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Department Application Bronze Award School of Arts and Cultures Newcastle University 11.5.2018

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ATHENA SWAN BRONZE DEPARTMENT AWARDS

Recognise that in addition to institution-wide policies, the department is working

to promote gender equality and to identify and address challenges particular to the

department and discipline.

COMPLETING THE FORM

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE THIS APPLICATION FORM WITHOUT READING THE ATHENA SWAN AWARDS HANDBOOK.

This form should be used for applications for Bronze and Silver department awards.

You should complete each section of the application applicable to the award level

you are applying for.

If you need to insert a landscape page in your application, please copy and paste the

template page at the end of the document, as per the instructions on that page. Please

do not insert any section breaks as to do so will disrupt the page numbers.

WORD COUNT

The overall word limit for applications are shown in the following table.

There are no specific word limits for the individual sections and you may distribute

words over each of the sections as appropriate. At the end of every section, please

state how many words you have used in that section.

We have provided the following recommendations as a guide.

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Department application Bronze Silver

Word limit 10,500 12,000

Recommended word count

1.Letter of endorsement 500 500

2.Description of the department 500 500

3. Self-assessment process 1,000 1,000

4. Picture of the department 2,000 2,000

5. Supporting and advancing women’s careers 6,000 6,500

6. Case studies n/a 1,000

7. Further information 500 500

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Name of institution Newcastle University

Department School of Arts and Cultures

Focus of department AHSSBL

Date of application 30 April 2018

Award Level Bronze

Institution Athena SWAN award

Date: April 2016 Level: Silver

Contact for application Must be based in the department

Professor Karen Ross

Email [email protected]

Telephone 07798 884110

Departmental website https://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/

1. LETTER OF ENDORSEMENT FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Recommended word count: Bronze: 500 words | Silver: 500 words

An accompanying letter of endorsement from the head of department should be

included. If the head of department is soon to be succeeded, or has recently taken

up the post, applicants should include an additional short statement from the

incoming head.

Note: Please insert the endorsement letter immediately after this cover page.

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School of Arts and Cultures Armstrong Building

Newcastle University Claremont Road

Newcastle NE1 7RU 11 May 2018

Dear Ms Dickinson

As Head of the School of Arts and Cultures (SACS), I am extremely supportive of this application and wholeheartedly committed to further advancing the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in the School. I am personally committed to championing these values to ensure that our School culture is fair, inclusive and enabling so that everyone can fulfil their potential.

We have much to be proud of in the School in the efforts we have already made. At the governance level, School Executive Board demonstrates gender parity in terms of membership and women currently chair all our principal School committees, reversing an historical trend of male leadership. We have also made positive changes in our induction and training processes and we are already seeing some impact with more women coming forward for key roles. More generally, we have responded to work-life balance issues by introducing new initiatives around communication practices, including an email policy. This is part of our broader commitment to promoting a respectful and fair culture for both staff and students.

Looking forward, it is obvious that we still have important work to do on how administrative and pastoral roles are allocated and especially in understanding how and why women’s career progression has tended to slow or stall at higher levels. I have identified the promotions process as a priority action where we can be more supportive of women colleagues. This commitment is already bearing fruit. In the most recent promotions round, six women applied for promotion including one each to Reader and Professor: four were successful with another outcome pending. I have also introduced new guidelines around recruitment to ensure our processes are open, fair, consistent and transparent. The other stand-out issue is the number of staff on fixed-term contracts and the challenges this brings in terms of progressing their careers and this is another priority area- see Action Plan. Mentoring and training are also key issues and I have allocated time in the WAM and financial resources to underpin these activities. To ensure equality and diversity issues are fully embedded in our School, we have made EDI a standing item on agendas and allocated time for all members of the SAT in the WAM.

Ms Sarah Dickinson Hyams Head of Equality Charters Advance HE First Floor, Westminster Tower 3 Albert Embankment London SE1 7SP

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I commend the SAT team under the academic leadership of Professor Karen Ross and with the support of the School Manager, Bev Brooks (Professional Services Lead) for their tremendous work on this application and for their championing of equality and diversity issues in our School. I am pleased by what we have achieved over the past two years and optimistic about the Action Plan we have devised to further embed the EDI agenda throughout our School: we are already planning our pathway to a silver application. I submit this application on behalf of our School, confirming that the information presented here (including qualitative and quantitative data) is an honest, accurate and true representation of our School. Yours sincerely

Professor Rhiannon Mason Head of School

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Abbreviations AP Action Plan

AS Athena SWAN

DELT Director of Excellence for Learning & Teaching

E&D Equality and Diversity

EDIg Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group

ECA(F) Early Career Academic (Fellow)

FA Fine Art (Subject Group)

HaSS Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

HoS Head of School

MCH Media Culture Heritage (Subject Group)

NU Newcastle University

NU Women Newcastle University Women’s Network

OD Organisational Development

PDR Performance and Development Review

PRES Postgraduate Research Experience Survey

PS Professional Services (staff)

SACS School of Arts & Cultures

SAT SACS Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team

SEB School Executive Board – focus on SACS strategy; comprises HoS,

Deputy HoS, Heads of Subject, DELT (UG/PGT), Director of PGR, Director

of Research, School Manager

SLTSEC School Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Committee – focus

on UG and PGT programmes with subject staff and student

representatives

SRC School Research Committee

T&S Teaching & Scholarship contract

T&R Teaching & Research contract

WAM Workload Allocation Model

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TABLES Page #

Table 1 – SACS AS SAT (2017/18) 11

Table 2 - student satisfaction across different surveys 2016-17 15

Table 3 – REF2014 outcomes 15

Table 4 – PGR completions, all subjects, FT and PT 2014-17 25

Table 5 – academic staff by grade – all Subject Groups 2014-2017 28

Table 6 – academic staff by contract type – all Subject Groups 2014-2018 30

Table 7 – academic leavers by grade and Subject Group 2014-2017 33

Table 8 - recruitment process, applications to appointment 2017-18 (to

April 2018)

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Table 9 - recruitment process, applications to appointment 2014-2017 35

Table 10 – promotions by success 2013-2017 38

Table 11 – RAE2008, REF204 by submitted staff 39

Table 12 – training uptake 2014-17 39

Table 13 - committee membership 47

FIGURES

Figure 1 - Equality and Diversity governance structure 9

Figure 2 - UG applications, offers, enrolments - all subjects 2014-2017 16

Figure 3 – UG applications, offers, enrolments – Fine Art 2014-2017 17

Figure 4 – UG applications, offers, enrolments – MCH 2014-2017 17

Figure 5 – UG applications, offers, enrolments – Music 2014-2017 18

Figure 6 – UG degree classifications – Fine Art 2014-2017 18

Figure 7 – UG degree classifications – MCH 2014-2017 19

Figure 8 – UG degree classifications – Music 2014-2017 19

Figure 9 - PGT applications, offers, enrolments - FA and MCH 2014-2017 20

Figure 10 - PGT applications, offers, enrolments - FA 2014-2017 21

Figure 11 - PGT applications, offers, enrolments - MCH 2014-2017 21

Figure 12 - PGT FT degree classifications - Fine Art 2014-2017 22

Figure 13 - PGT FT degree classifications - MCH 2014-2017 22

Figure 14 - PGT PT applications, offers, enrolments - MCH 2014-2017 23

Figure 15 - PGT PT degree classifications - MCH 2014-2017 23

Figure 16 - PGR FT applications, offers, enrolments – all subjects 2014-2017 24

Figure 17 - PGR PT applications, offers, enrolments – all subjects 2014-2017 24

Figure 18 - UG-PGR student progression (pipeline) 2013-2017 25

Figure 19 - the student-academic journey 27

Figure 20 - academic staff by grade – Fine Art 2013-2017 28

Figure 21 - academic staff by grade – MCH 2013-2017 29

Figure 22 - academic staff by grade – Music 2013-2017 29

Figure 23 – academic staff by contract type – Fine Art 2014-2017 31

Figure 24 – academic staff by contract type – MCH 2014-2017 31

Figure 25 – academic staff by contract type – Music 2014-2017 32

Figure 26 - Principal Investigator on applications 2014-18 (to April 2018) 42

Figure 27 - maternity leave in days 44

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2. DESCRIPTION OF THE DEPARTMENT

Recommended word count: Bronze: 500 words

Please provide a brief description of the department including any relevant

contextual information. Present data on the total number of academic staff,

professional and support staff and students by gender.

The School of Arts & Cultures is a multidisciplinary School offering teaching and research in three

subject areas – Fine Art (FA), Media Culture Heritage (MCH), and Music - with a clear commitment to

developing the potential of all our students and staff (Athena SWAN principle 1). We are one of nine

Schools in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS). The School comprises 102

academic staff (43 women (42%); 59 men), 23 Professional Services staff (19 women (83%); 4 men)

and 11 technical staff (2 women (18%); 9 men): thus, the overall gender split is 64 (47%) women and

72 (53%) men. In 2017-18, student registrations comprise 895 UG students (603 women (67%); 292

men); 310 PGT students (244 women (79%); 66 men); and 111 PGR students (53 women (48%) and

58 men). We run 9 UG and 11 PGT programmes.

We have excellent working relationships with a number of local, regional and national cultural

organisations including Tyne and Wear Museums, the BBC, The Sage Gateshead and the Hatton

Gallery, providing a bridge between academic research and teaching and the wider world of culture,

heritage and the arts.

Figure 1 – Equality and Diversity governance structure

We encourage students to get involved in the life of the School through participating as student reps

on subject level and School level committees. We also have student members on our SAT. Our

philosophy is to value and recognise the contributions of all students and staff, and professional

The SAT will

be replaced

by the EDI

group from

May 2018

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development of all staff is an underlying principle. We provide support, mentorship and a working

environment in which we can all thrive.

The School is located across four buildings so in order to foster collegiality, we produce weekly and

monthly email circulars providing generic and research-related information, organise regular Subject

Group meetings and away-days, regular (twice termly) all-School meetings as well as bi-annual

School events to celebrate our successes and welcome new staff. We are currently trialling weekly

coffee mornings to encourage informal networking. The School Manager (Athena SWAN Professional

Services Lead) is currently creating a SACS Communication Plan to improve how staff receive

information and identify ways to improve two-way flows of information and ideas.

The School has a seen a number of key staffing changes over the past 18

months, including a new Head of School (February 2017) and a new School

Manager (September 2016), as well as changes across many SEB roles. These

two senior appointees, together with the wider SEB membership, have made

significant strides in embedding EDI in the School’s processes (Athena SWAN

principle 8), ensuring fairness and transparency in all areas of the School’s

activities, including decision-making: minutes of all School meetings (with

reserved business redacted) are uploaded to the School intranet (see list of

SAT achievements on pages 13,14).

3. THE SELF-ASSESSMENT PROCESS


Describe the self-assessment process. This should include:

(i) a description of the self-assessment team

We set out below the SAT for 2017-2018.

Art café

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Table 1 - SACS Athena SWAN SAT (2017-18) – all personal details have been redacted, as have the names and photos of student members to comply with GDPR.

Name Sex

Job title Role in SAT* Life, EDI interests

Bev Brooks

W School Manager

PS Lead on Athena SWAN Statistics

M PGR

student, Music

PGR rep – 2017-18 Focus group convenor

Clifton Evers

M L, MCH Academic, L, MCH Focus group convenor

Deborah Chambers

W Prof of Media & Cultural Studies

Academic, Prof, MCH

Emma Coffield

W Early Career Academic Fellow

Academic ECR, MCH Visual audit Focus group convenor

Giles Bailey

M L, Fine Art Academic, L Fine Art Focus group convenor

Ian Biddle M SL, Music

Academic, SL, Music Survey

James Davoll

M SACS Technical Manager

PS staff, technical rep Visual audit

Karen Ross

W Prof of Gender and Media

Academic Lead for Athena SWAN Oversight

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Katie Cuddon

W SL, Fine Art Academic, SL, Fine Art Survey

W PGR

student, Fine Art

PGR rep Survey

Lily Asquith

W PA to Head of School

PS staff Officer to SAT

Marianne Archbold

W PG prog Admin

PS staff Focus group analysis

Nadia Hebson

W L, Fine Art Academic, L, Fine Art Survey

Rhiannon Mason

W Prof Head of School broad oversight

Sarah Hill W Early Career

Academic Fellow

Academic ECR, MCH Focus group convenor

Simon McKerrell

M Assoc Dean for Research & Innovation

Academic, SL, Music

M UG – 2nd

year UG – 3rd year

UG student rep – 2017-18 UG Rep – 2016-17

Vee Pollock

W Prof of Public Art

Academic, Prof Fine Art Focus group convenor

* all members of the SAT team contributed to the planning of our SA approach, the development and drafting of the application, reviewing and commenting on drafts and approving the final submission

(ii) an account of the self-assessment process

The current SAT represents a cross-section of the School’s staff and students.

