The murder of George Floyd, the degree awarding gap between Black and White students currently stands at 18.5%1 and the School of Medicine’s commitment to the British Medical Association charter to prevent and address racial harassment in 20202, collectively highlighted a need to critically appraise our course. The aim of the initiative was to determine whether we were serving our diverse student community with the appropriate content towards building an inclusive course curriculum and cocreating it with them.
The BSc in Medical Physiology and Therapeutics had its first intake over a decade ago and was closely aligned to widening participation initiatives locally. Since its inception, the course has attracted a significant number of Black and minority ethnic students (BME). During the academic years spanning 2017-22, the BME student course cohort comprised over 50% of the total with BME women being the single largest category (30.7 – 40.9%). Building on an EDI induction workshop introduced in academic year 2020-21, a call to join a student-staff BME review group attracted 5 students to support curricular changes to ensure all felt valued and represented in our curriculum.
The student volunteer group, supported by three academic members was convened early 2021. The group met at regular intervals and were tasked to capture, report and advise where gaps in the curriculum (specific modules and subjects) were identified with consideration of BME perspectives. In addition, the group were asked to highlight areas they felt helped to see themselves reflected in the curriculum. Having our student voices and input was pivotal in order to shape our curriculum and address any inequality, considering the overall aim to identify potential areas for change and ensure a more inclusive, equitable experience for all.
A total of 14 modules over the three year programme were reviewed in terms of content in the initial year which has been pivotal to ongoing curricular changes and developments. From our founding student working group, in excess of 20 topics were identified as being of relevance to our BME students, many being beyond skin colour alone. In addition to proactive action and identifying key aspects that need addressing, opinions of how a more inclusive approach to ethnicity could be incorporated into subjects for the future were gained, and representative aspects of our assessment practice were also highlighted. Positive comments received suggested our students felt well represented in the course from initial intake to the programme.
The original working group has ignited our journey towards equality, diversity and inclusivity in our curriculum review and staff-student partnership in working continues. This initial work showcases the early findings of our original students on the BME working group spanning diverse areas of our course.