BEL+T Blog - Reflective Practice: Inclusive teaching and positionality

Planning your introductory exercises for your first classes of semester two and looking to explore inclusive teaching?

Widening participation a goal of the university and this aim highlights the  importance to explore and develop teaching practices that ensure learning environments are respectful, inclusive and accessible.  Guidance on inclusive teaching focuses on recognising the value of the diverse perspectives and skills that exist within learners. Alongside this acknowledgement is a parallel potential, where acknowledging teachers' own perspectives is seen as central to informing learning design and student experiences. This can also be understood as a relational approach to pedagogy and forming part of a reflective practice.

Incorporating modes of positioning is one way to to bridge student and teacher experiences. Drawn from ‘Successful instructors understand their own biases and beliefs’ are some prompting questions that can invite teachers to situate and reflect on their own positionality.

Who are you?

What are the dimensions that make up your personal and professional lives? Where are you from, what roles do you perform and what are your values? This is especially relevant for ABP staff who may work across domains (industry/teaching/research).

What is knowledge to you?

What types of knowledge systems and types of learning have you experienced and how do they inform what you see as important? Do these roles and values currently inform your teaching practice?

Who are you teaching?

Where might some of your roles, positions and perspectives about learning intersect with those of your students? How might they link to  a wider community of learning?

Connecting these reflections to  strategies where positionality is part of student learning and experience can promote social connection, fostering belonging, and supporting wellbeing. As well as showing enthusiasm, relatability, empathy and self-awareness. For example:

• Introduce positionality statements or discussions of teaching values into course materials.

• Situate learning within a relational framework of overlapping groups,  disciplines or professional areas.

• Explore the possibilities of diverse positions through exercises such as ‘where do you know from’

References:

Marangell, S., Croucher, G., Venturin, B., Baik, C., Arkoudis, S., & Baker, S. (2024). Students’ attitudes toward diversity in higher education: Findings from a scoping review. Issues in Educational Research, 34(1), 97–122.