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The process of constituting the SAT started in mid-2016 when the then Head of School sent out a

general invitation for colleagues across the School to get involved. In January 2017, we contacted

students as potential SAT members to ensure representation from across the School’s stakeholder

groups. While we were already cognisant of the need to address gender imbalances in the academic

staffing profile, SEB decided to apply for an Athena SWAN award in order to focus our thinking and

action at both the strategic and operational levels and to progress the larger goal of achieving

equality and diversity within a broad-based inclusion agenda. We were very clear that we wanted to

prompt a genuine process of critical and candid self-reflection which would lead to lasting change.

Currently, academic SAT members are allocated 30 hrs in the WAM and 200 for the academic lead

and we will continue to recognise such membership in future years.

In January 2017, we held two School-wide information meetings to discuss the process and to

develop a provisional timetable of activities. A total of 31 staff attended these meetings and notes

were circulated to all members of the School.

In February 2017, we held our first fully-constituted SAT meeting and organised ourselves into teams

to carry out particular pieces of work: staff survey; images and infrastructure audit; pilot student

data analysis; job descriptions; and statistics. In July 2017, we launched the SACS EDI survey,

achieving a completion rate of 66% (80 staff) with participation mirroring the relative proportion of

academic, professional services and technical staff: the summary results and a list of open-text

themes were circulated to all staff in the School in October 2017. During the winter term 2017, we

held nine focus groups with: parents and carers; LGBTQi staff; ECRs; fractional/fixed-term staff;

professional services; UGs; PGRs (x3): a total of 24 staff and 16 students participated.

Since February 2017, the SAT has met on 9 occasions. Early meetings focused on planning, executing

and reporting on specific pieces of work. Later meetings considered the data generated from such

scoping activities and the staff survey and determined what policy changes were feasible and

practicable for the School to adopt immediately and what further actions could be progressed over a

longer period.

Policy changes deriving from SAT activities (2016-2018)

✓ The majority (75%) of SAT members have undertaken unconscious bias training with the remainder taking the training during the summer 2018: this training is being rolled out to include all staff involved with shortlisting and interviewing by the end of the current academic year.

✓ Recognising a dearth of images of women around the School, we undertook a visual images and infrastructure audit and the first permanent exhibition of photographs of (older) women was installed in April 2018 in one of the School’s primary teaching rooms: the photographer and the PI are both women. We have also influenced the University-wide Art and Performance on Campus group to embed EDI principles in their working practices and ensure that EDI is core to the group’s commissioning policy for new work.

✓ Since March 2017, equality, diversity and inclusion is a standing item on the School’s major committees and is embedded in the governance structures of the School.

✓ Development of a ‘respectful cultures’ policy for staff and students, which will be included in teaching and learning materials from 2018-19.

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✓ Development of 3 x SACS ‘principles’ documents to ensure a shared understanding of the School’s ethos of EDI: email principles to improve work-life balance, especially the working environment of staff on fractional appointments; technician principles to avoid bunching of requests and ensure fair distribution of tasks; recruitment principles to ensure equal treatment, consistency and transparency: these have subsequently been shared across the University as examples of good practice.

✓ Raising awareness of gender equality issues amongst students through an accompanied visit to local theatre (Northern Stage) and subsequent seminar discussions.

✓ Inclusion of ‘good citizenship’1 service activities as part of our WAM from 2018-19. ✓ Establishment of EDI page linked from the SACS landing page. ✓ Revised module proposal form now requires a commitment to providing diversity in

teaching materials.

(iii) plans for the future of the self-assessment team

In May 2018, the SAT will form the core membership of the newly-established SACS EDIg which will

meet at least twice per semester and online where necessary. We will develop a ToR for the EDIg (AP

Sc.1). We will ensure continuity of student membership through calls for participation at the

beginning of each academic session (AP Sc.3). EDIg activities will feed into the School’s broader EDI

policy through consideration of its meeting notes and policy recommendations at SEB (AP Sc.5).

The SAT has identified four key areas for prioritisation and one key priority action for each area, as

set out in the Action Plan:

School culture (organisation, environment, representation, the good citizen) – Key Action Sc.2 –

improving work-life balance (Athena SWAN principles 1, 9)

Achieving and Progressing (mentoring, career development, promotion) – Key Action Ac.1 –

increasing the number of senior women through new appointments and promotion (Athena

SWAN principles 2, 3)

Creating equality early (staff recruitment, induction) – Key Action Cr.1 – establishing a career

development plans for ECRs and staff on fixed-term and fractional appointments (Athena

SWAN principles 6, 10)

Student experience (student recruitment, curriculum, progression) – Key Action St.1 – improving

the attractiveness of programmes to students who are currently under-represented.

The EDIg will be responsible for reviewing progress against the Action Plan. Individual EDIg members

will liaise with the post-holders responsible for particular actions. The EDIg will suggest additional

actions for School Executive Board to consider where progress against Action Plan targets is slow. All

existing SAT members have expressed interest in continuing their membership through to the EDIg

although it is likely that there will be some changes from 2018-19 due to new commitments by staff

and students, as well as the desirability for capacity-building. In addition, the EDIg will also have an

open (non-reserved business) forum aspect where student representatives from Student-Staff

Committees will be invited to attend to bring forward any issues with an EDI component.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

1 For example, membership of EDI, Ethics and other committees; informal mentoring of colleagues; support for PGR student network activities

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Action point Action

Sc.1 Produce Terms of Reference for newly-constituted School SAT/EDI Group

Sc.3 Ensure continuity of student members of the SAT/EDI Group and ensure

representation of all parts of the School

Sc.5 Embed EDI principles in the School’s governance structures

4. A PICTURE OF THE DEPARTMENT


The School of Arts and Cultures is a large and complex school, with three Subject Groups - Fine Art,

Media Culture Heritage (MCH) and Music – and several specialist teaching and research areas within

each Subject Group. In this section, we have mostly disaggregated data by Subject Group to shows

differences between them.

We are proud of our achievements in demonstrating both teaching and research excellence as

evidenced by how students feel about the learning and teaching environment we have created for

them to ensure they get the most from their academic journey with us (Table 2), and by a strong

performance in REF2014 (Table 3).

Table 2 - student satisfaction across different surveys 2016/17

Subject

Group

NSS 2017

% satisfied

% response

rate

PTES 2017

% satisfied

% response

rate

PRES 2017

% satisfied

% response

rate

Fine Art 91 91 82

MCH 95 82 88

Music 80 70 82

Combined 86 62

Table 3 – REF2014 outcomes

Subject

Group

Overall subject ranking

(THES)

Outputs % 4*/subject avg.

across all submitting units

Impact % 4*/subject avg across

all submitting units

Fine Art 22nd 32/18 13/36

MCH Jnt. 12th 33/23 50/35

Music 24th 37/25 20/39

4.1. Student data

If courses in the categories below do not exist, please enter n/a.

(i) Numbers of men and women on access or foundation courses

n/a

(ii) Numbers of undergraduate students by gender

Full- and part-time by programme. Provide data on course applications, offers,

and acceptance rates, and degree attainment by gender.

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Figure 2 shows that across the School, women UG entrants consistently outnumber men. HESA data

for comparable programmes in Russell Group2 universities for 2016-17 show a 69:31 women: men

ratio, indicating that the School’s overall UG gender ratio of 67:33 aligns with the sector average.

However, we are not complacent and intend to revise the ways we market our programmes (AP St.1;

St.2) and better understand what attracts students to our programmes (AP St.3). Although more

women apply, men are more likely to be made an offer (65%:50% in 2014/15; 65%:60% in 2016/17)

although conversion rates of offer to enrolment are broadly the same for both (in 2016/17 it was

26% for women and 25% for men) and there has been a slight decrease (-3%) in the numbers of

offers being accepted by men since 2014/15.

Figure 2 – UG applications, offers, enrolments - all subjects 2014-2017

However, there are differences between disciplines, as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5.

Fine Art – there has been a slight dip in applications from women and men over the past year,

especially men, producing a larger % difference in applications: across the three years, the ratio of

women: men applicants remains at more or less 4:1; in 2014-15, 18% of women and 23% of men

were offered places and 51% of women and 58% men took up places; in 2016-17, the data shows

20% of women and 21% of men were offered places and 49% of women and 59% took them up. So,

despite the much greater volume of women applying, men are slightly more likely to be offered a

place and much more likely to accept, although the percentage of male entrants has decreased from

26% in 2014-15 to 20% in 2016-17.

MCH – applications over the past three years have risen significantly amongst both women and men

but especially amongst men so that they now constitute 32% of applicants, a rise of 9% over the

review period, now comprising 29% of entrants, up 7% over the review period. In 2014-15, 74% of

women and 72% of men were offered places and 23% of women and 22% of men accepted. In 2016-

17, 83% of women and 72% of men were offered places and 20% of women and 21% of men

accepted places.

2 Cardiff, Leeds, KCL, Liverpool and Leeds for MCH and Music; Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford and UCL for FA.

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Apps Offers Entry Apps Offers Entry Apps Offers Entry

Women 1147 577 154 1374 815 205 1311 778 202

Men 481 315 93 630 398 93 634 414 105

Total 1628 892 247 2004 1213 298 1945 1192 307

% Women 70% 65% 62% 69% 67% 69% 67% 65% 66%

% Men 30% 35% 38% 31% 33% 31% 33% 35% 34%

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Music – the gender differences are reversed for music UG courses compared with Fine Art and MCH

although over the three-year period, applications have decreased for women and men but slightly

more so amongst women. In 2014-15, 84% of women and 85% of men were offered places and 19%

of women and 29% of men accepted; in 2016-17, 87% of women and 77% of men were offered

places and 32% of women and 27% of men accepted. So, despite decreasing numbers of applicants

overall, the gender balance on music UG courses has begun to look more even. We do not currently

offer PT routes on our UG programmes.

Figure 3 – UG applications, offers, enrolments – Fine Art 2014-2017

Figure 4 – UG applications, offers, enrolments - MCH 2014-2017

Figure 5 – UG applications, offers, enrolments - Music 2014-2017

Apps Offers Entrants Apps Offers Entrants Apps Offers Entrants

Women 521 94 48 536 117 56 505 104 51

Men 124 29 17 130 28 12 105 22 13

Total 645 123 65 666 145 68 610 126 64

% Women 81% 76% 74% 80% 81% 82% 83% 83% 80%

% Men 19% 24% 26% 20% 19% 18% 17% 17% 20%

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

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Women 449 334 77 675 554 122 668 554 113

Men 132 95 21 256 176 30 311 224 47

Total 581 429 98 931 730 152 979 778 160

% Women 77% 78% 79% 73% 76% 80% 68% 71% 71%

% Men 23% 22% 21% 27% 24% 20% 32% 29% 29%

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When we look at degree classifications, there are no discernible patterns across the three-year

period in terms of gender-based performance, although compared with the gender-balance of

entrants in 2014-15, the 2016-17 results suggest that overall, women are slightly more likely to

achieve a 1st than men. We intend to regularly review performance so as to identify any gender-

based patterns in performance over time and develop actions where relevant (AP St.4).

Figure 6 – UG degree classifications – Fine Art 2014-2017


Women 177 149 29 163 144 27 138 120 38

Men 225 191 55 244 194 51 218 168 45

Total 402 340 84 407 338 78 356 288 83

% Women 44% 44% 35% 40% 43% 35% 39% 42% 46%

% Men 56% 56% 65% 60% 57% 65% 61% 58% 54%

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

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1st 2:1 2:2

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 15 12 16 22 23 32 4 4 3

Men 6 6 4 9 8 4 1 2 1

Total 21 18 20 31 31 36 5 6 4

% Women 71% 67% 80% 71% 74% 89% 80% 67% 75%

% Men 29% 33% 20% 29% 26% 11% 20% 33% 25%

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Figure 7 – overall UG degree classifications – MCH 2014-2017

Figure 8 – overall UG degree classifications – Music 2014-2017

The number of students who were awarded a third class or ‘other’ degree across all our UG

programmes is very small, but for completeness, the stats are: 2013-14 (2 women; 3 men); 2014-15

(2 women); 2-15-16 (1 woman; 2 men); 2016-17 (3 women). We intend to regularly review

performance so as to identify any gender-based patterns in performance over time and take action

where relevant (AP St.4).

1st 2:1 2:2

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 14 9 11 29 60 44 5 11 9

Men 1 3 2 5 8 12 2 4 4

Total 15 12 13 34 68 56 7 15 13

% Women 93% 75% 85% 85% 88% 79% 71% 73% 69%

% Men 7% 25% 15% 15% 12% 21% 29% 27% 31%

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 15 5 7 21 14 20 2 1 3

Men 11 13 6 27 26 23 8 3 4

Total 26 18 13 48 40 43 10 4 7

% Women 58% 28% 54% 44% 35% 47% 20% 25% 43%

% Men 42% 72% 46% 56% 65% 53% 80% 75% 57%

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(iii) Numbers of men and women on postgraduate taught degrees

Full- and part-time. Provide data on course application, offers and acceptance

rates and degree completion rates by gender.

