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Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students?
British Dental Journal, Volume: 234, Issue: 2, Pages: 106 - 110
Swansea University Author:
Phil Newton
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© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI (Published version): 10.1038/s41415-023-5454-0
Abstract
Introduction Widening Access (WA) policies aim to ensure that a professional workforce reflects the community that it serves by facilitating the admission of applicants from under-represented demographics. WA has not been extensively studied in UK dental education. Website discourses are an importan...
Published in: | British Dental Journal |
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ISSN: | 0007-0610 1476-5373 |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2023
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URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62463 |
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v2 62463 2023-01-27 Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8 0000-0002-5272-7979 Phil Newton Phil Newton true false 2023-01-27 PMSC Introduction Widening Access (WA) policies aim to ensure that a professional workforce reflects the community that it serves by facilitating the admission of applicants from under-represented demographics. WA has not been extensively studied in UK dental education. Website discourses are an important element in students' higher education choices and have the potential to engage those who might be under-represented.Methods Critical discourse analysis was used to investigate contents of the 16 UK dental school webpages in relation to WA, based on a previous study within medical education. Data were contextualised through identification of drivers and levers, as well as warrants of WA.Results Discourses emphasising social mobility, and the resultant advancement within social hierarchy of an individual, dominated the narrative rationalising WA as an initiative. WA was depicted as a mechanism to support applicants of high academic ability and exhibiting commitment to studying dentistry but who were unable to show their true potential due to their underprivileged backgrounds. This presentation portrayed dental schools as generous establishments, selectively granting career-advancement opportunities to disadvantaged students. Discourses on the benefits of WA for patient care and workforce diversification were largely absent.Conclusions Discourses representing WA on websites of UK dental schools are limited and do not portray applicants from deprived backgrounds or under-represented groups as individuals bringing unique positive benefits to dentistry and patient care. We encourage dental schools to consider alternate messages for attracting applicants from under-represented demographics. Journal Article British Dental Journal 234 2 106 110 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 0007-0610 1476-5373 27 1 2023 2023-01-27 10.1038/s41415-023-5454-0 COLLEGE NANME Medicine COLLEGE CODE PMSC Swansea University 2023-06-23T15:26:37.1561451 2023-01-27T12:47:59.9384027 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Medicine Michal M. Kawecki 1 Phil Newton 0000-0002-5272-7979 2 62463__26514__53f0fbb75f89427ea869c056f86fb734.pdf 62463_VoR.pdf 2023-02-09T13:48:41.0434130 Output 353886 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 166 |
title |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? |
spellingShingle |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? Phil Newton |
title_short |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? |
title_full |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? |
title_fullStr |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? |
title_sort |
Widening Access: what do dental school websites signal to prospective students? |
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6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8 |
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6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8_***_Phil Newton |
author |
Phil Newton |
author2 |
Michal M. Kawecki Phil Newton |
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Journal article |
container_title |
British Dental Journal |
container_volume |
234 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
106 |
publishDate |
2023 |
institution |
Swansea University |
issn |
0007-0610 1476-5373 |
doi_str_mv |
10.1038/s41415-023-5454-0 |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
college_str |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
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|
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facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences |
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Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
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Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
department_str |
Swansea University Medical School - Medicine{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Medicine |
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description |
Introduction Widening Access (WA) policies aim to ensure that a professional workforce reflects the community that it serves by facilitating the admission of applicants from under-represented demographics. WA has not been extensively studied in UK dental education. Website discourses are an important element in students' higher education choices and have the potential to engage those who might be under-represented.Methods Critical discourse analysis was used to investigate contents of the 16 UK dental school webpages in relation to WA, based on a previous study within medical education. Data were contextualised through identification of drivers and levers, as well as warrants of WA.Results Discourses emphasising social mobility, and the resultant advancement within social hierarchy of an individual, dominated the narrative rationalising WA as an initiative. WA was depicted as a mechanism to support applicants of high academic ability and exhibiting commitment to studying dentistry but who were unable to show their true potential due to their underprivileged backgrounds. This presentation portrayed dental schools as generous establishments, selectively granting career-advancement opportunities to disadvantaged students. Discourses on the benefits of WA for patient care and workforce diversification were largely absent.Conclusions Discourses representing WA on websites of UK dental schools are limited and do not portray applicants from deprived backgrounds or under-represented groups as individuals bringing unique positive benefits to dentistry and patient care. We encourage dental schools to consider alternate messages for attracting applicants from under-represented demographics. |
published_date |
2023-01-27T15:26:32Z |
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1769503868808331264 |
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11.021648 |