Workforce Race Equality in UK Higher Education: an Exploration of the Differential Outcomes for Black Staff

Abstract

For more than a decade consistent attention has been drawn to the under-representation of ethnic minority staff in UK higher education. This attention has focused on the failure of institutions to represent their increasingly diverse student populations through their academic faculty, whilst statistical reports and published research continue to expose the negative workplace experiences of ethnic minority academics. In parallel, ethnic minority colleagues in professional and support roles and their lived experiences of UK higher education have remained largely in the shadows yet mirror that of their academic counterparts. Ethnic minority staff do not share the same lived experiences and despite representing more than a fifth of all ethnic minority staff in UK institutions, black staff experience the least favourable outcomes compared to all other ethnic groups. Black staff are least likely to be represented at senior levels, are more likely to be employed on fixed-term contracts and are paid less than their peers. This dissertation provides a unique, in-depth, multi-layered exploration into the lived experiences of black staff in UK higher education and how these contribute to the differential workplace outcomes evidenced through workforce statistics. The study demonstrates that there are multi-level structural and agential factors that influence the way black staff navigate white hegemonic institutional spaces, that evade or deny talk of race or racism, creating psychological and ethnic penalties for black staff that are materially different to staff of any other ethnic group. The research takes a qualitative, social constructionist approach by employing one-to-one semi-structured interviews with black staff in academic and professional and support roles, equality and diversity and HR practitioners, senior managers in UK institutions and sector agencies. The dissertation applies Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, capital, and symbolic violence to interpret participants feelings, perceptions and experiences of racism and institutional racism in UK higher education. It also offers a perspective as a practitioner-researcher and proposes recommendations to inform policy and practice in the field of organisational equality and diversity, to advance race equality in UK higher education institutions and create good diversity practice across any industry or sector.