Figure 9 shows that the ratio of women: men students on FT PGT degrees (66:34) more or less

reflects their proportion at UG level and is broadly in line with comparable programmes in Russell

Group3 universities for 2016-17 (60:40). However, note that we only offer programmes in Fine Art

and MCH at PGT level and our PGT programme numbers are significantly higher than most of our

comparator programmes. The majority (around 90%) of our PGT students are international students

and most of them (91%) are following programmes in MCH – see below – and we will analyse student

data to identify gender-based and intersectional trends and determine relevant actions (AP St.3).

Figure 9 – PGT FT applications, offers, enrolments – Fine Art and MCH combined 2014-2017

Figures 10 and 11 show slight differences between Fine Art and MCH programmes.

Fine Art – over the three-year period, applications from women have increased and from men have

decreased; in 2014-15, 63% of women and 60% of men were offered places and 17% of women and

21% of men accepted; in 2016-17, 51% of women and 54% of men were offered places and 18% of

women and 52% of men accepted. So, despite more applications from women, the proportion of

men entrants has increased to the point of constituting 50% of the 2016-17 cohort, largely because

of the number of men who accepted offers.

MCH – over the three-year period, applications from women and men have gone down but especially

from women. In 2014-15, 62% of women and 60% of men were offered places and 16% of women

and 17% of men accepted; in 2016-17, 65% of women and men were offered places and 17% of

women and 25% of men accepted. This has resulted in the proportion of men in the latest cohort

rising from 17% to 23%.

3 Cardiff, Leeds, KCL, Liverpool and Leeds for MCH and Music; Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford and UCL for FA.

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17


Women 1581 979 163 1500 931 131 1429 955 165

Men 343 205 36 332 212 48 314 202 56

Total 1924 1184 199 1832 1143 179 1743 1157 221

% Women 82% 83% 82% 82% 81% 73% 82% 83% 75%

% Men 18% 17% 18% 18% 19% 27% 18% 17% 25%

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21

We will organise focus groups with students in both Subject Groups to better understand what

attracts women and men to our programmes which will inform future recruitment strategies (AP

St.3).

Figure 10 – PGT FT applications, offers, enrolments – Fine Art 2014-2017

Figure 11 – PGT FT applications, offers, enrolments – MCH 2014-2017

When we look at classifications, the number of women and men achieving distinctions more or less

mirrors their proportion in the respective cohort for MCH although men are much more likely to

achieve a distinction in Fine Art than their female colleagues. However, the numbers are very small


Women 94 59 10 94 58 7 106 56 10

Men 40 24 5 37 23 5 35 19 10

Total 134 83 15 131 81 12 141 75 20

% Women 70% 71% 67% 72% 72% 58% 75% 75% 50%

% Men 30% 29% 33% 28% 28% 42% 25% 25% 50%

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17



Women 1487 920 153 1406 873 124 1323 899 155

Men 303 181 31 295 189 43 279 183 46

Total 1790 1101 184 1701 1062 167 1602 1082 201

% Women 83% 84% 83% 83% 82% 74% 83% 83% 77%

% Men 17% 16% 17% 17% 18% 26% 17% 17% 23%

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

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22

and so caution should be exercised in reading too much into these statistics. However, we will set up

a programme of monitoring of award classifications to determine if there are gender-based patterns

and actions required (AP St.4).

Figure 12 – PGT FT degree classifications - Fine Art 2014-2017

Figure 13 – PGT FT degree classifications - MCH 2014-2017

While we offer a PT route for Fine Art at PG level, the numbers applying over the past few years have

been too small to make running the programme viable, thus data for PT programmes at PGT level all

relate to MCH although even here, the programme is very small with low numbers of applicants and

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 2 2 1 3 6 5 3 1 1

Men 3 1 3 5 2 6 0 0 1

Total 5 3 4 8 8 11 3 1 2

% Women 40% 67% 25% 38% 75% 45% 100% 100% 50%

% Men 60% 33% 75% 63% 25% 55% 0% 0% 50%

Distinction Merit Pass

0%

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17



2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 17 15 29 81 74 91 40 25 22

Men 11 11 9 16 18 30 3 8 2

Total 28 26 38 97 92 121 43 33 24

% Women 61% 58% 76% 84% 80% 75% 93% 76% 92%

% Men 39% 42% 24% 16% 20% 25% 7% 24% 8%


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23

thus enrolments. As Figure 14 shows, while there was been a consistent decline since 2014/15 from

both women and men, more offers are being made which suggests a rise in the quality of applicants

and although the numbers are small, men’s take up of offers has doubled since 2014/15. In 2016-17,

we made offers to all applicants and recruited 5 women and 4 men, so the gender balance has

become much more even over time.

Figure 14 – PGT PT applications, offers, enrolments - MCH 2014-2017

When we look at degree classifications, there do not seem to be any gender-based differences

although with such small numbers, it is not really feasible to make inferences. We will set up a

programme of monitoring of award classifications to determine if there are gender-based patterns

and actions required (AP St.4).

Figure 15 – PGT PT degree classifications - MCH 2014-2017

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17


Women 23 20 12 20 15 10 10 10 5

Men 15 9 3 9 3 1 7 6 4

Total 38 29 15 29 18 11 17 16 9

% Women 61% 69% 80% 69% 83% 91% 59% 63% 56%

% Men 39% 31% 20% 31% 17% 9% 41% 38% 44%

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 1 1 3 4 7 6 0 0 0

Men 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0

Total 2 3 4 5 7 7 0 0 0

% Women 50% 33% 75% 80% 100% 86% 0% 0% 0%

% Men 50% 67% 25% 20% 0% 14% 0% 0% 0%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

0

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17



24

(iv) Numbers of men and women on postgraduate research degrees

Full- and part-time. Provide data on course application, offers, acceptance and

degree completion rates by gender.

Figure 16 shows that in relation to FT applications, the number of women applicants and subsequent

enrolments has been more or less stable since 2014/15 but applications from men have increased

significantly and the programme has seen a more than doubling of enrolments. There is therefore an

almost complete reversal of the gender split since 2014/15. HESA data for 2015/16 across our three

primary disciplines show a ratio of 36:64 women to men. For part-time study, Figure 17 shows that

the gender split has moved in the opposite direction since 2014/15 as more women apply and the

numbers are more evenly balanced. We currently do not differentiate PGR data by Subject Group but

we will start recording Subject Group allocation from 2018-19 (AP St.5).

Figure 16 – PGR FT applications, offers, enrolments – all subjects 2014-2017

Figure 17 – PGR PT applications, offers, enrolments – all subjects 2014-2017

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17


Women 188 69 14 174 58 11 190 50 17

Men 81 25 6 94 33 13 135 45 27

Total 269 94 20 268 91 24 325 95 44

% Women 70% 73% 70% 65% 64% 46% 58% 53% 39%

% Men 30% 27% 30% 35% 36% 54% 42% 47% 61%

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17


Women 6 2 1 8 6 6 11 5 4

Men 13 7 7 9 4 4 8 5 3

Total 19 9 8 17 10 10 19 10 7

% Women 32% 22% 13% 47% 60% 60% 58% 50% 57%

% Men 68% 78% 88% 53% 40% 40% 42% 50% 43%

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25

In terms of PGR completions, Table 4 shows the variance in time taken to complete and the small

numbers makes interpretation of the data rather speculative, but women students tend to take

longer (+6 months) to complete on average than men, in both FT and PT modes of study, with caring

responsibilities being a (contributory) factor mentioned by women PGR students. We will identify

what, if any, additional support is required for PGR students who have family or other caring

responsibilities (AP St.6).

Table 4 – PGR completions, all subjects, FT and PT 2014-17

FT 2014 2015 2016 2017-

Women 3 6 6 1

Men 5 6 9 1

Total 8 12 15 2

% Women 38% 50% 40% 50%

% Men 63% 50% 60% 50%

PT 2014 2015 2016 2017-

Women 0 1 2 1

Men 0 2 1 1

Total 0 3 3 2

% Women 0 33% 67% 50%

% Men 0 67% 33% 50%

(v) Progression pipeline between undergraduate and postgraduate student levels

Identify and comment on any issues in the pipeline between undergraduate and

postgraduate degrees.

Looking at the student data overall, the pipeline displayed in Figure 18 shows a high proportion of

women entering higher education as undergraduates but relatively few making it through to doctoral

studies, although we have seen a steady increase in numbers of registrations at PGR level over the

past four years. This trend mirrors the research on this topic.4

Figure 18 – UG-PGR student progression (pipeline) 2013-2017

4 See for example, Miriam David (2015) Women and Gender Equality in Higher Education. Education Sciences 5(1): 10-25.

26

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

Action point Action

St.1 Revise marketing and recruitment plan to improve the number of applicants of the under-represented sex on programmes

St.2 Establish a specific EDI protocol for outreach activities including local school visits, to ensure that women and men staff and students are equally visible to prospective students

St.3 Improve understanding of what attracts women and men to those programmes where they are significantly under-represented to inform recruitment and marketing strategy, including considering intersectional issues such as race and ethnicity

St.4 Analyse progression data for gender-based patterns and/or trends, differentiated by programme and make recommendations for action where necessary

St.5 Establish a recording process to record the discipline base for PGR applicants

St.6 Undertake a focus group with PGR students who have family or other caring responsibilities to identify what, if any, additional support the School might be able to offer.

4.2. Academic and research staff data

(i) Academic staff by grade, contract function and gender: research-only, teaching

and research or teaching-only

Look at the career pipeline and comment on and explain any differences between

men and women. Identify any gender issues in the pipeline at particular

grades/job type/academic contract type.

Having ended the previous section with a description of the student pipeline, we set out the journey

from UG student to professor in Figure 19: the direction of travel for women and men is the same at

Newcastle as elsewhere in the sector, clearly demonstrating the very leaky pipeline for women. We

have identified a number of priority actions we are taking and will take in relation to our preliminary

analysis of our workforce data in relation to gender, in particular around issues of recruitment and

promotion (Athena SWAN principles 2, 3, 5, 6) and we discuss these below and provide an explicit

focus in the Action Plan.

27

Fig 19 – the academic journey 2016-17

*includes Teaching and Research Fellows

The data in figure 19 show 2016/17 enrolments for students and staff employed in the School for the

same year. There has been a 28% increase in SACS academic staff over the past four years, much of

which is the result of an increase in the number of RAs appointed following the success of several

large and successful research bids. This therefore means that their contracts will necessarily be fixed-

term in the first instance (see also 4.2 ii). The majority of these RA appointments have been taken up

by women. The number of SLs has also increased by 57% in the past four years but the trend remains

on average 30/70 women/men in this role (see section 5.1 below on recruitment), the increase partly

due to internal promotion and partly to new appointments. The increased number of male

Professorial staff in 2016/17 was due to internal promotions. We recognise that internal promotion

has been a significant issue for women staff, so increasing the number of women in senior positions

(AP Ac.1) and developing career development processes for staff on fixed-term contracts (AP Cr.1)

are two of the School’s priority actions for 2018-2022.

As reflected in much of the literature on the academic pipeline5 the large Lecturer band shows the

most gender parity and although men still outnumber women, the difference is far less than other

grades. However, women are twice as likely to be on a T&S contract, largely because we have a

significant professional practice component to several of our programmes and staff tend to be

women on fractional appointments. Conversely, the greatest gender disparity is apparent at the

levels of RA (junior) and RF (senior) where the majority of RAs are women and the majority of RFs are

men. The data would suggest progression for women beyond the role of Lecturer slows down

significantly in comparison with their male counterparts and such differences increase as individuals

attempt to build their careers (AP Cr.1, AP Ac.1).

5 Mary Henkel (2017) Gender Equality in Academic Career Progression: A Matter of Time? In H Eggins (ed.) The Changing Role of Women in Higher Education. The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective, vol 17. Springer: 195-207.

28

Table 5 - academic staff by grade – all Subject Groups 2014-2017

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women Men Women Men Women Men

Research associate 3 2 4 2 14 4

Research fellow 0 1 0 1 2 2

Teaching fellow 2 4 1 5 2 3

Lecturer 16 16 15 19 16 19

Senior Lecturer 4 10 5 12 7 15

Reader 0 2 0 2 0 2

Professor 2 8 4 9 3 11

The three Subject Groups show different patterns in terms of gender and grade, as is clear from

figures 20, 21 and 22, for example, there were no women Professors in Fine Art for several years. In

MCH, although there are now three women and three men Professors, there is only one woman SL

(compared with seven men) and no women Readers. In Music, there are no women Professors or

Readers and only two out of nine Senior Lecturers are women.

