Promoting social justice in higher education can be a very complex one, since we need to look at its issues in a holistic manner. This means that universities have to peruse if their policies support social justice, but at the same time universities must also prepare their teachers as well as employers that diversity matters. As much as people in the modern world are believed to have an awareness of how important diversity is in universities and work places, I think it is also important to note that the more awareness and training people get into this, the more they become cognisant that it is a civic and moral responsibility. This is where the concept of cultural competence comes in. It is imperative that people in universities as well as the policy makers that influence university dynamics should gear towards becoming culturally competent because I believe that with a diverse and culturally competent education system, teaching and learning is propelled towards tailoring it according to the student’s needs.
It is a known fact that the higher education students are represented by students from different parts of the world. Having a diverse student population would promote accessibility in higher education in the areas of ethnic background, nationalities, and culture. This will also be highly beneficial for students since cultural competence is an important aspect in globalisation.
Although there has been a big discussion around the importance of cultural competence and diversity, higher education should also go beyond this aspect. It should be introduced to all and that it should be made accessible for everyone. This accessibility of higher education should be broadened to reach the far corners of the country, not to be only felt by the existence of more universities in various parts of the land, but that higher education is available to people from all backgrounds to include those coming from underrepresented groups.
According to the Department of Education and Skidmore (2020), new students with a disability represented 13% of entrants in Universities in England 2017/18. This is still considered to be below the working-age adult proportion and it is essential that higher education should be accessible to students with a disability. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (2020) also reported figures wherein students with a disability represented 16% of entrants in universities in England in year 2018/19. This trend has been almost similar since year 2014/15.
Figure 1. Higher education student enrolments by personal characteristics –
Academic years 2014/15 to 2018/19 (Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2020)
In the areas of ethnicity, the Office for Students (2020) mentions that there are equality gaps that are considered significant between various ethnic groups in terms of success, access and higher education progression. Added further is that there is some underrepresentation of some groups than others. It is important therefore that ccessible education among higher education institutions and for the institutions to widen its accessibility must be felt and appreciated at a staff and student level.
Defining Accessible Higher Education
There is no single definition for accessible higher education. It is essential to recognise that for accessible education to be obtained, constant assessment and discussion around this area should be made. The educational demands of today’s societies, communities and as well as the world keeps on changing at a fast pace. Globalisation is complex and in order for everyone to avail of the opportunities of higher education, collecting data on accessible education and its reviews must take place on a regular basis. Regular surveys must be made to staff and students so that other accessibility areas can be examined and explored. The results of this also helps ensure that accessible education is implemented in a manner that it best reflects the “accessibility” that relates to the current times. The purpose here is for the students and staff to experience that higher education in the country is indeed available at an individual level.
According to the Council of Ontario Universities (n.d.), accessible education covers the areas that consider a variety of student characteristics which includes race, abilities and disabilities, gender, age, ethnic background, language abilities and the learning style that is preferred by the students. The aim should be to expand the understanding of accessible higher education which also takes into account the aims of creating a culturally competent higher education system. Accessibility should be well laid out in a university’s mission statement and policies. This must be made visible in terms of how it’s implemented.
The Equality Act of 2010 has included specific areas considered as protected characteristics. This include age, sex, race, disability, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and religious background (The National Archives, 2010). Equal opportunities in higher education should adhere to fair practices and fair opportunities for the learning of students concerning the protected characteristics. It should also be made available to staff. Thus, this also includes fair practices in the workplace, fair allocations of workloads but most importantly, equal opportunities that’s well appreciated by the staff across the protected characteristics. Furthermore, it should be made mandatory for higher education institutions to monitor their student applications and enrolment according to various categories such as gender, age, ethnic background, language abilities, race, and students with disabilities. Frequent student surveys must also be conducted to identify the different learning styles preferred by students. It should also be made mandatory to Higher Education institutions to follow-up the success rates of the students according to the protected categories. Data must be collected on a regular basis be it in a form of a survey or other data collection methods so that institutions can study their University practices and analyse if equal opportunities are highly being appreciated by the students as well as the HE staff. A regular report must also be made available and action plans implemented to address issues concerning equal opportunities.
A Diverse and Culturally Competent Higher Education System
It is a known fact that the higher education students are represented by students from different parts of the world. Having a diverse student population would promote accessibility in higher education in the areas of ethnic background, nationalities, and culture. This will also be highly beneficial for students since cultural competence is an important aspect in globalisation.
To promote a diverse and culturally competent higher education system in universities, institutions must strive to achieve in having a diverse workforce. Having a diverse workforce in higher education institutions will support the recruitment of underrepresented groups. Studies have also shown that a diverse workforce will make teaching and learning to students more inclusive and enhance the support for students for the black and minority ethnic (BME) and working class students (Oloyede, 2018).
Cultural competence among students should also be promoted among institutions through curriculum designs or in the teaching and learning methodologies. Higher education institutions must welcome all students from various backgrounds, nationalities, race, and cultures. In addition, institutions must provide support systems to students and staff from diverse backgrounds and that this should be tailored according to their needs. And lastly, audits and reports on diversity and cultural competence in higher education institutions must also be conducted.
