Inclusive curriculum and BAME student advocacy in a business school: reflections on three years of inclusive module reviews

This article presents a case study of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) student advocacy and its impact upon the curriculum of a large business school within a post-92 UK university. Learning from the University of Birmingham's (2017) ‘BME Ambassador Scheme’ and the ‘Curriculum Consultants’ model at Kingston University (2017), a programme of BAME Student Advocates was established in 2018 across this university, to raise issues of race equity with staff in positions of power. The scheme has grown from 10 BAME Student Advocates in 2018 to 14 in 2020, offering student advocacy on many aspects of university life, including employability services, the learning environment, academic skills workshops, student community and belonging, and the undergraduate curriculum. The role-holder is employed by the central Student Success Team, and partners with a senior member of staff in each academic school (and several other business functions) to collaborate on specific race equity objectives each year. One recurring aspect of the role involves offering diverse student perspectives on module content, delivery and assessment to achieve a more inclusive curriculum design for programmes with the largest awarding gaps. This article reflects upon the outcomes and lessons learned through conducting 24 such module reviews over a three-year period within a business school and proposes potential future developments.

Student Advocacy in Canadian Counselling Psychology Programs: 2018 CCPC Working Group Outcomes

The second Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference, held in Calgary in October 2018, provided an opportunity for conference attendees to participate in one of seven working groups that met over the course of 2 days. Members of one group were tasked with delving into the topic of student advocacy in Canadian counselling psychology. Student advocacy was defined as students speaking up for themselves about what they need in their various graduate programs and educational experiences across Canada. The resulting discussion identified the following broad areas of need and potential program improvement: (a) practicum process and opportunities, (b) preparation for the “real world,” (c) partnerships between university programs and professional communities, (d) increased student funding, and (e) clarity and consistency in program requirements and professional credentialing. Members of the working group developed detailed recommendations and plans of action for each of these areas. This paper reviews the relevant literature on the above topics and expands upon the group’s recommendations for addressing the needs of counselling psychology students in Canada.

From Proposal to Action: Supporting Student Advocacy during Graduate Counseling Training

Training future clinicians to engage in advocacy is an important element of fostering multicultural competence.We describe the use of an advocacy proposal assignment integrated into a required multicultural counselingcourse to teach students about advocacy work. We offer data from a study that examined the impact of theassignment on students’ perceptions of advocacy/activism. Participants included 74 counseling psychologygraduate students. Students in the advocacy compared to the comparison group endorsed greater importanceplaced on advocacy and greater intentions to engage in advocacy. We also offer four examples of students whomoved from the proposal stage to action stage, documenting their projects. Finally, we offer suggestions andrecommendations for supporting students’ engagement in advocacy.

Distributed Cognition and Embodiment in Text Planning: A Situated Study of Collaborative Writing in the Workplace

Through a study of collaborative writing at a student advocacy nonprofit, this article explores how writers distribute their text planning across tools, artifacts, and gestures, with a particular focus on how embodied representations of texts are present in text planning. Findings indicate that these and other representations generated by the writers move through a spectrum of durability, from provisional to more persistent representations. The author argues that these findings offer useful insights into the relationships among distributed cognition, materiality, embodiment, and text planning and have implications for practitioners and students of writing. Additionally, the author recommends that scholars further investigate the ways in which embodied representations of texts are generated through lived experiences with the materials of writing.

“Beating against the Wind”

In this article, authors offer a CRT-driven analysis of in-depth interview data from two African American principals charged with turning around poverty-impacted, largely African-American populated schools. Both served as social justice-oriented leaders who countered traditional administrative approaches and disrupted racially and/or socioeconomically biased practices. Their leadership and student advocacy methods clashed with district ideals and policies, and each faced severe repercussions. The authors highlight why supporting and retaining such school leaders is necessary, and offer strategies capable of helping the educational community move forward in supporting a vulnerable leadership population commonly assigned to improve the most challenging U.S. schools.