Building an Inclusive Curriculum

BLS Research Seminar 

• Nicola Gale (sociology), Anastasia Vakulenko (tbc)

The LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum project has sought to identity and share good practice on curriculum development and learning spaces.  Taking a cross-disciplinary perspective, the project team identified that inclusive practice was not only about content, but also about use of language and staff being role models for inclusive behaviour.  Currently, the team are working on projects to address two main barriers to inclusion: (1) The reticence of colleagues to engage with LGBTQ issues in the curriculum, despite their commitment to inclusivity, because of uncertainty and lack of confidence about the best way to do so and (2) The difficulty faced by colleagues and students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) based subjects where human issues are not easily addressed within the curriculum.   

In this workshop, Dr Nicola Gale (co-chair of the University’s Inclusive Curriculum Committee, and co-project lead for the LGBTQ inclusive curriculum committee) will share data collected as part of the project – focusing on CAL and particularly law students and staff – and answer questions about inclusion more broadly including how it can influence all stages of the higher education experience for students.