My role is all about inclusion in teaching and learning and as I am sure you are all aware, ‘inclusion’ is a cross-cutting theme in the University of Bristol’s Vision and Strategy, and across the UK Higher Education sector as a whole. Recently, I have been reflecting on how ‘inclusion’ is perhaps becoming a buzzword and we may not be fully interrogating what it means in our practice, rather seeing it more as something we need to tick off as part of a performative task (Stentiford and Koutouris, 2021), which is ultimately to the detriment of the success of our students. So, how can we make ‘inclusion’ more embedded in what we do?
It is no surprise that in my work, I am often asked to provide practical ideas for inclusion, but there is no quick fix or ‘one size fits all’ tip. Learning and teaching is complex and our students today come with many intersectional identities. To cater for our diverse groups of students and embed inclusion in our practice, we need to interrogate our values. Rossi’s (2024) memorable acronym – INCLUSIVE, encourages us to do just that. I have been inspired by her work, and have slightly adapted Rossi’s acronym, which I will share with you to provide a springboard for us to think more carefully about our own practice of being inclusive. I invite you to consider the different elements of it to reflect on what you do in your own teaching, which may support you in being more intentionally inclusive in your design of teaching and learning. Let’s take a look at the INCLUSIVE acronym…
I: Intentional hospitality
There is much in the literature around the relational aspect of learning and how important this ‘human’ aspect is for the success of students (Bovill, 2025). Quinlan (2016) describes four different relationships that can promote more engagement in learning; that between educator and student, student and student, student and content and student and themselves. If you consider yourself to be the host of your teaching and learning space, how welcoming are you? Do you greet your students at the start of a session to build relationships? If you can learn their names, how often do you use them? And how do you engage the interest of students in your subject matter? Do you encourage them to relate the content to their own lived experiences by contributing their own examples? While these may seem like small things, they can have a huge impact on how included your students feel.
N: Nurturing
This aspect relates to how we are supporting students to grow and develop. There has been much work across the university on developing the role of personal tutors, but what about on a day to day basis, how much support are you giving students to navigate the curriculum? We know students are provided with a lot of information in welcome week, but not all of this is taken on board. Do you have a concise introductory video on your Blackboard sites unpacking the expectations for your unit and revealing the hidden curriculum? This can be really valuable for those students who miss key information in welcome week, and may be unfamiliar with the ways of working in higher education. Do you highlight relevant support such as Study Skills and Well-being at strategic points throughout the teaching block? Students in the Centre of Innovation suggested sharing a slide at the end of lectures highlighting relevant support at particular crunch points.
C: Co-creation
Students want to feel that they matter and providing them with opportunities to share their voice and co-create or contribute to content, where possible, can be a valuable experience for them and make them feel more included. How often do you ask students how they felt your session went, or what would work better for them?
L: Liberating
This relates to how we are decolonising the curriculum but is more than just adding a diverse range of authors to our reading lists. It is about thinking about how we acknowledge different knowledge that diverse cohorts of students bring to the learning space. Do we recognise voices that may be on the margins so as to include all viewpoints? There is much work going on around this at Bristol, here is one example: Case study: Decolonising and diversifying the biomedical science curriculum – Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching
U: Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
This relates to students’ belief in how well they can complete tasks that are set (Kahu and Nelson, 2018). For students from non-traditional backgrounds this can be a point of failure as they may have no one to ask about how to do a particular task or what success looks like. This is why it is important to be transparent in the teaching and learning (Winkelmas, 2024) and explain to students why they are doing the task, what the criteria for success are and how to do it. How often do you explicitly explain requirements? Relating to this, how explicit is your feedback? Does your feedback support your students in developing their own self-regulatory skills for future learning? How can you ensure it does?
S: Self-efficacy
As universities continue to think about active and inclusive learning, it is easy to focus on the limitations of our teaching spaces. However, this session was a powerful reminder that innovative and inclusive practice can flourish even within traditional environments.
I: Integrated
Related to the point above, we need to support our students to understand how their learning connects with different areas of their programme. How do you unpack this for students? Do you provide a map of the learning? Do you provide opportunities for students to get feedback on formative assessments that can then support them with their summative ones?
V: Valued knowledge
This connects to the element of liberating mentioned above, but also touches on us considering how we can create those safe spaces for students to feel comfortable in sharing their viewpoints. When encouraging group work, how much time do you give students to get to know their group members and to decide on ways of working and ground rules to ensure all students feel they can have a voice without being judged? This may give you some more ideas Enhancing Inclusion in Active Learning Through Team-Based Activities
E: Emotions
transitioning through university, and learning here, is an emotional experience for all students due to many unknowns in terms of people, environment and content. And it doesn’t just happen at the start of their university experience as our longitudinal study is showing Hackathon: Academic Transitions and Navigating University Life – Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching and 1st to 2nd year transitions – Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching.
This is especially the case for non-traditional students. How do you help students to navigate this environment? How do you support students in the emotional aspect of the learning journey? As mentioned above, providing opportunities for students to reflect on their own lived experiences in relation to the content can make it more interesting and engaging for them and also make them feel included as it values their experiences.
Moving forward
It is hoped that through the INCLUSIVE acronym, you will reflect on how you can be more intentionally inclusive in what you do. Please do share any work you are doing to ensure all your students have an opportunity to feel seen and valued.
References
Bovill, C., 2025. Co-creating learning and teaching: Towards relational pedagogy in higher education. Taylor & Francis.
Kahu, E.R. and Nelson, K., 2018. Student engagement in the educational interface: Understanding the mechanisms of student success. Higher education research & development, 37(1), pp.58-71.
Quinlan, K.M., 2016. How emotion matters in four key relationships in teaching and learning in higher education. College Teaching, 64(3), pp.101-111.
Rossi, V. (2023). Inclusive Learning Design in Higher Education: A Practical Guide to Creating Equitable Learning Experiences (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003230144
Stentiford, L. and Koutsouris, G., 2021. What are inclusive pedagogies in higher education? A systematic scoping review. Studies in higher education, 46(11), pp.2245-2261.
Winkelmes, M.A., 2023. Introduction to transparency in learning and teaching. Perspectives in Learning, 20(1), p.2.
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