Students’ Experience of Identity and Attainment at UAL, Final year 4 report of a longitudinal study for the University of the Arts London

The mechanisms that cause inequality in attainment are cumulative, developing throughout a student’s time at UAL to peak in the final year. The nature of interactions with tutors is the most powerful factor in helping students to grow intellectually and creatively.

As well as developing themes that emerged earlier in the research such as familial context, feedback and assessment, this report explores experiences of self-directed projects; and identifies the ethical questions that tutors face when supervising projects that are distant from their areas of expertise.