Narratives of academic staff involvement in Athena SWAN and race equality charter marks in UK higher education institutions

Recently published in the Journal of Education Policy, this article is written by Dr Holly Henderson and Professor Kalwant Bhopal.

Holly is an Assistant Professor of Education and carries out research in the Centre for International Education Research within the School of Education.

ABSTRACT

In line with other national higher education systems, the UK has, since 2005, taken a formalised approach to improving gender equality in academia in the form of the Athena SWAN charter mark; in 2016, an additional charter mark focusing on race equality (the REC) was introduced. This article, based on data from a multi-site case study exploring the experiences of those in UK higher education who are working on the charter marks, looks at how academic staff become involved in this work. Using a narrative analysis based on the conceptual tools of policy enactment, the article sets out a typology of trajectories of academic involvement in charter mark work. This focus on how academic staff become involved in work on charter marks as policy translators is set alongside a chronological account of the development of the charter mark awards in the UK higher education sector. Through locating staff trajectories in their particular context, we are able to ask questions of how work that seeks to address serious and enduring inequalities in academia is currently allocated and implemented, and with what kinds of expertise.

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