degrees.
The Russell Group will generally have a higher percentage of middle-class students, and lower representation in Fine Art and Design provision than the wider UK HE sector. It would have been better to have a more-balanced article which included good practice from other institutions that this Russell Group institution might learn from. The article would be better titled as refering to the Russell Group rather than UK HE as a whole.
This is not to suggest that there is not a class problem in creative arts education, just that the sample is not representative of the whole.
So refreshing to read this piece that addresses many issues my students and I face where I work, but which are often hard to name, talk about or approach in a practical way. These guidelines are very helpful and will inform my teaching going forward
This raises lots of questions but also offers much helpful advice and further thoughts. It doesn’t claim to be anything other than a small study in a specific location but it is important nonetheless. For anyone interested in more comprehensive research I’d recommend the work of Dave O’Brien and his colleagues. Interestingly, what they say resonates clearly with the findings in this piece of research. https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/dave-obrien
As has been said above – I wouldn’t consider a Russell Group University to be representative of the art school experience. Most of the art schools were absorbed by the ex Polys which are now the Post 92 group. Would like to see this research conducted there as well.
While the Russell Group isn’t representative of UK universities, it’s worth noting that QUB in turn isn’t particularly representative of the RG; we have many more local and commuter students than RG unis in GB and a markedly different demographic profile. We also don’t offer a Fine Arts degree, to respond to the first comment. I’m not saying this makes the study more representative of institutions across the UK than other commenters have suggested – in fact, I suppose I’m saying that it may indeed be unrepresentative, but perhaps not for the reasons people may think when they read “Russell Group”. Class issues play out very differently here in NI on a more general level.
– QUB lecturer not affiliated with the study or with Creative Arts
Interesting article that raises some good points about an increasingly important issue. I agree with the other points about the focus on Russell Group not being helpful. Also design and visual communication feel like big omissions. However, the biggest problem with this article is that it starts from the premise that we should find ways to support working class students in fitting to an academic template. It reminds me of the school in East London that introduced a rowing team as part of a strategy for raising attainment and increasing entry to Russell Group Universities. In my experience this approach negates the students lived experience and a better long term solution lies in meeting working class students where they are. This is not dumbing down. It means introducing high level critical thinking and analytical skills within a context that feels relevant to the learner. It is an approach that requires innovative pedagogy and inclusive learning design. It means collaborating with industry to question the received wisdom of the academic hierarchy. It also relies on engagement. Working class students need to understand the value of Higher Education on their terms and connect it to their lives. It is our responsibility as educators to find ways to make this happen.
Derek Yates
Head of Creative Lab
Ravensbourne University London