Practice vs Policy: Learning Development’s role in supporting, developing, and challenging Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Higher Education sector.

Research output: Contribution to Book/ReportChapterpeer-review

Abstract

From highlighting power relations (Sinfield, Holley and Burns, 2006) to embracing pedagogies of discomfort (Dhillon, 2018), Learning Developers have interpreted and responded to key challenges around inclusion with practical solutions. The Learning Development community, with its roots in initiatives such as the widening participation agenda (Samuels, 2013), has often had to find practical ways to work against the ‘deficit premises’ inherent in its inception (Johnson, 2018). In contrast to this, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policy across the HE as a whole has been criticised for gestural approaches and for focusing on policy statements rather than engaging with challenges faced by a diverse student body (Tate and Bagguley, 2017). Learning developers are acutely aware of the tensions between the managerialist impulses of neoliberal HE and ALDinHE’s strongly held community values of social justice and “emancipatory practice” (ALDinHE, n.d.).
This chapter explores how learning developers understand and work with the challenge of EDI through a focus on LD voices. It considers the actions Learning Developers can take to support equitable practice within their institutions.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHow to be a learning developer in higher education
Subtitle of host publicationCritical Perspectives, Community and Practice
EditorsAlicja Syska, Carina Buckley
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter13
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-003-43334-7
ISBN (Print)9781032560076, 9781032560083
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2024

Keywords

  • equality
  • diversity
  • inclusion
  • learning development
  • Learning Development
  • Equity
  • social justice
  • policy
  • practice

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