Offsetting racial disadvantage in employment: enhancing performance on personnel selection tests through access training

This paper gives an account of the use of access training in order to enhance the performance of ethnic minority candidates in the process of selection for the West Midlands Police Force. Following the location of the initiative in an equal opportunities framework, the new Police Initial Recruitment (PIR) Test is described. This test was introduced in 1991 to replace the original test, first used in 1974, and is the first element in the selection process. The aims of the access training course are outlined and attention drawn to the way in which the course seeks to develop a range of skills relevant to both the selection process and police basic training, i.e. it seeks to do more than simply raise test scores. The methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of the access course are reported before consideration is given to the issues raised by the study.