Equity with equality? Contextualising everyone can widen participation in medical school admissions.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Informa Healthcare Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 7909593 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1466-187X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0142159X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Med Teach Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: London : Informa Healthcare
      Original Publication: London, Update Publications.
    • Subject Terms:
      School Admission Criteria*/statistics & numerical data ; Schools, Medical*; Humans ; Female ; Male ; United Kingdom ; Students, Medical/statistics & numerical data
    • Abstract:
      Widening participation outcomes in admissions to UK medical schools have not changed 2007-2018, partly due to inequity in selection. This study models the effects of changing selection, using a novel method of contextualising applicants, on widening participation. We studied 1084 English school leaver applicants to a single medical school over two years, using data from their public exams taken 2 years pre-application (GCSE) and recent admissions test (UCAT). Widening participation was defined by postcode. We modelled two shortlists for a pre-determined number of 500; one ranked on UCAT total score, and the other on a metric that contextualised applicants' GCSE grades against their schools' average GCSE performance. There was a significant difference in the postcode-defined widening participation characteristics of the two shortlists; 46% by contextualisation and 32.2% by UCAT (Chisquare p  < 0.00001). As widening participation covers 42% of postcodes, the "contextualise everyone" method achieves equity. Conventionally, contextual admissions identify individuals belonging to under-represented groups and gives them preferential treatment. Changing the rules for everyone, by using a relative attainment instead of simple absolute attainment metric, benefits from treating applicants equally; and could promote equity through widening participation.
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Selection; admission; equity; inequality; widening participation
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20231208 Date Completed: 20240626 Latest Revision: 20240629
    • Publication Date:
      20240629
    • Accession Number:
      10.1080/0142159X.2023.2287982
    • Accession Number:
      38065683