Developing an Inclusive Curriculum in the GEES Disciplines

The GEES Subject Centre is committed to supporting widening participation in ways most relevant to the disciplines. Whilst recruitment per se is an issue for many departments / schools, the students now entering higher education are more likely to have more diverse learning and support needs than, say, 20 years ago. This web page provides some key resources to help staff to develop a more inclusive curriculum with a view to supporting good learning for all students.

• Widening Participation
• Supporting Students with Disabilities
• Supporting Cultural & Religious Diversity

 

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Widening Participation

• Website: HE Academy Widening Participation web pages, includes links to many useful websites, a database of resources and examples of practice.
• Website: Action on Access - the national co-ordination team for widening participation in higher education, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Northern Ireland's Department for Employment and Learning. The team work with institutions and partnerships, including Aimhigher, providing advice, information and support to their widening participation activities, strategies and plans.
• Past Event: Widening Participation and Employability: New Opportunities for Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences (July 2004). Day 1 programme includes PowerPoint presentations on widening participation.

 

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Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Project: Inclusive Curriculum Project. The Geography Discipline Network (GDN) produced a series of nine (freely downloadable) staff guides and one student guide designed to support disabled students studying GEES subjects in higher education. The project also produced a case study database detailing disabled students' experiences of teaching, learning and assessment in higher education, and the experience of departments and disability advisory units of supporting the learning of disabled students; and a report analysing the findings from the first ever survey of disabled students in geography, earth and environmental sciences and related disciplines (2006).
• Guides: Learning Support for Disabled Students Undertaking Fieldwork and Related Activities. A Geography Discipline Network project providing six, free Web-based guides (2003).
• Publication: Special Educational Needs and Disabilities - learning and teaching guidance for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (Planet Thematic Issue, 2002).
• Past Event: Special Education Needs and Disabilities: Implications of New Legislation and Guidance for HE Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences (Oct 2001).
• Links: Some Resources for Accessibility and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
• Website: The JISC TechDis Service aims to be the leading educational advisory service, working across the UK, in the fields of accessibility and inclusion. Its mission is to support the education sector in achieving greater accessibility and inclusion by stimulating innovation and providing expert advice and guidance on disability and technology.
• Website: HE Academy Disability web page, includes links to resources and events.
• Website: ScienceSigns - an online British Sign Language (BSL) /English glossary for science education. Includes physical geography, earth and environmental science terms.

 

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Supporting Cultural & Religious Diversity

• Project: Supporting Cultural & Religious Diversity. The Subject Centre for Philosophical & Religious Studies (PRS) has been working with other subject centres (including GEES) to explore the implications of cultural and religious issues in higher education. The project was set up in response to interest from the academic community as they find themselves working with an increasingly diverse student population.
• Guides: The Faith Guides, published by the PRS Subject Centre in 2006, aim to give information to staff in the higher education sector on how best to support students with a variety of religious beliefs.