Gender in Education Conference

University of Portsmouth, Thursday 27th June 2019

Panel Discussion: Changing Mindsets: Reducing stereotype threat and implicit bias as barriers to student success
Presenters: Dr Jessica Gagnon, Paula Green, Vikki Hill, Professor Sherria Hoskins, Maisha Islam, Angel Layer, Dr Arif Mahmud, E Okobi, Laura Watson

Abstract: The Changing Mindsets project is a University of Portsmouth-led Office for Students (OfS) funded project in the UK focused on closing the attainment gaps of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students and working class students. One of 17 OfS catalyst-funded projects focused on closing attainment gaps currently underway across the UK, Changing Mindsets is a multi-university partnership that also includes the University of the Arts London, the University of Brighton, and the University of Winchester.

Nationally, the BME degree attainment gap in the UK is 15% (ECU, 2017). The attainment gap for socio-economically disadvantaged students is 14% (Mountford-Zimdars et al, 2015). Changing Mindsets is a student and staff workshop-based intervention that builds a growth mindset (Dweck, 2017) and provides strategies for eroding stereotype threat (Osborne, 2007; Steele, 1997) and breaking implicit bias habits (Devine et al, 2012)

See full conference schedule here