Figure 20 – academic staff by grade – Fine Art 2014-2017

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20

14

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% Women % Men

29

Figure 21 – academic staff by grade – MCH 2014-2017

Figure 22 – academic staff by grade – Music 2014-2017

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% Women % Men

30

It should be noted, however, that in 2017/18, three women have been appointed as Professors,

two as new appointments and one promotion. We routinely instruct head hunters to provide a

diverse pool of potential candidates with a range of protected characteristics, given the paucity of

senior women and BME staff in the School. We have identified a number of priority actions we are

taking and will take in relation to our preliminary analysis of workforce data as sketched above, in

particular around issues of recruitment (AP Cr.2; Cr.3; Cr.4) and promotion for women (AP Cr.1)

and we discuss these in Section 5 below and in the Action Plan.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

Action point Action

Ac.1 Develop and implement a strategy to support women’s career development including promotion from an early stage, mentoring support, identifying potential candidates for leadership training and supporting such ambitions

Cr.1 Develop and implement strategy for career development for ECRs and staff on fixed-term contracts, including mentoring support and programme of workshops and training

Cr.2 Review internal recruitment policy in relation to shortlisting and interview procedures, including gender balance

Cr.3 Implement HASS EDI statements in all job vacancies and ensure that the criteria articulated in person specifications are appropriate and criteria accurately identified

Cr.4 In-depth analysis of recruitment data to identify patterns and trends in applications to particular grades between women and men; revise recruitment processes to encourage more applications from women

(ii) Academic and research staff by grade on fixed-term, open-ended/permanent

and zero-hour contracts by gender

Comment on the proportions of men and women on these contracts. Comment on

what is being done to ensure continuity of employment and to address any other

issues, including redeployment schemes.

We do not have any staff on zero-hours contracts. There has been an 18% increase of women on

fixed-term contracts over the past four years and an 18% decrease of men, largely as a result of more

women being appointed as RAs. There has been a small decrease of women on open-ended

contracts over the past four years and a small increase of men.

Table 6 – academic staff by contract type – all Subject Groups 2014-2017

Fixed-term Open-ended

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Women 5 6 19 22 24 25

Men 5 3 9 39 48 51

Total 10 9 28 61 72 76

% Women 50% 67% 68% 36% 33% 33%

% Men 50% 33% 32% 64% 67% 67%

31

The staff profile of the three Subject Groups is broadly similar although the larger proportion of staff

on fixed-term contracts in MCH and Fine Art in 2016/17 is largely due to the success of the Subject

Groups in external funding bids with attached research staff, the majority of whom are women.

Figure 23 – academic staff by contract type – Fine Art 2014-2017

Figure 24 – academic staff by contract type – MCH 2014-2017

Fixed term Open-ended

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 2 2 11 9 9 8

Men 4 1 3 11 15 17

Total 6 3 14 20 24 25

% Women 33% 67% 79% 45% 38% 32%

% Men 67% 33% 21% 55% 63% 68%

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17




2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 2 2 6 7 10 11

Men 1 2 5 17 21 22

Total 3 4 11 24 31 33

% Women 67% 50% 55% 29% 32% 33%

% Men 33% 50% 45% 71% 68% 67%

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32

Figure 25 – academic staff by contract type – Music 2014-2017

The School follows the university’s redeployment policy. In the past two years, we have recruited one

member of research staff through redeployment as well as extended the contracts of a further two

members of research staff by identifying additional internal funding. We are currently considering

how we can use research income to provide bridging support to extend the duration of staff on fixed-

term contracts, most of whom are women.

(iii) Academic leavers by grade and gender and full/part-time status

Comment on the reasons academic staff leave the department, any differences by

gender and the mechanisms for collecting this data.

An Exit Questionnaire is included in the University’s Leaver procedure and as a School, we encourage

all staff who are leaving to complete this. In addition, we proactively approach SACS staff when they

resign to encourage them to participate in an informal exit interview with the Head of School or

School Manager to enable us to understand what we may do better to retain our staff.

Academic staff turnover has been low and relatively stable (10% or lower) over the past three years

and leavers have generally been staff on fixed-term contracts, ie RAs and RFs. The majority have

been women (for the reasons already given) and this pattern remains consistent over the three years

of data analysed.


2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

Women 1 2 2 6 5 5

Men 0 0 0 12 12 13

Total 1 2 2 18 17 18

% Women 100% 100% 100% 33% 29% 28%

% Men 0% 0% 0% 67% 71% 72%

0%

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40%

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70%

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90%

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0

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2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17



33

Table 7 – academic leavers by grade - 2014-17

2014/15 Total staff employed Leavers Turnover

Grade Women Men Women Men Women Men

Professor 2 8 0 0

Reader 0 2 0 0

Senior Lecturer 4 10 0 0

Lecturer 16 17 1 (F/T) - FA 1 (F/T) - FA 6% 6%

Teaching Fellow 2 5 1 (F/T) - FA 28% 0%

Research Fellow 0 1

Research Associate 3 2 1 (P/T)* 1 (F/T)* 33% 50%

Total (w/m) 27 45 3 2 11% 4%

TOTAL 72 5 leavers overall 7% turnover

2015/16 Total staff employed Leavers Turnover Grade Women Men Women Men Women Men

Professor 4 9 1 (F/T) - FA 0 25%

Reader 0 2 0 0

Senior Lecturer 5 12 0 0

Lecturer 15 19 0 1 (F/T) - Mus 5%

Teaching Fellow 2 6

Research Fellow 0 1 0

Research Associate 4 2 1 (F/T) - MCH 0 25%

Total (w/m) 30 51 2 1 7% 2%

TOTAL 81 3 leavers overall 4% turnover

5. SUPPORTING AND ADVANCING WOMEN’S CAREERS


5.1. Key career transition points: academic staff

(i) Recruitment

Break down data by gender and grade for applications to academic posts including shortlisted candidates, offer and acceptance rates. Comment on how

2016/17 Total staff employed Leavers Turnover

Grade Women Men Women Men Women Men

Professor 3 11 0 0

Reader 0 2 0 0

Senior Lecturer 7 15 0 1 (F/T) - Mus 7%

Lecturer 16 19 1 (F/T) - MCH 1 (F/T) - MCH 6% 5%

Teaching Fellow 2 7 0 0

Research Fellow 2 2 1 (F/T) - Mus 1 (P/T) FA 50% 50%

Research Associate 14 4 1 (F/T) 2 (P/T) - FA 1 (P/T) 21% 25%

Total (w/m) 44 60 5 4 11% 7%

Total 104 9 leavers overall 9% turnover overall

34

the department’s recruitment processes ensure that women (and men where there is an underrepresentation in numbers) are encouraged to apply.

For all vacancies, shortlisting and interview panels are convened to reflect both the subject expertise

relevant to the vacancy and EDI principles. Since 2017/18, equality and diversity training is a

requirement within SACS for all staff involved in shortlisting or interviews. Training takes the form of

two online courses (Equal Opportunities in the Workplace: Recruitment and Selection; and

Overcoming Unconscious Bias). All chairs of interview panels must have completed the required

training before taking up a panel chair position.

Since 2017/18, we have been keeping a record of the gender composition of shortlisting and

interview panels, alongside application, shortlisting and recruitment data. As Table 8 below shows, of

the last eight appointments we have made, seven have been women.

Table 8 - recruitment process, applications to appointment – 2017-18 (to April 2018)

Applicants Shortlisting

panel Interviewed Interview

panel Appointed 2017-18 Women Men ?* Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men

Early Career Academic Fellow 46 40 2 2 3 3 1 3 2 1 0

L Film Theory 19 34 9 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 0

TF Art History 22 6 0 2 1 3 1 2 5 1 0

L Multimedia Journalism 10 10 0 1 2 3 1 2 4 1 0

L Folk and Traditional Music 6 4 0 2 2 3 1 2 4 1 0

L Printmaking 6 7 0 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 0

L Fine Art: Moving Image 14 20 0 2 3 2 3 3 3 0 1

L Corporate Comms/PR 5 4 0 1 2 3 2 1 5 1 0

TOTAL 128 125 11 12 19 22 14 16 31 7 1

*unable to determine sex of candidates from paperwork available

During 2016/17, we developed guidance in relation to the process of shortlisting and interview which

embeds principles of equality, diversity and inclusion and since 2017/18, the guidance has been

available on the intranet. The Head of School or Deputy Head of School sits on all interview panels

for academic appointments at Lecturer or above and the panel chair is normally a senior colleague

from outside the School. For RA and RF appointments, the relevant Head of Subject or Subject

Director of Research sits on the interview panel alongside the PI where appropriate. However, Table

8 shows that there remains a gender imbalance on most interview panels. However, all panels do

include women and with recent appointments and promotions, more women are in senior positions

and thus able to participate in shortlisting and interviewing. In addition, we encourage all staff who

are interested in serving on shortlisting and interview panels, to undertake the requisite training so

that they are ready to take on such responsibilities when an opportunity arises.

Application data over the three-year review period indicate that more women than men applied

overall, but there were variations depending on the seniority of the vacancy. We routinely include an

EDI principles statement in our adverts (AP Cr.3). There is no evidence of differences in the overall

success rates for women and men between the three Subject Groups, although women applying for

senior positions are more likely to be successful. Table 8 above which provides data on the most

https://vacancies.ncl.ac.uk/CandidateSearch.aspx?FromRecruiterHome=True&VacancyId=146839&LiveStat=&Sp=1

35

recent appointments shows a less pronounced gender skew in applications although all the vacancies

are for entry level positions.

Table 9 - Recruitment process, applications to appointment, all Subject Groups 2014-2017

Year Job Role Applications Interviewed Appointed

W M W M W M

2014-15 Teaching Fellow/Lecturer in Journalism 0 2 0 1 0 1

Lecturer in Digital Cultures 9 14 2 3 1 1

Lecturer in Art History* 42 26 4 3 1 2

2015-16** Research Assistant/Associate 2 1 0 1 0 1

Research Assistant 18 3 2 2 1 0

Research Assistant/Associate 2 3 1 0 1 0

Research Assistant/Associate 2 2 1 1 0 1

Senior Lecturer in Music 7 26 2 2 0 1

Teaching Fellow in Curating 28 11 2 3 0 1

Teaching Fellow in Print 7 8 2 1 1 0

Lecturer in Fine Art: Moving Image 16 21 2 2 1 0

Lecturer in Journalism 3 11 0 3 0 1

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Film Practice 2 17 1 3 0 1

Research Associate - Digital Interfaces and Debt

4 9 1 2 1 0

Senior Lecturer/Lecturer in Music 19 29 0 4 0 1

Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies 24 37 1 2 1 1

Norma Lipman Trust/BALTIC Fellow in Ceramic Sculpture

17 9 2 1 1 0

Early Career Academic Fellow 2 0 1 0 1 0

Research Associate (x2 Posts) 4 0 3 0 2 0

Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Heritage Studies

3 3 2 1 1 0

Teaching Fellow in Traditional and Folk Music

4 2 1 0 1 0

Professor of Media, Culture and/or Heritage

9 10 3 1 1 0

Year

Job Role

Applications

Interviewed

Appointed

W M W M W M

2016-2017*** Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Heritage Studies

6 6 0 2 2 1

Teaching Fellow in Art History 15 16 3 1 0 1 Research Associate 13 3 5 0 1 0

Lecturer in Digital Media 6 14 1 3 0 1

Research Associate 1 0 1 0 1 0

36

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Music 12 44 0 4 0 1

Research Associate 1 2 0 1 0 1

Professor of Fine Art 22 30 5 0 2 0

* although originally advertised as one post, we subsequently recruited to two additional posts ** in addition, there were a total of 39 applicants and 5 interviewees whose sex was unidentified ***in addition, there were a total of 7 applicants whose sex was unidentified

(ii) Induction

Describe the induction and support provided to all new academic staff at all

levels. Comment on the uptake of this and how its effectiveness is reviewed.

Poor experiences of induction amongst new staff was an issue mentioned in both the Employee

Engagement Survey and the SACS EDI survey. In response (AP Cr.6),

since the beginning of 2017-18, the School has run monthly induction

events to discuss School systems and procedures and developed a

School Induction Handbook and Induction Checklist. Induction events

are open to all staff, regardless of length of service. So far this year, we

have run two social events where new staff have been invited to

provide short (Pecha Kucha-style) presentations and connect with

colleagues on an informal basis and both events have been very well

attended. These strategies ensure that all new staff feel welcomed and

fully integrated into the School and that inductions are timely and

consistent. We also provide specific induction session on research

processes for both new and existing staff, where key post-holders

involved in research management (School Director of Research and Director of Impact, Subject Heads

of Research and Impact Champions, and the School’s Research Administrator) describe their area of

responsibility and the various processes which support and promote the research enterprise.

In addition, all new staff are appointed a formal mentor although informal mentoring practices are

also common (AP Cr.7). New academic staff are also provided with a research mentor and since

2017-18, all staff have been able to work with a research mentor. The University also runs a year-

long programme for senior women in mentoring skills to provide a support structure for younger

women academics coming up through the ranks. The three women professors in the School who

were in post during 2015-17 have all participated in this programme and are currently mentoring less

experienced women colleagues in the School as well as peer-mentoring each other.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

Action point Action

Cr.3 Implement HASS EDI statements in all job vacancies

Cr.6 Ensure all new staff are welcomed into the School through welcome meetings with key

staff, attendance at induction meetings; line manager to complete an induction

checklist with new staff and form to be sent to School PA; ensure that the School and

Subject Group email lists are regularly updated with details of new staff, including staff

37

(iii) Promotion

Provide data on staff applying for promotion and comment on applications and

success rates by gender, grade and full- and part-time status. Comment on how

staff are encouraged and supported through the process.

