Developing an inclusive curriculum: Supporting transition, transformation and evolution

1. Developing an inclusive curriculum: Supporting transition, transformation and evolution Mick Healey University of Gloucestershire, UK mhealey@glos.ac.uk The Government is committed to “raising aspirations so that those with the potential to success at the highest levels are encouraged to aim high, whatever their background.” BIS (2009: 24)

2. Aims • Examine how students from different backgrounds experience transition through higher education and how this challenges us to transform teaching, learning and assessment, and build evolving communities with students. • Argue the need for equity considerations to be mainstreamed across the functions of institutions. • Explore the nature of an inclusive curriculum and the ways in which different universities are addressing the issue.

3. Inclusion and inclusive curriculum “Higher Education Institutions are being tasked through the widening participation agenda, international recruitment and through equality and anti-discrimination legislation to target the areas of age, disability, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation in the development and delivery of higher education. Waterfield and West (2008: 1)

4. Canterbury Christ Church strategy for diversity and inclusion “The University will provide an inclusive learning experience which recognises the diversity of the student body in terms of their aspirations, motivation, background and current situation.” LTAS 2010-15 The University has Disability, Race and Gender Equality Schemes and action plans

5. Student attainment by gender, ethnicity and disability % obtaining ‘good’ degree in 2008-09 Female 51 Male 44 White 51 Black 31 Non-disabled 50 Disabled 37 CCC (2010) Equality and Diversity Annual Report 2008-09

6. Brief biography • Professor of Geography, University of Gloucestershire, • HE Consultant and Researcher, • Director Centre for Active Learning (CeAL), • Geography Adviser to National Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, • National Teaching Fellow and Senior Fellow HE Academy, • Research interests – R&T links, SoTL, active learning, student experience of disability, • Director of two HEFCE projects on ‘Supporting the learning of disabled students’ (GDN), • Co-Director of ESRC TLRP Project Team on ‘Enhancing the quality and outcomes of disabled students’ learning in higher education’, • Hon Prof University of Queensland, Visiting Prof Edinburgh Napier and Wales Newport.

7. Tess

8. Structure • Nature of inclusion and inclusive curricula. • Institutional initiatives to develop inclusive policies and practices. • The experience of disabled students of curricula. • Principles of inclusive and engaged learning and teaching.

9. Inclusion and inclusive curriculum Policy and legislative agendas “Moving these agendas ‘from the margins to the mainstream’ (Thomas et al., 2005) remains a significant challenge. It necessitates a shift away from supporting specific student groups through a discrete set of policies …, towards equity considerations being embedded within all functions of the institution and treated as an ongoing process of quality enhancement.” May and Bridger (2010: 6)

11. Inclusion and inclusive curriculum “By ‘inclusion’ we mean the enabling of full and equitable participation in and progression through higher education for all prospective and existing students” (HE Academy 2009). “Inclusive curriculum design … involves the design, planning and evaluation of programmes, courses and modules not only in terms of their learning outcomes, content, pedagogy and assessment but also in ways in which they engage and include the needs, interests and aspirations of all students” (Hockings 2010: 15).

12. Argument • Developing an inclusive curriculum is about: • Designing effective learning, teaching and assessment practices for all students. • Focusing on learner differences not learner difficulties. • Valuing differences to enrich learning for all. • Making adjustments which are good teaching and learning practices to benefit all students. • How far do you agree with these views and how far do they follow from your interpretation of the research evidence?

13. Argument Inclusivity involves recognising difference, providing flexibility and choices and getting away from the traditional view that if we 'treat everyone the same' we will achieve equality. Equity rather than equality

14. Institutional initiatives to develop inclusive policies and practices • In pairs please each read ONE different institutional initiative (pp1-6) and then share something interesting that you read with your partner. • 4 minutes

15. Disability studies “We believe that the claim that everyone is impaired, not just ‘disabled people’, is a far-reaching and important insight into human experience, with major implications for medical and social intervention in the twenty-first century.” (Shakespeare and Watson 2002: 25)

18. Variation in LTA experiences Jean (education dyslexia) had different experiences with different lecturers. “If she put an overhead up in a lecture theatre or a workshop … she would … do it paragraph by paragraph … and she would read it out as well … so I would get it audibly and visually.”   “She moves into the group as overheads are swishing on and off, she is talking about something else which is so important that I am supposed to be taking it down and I am a bit like … ‘what do you want me to do?’”

19. Variation in LTA experiences Two students with the same disability may have widely different experiences. “I’m good at oral presentations but sometimes misspell on OHPs” (Dyslexia). “I hate oral presentations because it is very difficult for me to converse my ideas out aloud and this is not to do with confidence but speech problems” (Dyslexia).

20. LTA experiences This suggests that devising general policies may not meet the specific needs of individuals. However, making numerous individually-tailored adjustments is not sustainable; though may be essential in a minority of cases. What is required is an inclusive approach which removes the distinction between teaching and assessing disabled and non-disabled students.

21. LTA experiences Using a catch-all category ‘disabled students’ is problematic. The findings show that for most part disabled studentshave similar experiences to non-disabled students of learning and assessment. However, disability-related barriers have had a significant impact on their experiences of learning and assessment in a minority of situations.

22. LTA experiences of disabled and non-disabled students Agree/Strongly agree % Dis Non-Dis I have had physical difficulties with writing29 5 I have had difficulty with literacy skills 54 17 I have had difficulty in taking notes 55 24 I have had difficulties with the amount of time I require to complete assignments 55 39 It’s easy to know the standard of work expected 51 43 I have had difficulties with participation in group work 19 29 I have had difficulties with oral presentations 28 33

23. LTA experiences The main beneficiaries of disability legislation may be the non-disabled studentsbecause most of the adjustments, such as well-prepared handouts, instructions given in writing as well as verbally, notes put on-line, and variety and flexibility in forms of assessment, are simply good teaching and learning practices which benefit all students.

24. LTA experiences “One unintended consequence of this (disability) legislation is that as departments and institutions introduce more flexible learning and alternative ways of assessment for disabled students, demand is likely to rise for giving greater flexibility for all students. Disability legislation may prove to be a Trojan horse and in a decade, the learning experiences of all students may be the subject of greater negotiation” (Healey 2003: 26).

25. Principles of inclusive & engaging L&T • Creating safe inclusive spaces, • Getting to know students, • Setting ground rules. • Developing strategies for sharing and generating knowledge, • Creating flexible, student-centred activities, • Encouraging students to articulate their thinking openly, • Being uncertain, making mistakes and being different is OK.

26. Principles of inclusive & engaging L&T • Connecting with students’ lives, • Selecting / negotiating topics and activities relevant to students’ lives, backgrounds and (imagined/future) identities. • Being aware, • Adapting plans to address emerging interests • Hockings (2010).

27. Principles of inclusive & engaging L&T • In what ways has the Business School teacher in the following video clip attempted to make her class on human resources inclusive?

28. Principles of inclusive & engaging L&T

29. Reflections on developing an inclusive curriculum If we want to achieve equality of opportunity for all students, instead of classifying people by their age, disability, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation,we might do better to focus instead on their individual learning needs and entitlements.

30. “I cannot think of anything more unfair than … to treat all students as if they are the same, when they so manifestly are not” (Elton 2000: 1).

34. Developing an inclusive curriculum: Supporting transition, transformation and evolution THE END Thank You