Creating an Inclusive Learning
Environment
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Structure of this seminar
• What is inclusivity in learning & teaching?
• Legislative duties.
• Barriers to learning and how to overcome
them.
• Reasonable adjustments.
• Importance of academic standards.
Focus on disability: making courses more accessible
to disabled students automatically makes them more
accessible to all students.
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What is Inclusivity?
• Accessibility: aims to make learning, teaching and
assessment accessible to disabled people.
• Inclusivity: aims to make learning, teaching and
assessment accessible to people from a wide range
of different educational, cultural and socio-economic
backgrounds. Inclusivity recognises that people are
individuals, each with their own strengths and
weaknesses.
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What Inclusivity is NOT about
• Lowering standards
• More paperwork and hassle
• “Political correctness” or getting
into trouble for using the wrong
words
Inclusive practice in Learning &
Teaching
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…is about finding practical, common-sense
solutions to remove barriers that prevent
students from participating/achieving.
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Benefits all students, not just disabled
students or “awkward cases”.
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Increases retention; improves degree
attainment; enhances academic standards.
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Inclusive practice is good practice.
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As lecturers we have a duty under equality
legislation not to discriminate (directly or
indirectly) or disproportionately
disadvantage students on the basis of:
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Race
Religion & Belief
Gender
Disability
Sexual Orientation
Age
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Disability Discrimination Act 2005
• Discrimination against disabled people is illegal.
• There is a duty to make reasonable adjustments
to disabled people generally, not just to particular
individuals.
• There is therefore an anticipatory aspect to this
duty
•This anticipatory duty is included in gender and
race legislation
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What is a disability?
• The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a
disabled person as someone who has a physical or
mental impairment that has a substantial and longterm adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out
normal day-to-day activities.
• Examples: dyslexia; mental health conditions;
epilepsy; diabetes; arthritis; cancer; HIV/Aids; visual,
hearing or mobility impairments.
So how do we make our
courses inclusive?
• Up to now, adjustments for individual
students have been reactive
• Inclusivity is a proactive approach: teaching
staff are required under the DDA to anticipate
the needs of their students
“But how can I anticipate the needs of
students I don’t (yet) have?”
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To make our courses more inclusive, we need
to remove barriers incidental to the course’s
learning outcomes.
Consider the demands of L&T activities on
students’ capacities:
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Vision and hearing
Speech and language skills
Mobility and dexterity
Concentration and stamina
Cognition and working memory
Social skills and awareness
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For example, a traditional lecture (where the lecturer talks
and writes on the board for an hour while the students take
notes) disadvantages the following students:
• Students with visual/hearing impairments.
• Dyslexic students (lack of dexterity – writing notes
while trying to concentrate on what’s said is a
challenge for dyslexic students).
• Students with concentration problems (e.g. ADHD).
• Students with fatigue issues (MS, medication, or a
long day at work if evening lecture).
• Students who struggle with English.
• Students who can’t attend the lecture (e.g. because
of illness, disability, work, childcare responsibilities)
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It is very straightforward to make the lecture described in
the last slide more inclusive:
• Provide lecture notes in advance on Blackboard or
at the start of the class.
• Build participation/discussion into the lecture: keeps
students more engaged and more alert.
• Allow students to record your lectures.
• Make use of podcasting.
• These simple strategies enhance students’ learning,
remove barriers that prevent students from learning
effectively or from attending, and increase retention
and attainment.
Tips for inclusive teaching:
• Draw on multiple capacities
• Offer multiple/flexible ways of participating
• Provide structure at the start (map), and refer back to
it periodically (signposts)
• Provide instructions e.g. for group work in writing, in
advance if possible, or be sure to read them out
• Make social/classroom conventions explicit, e.g. how
participants will indicate that they have a question
• Provide mini-breaks/changes in activity type
• Make use of BlackBoard / Podcasting
• Make sure people don’t feel uncomfortable if they
need to stand up or leave the room for a moment, or
provide sufficient breaks for them to do so
unobtrusively
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Group Work
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• Establish clear guidelines and “ground rules” (showing
respect for each other’s views, not interrupting, how to
ask questions etc).
