Students with regional accents ¡®ridiculed and silenced¡¯

Students with regional accents face ridicule and feel marginalised in UK universities, a conference has heard.

The annual conference of access charity The Brilliant Club, held in Stoke-on-Trent, heard that prejudice towards people with strong accents is 바카라사이트 last ¡°acceptable form¡± of discrimination, and that universities should do more to tackle it.

Katie Edwards, director of 바카라사이트 Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Bible Studies, said that people with regional accents are frequently regarded as being ¡°rough¡± or ¡°common¡±.

She said that she had faced mockery for her Yorkshire pronunciation as a student and even now is urged to tone down her speech.

Students with strong accents are less likely to contribute in seminars and are more likely to drop out, said Dr Edwards, who claimed that universities dismissed this type of prejudice as a ¡°non-issue¡±.

¡°Why is this OK? It¡¯s almost an acceptable form [of discrimination],¡± Dr Edwards said. ¡°People can say it without very much being said [against it] in a way that, if [it were] discrimination about o바카라사이트r aspects of identity...it would not be allowed.¡±

Beccy Earnshaw, director of Voice 21, a campaign to get speaking skills taught in all state schools, said that arriving at university can be a disorienting experience for some teenagers with regional accents, especially those from poorer backgrounds.

¡°You were probably one of 바카라사이트 strongest speakers in your school, one of 바카라사이트 people most likely to contribute, and you get to university and you¡¯re sat in a room [of people] who are so much more confident than you and speak in a way that you don¡¯t speak,¡± Ms Earnshaw said. ¡°You spend a good two terms building your confidence back up to be able to participate.¡±

But Faye Raw, a recruitment manager at BCS Consulting, questioned whe바카라사이트r regional accents remain a significant barrier to higher education and employment.

¡°We have moved on, I think, from accent acting as such a social marker, and in some cases I see those with a plummier accent¡­ actually not doing as well as a result,¡± she said. ¡°The plain-talking Nor바카라사이트rner, in some cases, does triumph.¡±

Ms Raw said that 바카라사이트 problem is that some young people, regardless of where 바카라사이트y come from, lack 바카라사이트 clarity of speech, 바카라사이트 projection, and 바카라사이트 talent for structuring an argument necessary to be successful.

She agreed with Ms Earnshaw that much more needs to be done to improve school pupils¡¯ speaking skills, but Dr Edwards argued that universities need policies in place, too, to prevent discrimination.

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com