Nasrollah Saebi

Are they thinking what we're thinking? College staff and student perceptions of the impact of ethnicity and gender on completion and achievement at a college of further education

This study was carried out with students and staff from a college of further education in south London. The college has a mix of male and female students from a range of ethnic groups, the largest of which is white British. A study undertaken by the college in 2003 indicated that there may be significant differences in achievement and completion rates between genders and between ethnic groups. The college commissioned Kingston University to research into the relationship between gender and ethnicity on student achievement and completion. In this article the qualitative findings from data on the experiences and perceptions of the staff and full‐time students are discussed in the context of the variable completion and achievement rates of the students and results from other studies. The main themes linked to ethnicity, gender, completion and achievement emerging from the analysis indicate broad agreement between students and staff over issues around learning and teaching and written and spoken English; however, their particular perspectives led to their having differing views on the most important factors external to the college and those affecting student motivation.

Influences on Student Withdrawal from Further Education: A Case Study.

Provision of Further Education (FE) colleges is becoming more important to the nation’s education strategy. Much of this provision is in National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ); in 2003/04 almost half a million of these qualifications were awarded. However, in contrast to the situation in Higher Education (HE), there has been comparatively little research into the impact of ethnicity and gender on retention in FE. This study is an attempt to address these issues and, in doing so, to provide statistical evidence for one FE college to assist in their strategic planning. Here, statistical analyses of the effects on student withdrawal rates of the factors: age, gender, ethnicity, studying for a qualification with an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) element and Widening Participation (WP) category are carried out. Our statistical analyses show that, in general, gender is a highly significant factor in withdrawal rates as are ethnic group and WP category. Studying for an ESOL‐related qualification, which is used here as a proxy for language issues, was found to be a significant factor for Entry‐level students only. Age was found not to be a significant factor at any level. This led us to the tentative conclusion that, while external factors such as financial hardship are likely to play a part in influencing the decision of students to withdraw, the different ways that genders and ethnic groups at particular levels of study respond to the college environment, apparently independently of external factors, may be an issue that could be addressed through a review of internal college factors including teaching and assessment.