Viv Thom, Education DeveloperStudent Experience TeamQuality Enhancement & Student Success QESS

Inclusivity in learning, teaching& assessment

Student Experience Team in QESS : our role is to• support academic staff in course development• develop learning resources• contribute to policy development and strategic planning• extend inclusive practice• analyze, disseminate and develop student surveys eg.NSS• increase student engagement• we have backgrounds in disability and international student support

Student Experience Team

A strong national reputation for recruitment students from a broad range of social backgrounds, securing  high rates of the retention and progression, and a strong focus on equipping our students for employment and further study

Student Corporate Plan 2011-13Distinctive Features of Sheffield Hallam University

Improving the Student Experience Group'Retention and Student Success'

Background research undertaken by ISEG (Mike Bramhall) listed the "main factors that enhance student retention and success"

Active learning and inclusive teaching and learning strategies• An excellent reputation for the quality of our teaching, and pride in the

provision of a very supportive student experience• A track record of being responsive to both our partners and to

students • A commitment to advancing inclusion as a key feature of all our

activities, as we believe this is ethically right and socially responsible and contributes to the academic and business strengths of the University.

Inclusive Practice

• "Inclusivity limits the use of additional practices for disabled students and adapts routine practices to meet the needs of all students."

(HEFCE (Dec 2009) para8, p.2)

• "increasing participation does not of itself represent inclusive education." (Waterfield and West (2006)p.5)

• Barton (2003) “inclusion is not about assimilation or accommodation of individuals into an essentially unchanged system of educational practice.”

• Instead it is about the “transformation of those deep structural barriers to change”. (quoted in Waterfield and West (2006))

• Create safe, inclusive spaces• Get to know students as individuals• Establish ground rules for collaborative

learning

Academic engagement in diverse groups occurs when teachers

Develop strategies that harness students' experience and Knowledge

• Start with what students know, then apply theory (biographical turn)

• Connect with students’ lives, backgrounds and future aspirations

• Facilitate uncertainty, confusion & difference• Encourage public articulation of thinking &

collaborative problem solving

• Mindful of own beliefs and identity and their impact on student learning

• Coordinate interaction, mixing different students (with a purpose)

• Anticipate students’ requirements and interests• Respond flexibly to emerging needs and interests of

student

(Christine Hockings "Inclusive learning and teaching in higher education: a synthesis of research" HEA.)

Teach reflexively and with sensitivity to individual & cultural difference

In your subject discipline…..

what might you do to:• Create safe, inclusive spaces• Develop strategies that harness students’

experience and knowledge• Teach reflexively and with sensitivity to individual &

cultural differences

• Students need inspirational teachers whose enthusiasm inspires them to learn• Students need teachers who listen and respond to ensure they understand

where students are struggling and suggest techniques to help them• The real world and first hand experience teach us so much- build in

opportunities to talk to people in companies and organisations and use case studies and role play to try out problem solving prior to consultancy and work-placements

• Authenticity is important- for students and for teachers. being able to feel comfortable and safe creates the context for sharing

• value the diverse cultural, life and work experiences of your students• encourage students to value one another and work across cultures and other

differences

Create safe, inclusive spaces

Bibliography

Barton, L. (2003) ‘Inclusive Education and Teacher Education – A Basis for Hope or a Discourse of Delusion’, Professorial Lecture, Institute for Education, University of London quoted in Waterfield and West (2006))

Waterfield, J and West, B (2006) 'Inclusive Assessment in Higher Education: A Resource for Change' University of Plymouth: Plymouth

HEFCE Policy development Report (2009/49) 'Outcomes of HEFCE review of its policy as it relates to disabled students'

Carroll, J. and Ryan, J. (2005) Teaching International Students, Routledge, SEDA, Birmingham.

Hockings, Prof. C (2010) "Inclusive learning and teaching in higher education: a synthesis of research" York: Higher Education Academy presentation here

Quality Assurance Agency (2010) Code of Practice Section 3: Disabled Studentshttp://www.qaa.ac.uk/AssuringStandardsAndQuality/code-of-practice/Pages/default.aspx

QAA ‘International students studying in the UK – Guidance for UK higher education institutions 2011 http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/International_students_guidance.pdf

Links