The Head of School sends an email to all staff to alert them to the start of the promotions process,

including key milestones in the process (AP Ac.2). Career progression and promotion is always

discussed during the annual Performance and Development Review (AP Cr.5). At the commencement

of the promotion round, colleagues seeking promotion are advised to discuss their intention with the

Head of Subject. They will also usually discuss their draft application either with the Head of Subject

or their mentor or their line manager. The Head of School is also actively involved in supporting

colleagues applying for promotion, including discussing fit with criteria and providing feedback on

draft applications. In the SACS EDI survey, 68% of women and 73% of men agreed/strongly agreed

that they have been or would be supported by senior colleagues when applying for promotion. While

this was a better result than the University average, it nonetheless means that a significant

proportion of staff do not feel supported, which demands a response. We have since put in place a

mentoring system where all staff applying for promotion work with a mentor in preparing their

application (AP Ac.1).

Staff are also encouraged to attend the workshops organised by Organisational Development on the

promotion process. For senior staff seeking promotion to professor, they will usually discuss their

intention with the Head of School who will also comment and advise on their application. Feedback

on unsuccessful applications for promotion is provided by the Head of School for applications up to

Reader and by the HASS PVC for professorial applications.

Table 10 shows that 46 members of staff submitted applications for promotion during 2013-17,

across a range of grades: of those, 13 women (4FT / 9PT – 72%) and 21 men (19FT / 2PT – 75%) were

successful. The higher number of men applying reflects the gender balance of the School at the time

of the respective yearly promotion rounds. While women are slightly less successful in their

promotion applications than men overall, women on fractional contracts are more frequent

applicants (12:4) and significantly more successful (75%:25%) than men on the same contract.

Women have been more successful in their promotion ambitions in recent years for more senior

promotions: the first application for promotion to Professor by a woman applicant over the past four

years was successful.

on fractional and fixed-term contracts; ensure that line managers and PIs are aware of

the need to pass on such details to the School’s PA who keeps the lists updated.

Cr.7 Implement a formal process of mentoring training which attracts a tariff in the WAM;

circulate details of process to all staff as well as the training offered by OD.

38

Table 10 – promotions by success 2013-2017

(iv) Department submissions to the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Provide data on the staff, by gender, submitted to REF versus those that were

eligible. Compare this to the data for the Research Assessment Exercise 2008.

Comment on any gender imbalances identified.

For REF2014, a total of 67 research active staff were eligible comprising 34% women and 66% men.

The school submitted 18 women (34%) and 35 men (66%) totalling 53. Of the 14 staff who were not

included in the census, 9 were men and 5 were women. Although women were slightly less likely to

be submitted than men, the differences do not seem to be significant.

It is difficult to make direct comparisons between submissions rates in REF2014 and RAE2008, since

the School was constituted differently in 2008 and did not include Media, Culture, Heritage at that

time. However, Table 11 indicates very similar proportions of women to men eligible staff and similar

propensities to be submitted or excluded.

Year Promotion to # applications Y N Y N Y N Y N

Chair 1 1

Reader 2 1 1

SL 5 1 1 2 1

Lecturer G 1 1

SL 4 1 2 1

Lecturer G 2 1 1

Chair 3 3

SL 8 1 1 3 2 1

Lecturer G 4 1 2 1

Chair 2 1 1

Reader 3 1 2

SL 5 1 1 3

Lecturer G 5 1 3 1

SRA 1 1

TOTAL 46 4 2 9 3 19 5 2 1

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

Women - successful (Y/N) Men - successful (Y/N)

Full Part Full Part

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

Action point Action

Ac.1 Develop and implement strategies to support women’s career development,

including support for promotion and the allocation of a mentor to support

promotion applications; support for colleagues who were unsuccessful

Ac.2 Enhance communication activities so that all staff are aware of post and role

vacancies as they arise and promotions rounds and criteria

Cr.5 Strengthen the guidance on training requirements and develop a protocol on

training compliance in relation to recruitment, line management and PDR

39

Table 11 – RAE2008, REF204 by submitted staff

RAE 2008 Women Men Total

Eligible 20 26 46

Submitted 14 (70%) 19 (74%) 33 (72%)

Not Submitted 6 7 13

REF2014 Women Men Total

Eligible 23 44 67

Submitted 18 (78%) 35 (80%) 53 (79%)

Not Submitted 5 9 14

5.2. Career development: academic staff

(i) Training

Describe the training available to staff at all levels in the department. Provide

details of uptake by gender and how existing staff are kept up to date with

training. How is its effectiveness monitored and developed in response to levels of

uptake and evaluation?

Training courses, events and programmes are available to all staff at all career stages. Formal training

is provided by Organisational Development and the university provides a comprehensive range of

training courses which are regularly advertised on email and through monthly newsletters, which run

across all academic functions. The courses on offer have had a good take-up by SACS staff, as shown

in Table 12 below.

Table 12 - Training uptake 2014-17

Staff training - summary of attendance

Women Men

2014/2015 82 62

2015/2016 34 41

2016/2017 80 60

The data above include three members of staff who participated in the “Women in Academia:

Mentoring” programme in 2015/16 (1) and 2016/17 (2). A range of ad hoc training is provided by the

School on particular processes. Professional Services colleagues are given opportunities to develop

skills through a programme of workshops and events offered at both University and Faculty levels.

All staff (both professional services and academic) are encouraged to attend externally-run courses

as part of their continuing professional development and fees are covered by the School. We have

also created a ring-fenced budget for training and senior staff mentor colleagues moving into SEB

roles. So far, during 2017-18, we have supported seven colleagues in this way. After OD-organised

training events have been concluded, staff are generally sent an online evaluation form to complete

or a hard-copy form is available at the event itself, and participants invited to provide feedback. Since

2017/18, all School-based training events have included a post-hoc online evaluation process and

40

responses are being monitored to gauge effectiveness and to inform a future programme of events,

including topics suggested by staff.

(ii) Appraisal/development review

Describe current appraisal/development review schemes for staff at all levels,

including postdoctoral researchers and provide data on uptake by gender. Provide

details of any appraisal/review training offered and the uptake of this, as well as

staff feedback about the process.

All staff in SACs undertake an annual Performance Development Review (PDR) to reflect on the

previous year including achievements against objectives and set priorities and objectives for the next

12 months. Career goals including promotion are also discussed as well as work-life balance issues

where there are concerns identified by reviewees. New members of staff are directed towards

further information about PDRs as part of their online induction and PDR reviewers must undertake

training before they take up their role. Current courses include: “Getting the most from your PDR:

the process” (for reviewees) and “Conducting effective PDRs” (for reviewers). The current rate of

completion for PDRs in SACS is 94%. In the last Employee Engagement Survey, 65% of staff said they

had received constructive feedback during their PDR, with men (68%) slightly more positive than

women (63%). In addition, staff on T&R and R contracts also complete an annual Personal Research

Plan in the Spring term which focuses explicitly on research career development and from 2017/18,

staff on T&S contracts complete a Teaching and Scholarship Research Plan which is discussed with

their line manager.

(iii) Support given to academic staff for career progression

Comment and reflect on support given to academic staff, especially postdoctoral

researchers, to assist in their career progression.

In the SACS EDI survey, 75% of women

and 72% of men agreed/strongly agreed

that they have been supported by

senior colleagues in working towards

their career goals, although staff on

fractional appointments and Early

Career Academics recruited to fixed-

term contracts were less satisfied. This is consistent with research on this topic.6 We are supporting

colleagues with a range of activities relating to career development (AP Cr.1). Line managers, Heads

of Subject and the Head of School are all available to advise and guide staff who are seeking to

progress their careers, including through the internal promotion processes. Since promotion criteria

include undertaking management and administrative roles, we ensure that all such roles are rotated

and advertised internally (AP Ac.2). From 2018-19, we will promote role-sharing to enable colleagues

on fractional appointments to gain the management/administrative experience necessary for

promotion (AP Ac.3). The School also provides opportunities for staff to shadow colleagues.

6 Marie-Pierre Moreau and Murray Robertson (2017) Carers and careers: career development and access to leadership positions among academic staff with caring responsibilities. University of Roehampton /Leadership Foundation. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.

My commitment to working on a part-time basis and

moving from contract to contract arises out of my role as

the primary caregiver for my children. I recognize that this

decision disadvantages me in terms of career progression

etc. (male academic staff member)

41

In terms of supporting research careers, all staff on T&R contracts are provided with a standard

allocation of £1500 per year, pro rata, to cover activities such as conferences, research visits and

other research-related resources.

All staff on T/R contracts are eligible to apply for a sabbatical after the completion of six semesters

and to apply for additional internal support for research activities. Since the end of 2016/17, all staff,

regardless of their contract type, have been eligible to apply for internal funding support for

scholarship or research projects and since 2017/18, all staff have been eligible to apply for sabbatical

leave. Since more women than men are on T&S contracts, this is a significant step forward in

enabling women to develop their careers.

(iv) Support given to students (at any level) for academic career progression

Comment and reflect on support given to students at any level to enable them

to make informed decisions about their career (including the transition to a

sustainable academic career).

We recognise the importance of supporting students to progress their academic careers (Athena

SWAN principles 1, 2, 9) and all students in the School are assigned a personal academic tutor whom

they meet in a demand-led system. We provide information events for students interested in further

academic study, including events around the criteria for applying for studentships on offer in the

Doctoral Training Partnerships in which we are involved including NINE (ESRC) and Northern Bridge

(AHRC).

Given the diversity of disciplines taught within the School, each Subject Group is responsible for

developing its own response to careers advice and development for students. For example, Music

offers modules in teaching music in schools and enterprise and in 2017-18, launched performance

scholarships (six per year), which include liaison with and mentoring by members of Royal Northern

Sinfonia.

In Fine Art, LifeWorkArt is a professional practice programme that runs across all year levels and

includes two postgraduate modules on Freelancing in Arts & Cultures available to all students in the

School. In particular, it supports students in developing projects outside the university such as

exhibiting, public art and placements with artists and arts organisations.

The majority of our 2nd and 3rd year PGR students also teach into the programmes we run. From

2017-18, we have been offering PGR teaching scholarships on a competitive basis which have proved

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

Action point Action

Cr.1 Implement a strategy for career development for ECRs, RAs and RFs, almost all

of whom are women and on fixed-term contracts, to include workshops on

career development, bid-writing, research funding opportunities targeted at

ECRs

Ac.2 Enhance communication activities so that all staff are aware of post and role

vacancies as they arise

Ac.3 Review the requirements of significant administrative and management tasks in

relation to scheduling, job-share and WAM implications

42

successful in enhancing confidence and skills development: 8 women and 4 men applied and 4

women and 3 men were awarded. Students present their work at internal seminars and conferences

and are financially supported to present at national and international external conferences.

(v) Support offered to those applying for research grant applications

Comment and reflect on support given to staff who apply for funding and what

support is offered to those who are unsuccessful.

Support for staff applying for external grants is provided at Subject Group level through a system of

research mentors and buddies, at School level with a dedicated Research Coordinator, and at Faculty

level, through our two Research Funding Development Managers. Information events so far this year

(2017/18) included one on Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowships, how to use the internal system for

uploading publications, sessions on H2020, REF2021 and a research induction for new staff. There is

also financial support for bid-writers via the Faculty Grant Preparation Fund, as well as SACS-specific

funding (School Strategic Research Fund) which is available on a competitive basis. Other,

developmental, support is routinely provided through mentoring and internal review of grant

applications by senior colleagues: Subject Group-level peer review is provided for all proposals and

Faculty-level peer review is a requirement for all proposals into RCUK or other major funders. Grant

applications, both successful and unsuccessful, are discussed as part of annual performance and

development review as well as considered in promotions. Individuals who are unsuccessful are

invited to discuss how bids might be repurposed for a different funder, usually with their research

mentor or Subject Head of Research.

Figure 26 - Principal Investigator on applications 2014-18 (to April 2018)

Of the PIs applying for funding,

some have made multiple

applications, so that of the 77

applications made, there are 11

individual women and 22 individual

men applicants, of whom 2 women

are professors, compared with 11

men. In terms of success, in

2014/15, 1 woman, 1 man; in

2015/16, 0 women, 10 men; in

2016/17, 3 women, 6 men; in

2017/18 so far, 1 woman and 1 man. We recognise the importance of grant capture in relation to

developing disciplinary reputation and professional development, as well as promotion and we are

including support for bid-writing as part of our career development plans for less experienced

colleagues (AP Cr.1).

5.3. Flexible working and managing career breaks

Note: Present professional and support staff and academic staff data separately

(i) Cover and support for maternity and adoption leave: before leave

Explain what support the department offers to staff before they go on maternity

and adoption leave.

0

5

10

15

20

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

women men

43

Information regarding maternity and adoption leave is available on the University’s HR website and

a link to relevant pages is included in the School’s Handbook as well as in induction sessions. Staff

(both academic and PS) who are due to go on maternity/adoption leave for an extended period,

will have informal discussions with their line manager to discuss the workload that needs to be

covered and the best options for this. They will also agree contact preferences during the leave

period and will be made aware of, where relevant, Shared Parental Leave and Keeping in Touch

(KIT) days. They will also be offered a meeting with the Head of School or School Manager to

discuss their plans if they wish.

