'Diversity' And Relationship On Campus- International Student Voices.

Author(s):

Suanne Gibson(presenting / submitting)Alison Black(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 04 C, Higher Education: Issues for Inclusive Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

09:00-10:30

Room:

B026 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Gottfried Biewer

Contribution

This research project, entitled, Developing a critically inclusive pedagogy of relationship for the retention and success of ‘non-traditional’ students or ‘students at risk of exclusion’ was funded by the HEA as part of its Professor Ron Cook International scholarship programme -2013/14.

Inclusive Education is widely documented and researched, in theory, policy and practice, not all of which has been in keeping with Inclusion’s original aims. As a label ‘inclusion’ has been hijacked, misunderstood, and misused (Garner, 2007).

In recent contributions to critical studies in sociology and education many academics cite concerns regarding the regression of inclusion and the continued exclusion and failure of ‘non traditional’ students at HE level, (Allan, 2010; Armstrong, 2003; Baskerville, 2011; Madriaga, 2007, 2011; Gibson, 2012). They emphasise the need to reassert the ideals of IE as a contemporary concern across the education sector, whilst calling on practitioners and academics to renew their political commitment [..] by undertaking duties that exercise responsibility to the Other (Allan, 2010, p614).

In the past decade there has been much work on IE and Higher Education (Gibson and Kendall, 2010; Baskerville, 2011; Beauchamp-Pryor, 2012). Much of this suggests for inclusive and successful higher education for students who have experienced and/or experience exclusion, there needs to be a meaningful relationship established with peers and tutors. This provides a foundation from where the student can grow successfully and securely.

This international scholarship set out to address questions of diversity, inclusion and relationship in the University context for and with undergraduate students who self-defined as being diverse.

Method

With centres of student stakeholders and facilitators working within working within 7 university settings in Australia (1), Europe (3), New Zealand (1) and the U.S.A. (2) the aim was to include groups of students who, on the basis of self selection, considered they represented diverse components of their university’s student population. ‘Diversity’ was defined as representing self identities linked to disability, ethnicity, sexuality, age, gender and/or socio economic background. On average, 300 undergraduate students of education were invited to take part in an online survey monkey survey at each centre. On the basis of survey responses, a small sample group was selected from each centre to form follow up focus groups where discussion and data analysis took place. The focus groups explored participants’ understandings of ‘diverse learners and/or learning’, ‘inclusive forms of education’ and ‘experiences of inclusive provision at university’. As well as being the project’s sample population the students also took part in analysing the data collected at focus groups and agreeing the findings.They became co-creators of knowledge gained from the stories they shared and the questions we raised. This paper reflects on some of the project’s findings, considers what participants perceive as important questions for the future of inclusive higher education and engages with what appears to be the important matter of ‘relationship’ in the quest to strengthen diverse learner outcomes. This paper has been written by the project leader with input from project participants- students, project research co-ordinator and each centre's academic facilitator.

Expected Outcomes

As an international collective of academics we aimed, with our student stakeholders, to address the question of ‘diversity’ and find answers for future practical developments to meet their expectations and enable their aspirations with regards inclusion and academic success. The work aims to suggest a way forward, working to develop inclusion and secure the retention and academic success of non-traditional students.

References

Allan, J. (2010), ‘The sociology of disability and the struggle for inclusive education’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31, 5, 603-619 Armstrong, D. (2003) Experiences of special education. Re-evaluating policy and practice through life stories, London, RoutledgeFalmer. Baskerville, D. (2011), ‘Developing cohesion and building positive relationships theoru storytelling in a culturally diverse New Zealand classroom’, Teaching and Teacher Education, 107-115 Beauchamp-Pryor, K. (2012). From absent to active voices: securing disability equality within higher education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16, 3, 283-295. Gibson, S. (2012), Narrative accounts of university education: socio-cultural perspectives of students with disabilities, Disability and Society, 27, 3, 353-369 Gibson, S., and L. Kendall. (2010), Stories from school: Dyslexia and learners’ voices on factors impacting on achievement. Support for Learning 25, no. 4: 187–93. Madriaga, M. (2007). Enduring disablism: students with dyslexia and their pathways into UK higher education and beyond. Disability and Society 22, 4, 399–412. Madriaga, M. et al (2011), Marking out normalcy and disability in higher education, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 32, 6, 901-920

Author Information

Suanne Gibson (presenting / submitting)

Plymouth University

Institute of Education

Exmouth

Alison Black (presenting)

Plymouth University, United Kingdom

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.