EDI training for students

In June 2020, St George’s, University of London (SGUL), undertook an institutional Review of Race Equality. This review was prompted open letters written by student and staff groups and aimed to identify strategies for tackling racial inequality. As part of this work, students highlighted a need for effective anti-racism training to be delivered at the start of their courses, in order to emphasise the role we all play in opposing discrimination. SGUL commissioned Melanin Medics, an organisation comprising of students and doctors who are dedicated to promoting diversity in healthcare and have a solid track record in providing peer-led allyship and advocacy training in the university setting.

The aim of these workshop is for students to gain an understanding of allyship and advocacy and to explore the impact of inequality on patients and colleagues in medicine and healthcare. Sessions are run live on Microsoft Teams with an emphasis on interaction through the use of quizzes, discussion and case studies. Students are encouraged to be honest about their viewpoints and are supported by Melanin Medics teachers who have lived experience of the issues and challenges that they are facing.

These workshops were piloted in the academic year 2020/21 and SGUL have taken steps to expand the training further in subsequent years, so that more students will have the chance to gain essential skills. We hope that this training will help to promote an inclusive environment and take a pro-active approach from the outset of each student’s academic journey. 

Inspired by the 2015 NUS campaign, #StandByMe, an online student survey was carried out to explore understandings and experiences of sexual harassment and assault amongst the student population, as well as establish levels of awareness regarding support services and relevant university policy. The results highlighted that there was ambiguity around the definitions of harassment and assault and most respondents were unclear about available support services and existing institutional policy. As a result of this work, the “Draw the Line” campaign was born. This campaign, co-led by staff, students and the student union, prompted the development of a new clearer policy on sexual harassment and assault, as well as raising awareness within the student population. A further output of this campaign was to develop a comprehensive sexual consent and bystander training workshop for students in all courses to attend during Fresher’s week.

This training is carried out through peer-led interactive small group sessions, conducted by trained student peer-supporters. The sessions cover a number of key areas including definitions of assault and harassment, understanding consent and barriers to reporting harassment. The training also focuses on staff and student roles in creating a safe and positive community that is free from sexual harassment and misconduct. Students are provided with resources prior to the session as pre-reading. They are also given clear sign-posting to useful services both in-house (led through the student services team and counselling service) and externally (local and national support services), that can provide prompt advice and support. Focused training is provided separately for sports team captains to allow them to recognise and respond to risk within sports and social events.

The impact of this training is evaluated each year through collation of data from peer tutors and students attending the sessions. Feedback has been very positive and we are committed to ensuring that all students know how to identify and report harassment, as well as know where to go if they need help.