Digital Accessibility
Using digital technology in teaching and learning has with it a lot of advantages. The use of digital technology has made teaching and learning more exciting to students, thus enhancing their learning through audio-visual technologies and virtual learning environments (University Business, 2019). Because of the many benefits that digital technology brings, higher education students are now also studying through digital content, in addition to face-to-face classroom instruction. However, it also has some challenges and thus it is central to also address digital accessibility in higher education. The use of digital technology in higher education must be made accessible to all students. Higher Education institutions must ensure that digital content are accessible to students with physical, neurological, auditory, visual, learning and speech disabilities (Linney, 2020). It must ensure that digital support is available to all students. The level and type of support should tailor according to the student’s needs. Moreover, HE institutions must conduct an audit on a regular basis regarding student and teacher’s experience with digital teaching and learning as well as on their experiences with the support provided by the institution. As experiences in digital accessibility can sometimes be individualised, it is important to collect information on this regularly so as to have a picture on the experience of the students and staff with regards to digital accessibility.
Building a Culture of Accessibility
While the UK is working towards widening participation and accessibility in higher education, the overall aim should be to make sure that accessible education is felt at a staff and student level. It is all about the experience. Accessibility is central to the success of higher education and the strategies mentioned in this blog are however not absolute, but a starting point on how accessibility in higher education can be enhanced further. By making the collection of data through surveys and the review and analysis of its results mandatory, and also by making the definition of accessibility as an ongoing conversation, it is hoped that with these strategies we start to build a culture of accessibility in higher education institutions. By this doing, providers of HE can examine their practices and look for possible systematic biases so that they can ensure an accessible higher education for all.
The work of promoting social justice in universities involves looking at university policies from its mission statements to its student recruitment system, as well as the support systems that Universities can provide since for social justice to be integrated in University policies. To address inequality and inequity, you sometimes have to look at where the students are coming from. The University systems should represent underrepresented students and it should provide students with the resources that they need, not just material learning resources but resources that touch on holistic approaches as well such as resources for their emotional needs, psychological needs, spiritual and so forth.
Educators can possibly integrate social justice from the level of support that they can give to their students from thinking about how they design the courses, the audio-visual materials that they provide, and the support systems that they put in place to tailor it according to student's needs. It should be a team effort and not just an individual one. This must be an ongoing discussion with colleagues, educational experts and University heads in order to address inequality and inequity.
According to Armour (2018), Teaching Excellence in Higher Education is the “teaching that meets the diverse needs and aspirations of diverse adult learners in and through the fields/subjects/vocations of their choice”. And in practice, this would mean that the teaching enables the students to be engaged in research; teaching is diverse; it connected to a wider society; and there is a high contribution for the teachers themselves for evidence based practice. There is perhaps a long list that we can make for what constitutes teaching excellence. In order to determine if this is being appreciated by the students, we also need to hear something that’s coming from them, based on their experience. The National Student Survey (NSS) can supplement this, thus hearing the views of the students and to really see their experience from the teachings of universities. However, in terms of measuring teaching excellence, it is only partial and I think for teaching excellence to be identified, other means of measurements should also be included. Of course there will be problems identified with NSS and questions can be raised whether it is going to be fit for purpose (really depends on the questions and the answers that students give, I think this needs to be looked at as well on a regular basis). So for me, NSS is still needed for self-awareness from universities since the views of students can really influence teaching excellence to some extent but whether it is a good measurement, my feelings towards this is that it is good as long as it is a partial means of assessing good teaching.
References:
AbilityNet (2020) Digital accessibility in higher education (online). Available at: https://abilitynet.org.uk/digital-accessibility-higher-education
Council of Ontario Universities (no date) Introduction to Accessible Education. (online). Available at: https://www.uottawa.ca/respect/sites/www.uottawa.ca.respect/files/accessibility-tools-1-accessible-education-intro.pdf
Department of Education (2017). Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as a route to Excellence. (online) Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587221/Inclusive_Teaching_and_Learning_in_Higher_Education_as_a_route_to-excellence.pdf
Department of Education and Skidmore, C. (2020) Call for universities to improve support for disabled students. (online). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/call-for-universities-to-improve-support-for-disabled-students
Higher Education Statistics Agency (2020). Figure 4 - HE student enrolments by personal characteristics 2014/15 to 2018/19 | HESA, (online). Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb255/figure-4
Jordan, A., Schwartz, E. and McGhie-Richmond, D. (2009) Preparing teachers for inclusive classrooms, Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(4), pp. 535-542. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2009.02.010.
Linney, S. (2020) Why Digital Accessibility is Essential in Higher Education. (online). Available at: https://www.qs.com/why-digital-accessibility-is-essential-in-higher-education/
Office for Students (2020) Ethnicity (online). Available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/promoting-equal-opportunities/evaluation-and-effective-practice/ethnicity/ (Accessed: 10 May 2020).
Oloyede, F. (2018) Reports and Reviews | Advance HE. (online). Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/reports-and-reviews
The National Archives (2010) Equality Act 2010. (online). Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/part/2/chapter/1
UCAS Analysis & Research (2016) End of Cycle Report 2016. (online). Available at: https://www.ucas.com/file/86541/download?token=PQnaAI5f
University Business (2019) Technology in higher education. (online). Available at: https://universitybusiness.co.uk/Article/tech-for-all-in-higher-education/
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