Initialisation and Sustainability in Practices of Inclusive Education
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King's College London has undertaken several initiatives to promote inclusive education in response to various challenges. A survey of over 300 staff found barriers to inclusion included a lack of knowledge, resources, and time. Students reported feeling a lack of acknowledgement, encouragement, and flexibility. KCL is taking a collaborative approach across departments to develop resources on an inclusive teaching portal, provide training, and support faculty inclusion strategies. The goal is to better support diverse students and gain staff buy-in for inclusive practices through reflection, guidance, and sharing experiences.
Initialisation and Sustainability in Practices of Inclusive Education
- 1. King’s College London Initialisation and Sustainability in Practices of Inclusive Education Kelly Coate and Chris Ross King’s Learning Institute SEDA Conference 4th November 2016
- 2. Overview • The King’s Context • Key challenges • Progress and next steps • Discussion
- 3. Inclusive Education At KCL, driven by: • Reduction in Disabled Students’ Allowance • Increased targets for international student recruitment • BME student attainment gap • ’Why is my curriculum white’ student liberation campaigns • Student union representatives’ platforms e.g. on LGBTQ+ issues • Widening participation initiatives
- 4. Key Challenges for Inclusive Education • Potentially viewed as starting from a deficit position (e.g. concerns about performance of certain groups of students); • Discussions about inclusion can imply that certain practices are currently exclusive, and this understandably raises sensitivities; • Inclusive education is rising up the agenda within institutions, but it is not included in TEF; • Inclusive education requires cross-institutional collaboration across geographical locations (particularly across professional services and academic divides, but also across Faculties).
- 5. Data collection • Teaching survey A survey was conducted across a number of faculties and over 300 responses were received. Questions focussed on current practices, resources, methods, knowledge and demands for upskilling and training. • Student data Collected from the NSS results and comments from other projects, including the BME Student Success report.
- 6. Barriers expressed by students • No acknowledgement of my identity • Little encouragement or guidance on how to interact with peers • Lack of clarity with unfamiliar terminology • A rigid teaching style with no accommodation for different learning approaches • Little effort to obtain personal knowledge, expertise and life experiences from the students • No flexibility with teaching resources • Infrequent signposting to other sources of support
- 7. Student comments “Our cohort has a range of ages, but many of us have a family with children. The university claim to support mature students but in practice I feel they forget...”
- 8. Barriers expressed by teaching staff: • Understanding of inclusive education largely related to ‘accessibility’ • 78% of survey respondents did not feel confident they had the adequate knowledge or resources to support disabled students in light of the Disabled Students Allowance changes • The (usual) lack of time, resources, and support • Teaching in large group settings • Balancing responsibilities and pressures such as REF • Discipline or programme expectations • Professional programme constraints e.g. physical disabilities and fitness to practice
- 9. Teaching staff comments “Too much unnecessary administration; top-down imposition of modes of so-called teaching 'delivery' that undermines our ability to exercise our judgement as teachers.” “This would require time, effort, collaborations within and outside groups, staff's willingness to improve the learning experience for the students.”
- 10. KCL Approach • Collaborative effort across Diversity and Inclusivity (HR) team, Disabled Student Advisory (Student Services) team, Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (IT), Study Skills team (Library) and KLI academic staff • Resources on new area of website (Inclusive Teaching portal) • Alignment with KLI’s College-wide Changing Classrooms initiatives (education enhancement) • Alignment with KCL’s engagement with TEF • Central Inclusive Education CPD plus bespoke training for departments, plus a Diversity module on the PGCAP • Supporting Faculty Inclusion strategies where these are being developed.
- 11. The Inclusive Teaching Toolkit • A module on the KCL VLE • Encourages reflection on teaching practices • An internal staff resource, which gives us data about staff needs
- 12. The Inclusive Education Portal 1/2 Includes: • Factsheets and guidance on who studies at King’s • Quick guides on Inclusive Teaching • An audit toolkit to gauge Inclusive Practice • Details on CPD opportunities for Inclusive Education • FAQs Our next steps are to: • Develop a platform where people can share experiences and good practices
- 13. Points for Small Group Discussions • How do we – or do we – bring inclusive education initiatives into the TEF? • How do we build effective cross-institutional initiatives? • How do we gain ‘buy-in’ from academics who are time poor and feeling pressures from elsewhere? • How can best practice be rewarded?
- 14. Inclusive Education Network inclusion@jiscmail.com Proposal is to establish a sector-wide body of Inclusive Education Champions, to: • share good practice, through e.g. showcasing events and dissemination • support with discipline-specific areas for development • be a platform for advice and guidance • support the NAPD’s development of a sector-wide inclusive education portal.