Course Development: Removing the barriers to success

James Moran, Senior Lecturer

This section provides advice on a range of issues that must be addressed if we are to develop courses which are genuinely inclusive and accessible. Addressing these issues must not be considered simply as something that is desirable. The issues go to the very heart of Westminster’s purpose and mission as a University, and therefore represent a fundamental element of our course development process.

Strategic priorities

The significance of these issues is reflected in the University’s strategic priorities. Our over-arching strategy – Being Westminster – sets out our purpose and mission as follows:

OUR PURPOSE:  We provide grounded, holistic education with wide horizons and opportunities so that people from every background can realise their true potential, contributing to a richer, happier society.

OUR MISSION: To help students from different backgrounds fulfil their potential.

One of the six core principles that underpins our Education Strategy is as follows:

 Our education is inclusive, accessible and challenging. We are committed to removing the barriers to success and contributing to social justice.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

The University is committed to placing equality, diversity and inclusion at the core of everything we do. To support this commitment, we have published an EDI Policy, an EDI Strategy, and established a range of work streams and initiatives. Extensive guidance can found on the EDI web pages.

Of particular note is the University’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ Commitment Plan which sets out 15 action points, including commitments to decolonising and diversifying our curriculum and teaching practices, and addressing awarding gaps.  

Course teams will be expected to articulate their commitment to EDI in their course documentation. This means more than simply including a statement in the programme specification. Validation panels will expect to see evidence of how the statement translates into actionable commitments throughout the course.

Our Access and Participation Plan

Universities prepare access and participation plans under regulatory provisions managed by the Office for Students (OfS). Such plans are required to set out how higher education providers will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education.

Westminster’s plan describes the gaps in access, performance and attainment of students from underrepresented groups that are the most significant. The plan identifies five particular groups:

• Students from disadvantaged groups based on household income, socioeconomic status, and participation in higher education.
• Students from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
• Mature students
• Disabled students
• Care leavers

The plan can be downloaded here. The data that informs the plan and its implementation can be accessed via the Qlikview dashboard. 

Course teams should use the plan, and the data in QlikView to identify the particular challenges that are relevant to their course. This in turn should feed into the course development process.

Inclusive curriculum

The inclusive curriculum is one that provides equal opportunities for all students to learn. This means that learning outcomes must be designed in such a way to provide opportunities for all students to participate. Furthermore, assessments should be designed to recognise diversity and ensure that all students can demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes. 

At Westminster we have some excellent resources to support course teams in developing an inclusive curriculum. The ‘Being Westminster: Inclusive Course Design‘ toolkit is a self-assessment tool for course teams to help them identify how they enhance inclusivity. 

Workshops can be also be arranged to provide bespoke guidance for course teams on developing an inclusive curriculum. **LINK**

Decolonising the curriculum

The concept of decolonisation is concerned with redressing various forms of disadvantage associated with racism and colonialism. As our Access and Participation Plan indicates, there are inequalities experienced by BAME students in access to, success in, and progression from higher education. The idea of decolonising the curriculum is to unravel our assumptions about curriculula and challenge the structural racism that may exist unconsciously through the content of courses and through the pedagogies and support systems associated with courses. 

Colleagues in CETI have worked with students to develop the ‘Pedagogies for Social Justice’ website. This includes an invaluable toolkit on decolonising reading lists, and provides a starting point for discussions amongst the course team and with students to consider what decolonising may look like for them. The toolkit consists of a general introductory reading list and individual lists for each of the subject areas at Westminster.

A culturally sensitive curriculum

Dave Thomas at the University of Kent has done extensive work around the concept of a culturally sensitive curriculum. This is defined as a curriculum in which the attitudes, teaching methods, materials and theories relate to students’ cultural characteristics and experiences. He has developed a set of scales designed to assess our curricula against four dimensions:

1. Diversity is present: this focuses on how people from diverse backgrounds are referenced within the curriculum. Students should be able to “see themselves on the shelf”.
2. Positive portrayals: this focuses on redressing assumptions and perceptions of people from diverse backgrounds that may distort how they are considered by society.
3. Challenge power: this focuses on the curriculum’s ability to provoke critical thought and challenge dominant ideologies. 
4. Inclusive classroom interactions: this focuses on the the development of a learning environment accepting of differences and respectful of different perspectives.

A copy of the slides from a presentation by Dave Thomas about his work can be found here.