Exploring the Transformative Power of Access to and Accessibility of Higher Education Role Models for Feelings of Belonging in Black Youth in the African Diaspora

When individuals see themselves represented in the spaces they inhabit, this creates a sense of belonging in that space (Covarrubias and Fryberg 2015). Lack of representation or underrepresentation of core identity(ies) in work and education can thus lead to substantive negative outcomes, particularly where this is accompanied by institutional and other systemic structures that further promote decreased belonging and direct discrimination toward individuals whose characteristics are underrepresented (Gershenson et al 2022, Joseph-Salisbury 2016). Black youth in the African Diaspora are one of the groups most at risk of experiencing lack of or under- representation amongst educators and even more so, amongst educational setting leaders due to systemic biases (Boyle et al 2026) and of a resulting lowered sense of belonging and a propensity toward internalization of lowered expectations of their own future position in professional sectors (Gershenson et al 2022). Interviews with Black secondary school pupils in the UK have revealed these psychological processes are indeed prevalent (Joseph-Salisbury 2016) and experimental evidence from the US highlights representation as a causal factor driving short and long-term outcomes for Black pupils, including attainment and continuation during post high school education (Gershenson et al 2022). “Role modelling” has been suggested as one of the mechanisms contributing to these effects (Gershenson et al 2022). In the simplest sense, role modelling draws on systems of social facilitation and imitation (Johnson et al 2020), but can also be thought of more broadly as sources of information to guide expectations and aspirations for an individual’s own outcomes, based on perception of opportunity (Johnson et al 2020, Berrington et al 2016, Khattab 2015). In this paper we explore short- and long-term effects of a programme of engagement with African Diaspora youth in the UK that aims to mitigate this problem of lack of Black representation in under-16 education. We use four key approaches: (1) taking a bottom up approach in our research process – this means using participatory methods in the work we carry out; (2) including explorations of cultural heritage and community to support consciousness raising in participant researchers; (3) supporting youth in developing and executing actions using technological platforms and (4) connecting participant researchers with youth in other countries across the African Diaspora through the GoH Network (Vaugn et al 2022). The core intervention in this work is a 12-week engagement programme for Black high school pupils led by Black academics and university students, our so-called ‘role models’. This is a programme where we host pupil participants from partner schools on our university campus one afternoon per week and engage them in activities and materials based on 'role model’ areas of expertise. In this work we acknowledge the centrality of a cross-national collective of researchers (UK, USA, Brazil - GoH) instrumental in developing our conceptual framework, methods and wider participant pool to answer the following research questions: *What role do Black scholars outside of the school setting play in fostering a sense of belonging for Black students at school and in higher education? *How do Black youth perceive the representation of Black culture and history in their school curriculum? *How do Black youth navigate cultural identity and belonging when living in predominantly non-Black environments and what actions foster critical consciousness in this space? *How do experiences of racism or discrimination affect Black youth’s ability to feel a sense of belonging in education and what are contributing internal and external factors? *What role do culturally responsive teaching practices play in fostering a sense of belonging in education among Black youth? In the paper we interpret our findings following inductive thematic analysis of peer-peer interviews carried out by participants, project outputs created by participants and semi-structured interviews with hosts and teachers and following quantitative data analysis of longitudinal online questionnaires to further quantify feelings of belonging, critical consciousness and expectations within education from established scales in experimental and control participant groups. We further reflect on the work in its propensity to provide an evidence-based model of intervention and importantly, to capture and articulate the knowledge generated by participants over the course of the study. References Berrington, A., S. Roberts, and P. Tammes, Educational aspirations among UK Young Teenagers: Exploring the role of gender, class and ethnicity. British Educational Research Journal, 2016. 42(5): p. 729-755. Boyle, W. and Charles, M. 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