Attainment
According to the Office for Students, “At each stage of the student lifecycle, outcomes for the most represented groups are higher than those for the least represented groups.” Data gathered from Higher Education Institutions nationally and published by the Office for Students allows us to “identify gaps in access, continuation, success and progression”, both for individual institutions and across the wider education sector. These differential outcomes for underrepresented student groups can be demonstrated by reduced rates of recruitment, admissions, attendance, progression, and attainment when compared to the most represented groups. This means some people may be better enabled to engage with and achieve in education at all levels, resulting in inequity and disparity. Characteristics of underrepresented groups may include, but are not limited to, age, disability, economic status, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation.
Post-qualification, the various health professional regulatory bodies can provide data and insights into how career progression can vary depending on specific characteristics of practitioners. The General Medical Council (GMC) acknowledges that gaps in attainment connected “solely to age, gender or ethnicity” exist in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical training, defining these gaps as “differential attainment”. To address these issues, the GMC commissioned research in 2018 on measures that could be used to address these gaps and enhance the fairness of medical training. The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NWC) continues to analyse “disproportionate outcomes” that exist for nurses and midwives; annual reports demonstrate that “there are differences both in risk of referral to the NMC, and in Fitness to Practice outcomes, for nurses and midwives from particular groups, such as those from different age and ethnic groups.” The Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) has commenced equalities monitoring in November 2019 in order to gain a better understanding their registrants’ characteristics.