01 Mary Dracup
Teaching & Learning
Inclusive Education

I love my job! It makes so much sense to me to put my efforts towards improving educational experiences and outcomes for those students who are less advantaged, and it’s great to work with people across the University and in my unit with similar values. It is also very interesting and intellectually challenging work. I know from experience that it’s not an easy task to design learning experiences that offer an equivalent opportunity for success for every type of student, but at least we can work on removing barriers and supporting, inspiring, resourcing those staff and students who are giving it a go.

In a higher education context, I’ve found a useful way to check this is to always remember to consider who might be disadvantaged by any decision I make: whether it be in an assessment or learning activity I’m designing, a resource I’m selecting, an anecdote or example I’m using to make a point, how I’m setting up groups, even the language I’m using. In many cases there are people who could potentially be excluded in some way, and then it’s important to remove those exclusions, one by one. In particular, this means taking opportunities to redress the significant disadvantages that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face.
Inclusive Curriculum Capacity Building Website
https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/iccb/
Inclusive Education Community of Practice Events
https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/iccb/community-events/news-events/
Inclusive Education Principles
https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/iccb/about/deakin-inclusive-education-principles/
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