A Note from the PSA Chair: Diversity and the PSA
| Author | Angelia Wilson |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929919836029 |
| Published date | 01 May 2019 |
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Professional Section: Teaching |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929919836029
Political Studies Review
2019, Vol. 17(2) 207 –208
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929919836029
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A Note from the PSA
Chair: Diversity and
the PSA
The PSA is delighted that Political Studies Review has published these two pieces that
challenge the discipline to be better at inclusivity, particularly in the classroom curricu-
lum and as a profession. As chair, I agree that this issue is a key concern for political
science and that is why I made a commitment in my opening remarks upon taking the role
at our conference AGM two years ago that diversity and inclusion would be a priority.
In the last few years the PSA has made some significant strides around gender inclu-
sivity with more women members, more women in organizational leadership, implement-
ing a sexual harassment policy, a commitment to no manels, and a reconfiguration of our
prize scheme to celebrate the achievements of women in the profession. The movement
benefited a number of white women, a number of whom were already in the early stages
of their political studies careers.
In taking on this service as PSA Chair, I encouraged the initial meeting of our trustee
team to tackle the systemic barriers to studying politics for a range of students. That was
two years ago and we are now beginning to see the outcomes of our work. For example,
we have revamped our membership benefits and costs to encourage access from a wider
range of the population – students, schools, the general public, etc. In doing so we have
added to our membership benefits for each group, but we also needed to make sure those
benefits could be accessed by those beyond the M25. So we have invested financially in
a completely new website and membership data system that now makes those resources
available to members anywhere in the world.
The trustees specifically identified two issues of concern that are intricately linked in
the UK. First, A-level politics education, often assumed to be a pathway to studying poli-
tics at university, is largely taught at schools with middle-class, predominantly white
students. Second, the profession reflects the difficulties within this educational pipeline.
In order to tackle the first, we have launched a Schools Outreach Programme. This
includes lowering school membership to £25/year enabling ten teachers in any school in
the UK to be a PSA member, commissioning and collating a new range of resources avail-
able online for students and teachers, holding regional events for teachers, as well as our
‘How to study politics at university’ training days all over the country.
To begin to address the second, at our Annual Awards Dinner in November this year
we launched the PSA Diverse Voices Doctoral Scholarship Fund. Given that 86% of our
profession is white, our vision is to encourage external and internal stakeholder to help us
finance PhD scholarships for, primarily, Black and ethnic minority students. Alongside
that we have established a Diverse Voices Chair’s Commission to consider the intersec-
tion of both these issues and how we can continue to move forward with our commitment
to inclusivity.
836029PSW0010.1177/1478929919836029Political Studies ReviewProfessional Section: Teaching
research-article2019
Professional Section: Teaching
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