Inspiring inclusive teaching across the disciplines

Following recommendations of the 1997 Dearing Report, new university lecturers are required to complete some kind of postgraduate teacher training (Bamber, 2002). This round table discussion reflects on how such training can inspire inclusive teaching scholarship and practice in different disciplines.

At the University of Kent, new lecturers are required to complete an in-service Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. All PGCHE modules promote principles of inclusivity and lecturers have the chance to explore this more through the year 2 module ‘The Inclusive University’.

On this module, lecturers are introduced to scholarship related to HE accessibility (Cumming and Rose, 2022) and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2018), as well as diversified, decolonised and culturally sensitive curricula (Adewumi and Mitton, 2022; Shahjahan et al, 2022; Thomas and Quinlan, 2023). For assessment, lecturers are required to critically evaluate scholarly literature, policies and practices regarding inclusivity within their subject disciplines and in relation to student groups targeted by university access and participation plans, with intersectionality in mind.

In this round table discussion, Lecturer in Higher Education Lucy Panesar will talk about leading ‘The Inclusive University’ module and provide an overview of the inclusive practices and scholarly inquiries this has inspired. Lecturers Claire Melanie Boucher and Jo Phillips and Teaching Fellow Mark Cornell will then talk about their experiences of the module and the developments it has inspired in their scholarship and practice within their respective disciplines of sports science, social work and medicine.

The audience will be invited to join the discussion that follows, which will focus on the opportunities and challenges in inspiring and supporting inclusivity through postgraduate teacher training for lecturers across the disciplines.