Where relevant, we extend regular contracts (or seek a no-cost extension to contracts tied to

external funding) so that the length of an individual’s fixed-term contract is not affected by taking up

a period of maternity or adoption leave.

In 2017-18, the University introduced a Returners Support Programme that offers additional financial

support if needed, to staff who have taken time off work for caring responsibilities to minimise the

impact of extended leave on the delivery of their teaching, research and scholarship activities, thus

enabling continued career development. Details of the programme are included in the induction pack

for new starters and details of the new programme have been circulated to all staff.

(ii) Cover and support for maternity and adoption leave: during leave

Explain what support the department offers to staff during maternity and

adoption leave.

We ensure that staff on maternity of adoption leave are included in communications as agreed with

them prior to taking up their leave. Staff are eligible to use up to 10 KIT days but are not required to

do so. We currently have two members of staff on maternity/adoption leave who have both utilised

KIT days to allow them to retain links with their team, keep up to date with events as well as carry

out some research grant preparation work.

(iii) Cover and support for maternity and adoption leave: returning to work

Explain what support the department offers to staff on return from maternity

or adoption leave. Comment on any funding provided to support returning staff.

See details on the Returners Support Programme in 5.5(i).

All staff preparing to return from a period of maternity/adoption/parental leave are invited to have a

return-to-work discussion with their line manager: for professional services staff, this meeting is with

the School Manager and for academic staff, the meeting is with the relevant Head of Subject. During

the meeting, the returning member of staff is apprised of any changes to procedures or processes

which have occurred during their period of leave. They also discuss any adjustments that they may

feel necessary to help ease and support their return, such as later start times or earlier finish times.

They are also made aware of flexible working options that may be appropriate: these are included in

the Staff Handbook and signposted at induction events to all staff, not just those with caring

responsibilities.

(iv) Maternity return rate

Provide data and comment on the maternity return rate in the department.

Data of staff whose contracts are not renewed while on maternity leave should be

included in the section along with commentary.

44

Figure 27 - maternity leave in days

Four members of staff (all

academic) have taken

maternity leave between

2013/14 and 2016/17, all

of whom are full-time and

chose to return to work

on the same basis.

(v) Paternity, shared parental, adoption, and parental leave uptake

Provide data and comment on the uptake of these types of leave by gender and

grade. Comment on what the department does to promote and encourage take-

up of paternity leave and shared parental leave.

Four staff (all academic) have taken paternity leave between 2013/14 and 2016/17, two taking 10

days and two taking 5 days each (three of the four men took leave in 2014/15). The School

encourages staff to take paternity leave and University policy is included in the Staff Handbook and

highlighted at induction.

One member of staff (academic, female) recently took adoption leave for five months in 2017-18 but

we have had no other requests for this type of leave in the previous three years.

We have had no requests for Parental Leave or Shared Parental Leave, although all staff are made

aware of the availability of these schemes through the Staff Handbook and induction sessions (AP

Sc.4).

(vi) Flexible working

Provide information on the flexible working arrangements available.

The School has a long-standing commitment to flexible working supported at a senior managerial

level and it has been extended across all grades of staff where this is compatible with the demands of

the job. We have recently approved three applications for flexible working from PS staff including

one for compressed hours, one that includes working from home one day a week and one to reduce

hours. However, most arrangements are informal through discussion and agreement with line

managers. We do not record data on how many staff work flexibly in this way but there are many

examples including starting/finishing earlier/later and working from home when appropriate: the

lack of data is being addressed as part of a wider initiative within HR to improve data capture.

(vii) Transition from part-time back to full-time work after career breaks

Outline what policy and practice exists to support and enable staff who work part-

time after a career break to transition back to full-time roles.

The University has clear policies and options for staff who would like to change their

working hours from part- to full-time or vice versa, following a career break and the

Head of School/School Manager will meet with individuals to discuss requests on a case

by case basis, taking a flexible approach.

200252

179

252

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

45

5.4. Organisation and culture

(i) Culture

Demonstrate how the department actively considers gender equality and

inclusivity. Provide details of how the Athena SWAN Charter principles have been,

and will continue to be, embedded into the culture and workings of

the department.

The School has a long-standing commitment to encouraging all staff and students to reach their

potential (Athena SWAN principle 1) and In the SACS EDI survey, 84% of staff agreed/strongly agreed

that the School promotes an equality and

diversity agenda which benefits everyone,

with women being more positive (87%)

than men (82%). The survey also showed

that the majority of staff believe that the

School provides a collegial working

environment: focus groups with students

share a similar perception of the School as a welcoming environment for teaching and learning

(Athena SWAN principles 8, 9).

In the Armstrong Building which houses MCH and Music, the staffroom is shared by staff and PGR

students and has become the hub of sociability between them, facilitating casual conversation and

collegiality. In King George VII building which houses Fine Art, the Art Café is run and managed by

students (for staff and students) and is another venue for relationship-building between students

and staff (Athena SWAN principle 5).

Communication issues are often cited as a primary cause for concern for staff working in large

organisations and our School is no different. From 2017/18, we have been producing regular

newsletters which contain key announcements such as funding successes and notification of

meetings and events. We organise all-School meetings twice each semester which have a policy or

research focus which always start with lunch and usually includes an open mic and/or Q&A session.

To improve transparency, minutes of all formal School meetings are uploaded to the shared drive,

including action points from SAT meetings.

The SACS EDI survey identified issues around work-life balance and well-being, an issue that is

consistently identified in research on the contemporary culture of higher education. From 2017-18,

we have taken a proactive approach to the issue, including organising one workshop in January 2018

ACTION

Action point Action

Sc.4 Embed the principles of flexible working, maternity, paternity, adoption and

parental leave, and career breaks through awareness-raising and information-

sharing.

Cr.1 Implement a strategy for career development for ECRs, RAs and RFs and staff

on fixed-term contracts, almost all of whom are women, to include workshops

on topics such as career development, bid-writing, identifying research funding

opportunities targeted at ECRs and working with a research mentor.

After the seminars were finished, all the PhD students

[involved in taking seminars] met with the module leader

to talk about what went well and what didn’t. In this

instance it was possible to feel like a member of staff.

(female PGR student, focus group)

46

which focused on stress which was attended by 18 staff and another planned for June on

mindfulness.

In September 2017, we launched the School’s “Email Principles” strategy which was in response to

persistent complaints about the ever-increasing volume of email traffic and its impact of colleagues’

ability to maintain a reasonable work-life balance. The email principles aim to manage expectations

in terms of response rather than proscribe an individual’s working practices, so that colleagues are

not expected to answer emails outside the regular working day of 0800-1800, nor at weekends, nor

during annual leave.

Comments from a three-

month evaluation of the

development of the email

principles show that there is

broad if cautious

enthusiasm.

(ii) HR policies

Describe how the department monitors the consistency in application of

HR policies for equality, dignity at work, bullying, harassment, grievance

and disciplinary processes. Describe actions taken to address any identified

differences between policy and practice. Comment on how the department

ensures staff with management responsibilities are kept informed and updated on

HR polices.

The Head of School and School Manager have monthly meetings with the HASS Faculty HR Manager

where individual cases and application of policy are discussed to ensure consistency and

fairness. Decisions and progress are noted in a confidential environment. The Head of School and

School Manager discuss HR matters at regular catch-ups with key School personnel; whilst managers

are empowered to take their own decisions regarding staffing issues where appropriate, discussing

these decisions as a team ensures transparency. Any changes in HR policy are circulated via email as

well as notified at relevant School meetings, including the School Executive Board and the regular

catch-up meetings.

(iii) Representation of men and women on committees

Provide data for all department committees broken down by gender and staff

type. Identify the most influential committees. Explain how potential committee

members are identified and comment on any consideration given to gender

equality in the selection of representatives and what the department is doing

to address any gender imbalances. Comment on how the issue of ‘committee

overload’ is addressed where there are small numbers of women or men.

School Executive Board is the most influential School committee and all other School-level

committees report into SEB. Table 13 shows that we have achieved a good gender balance across

the four principal School-level committees and also indicates where membership is ex officio.

Where committee membership is not ex officio, when vacancies arise, they are advertised across the

School and staff are invited to apply. If the vacancy is to represent a particular staff or student group,

then the invitations are more targeted. Where there is a particular gender imbalance on any given

committee, we ensure that when vacancies are being filled, we take positive action in relation to

Without really realising it, it has made me feel that I'm achieving a better work/life balance by not getting emails in the evening. I didn't think it bothered me in the past, but actually it does make a difference as I don't feel 'pressured' to respond to emails in the evening. (female member of Professional Services staff)

47

selecting from the pool of potential new members. All roles, with the exception of Head of School,

are time-limited with a maximum three-year tenancy in order to refresh leadership positions and

offer career development opportunities and capacity-building. The support we have provided to

women seeking senior roles is evidenced in this Table. We also provide shadowing opportunities and

invite observers to attend School meetings so as to improve transparency and provide insights into

the workings of committees.

Table 13 – committee membership

Committee* Sex Ex Officio Academic

Other Academic

Ex Officio PS

Other PS

Chair Total

SEB Women 5 0 1 1 yes 7

Men 5 0 0 0 5

SRC Women 3 0 3 0 yes 6

Men 5 0 0 0 5

PGR Women 2 1 1 1 yes 5

Men 4 0 1 0 5

SLTSEC Women 1 1 1 1 yes 4

Men 1 2 0 0 3

*each committee is chaired by a different woman since the Head of School (SEB), Director of Research (SRC), Director of PGR (PGR) and Director of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience (SLTSEC) are all women.

(iv) Participation on influential external committees

How are staff encouraged to participate in other influential external committees

and what procedures are in place to encourage women (or men if they are

underrepresented) to participate in these committees?

For committee membership on committees outside the School (but internal to the University), where

membership is not ex officio, we advertise vacancies across the School. Senior colleagues provide

advice and guidance to staff wishing to be considered for such vacancies and encourage staff to take

up opportunities to sit as guests or observers on existing, internal committees to build confidence

and an understanding of how committees work. We also encourage staff to attend the training

sessions available on committee membership and chairing. All committee memberships attract hours

in the WAM tariff.

(v) Workload model

Describe any workload allocation model in place and what it includes. Comment

on ways in which the model is monitored for gender bias and whether it is taken

into account at appraisal/development review and in promotion criteria.

Comment on the rotation of responsibilities and if staff consider the model

to be transparent and fair.

The School operates a well-established Workload Allocation Model (WAM) which is recalibrated each

Spring to identify the allocation of different activities for each member of staff for the upcoming

year. Each member of staff works with their Head of Subject or their line manager to determine the

content of their workload. For full-time, research-active staff, 40% of their time in the WAM is given

over to research. The WAM comprises teaching at all levels, supervision at all levels, administration

and leadership roles and research. Each member of staff’s workload comprises a different balance of

those elements.

48

Whilst subject expertise and therefore which modules are taught by whom, is generally specific to an

individual, where discretion can be exercised is in the allocation of non-teaching tasks and pastoral

responsibilities such as year or stage tutor or exams officer and these roles are rotated (every 2-3

years) to ensure fairness: gender balance is one of the criteria considered in the allocation of such

tasks and roles. However, despite this consideration, the SACS EDI survey found that women were

less satisfied than men in relation to the operation of the WAM in relation to the allocation of non-

teaching roles and responsibilities and we are reviewing such roles for gender skew (AP Ac.4). This

tendency for more women than men to be allocated pastoral duties or what has elsewhere been

referred to as ‘academic housework’ is supported by research on the topic.7

Where staff indicate a preference to take on a particular role, this will be considered and agreed

where possible, and appropriate training provided. Where a role is currently allocated, staff may be

offered a deputy position in order to build capacity, provide career development and enable staff to

rotate roles effectively and in line with their interests (AP Ac.3).

(vi) Timing of departmental meetings and social gatherings

Describe the consideration given to those with caring responsibilities and part-

time staff around the timing of departmental meetings and social gatherings.

All formal School meetings are currently scheduled within normal working hours (9am-5pm) and the

timing for these are usually set at the beginning of the academic year. Informal meetings such as

seminars and information or process workshops also take place during normal working hours. All

Subject Groups organise away-days for team-building and development, all of which happen during

the normal working day. Social gatherings usually take place in the early evening which often restrict

the attendance of both part-time staff and those with caring responsibilities (often the same people).

Both Fine Art and Music have a large number of staff on fractional appointments, and both Subject

Groups discuss the timing of informal activities to maximise attendance. From 2018-19, we will

reduce the length of the ‘normal’ working day to 9.30am-4pm, to enable more staff with caring

responsibilities and/or on fractional contracts, to participate more fully in the life of the School (AP

Sc.8).

(vii) Visibility of role models

Describe how the institution builds gender equality into organisation of events.

