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Black British minority ethnics (BME) students are nationally underachieving in comparison to their Ethnic Chinese and White peers, showing typically a 16 per cent graduate attainment gap in the UK. Previous research has suggested that the attainment gap could be explained by BME student disengagement, as the students typically commute from family home to University, and they work part time. However, peer-assisted learning (PAL) has been shown to have a positive impact on addressing and resolving student alienation and disengagement. However, a question still remains regarding whether student perceptions hold up to statistical analysis when scrutinised in comparison to similar cohorts without PAL interventions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper presents the results of a statistical study for two cohorts of students on engineering courses with a disproportionately high representation of BME students. The research method involved a statistical analysis of student records for the two cohorts to ascertain any effect of correlation between: PAL; student ethnicity; and student parental employment on student academic performance and placement attainment.

The results indicate that PAL has no significant impact on the academic performance; however, PAL has a positive impact on the placement/internship attainment for BME students and students from parental households with parents in non-managerial/professional employment.

The research limitations are that the cohorts are small, but more equal diverse mix of different social categories than any other courses. However, as the cohorts are less than 30 students, comparing social categories the data sets are small to have absolute confidence in the statistical results of academic performance. Even the t-test has its limitations as the subjects are human, and there are multiple personal factors that can impact an individual academic performance; therefore, the data sets are heterostatic.

The results highlight that there is need for pedagogy interventions to support: ideally all BME students from all social categery to secure placements; BME students who are unable to go on placement to gain supplementary learning that has the same impact on their personal development and learning as placement/internship experience; and White students from managerial/professional family households to engage more in their studies.

Not addressing and providing appropriate pedagogy interventions, in the wider context not addressing/resolving the BME academic and placement attainment gap, a set of students are being disadvantaged to their peers through no fault of their own, and compounding their academic attainment. As academics we have a duty to provide every opportunity to develop our student attainment, and as student entry is generally homogeneous, all students should attain it.

Previous research evaluation of PAL programmes has focused on quantitative students surveys and qualitative semi-structured research interviews with students on their student engagement and learning experience. On the other hand, this paper evaluates the intervention through conducting a quantitative statistical analysis of the student records to evaluate the impact of PAL on a cohort’s performance on different social categories (classifications) and compares the results to a cohort of another group with a similar student profile, but without PAL intervention implementation.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

This paper explores the neuroscience behind compassion and the role it plays in building psychological safety for effective group work in higher education.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the neuroscience that underpins the psychology of compassion as a competency. The authors explain why this cognitive competency is now taught and assessed on modules of different degree subjects in a UK university.

The paper is divided into first, an exploration of recent psychology and neuroscience literature that illuminates the differences, and relationship, between empathy and compassion for safeness building in teams. Within that, the role of oxytocin in achieving social and intellectual rewards though the exercise of cognitive flexibility, working memory and impulsive inhibitory control (Zelazo et al., 2016) is also identified. The literature findings are compared against relevant qualitative data from the above university, so far, nine years of mixed methods action research on compassion-focussed pedagogy (CfP).

These are that the concept and practice of embedding compassion as an assessed cognitive competency in university group work is illuminated and rationalised by research findings in neuroscience.

The limitations of the study are that, so far, fMRI research methods have not been used to investigate student subjects involved in the CfP now in use.

The paper has implications for theory, policy and practice in relation to managing the increasing amount of group work that accompanies widening participation in higher education (HE).

The social implications of what is outlined in the paper pertain to student mental health, and academic achievement; to policy and practice for HE curriculum design across subjects and disciplines; and for the HE remit to serve the public good.

A review of this kind specifically for student assessed group and its implications for student academic achievement and mental health has not, apparently, been published.

