A key aspect of embedding equality and diversity in the curriculum is the engagement of students in their own curriculum creation. How though, can we do this in practice? What are the barriers to/benefits of doing so? What are the key issues that must be faced? What are the limits/the range? How should such incorporations be managed?
sparqs and The Higher Education Academy in Scotland hosted a half-day exploratory workshop on 22nd October 2014 in order to initiate and develop conversation in these key areas from a practice point of view.
The workshop aims were to:
- Share practical examples where practitioners have involved students in the development of equality and diversity (E&D) in the curriculum.
- Explore issues raised in the practical examples and by the discussion around them.
- Identify solutions or further work that would minimise or remove the issues.
For more information on the event contact Pauline Hanesworth at: pauline.hanesworth@heacademy.ac.uk
The workshop is part of a wider programme which sparqs is supporting, which focuses on equality and diversity in the curriculum in Scotland. Led by the Higher Education Academy in partnership with the College Development Network and the Equality Practitioners' Network the programme works with institutions in the higher education and college sectors to further embed equality and diversity within curriculum design, delivery and assessment.
As a member of the Advisory Group, sparqs is providing guidance on how students can be involved in the project itself as well as exploring how students can be developed to become partners in the curriculum design process that ensures equality is embedded in the curriculum.
In partnership with NUS Scotland sparqs ran a workshop at the programme’s first conference, Attainment For All, held on the 11th April 2014, which explored student diversity and built upon the NUS project ‘Liberating the Curriculum” to explore how students could be involved in curriculum development.
We ran a follow up webinar recently, which looked at what is meant by student engagement in the curriculum and what issues this might raise when aiming for diverse student involvement.
For further details about the programme itself, as well as a large range of resources visit http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/inclusion/embedding_equality_and_diversity_in_the_curriculum
For more information contact Stephanie Millar, sparqs Development Advisor on stephanie.millar@sparqs.ac.uk