• Emphasise importance and advantages of working
together with people from different backgrounds / different
range of abilities.
• Assign people into groups – if students form their own
groups, some students (international/disabled) will be
excluded.
Group Work (cont.)
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• Monitor groupwork to ensure everyone in the group is
participating fully.
• Provide clear instructions for group work tasks in writing,
in advance if possible, or be sure to read them out.
• Encourage students to reflect on how their behaviour can
impact on the learning activities of others.
• Consider running an equality and diversity group-based
exercise – helps to break down barriers and is very
beneficial to students who are confused about social
conventions.
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Reasonable Adjustments
Under the DDA the University must take reasonable steps
to ensure that disabled people are not placed at a
disadvantage in comparison to someone who is not
disabled.
Factors to consider in assessing reasonableness:
• maintenance of academic standards
• health and safety requirements
• practicality
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Academic Standards
“The academic standards reason should not be used
spuriously. Where elements are not central or core to a
course, they are unlikely to provide a reason to justify
discrimination based on academic standards.”
DDA Part IV Code of Practice, 4.27
It is therefore necessary to identify the
central or core elements of any
course.
It is only academic staff who can make this
judgement
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“What am I trying to teach?”
• If you can articulate what is essential and
non-negotiable, you will find ways around
barriers when it is possible to do so; and you
will be able to say with confidence and with
justification when it is not possible.
• A clear statement of the limits to flexibility is
an important part of making a course
genuinely accessible.
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Examples of reasonable adjustments
A student with a mobility impairment can’t participate in a
field trip to the summit of Cadair Idris.
• Can the course’s learning outcomes only be achieved
by scaling this mountain?
• What are the alternatives?
– Geological features in roadside cuttings, etc
– Alternative fieldwork, e.g. OU’s fieldwork course for students
with mobility and visual impairments
• Do all the students on the field trip have to do the
alternative option?
– NO!
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Examples of reasonable adjustments
Dyslexic student
• Provide support to develop strategies in the classroom or
placement
• Make lecture notes available in advance or on Blackboard
• Coloured paper or tinted overlay/glasses
• Mp3 recorder.
• Spelling: give dispensation in exams if meaning can be
discerned, i.e. not in cases where spelling is fundamental
to meaning (hypothermia/hyperthermia,
sulphide/sulphite/sulphate)
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Examples of reasonable adjustments
A student with young children can’t attend lectures earlier
than 10am or later than 3pm.
• Rescheduling of classes? Impractical therefore
probably not reasonable.
• Lecturer gives student catch-up tutorials?
Impractical therefore possibly not reasonable.
• Lecturer provides lecture notes. Reasonable.
• Make podcasts of lectures available.
Reasonable and may be best option.
“How do I change my assessment to ensure it is
accessible to disabled/dyslexic students?”
Four available choices:
1. Change of assessment circumstances (e.g. Change of room)
2. Assessment modification (e.g. giving extra time or not marking
down for spelling)
3. Alternative assessment (Oral or prepared essay rather than a
written exam)
4. No change – as academic standards or learning outcomes
would be compromised
If 1, 2, or 3:
- Does assessment still test learning outcomes?
- Should all students be offered the changed
assessment?
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Summary: how to make your course inclusive
• Anticipate the needs of your students.
• Be flexible and adaptable.
• Make reasonable adjustments to enable a student to
participate fully in the course/assessments.
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Be creative.
Ask the Inclusive Curriculum Officer for suggestions.
Use common sense.
Do not compromise academic standards.
• Give all your students frequent opportunities to
discuss their needs with you in private.
• If you’re not sure how best to support a student, then
ASK! Ask the student, ask Student Services, ask
the Inclusive Curriculum Officer.
• Respect confidentiality.
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• Works with academic staff to make courses/modules
more inclusive while maintaining academic
standards.
• Advises academic staff on how to make reasonable
adjustments for particular students.
• Aims to identify & disseminate good practice in L&T.
• Conducts academic research into inclusivity/good
practice in L&T.