The use of thematic analysis (TA) as a qualitative analytical technique is gaining traction in higher education research. This is a positive development, since TA has a lot to offer in terms of enhancing scholars' analytical prowess. However, its usage in higher education as a field of study appears at times to be inaccurate. In other cases, methodological steps remain unclear, if not completely obscured, making it difficult for a reader to understand how this method should be conducted and/or how specific results/findings have been achieved. Also, researchers have widely embraced a variation of TA that emerged in the last decade and a half, neglecting the original, rigorous method put forward by Boyatzis in the late 1990s. This contribution takes a critical look at the current use of TA in higher education research. It highlights current issues in its application, presents and constructively criticizes the most employed approach to TA in higher education, and proposes greater consideration for TA's original specification and procedural guidelines.

The aim of this paper is to explore the effect of ethnicity and separate this from the other dynamics associated with migration among members of the long-term care workforce in England focusing on the nature and structure of their jobs. The analysis examines interactions between ethnicity, gender, and age, and their relations with “meso” factors related to job and organizational characteristics and “macro” level factors related to local area characteristics.

The paper analyses new national workforce data, the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC), n=357,869. The paper employs descriptive statistical analysis and a set of logistic regression models.

The results indicate that labour participation of British black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in long-term care work is much lower than previously believed. There are variations in nature of work and possibly job security by ethnicity.

While the national sample is large, the data were not purposively collected to examine differentials in reasons to work in the care sector by different ethnicity.

The analysis highlights the potential to actively promote social care work among British BME groups to meet workforce shortages, especially at a time where immigration policies are restricting the recruitment of non-European Economic Area nationals.

The analysis provides a unique insight into the participation of British BME workers in the long-term care sector, separate from that of migrant workers.

This paper presents a thematic synthesis of mental health policies published in England from 1999 to 2020.

This paper aims to present a thematic synthesis of mental health policies published in England from 1999 to 2020. The authors specifically focus on ethnicity-related mental health issues highlighted in policies, policy recommendations and performance measurements of policy implementation.

Findings from this synthesis demonstrate that ethnic mental health inequalities remain comparable over the past two decades. Ongoing issues include a lack of data on the ethnicity of mental health services users. Where data is available, these highlight ethnic inequalities in access to, experiences of and outcomes of mental health services, as well as a lack of cultural capability in health-care professionals. Policy recommendations have also remained the same during this time and include: collecting data on the ethnicity of service users, raising awareness of the cultural needs of Black and Minority ethnic populations amongst health-care professionals, recruiting BME staff into mental health care services and improving community engagement. The synthesis identified poor indicators of performance measurement on policy implementation and weak monitoring regimes.

The synthesis identified poor indicators of performance measurement on policy implementation and weak monitoring regimes.

This paper presents a thematic synthesis of mental health policies published in England from 1999 to 2020.

The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health has recently published a briefing paper on employment support for people from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities who have mental health problems. The author of the paper, Patience Seebohm, summarises some key issues from the paper here.

The National Health Service (NHS) is the largest employer in the UK but, despite decades of equal opportunities legislation, its senior management workforce does not reflect the diversity of either the wider NHS workforce or the UK population. The aim of the paper is to consider the range of management interventions available to organisations like the NHS to deliver change in the area of promotion of Black and minority ethnic staff.

Intervention programmes in a range of public and private organisations are reviewed and the nature of barriers to promotion and the range of interventions to overcome these are explored. The paper uses the paradigm of institutional racism to examine the ways in which the NHS discriminates against certain sections of its workforce. The methods used include a literature review combined with key stakeholder interviews. A comparative dimension which involved a review of research on leadership initiatives in the USA was also undertaken.

The literature review found that there were a range of initiatives which could be implemented by public organisations such as the NHS to increase the presence of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff in senior management positions. Most of these interventions were largely focused on the individual. Much more progress on institutional or organisational change needed to be made before the NHS could be perceived as a model employer in this area. The literature review also indicated that there is little published research on such initiatives within other European Union countries.

The paper is targeted at both policy makers and human resource officers responsible for equality and diversity issues within large organisations, who have a remit to improve the career pathways of staff. The analysis provided offers a set of critical tools and interventions that have not hitherto been well examined in the UK context.