The importance of mathematics and statistics support as evidenced in institutionally-written regulatory documents

Event details

Professor Duncan Lawson, MBE, will be presenting a seminar as part of the Centre for Global Learning’s seminar series on the importance of mathematics and statistics support as evidenced in institutionally-written regulatory documents.

Institution-level mathematics and statistics support is a relatively recent innovation in higher education in the UK, having been first introduced around 30 years ago. Since then there has been a growing body of scholarship and research in this area, almost exclusively carried out by practitioners. Publications have focused on identifying good practice, evaluating the effectiveness of mathematics and statistics support provision and surveying the extent of provision across the sector.

The work presented here takes a different approach to establishing the importance of mathematics and statistics support. It takes as its evidence base a series of institutionally-written regulatory documents, namely

• the institutional submissions required for the TEF;
• the access agreements required by the Office for Fair Access;
• the access and participation plans required by the Office for Students.

In each of these documents, higher education providers are required to present information and evidence about their provision, its excellence and its equity. Institutions can choose what to include in these documents and it is reasonable to assume that they select the information that they think will present them in the best light.

Three research questions have been addressed by searching these documents for discussion of mathematics and statistics support. Namely, what does analysis of these documents reveal about:

1. The health of mathematics and statistics support across the sector?
2. The importance of mathematics and statistics support to senior management and institutional agendas?
3. The positioning and development of mathematics and statistics support within institutions?

This seminar will discuss the answers to these research questions.

Event materials

Download presentation slides.

Enquiries

For enquiries please contact the Centre for Global Learning:

globallearning@coventry.ac.uk

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