Towards addressing the awarding gap-Using critical race theory to contextualise the role of intersectionality in Black pharmacy student attainment

IntroductionThe awarding gap between White and Black students in UK health curricula is well established. Critical race theory (CRT) is a lens to deconstruct pedagogic practice and consider the intersectionality of Black student lived experience to provide a realist critique of the phenomenon of Whiteness in higher education and the impact this has on Black attainment. Using one UK pharmacy programme as a case study, this paper aims to explore Black lived experience as a means of problematising and disrupting structural oppressions.MethodsSixteen Black students from one UK pharmacy degree programme were purposively recruited to the study. Love and breakup letter methodology (LBM) was used to facilitate sharing experiences of intersectionality in relation to their undergraduate education, with data thematically analysed through the lens of CRT.ResultsTwo meta-themes (identity and inclusion; and cultural capital) and four subthemes (social capital; access; family expectations; and help-seeking) were identified. The intersectionality of Black students was articulated as not possessing the social capital and the 'language' to succeed within the White structures of the curriculum. The conflict of capital and the absence of Black culture gave rise to confined help-seeking behaviours. Whilst Black students experienced equality of access to the curriculum, an absence of rights to legitimate involvement (inclusion) worked to diminish participation in the curriculum.DiscussionThis is the first study to consider the intersectionality of Black pharmacy students in relation to academic awarding gaps and has found that oppressive educational structures marginalise and other Black experience. Black students experience the curriculum as a place where their social and cultural capital is undervalued, and as a White space where they lack the artefacts to succeed, leading to peripheral participation and detachment. The approach used in this study can be adopted across medical and health education as a means to problematise racial inequality through the exemplar of White:Black awarding gaps.