Comment on the gender balance of speakers and chairpersons in seminars,

workshops and other relevant activities. Comment on publicity materials,

including the department’s website and images used.

Since 2016-17, we have been monitoring the gendered aspects of the extra-curricular activities of the

School such as conference and seminar speakers and chairs, guest lecturers, curriculum content,

images on our walls and our publicity and the School’s webpages. When staff plan informal events or

activities, they are asked to explicitly consider gender and other protected characteristics in deciding

on content and staffing. However, we do not currently collect data on the presenters or chairs

7 For example, Melanie Heijstra Thamar, Finnborg Salome Steinthorsdóttir and Thorgerdur Einarsdóttir (2017) Academic career making and the double-edged role of academic housework. Gender & Education, 29(6): 764-780.

http://www.tandfonline.com/author/Einarsd%C3%B3ttir%2C+Thorgerdur

49

involved in such extra-curricular activities and the desirability of

diversity and we will be doing this in the future (AP Sc.6).

(viii) Outreach activities

Provide data on the staff and students from the

department involved in outreach and engagement

activities by gender and grade. How is staff and student

contribution to outreach and engagement activities

formally recognised? Comment on the participant uptake

of these activities by gender.

In relation to visit days (pre- and post-application), all staff are on

a rota to attend to ensure that the workload is spread across the

School’s staff, and consideration is given to staff who have caring

responsibilities. Teams of staff always include a mix of women and

men as does the student ambassador team. Student ambassadors

are paid at the standard rate. Participation in visit days attracts a

WAM tariff. Staff are also involved in a wide variety of public and community events including

speaking in non-academic contexts and organising activities to celebrate events such as International

Women’s Day, Black History Month and International Day of the Girl. Currently, we do not keep

records on staff or students who support visit days and we will do this in the future (AP St.1).

6. FURTHER INFORMATION


Please comment here on any other elements that are relevant to the application.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

Action point Action

Ac.3 Review requirements of admin and management tasks and consider job-share

where practicable

Ac.4 Analysis of non-teaching responsibilities to consider gendered patterns and

review/revise where women are disproportionately allocated pastoral rather than

academic roles

Sc.6 Monitor informal activities for gender inclusivity

Sc.8 Review the timing of formal and informal meetings and social events

St.1 Increase visibility of men staff and student ambassadors at open days for MCH and

Fine Art programmes and of women staff at Music-focused events; monitor

adherence to rota contributions and student ambassadors, by gender

Exhibition: Women, Politics and Voice in Newcastle, February 2018 (Long Gallery, Hatton, Newcastle University)

50

The process of applying for an Athena SWAN bronze award has been an extremely useful exercise in

identifying the key equality challenges we

face – lack of senior women and issues

relating to staff on fixed-term and

fractional contracts - and strategies for

their amelioration (Athena SWAN

principles 2, 5). It has catalysed a sense of common purpose around our desire to work together to

consolidate and embed an ethos of equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do and all that we

are (Athena SWAN principles 1, 6, 9). We have implemented EDI principles, both structurally in the

various ways in which we function but also in the contributions that staff are making to the wider

university, our engagement with stakeholder communities and the broader external EDI agenda. We

have excellent working relationships with a number of local, regional and national cultural

organisations and this year, we established a new collaboration with the editorial team at The Voice8

who are providing opportunities for journalism students to write stories on BME communities in the

North East.

An understanding of gender equality in relation to intersectionality (Athena SWAN principle 10) is a

significant research theme for a number of staff and ongoing projects include gender and journalism,

celebrity culture and gay men, women in science, gender and domestic labour, disabled girls’ identity

development, invisible women in heritage histories, masculinities in schools, and men and sport. Two

colleagues have undertaken scoping research into LGBT+ support networks which has since informed

the setting up of a University-wide LGTBTQi group for staff and PGR students. We now also have a

sizeable group of PGR students whose work is explicitly focused on gender working on topics such as

young women and film, gender, politics and social media, queering the museum and women’s cross-

cultural viewing. We have two large-scale, EU-funded research projects underway with staff as PIs:

Advancing Gender Equality in Media Industries in Europe and Cruising the Seventies: Unearthing pre-

HIV/AIDS Sexual Cultures. We are currently running “Queer Media, Self-Representation and Cultural

Change” which is a programme of seminars and events taking place during spring and summer 2018.

For the School, our commitment to promoting the EDI agenda at a practical and pedagogical level is

matched by its importance as a research focus for many staff and this mutuality is vital in informing

and developing the culture of the School to make it an enabling and inclusive environment for all to

thrive. In the autumn term 2017/18, the School’s Academic Lead for Athena SWAN (Professor Karen

Ross) was given the University Staff Champion Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, the first

ever such award made, for her contribution to the EDI agenda. Colleagues on the SAT are also

involved in University-wide networks such as NU Women and NU Women Professors’ Network, HASS

Athena SWAN group, and regional networks of women including Newcastle and Durham senior

women’s mentoring group. Such activities enable us to share and learn from good practice elsewhere

and in turn, share that knowledge with colleagues across the university, enriching all our experiences

and advancing equality in higher education.

8 The UK’s leading Black newspaper.

One thing that came out of our meeting is how positive the AS agenda feels and how much we feel looked after as a result. (male member of academic staff, LGBTQi focus group)

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7. ACTION PLAN

The action plan should present prioritised actions to address the issues identified

in this application.

Please present the action plan in the form of a table. For each action define an

appropriate success/outcome measure, identify the person/position(s) responsible

for the action, and timescales for completion.

The plan should cover current initiatives and your aspirations for the next four years.

Actions, and their measures of success, should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable,

Relevant and Time-bound (SMART).

See the awards handbook for an example template for an action plan.

This guide was published in May 2015. ©Equality Challenge Unit May 2015.

Athena SWAN is a community trademark registered to Equality Challenge Unit: 011132057.

Information contained in this publication is for the use of Athena SWAN Charter member

institutions only. Use of this publication and its contents for any other purpose, including copying

information in whole or in part, is prohibited. Alternative formats are available: [email protected]

52

ACTION PLAN – PRIORITY AREAS

School culture (organisation, environment, representation, the good citizen) – Key Priority Action Sc.2 - Identify ways to improve work-life

balance for all colleagues through changes in workplace norms

Achieving and progressing (mentoring, career development, promotion) – Key Priority Action Ac.1 - Develop and implement a programme of

support for women’s career development from

Creating equality early (staff recruitment, induction) – Key Priority Action Cr.1 - Implement a strategy for career development for ECRs, RAs

and RFs and staff on fixed-term contracts

Student experience (student recruitment, curriculum, progression) – Key Priority Action St.1 - Revise marketing and recruitment plan to

improve the number of applicants of the under-represented sex on programmes

Action Point

Action planned as at April 2017

Rationale Action taken to date

Responsibility Timescale SMART Measures

ACTION POINTS IN RELATION TO: SCHOOL CULTURE (ORGANISATION, ENVIRONMENT, REPRESENTATION, THE GOOD CITIZEN) Sc.1 Produce Terms of

Reference of newly-constituted School EDI Group (EDIg).

All members of the School need to understand the importance of the EDI agenda and part of such recognition is through the establishment of a formal committee which will report into SEB; provide a clear set of aims and objectives as a reference guide for existing and new members of the SAT/EDIg as well as the School membership more generally.

School PA has been officering the SAT/EDIg as part of her role since 2016/17.

AS Leads (Academic and PS); review by existing SAT membership.

June 2018 Production of ToR; improved % understanding of the importance of EDI identified through the annual SACS EDI survey (increase % year on year, to constitute an increase of 10% by 2022).

KEY PRIORITY ACTION Sc.2

Identify and implement ways to improve work-life balance for all colleagues through changes in workplace norms, eg including ‘good

Low levels of satisfaction with work-life balance identified in both the EES and the SACS EDI survey, including the volume of email traffic and some tasks ignored in

Development of email principles and awareness raising around support services

Deputy Head of School; School Manager

Ongoing: annual review by SAT/EDIg via the School EDI survey.

Improved levels of satisfaction with work-life balance (+5% by 2020) identified in SACS EDI survey;

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citizenship’ activities in the WAM; develop email and technician principles - ✓COMPLETED

the construction of individual workloads.

available in the university.

implementation of email principles and requested feedback on changed behaviour/improved work-life balance; inclusion of ‘good citizenship’ activities included in the WAM by 2019.

Action Point


Rationale Actions completed Responsibility Timescale SMART Measures

Sc.3 Ensure continuity of student members of the SAT/EDI Group and adequate representation of all parts of the School.

Currently, the SAT membership does not reflect the composition of the School.

Review of the SAT membership; recognition of the temporary nature of student members.

AS Leads (academic and PS).

June 2018 Improved balance of membership to more accurately reflect School composition including student reps by December 2018.

Sc.4 Embed the principles of flexible working, maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave, and career breaks through awareness-raising and information-sharing; implement a programme of ‘maternity buddies’ and an information pack on going on and returning from care-related leave.

Few academic staff take advantage of formal flexible working arrangements and very few men take paternity or parental leave; SACS EDI survey and focus groups demonstrate appreciation of flexible working amongst staff.

Preliminary review of the data on flexible working and various family leave requests demonstrates an under-utilisation of such policies.

School Manager Ongoing: review of the take-up of flexible working arrangements and family leave on an annual basis from 2018-19, reporting into SEB as part of SAT/EDIg monitoring; ‘maternity buddy’ system to be set up by January 2019.

Increased awareness of flexible working and family-focused leave demonstrated through annual SACS EDI survey (10% increase in knowledge by 2020); creation of ‘maternity buddy’ system and associated information pack by January 2019.

Sc.5

Embed EDI principles in School’s governance structures ✓COMPLETED

While there is awareness of the importance of EDI in our practices and policies, we do not have a formalised framework to articulate what this means in practice.

Up until the commencement of the Athena SWAN application process, EDI did not feature

SAT and from May 2018, the SAT/EDIg; HoS; SACS website coordinator.

May 2018 rename the SACS Athena SWAN webpage as “EDI”; May 2018 rename Director of

Better understanding of School’s approach to EDI evidenced by % increase in knowledge from 2019 SACS EDI

54

as a standing item on SEC and it does now. There was no Director of Equality and Diversity and there is now and she sits as a member of SEB. Currently, the role-holder is also the AS Academic Lead We have established an Athena SWAN webpage on the SACS landing page.

Equality and Diversity as Director of EDI.

survey (+5%); successful achievement of this Action Plan in relation to timeline of outputs and outcomes; EDI as standing item on principal School-level committees.

Action Point




Sc.6 Embed EDI principles in extra-curricular activities such as seminars, conferences, chairing roles and monitor informal activities for gender inclusivity.

Focus group feedback identified gender-bias in some of these activities; need positive role models, especially for less experienced staff and students.

Communication to all staff about the need to embed and implement EDI principles in all School activities.

SAT/EDIg; Heads of Subject

Ongoing: monitor diversity dimension of all School-organised extra-curricular activities as regular part of SAT/EDIg work by requesting site of draft event programmes; discussion with Heads of Subject where persistent failure to incorporate EDI practices is identified.

No all-male panels in School-organised seminars or conferences by September 2019; at least 40% of speakers and chairs at such events to be women by 2020.

55

Action Point




Sc.7 Develop and implement an explicit School policy on ‘respectful culture’. ✓ COMPLETED

Focus groups with staff and students identified instances of sexist behaviour between students and between staff and students.

Respectful culture policy drafted and circulated to SAT for comment; revised draft circulated; it will be included in module and programme handbooks from 2018-19; it has been circulated to all staff and uploaded to the shared drive.

Outgoing Head of Music Subject Group and SAT member, Simon McKerrell; SAT/EDIg.

September 2018; included in handbooks and discussed during induction; October 2018: for staff to discuss implementation of policy and review requirements for follow-up actions.

Positive feedback from students during induction and from staff during all-School meeting convened to discuss the policy; reduced reporting of sexist behaviour by students and staff via SACS EDI survey.

Sc.8 Implement policy of formal meetings to start no earlier than 9.30am and finish no later than 4pm where it is in our control to schedule; vary the timing of informal and social events across lunchtime and mid-afternoon slots as well as early evenings.

Focus groups with staff, particularly those on fractional appointments identify problems with attending meetings on the days they are not contracted to work, or in the evenings if they have caring responsibilities, both of which impact on their feelings of belonging and ability to contribute effectively to the development of their Subject Group or School.

A review of formal and informal meetings shows that most formal meetings take place within the hours of 10 and 4 but informal meetings, including Subject Group seminars are often in the early evening, as are most social events.

Heads of Subject; HoS; SM; all staff responsible for organising extra-curricular events and activities.

Ongoing: SAT/EDIg to monitor scheduling of formal and informal meetings and events as part of regular work via sub-group; feeding into SEB once per semester.

Variation in timings of formal and informal meetings and events; increased satisfaction (+5%) with meeting times amongst staff on fractional and fixed-term contracts via annual SACS EDI survey, by 2020.

