More than 60 UK mathematicians have spoken out against guidance on academic standards that values of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) “should permeate the curriculum and every aspect of the learning experience.”
QAA is an independent body that checks on standards in UK higher education, conducting quality assessment reviews and developing guidance for educators.
The academics question the QAA’s lack of explanation as to what “values of EDI” means. They argue that “values of EDI” are the subject of an ongoing academic and political debate, with the definitions of racism and anti-Semitism still being contested.
“Any serious discussion of EDI in higher education should acknowledge the existence of these debates. Any approach that fails to do so will inevitably be partisan,” the letter says.
The QAA’s benchmark statement, published in March, stated that MSOR disciplines should take into consideration that its positive contribution in some cases arose from “cultural contexts with issues that would now be considered problematic.”
“For example, some early ideas in statistics were motivated by their proposers’ support for eugenics, some astronomical data were collected on plantations by enslaved people, and, historically, some mathematicians have recorded racist or fascist views or connections to groups such as the Nazis,” the QAA’s statement said.
The standards body added there are historical and ongoing issues around power dynamics and gatekeeping in both access to and generation of MSOR knowledge. They recommended that education providers review their practices with an explicit focus on equity.
In response, the signatories of the letter noted that QAA is advocating teaching a skewed view of the history of mathematics.
“The QAA do not suggest that we teach about the universality of mathematical truth, the use of statistics to disprove historical racial theories or about the Jewish mathematicians persecuted by Nazis,” the letter said.
Academics should teach from a perspective informed by their academic experience, as opposed to the political perspective determined by the QAA, argued the mathematicians.
New Ideas
In response to the open letter, QAA said on Wednesday that they see institutional autonomy and academic freedom as crucial. Its benchmark’s statements don’t mandate academics to teach specific content and are not compulsory.“We agree with the letter’s assertion that course content should be taught by academics in line with their own expertise and academic judgement,” the QAA said in a statement.
Young told The Epoch Times that the latest development is an “overreach by the woke activists.”
“If they were demanding that, say, the history department include more material about the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the curriculum, that would be understandable. Probably not necessary, but understandable,” he said.
“But to demand it of the maths department? That’s just flat out insane.
“It tips people off that the diversity, equity, and inclusion squad are essentially religious fanatics and shouldn’t be taken seriously,” Young added.
The QAA, however, insisted that the subject benchmark statements are not regulatory and are a product by academic practitioners about what new ideas may wish to be considered within the subject curriculum.
The statements enable the QAA’s advisory group to review how disciplines are taught and assessed and highlight elements of good practice that already exist in equality, diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility, said Chair of the advisory group, Professor Duncan Lawson.
The latest review of QAA statements, which began in 2020, is intended to ensure the statements are current, reflecting the breadth of thinking in each of the discipline areas, the standards body said.