ACTION POINTS IN RELATION TO: ACHIEVING AND PROGRESSING (MENTORING, CAREER DEVELOPMENT, PROMOTION) Action Point




KEY PRIORITY ACTION

Develop and implement a programme of support for women’s career

The composition of the School by academic grade shows clear differences in terms of gender,

Since 2016-17, we have initiated ‘brown bag’

Heads of Subject: SAT Director of EDI;

Ongoing: annual review through applications for

More women applying for promotion (+10% by 2022 from Lecturer

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Ac.1 development from an early stage which could include promotion workshops, drop-in and show-and-tell sessions, to be devised in collaboration with OD; ensure PDR discussions include career aspirations and identify women for leadership opportunities; provide a mentor for staff applying for promotion.

with more women clustered in lower grades; SACS EDI survey revealed some dissatisfaction by women colleagues around career pathways, especially staff on fractional and fixed-term contracts. Professional Services colleagues who are predominantly women also expressed concern about clear development pathways in the SACS EDI survey.

lunches for ECRs and RAs, to provide informal support; incoming Deputy School Manager has organised monthly informal meetings for PS staff to bring issues forward for discussion.

Deputy School Manager

promotion and monitoring success rates by gender and grade.

grade upwards); using trend data to inform further action necessary; more Professional Services staff applying for promotion and secondment opportunities (+10% by 2022); improved satisfaction with career opportunities from EDI Survey.

Action Point




Ac.2 Enhance communication activities to ensure that all staff are aware of post and role vacancies as they arise and reminders circulated about the start of the annual promotions rounds, including the circulation of criteria; provide more opportunities for face-to-face meetings/workshops.

The SACS EDI survey revealed some staff feeling outside the formal communication channels; also, insufficient opportunities to interact in real time, learn from each other and gain a better understanding about the nature of different roles and positions.

Since 2016-17, we have organised more all-School sessions with more ‘open’ agendas; since 2017-18, we have been providing a weekly newsletter and weekly research circulars.

School Manager; HoS

Ongoing Improved satisfaction with communication and awareness of key milestones such as the promotions round and relevant criteria identified via annual SACS EDI survey, +10% by 2022.

Ac.3 Review the requirements of significant administrative and management tasks in relation to scheduling and WAM implications; promotion of job-share where practicable.

Focus groups with staff, particularly those on fractional appointments and ECRs, identify a lack of opportunity to put themselves forward for some roles because of the time commitment involved.

Preliminary discussions with Heads of Subject in relation to the practicability of job-sharing some tasks.

Heads of Subject; Deputy Head of School; Faculty HR liaison where the opportunity is a post rather than a role.

Ongoing: SAT/EDIg to review process of internal promotion of new administrative and management opportunities as they arise.

Increased take up of roles by colleagues on fractional or fixed-term appointments, +5% by 2020.

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Ac.4 Review the ways in which non-teaching roles and responsibilities are discharged in terms of a gender-based distribution; circulate a list of non-teaching activities and responsibilities, together with their associated tariffs in the spring, to feed into WAM discussions, ensuring that all staff have opportunities to develop new skills; rotate all non-teaching roles on a regular basis.

SACS EDI survey suggested that women are disproportionately responsible for non-teaching roles and posts which are student-support focused rather than managerial.

Focus group discussions with staff.

Heads of Subject; Head of School; SEB

Ongoing: regular review of staff who have responsibility for non-teaching tasks by SAT/EDIg sub-group feeding into SEB.

Increased satisfaction with the allocation of non-teaching activities, +5% in SACS EDI survey by 2020; more women involved in managerial roles, +10% by 2020.

Action Point




ACTION POINTS IN RELATION TO: CREATING EQUALITY EARLY (STAFF RECRUITMENT, INDUCTION) KEY PRIORITY ACTION Cr.1

Implement a strategy for career development for ECRs, RAs and RFs and staff on fixed-term contracts, almost all of whom are women, to include workshops on topics such as career development, bid-writing, identifying research funding opportunities targeted at ECRs and working with a research mentor.

SACS EDI and focus group discussions revealed frustration with the lack of career planning and guidance for both less experienced and part-time staff.

Since 2017-18, a member of SEB has been given specific responsibility for ECRs and she has had several conversations with staff about how best to support their career aspirations; all staff in this category are now eligible to apply for research funding to undertake

SM; SEB staff member with responsibility for supporting ECRs; Director of Research.

Programme of support to be rolled out from October 2018 and regularly reviewed, informed by staff feedback.

Improved satisfaction, +10% by 2022, with career development identified via annual SACS EDI survey; increase (+10%) in number of bids submitted by ECRs, RAs, RFs and colleagues on fixed-term or fractional contracts.

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independent projects and several have been included as CIs on new bids, working with and learning from more senior colleagues; see also Ac.1 above.

Action Point




Cr.2 Produce guidelines on shortlisting and interview processes to ensure EDI principles are embedded and understood ✓COMPLETED

Historically, we have not kept records in relation to the composition of shortlisting and interview panels.

Since 2017-18, the School has been recording its own data on the membership of shortlisting and interview panels.

SM; SEB Ongoing: SAT/EDIg to receive and consider data at each meeting and identify any issues related to the gender composition of panel members, to be fed into SEB for action; composited data to be produced in a report annually in the summer and considered at first SEB of new academic year.

Production of annual report in relation to membership of shortlisting and interview panels, disaggregated by gender; improved gender balance in these panels – no panel to have fewer than 40% of each sex by 2020.

Cr.3 Include HASS EDI statements in all job vacancies ✓COMPLETED and ensure that new posts are accurately defined and described and that the criteria articulated in

Some recent academic vacancies have attracted a predominance of women, others a predominance of men, exacerbating existing gender skews in some posts and grades.

During 2017, some preliminary work was undertaken, scrutinising all the vacancies advertised in 2016/2017 to

School Manager; Heads of Subject; HoS

All job vacancies to include HASS EDI statement from May 2018; Heads of Subject to provide oversight on all vacancy

10%+ increase in applications from women to vacancies at SL and above; spot-audits of person specifications and job descriptions by EDIg

59

person specifications and job descriptions are appropriate, relevant and justified.

identify the extent to which elements of job specs were stated as essential but were actually either desirable or even unnecessary and which could deter candidates, especially working parents, eg, travel or unsocial hours; from 2017/18, we are covering the costs of childcare for parents who are invited for interview.

paperwork before before being signed off to ensure EDI principles and that only relevant criteria are included.

to ensure that the essential criteria are indeed essential.

Action Point




Cr.4 In-depth analysis of recruitment data to identify patterns and trends in applications to particular grades between women and men; revise recruitment marketing to encourage more applications from women to senior posts.

Reviewing data as part of the AS application process reveals clear gender-based differences across grades (see Cr.3 above).

The SAT has considered the data in relation to recruitment.

SAT/EDIg; SM Ongoing: SAT/EDIg to review data in relation to application, shortlisting, recruitment once per semester and feed into SEB and Subject Group staff meetings.

Annual reporting of recruitment data to SEB/Heads of Subject and action plan developed where gender differences persist.

Cr.5 Strengthen the guidance on training requirements and develop a protocol on training compliance in relation to recruitment, line management and PDR

Focus group discussions suggest that PDRs are not always as constructive as they could be and no records are kept on training activities completed, including training which is compulsory in

Preliminary analysis of training activities provided by OD shows that there has been a low take up of training for

Heads of Subject; SM

Ongoing: SAT/EDIg to consider training record once per semester for all types of formal training.

100% compliance with required training for all staff involved in recruitment and managing PDRs by summer 2019.

60

including unconscious bias; establish a training record derived from OD data.

order to discharge particular responsibilities.

career development or in relation to line management.

Action Point




Cr.6 Ensure all new staff are welcomed into the School through welcome meetings with key staff, attendance at induction meetings; line manager to complete an induction checklist with new staff and form to be sent to School PA; ensure that the School and Subject Group email lists are regularly updated with details of new staff, including staff on fractional and fixed-term contracts; ensure that line managers and PIs are aware of the need to pass on such details to the School’s PA who keeps the lists updated. ✓COMPLETED

Poor scores on questions relating to induction from the Employee Engagement Survey and the SACS own EDI survey; feedback from focus groups, especially ECRs and RAs.

New induction programme; new induction handbook; monthly induction sessions; monitoring of induction checklists produced by line managers/PIs; welcome email from HoS and HoSj; programme of induction meetings with relevant staff organised by HoS or HoSj, depending on post (School-wide or Subject Group specific); sociable events which include new staff make mini-presentations on their research.

School Manager, School PA, all PIs, all Line Managers, Heads of Subject

Ongoing: continuous monitoring; 6-monthly review by SAT (number of new staff and number of completed induction checklists received).

Improved satisfaction, +5% with the induction process identified in 2019 SACS EDI survey; completion of induction checklists.

Cr.7 Implement a formal process of mentoring training as an explicit aspect of professional development, which attracts a tariff in the

Women staff at SL and above often provide informal mentoring to both women and men colleagues, often without training and without hours allocated in the WAM; staff feedback from the EES.

We have not undertaken any formal analysis of these kinds of informal support structures but have

Deputy HoS; Heads of Subject; SM

September 2018 and then ongoing; training data to be provided by OD and reviewed annually by SEB.

Increase take-up of mentoring training offered by OD, +10% by 2020.

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WAM; circulate details to all staff as well as the training offered by OD.

much anecdotal information, corroborated by research on the topic.

ACTION POINTS IN RELATION TO: STUDENT EXPERIENCE (STUDENT RECRUITMENT, CURRICULUM, PROGRESSION) Action Point




KEY PRIORITY ACTION St.1

Revise marketing and recruitment plan to increase the number of applicants of the under-represented sex on programmes.

Recognition that women comprise a much greater proportion of the student body at UGT and PGT than men, across most, but not all programmes.

SAT analysis of student application data.

Staff with responsibility for recruitment; web manager.

Summer 2018: review of draft prospectus text and images and web-based marketing materials; 2018-19: monitoring of website and suggestions for changed content where diversity needs improvement.

For 2019-2020 intake, marketing and promotional material (hard copy and digital) informed by student feedback, incorporates gender diversity and pays attention to intersectionality by including individuals from diverse backgrounds and experience, eg, ethnicity, (dis)ability and age.

St.2

Establish a specific EDI protocol for outreach activities including local school visits, to ensure that women and men staff and students are equally visible to prospective students.

We know the importance of role models and we need to ensure that outreach activities are staffed by women and men.

No work undertaken on this so far.

SAT/EDIg; Subject DELTs

Protocol to be in place by September 2018 and used thereafter in all outreach activities; ongoing for activities with Schools and internal activities such as open days.

10%+ by 2020, in applications from the under-represented gender on programmes where the % gender imbalance exceeds the avg. for the same subjects across comparator institutions.

62

St.3 Analysis of recruitment data including applications, offers and enrolments; improve understanding of what attracts women and men to those programmes where they are significantly under-represented via focus groups with existing students and informal discussions with young women and men during school visits (Yrs 12 and 13); market research with international partners involved in recruitment activities.

The composition of the student body at UG and PGT shows clear gender disparities in disciplines, in both directions.

Preliminary analysis of trend data has identified not only gender-based differences in applications and registration but also in relation to acceptance and more work is needed to better understand the data.

DPDs and Subject DELTs

October-December 2018 for focus groups.

Revised marketing materials for 2019-20, informed by student and prospective student perspectives and those provided by international recruitment partners.

Action Point




St.4 Analysis of progression data, including applications, offers, enrolments and degree classifications, for gender-based patterns and/or trends, differentiated by programme and make recommendations where relevant.

Recognition that there are differences in performance.

Preliminary analysis undertaken by SAT.

Initially, SAT via sub-group; DPDs and DELTs from 2018/2019.

Ongoing: data on the recruitment-progression pipeline and any gender differences to be discussed during Subject Group away-days in late summer each year; discussion to inform Subject Group BsoS with action plans developed and

Reduction (-10%) in unexplained gender-based differences at all stages of student progression.

63

implemented to inform future recruitment activities and programme development.

Action Point




St.5

Establish a method of recording the disciplinary focus of PGR applicants in order to produce more granular data and thus identify any potential differences in the student journey which could be related to their chosen topic.

We have data on students by Subject Group for UG and PGT programmes but not for PGR programmes.

Preliminary analysis by the SAT reveals a lack of such data being recorded.

Subject Group PGR Leads and School Director of PGR; PGR Professional Services.

2018-19 PGR applications, offers and enrolment data available by Subject Group.

St.6 Focus group with PGR students with family or caring responsibilities and determine what additional support the School might be able to offer.

Focus groups with PGR students identified caring responsibilities as a factor in interruption of studies, extensions and longer completion times. The School is keen to identify what strategies of support would be welcomed by students.

Only a small proportion of our PGR students attended the focus groups so we would like to canvass the views of a wider group.

Subject Group PGR Leads and School Director of PGR.

2018-19 Improved satisfaction, +5% by 2022 by PGR students with family or caring responsibilities with the support provided by the School, as identified in PG student survey.

School of Arts and Cultures Newcastle University 11.5 of Arts... · Table 8 - recruitment process,...

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