NADP VC2020 Week 5 Webinar TranscriptionWorking Together for Inclusive Practice within the Context of UDL Professor Nicola Martin, London South Bank UniversityWednesday 22nd July 2020

Slide 1: Working Together for Inclusive Practice within the Context of UDLProfessor Nicola Martin, London South Bank UniversityMartinn4@lsbu.ac.uk Hello. I'm Nicola Martin. I'm Professor of Social Justice and Inclusive Education at London South Bank University but really I am just a jumped-up Disability Adviser and Head of Disability Services! So, my focus is on working together with colleagues from professional services just to make inclusive learning a reality in Higher Education.

Slide 2: Universal Design for Learning• UDL is an approach based on planning for a diverse university

community, rather than being surprised by diversity and attempting to retrofit adjustments for people who do not conform to the mythical norm stereotype

• http://www.cast.org/ • ‘A scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that

provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged. UDL reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students including students with disabilities’ (US Congress, 2008)

So, Universal Design for Learning is an approach that underpins the whole idea of inclusive learning in Higher Education and is based on planning for a diverse university community rather than being surprised by diversity and then attempting to retrofit adjustments for people who don't conform to this mythical norm stereotype which doesn't actually respond to anything in reality. I'm not going to read out the whole slide but you have got all these available to you but underneath in yellow is a definition

from a CAST which is where Universal Design for Learning originated but it's just about planning for everybody and doing joined up thinking which is something that we are very good at in professional services but, in my experience, which spans several universities, the professional services academic divide can be a bit of a problem in that professional services colleagues are not often asked to sit around the table when researching the student experience which I think is a fundamental problem.

Slide 3: Could Universal Design for Learning (UDL) help?Why? Multiple means of engagement.For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning.What? Multiple means of representation.For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways.How? Multiple means of action & expression.For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know.

So, Universal Design for Learning: why what and how? It's about multiple means of engagement; multiple means of representation; and multiple means of action and expression which is breathtakingly obvious really because multiple means of engagement gives learners with different learning styles, different learning requirements, the opportunity to engage with learning. Multiple means of representation is about providing learning in different ways and enabling people to respond to learning in different ways. So it's not all having the same assignment to do in exactly the same way, it's responsive to people's different requirements so that learning can be demonstrated in various ways. We're really good at this as Disability Practitioners and we make recommendations around this all the time but it only really works effectively if we can sit around the table when courses are validated. So, we're talking about how is this course being assessed again? You know, can we'll have a menu of assessments. If you have a menu of assessments, and the student can select from that menu, then it reduces the requirement for reasonable adjustments which we all know is on the agenda in relation to the Disabled Students experience.

Slide 4: Implementing Inclusive Teaching and Learning in UK Higher Education – Utilising Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a Route to ExcellenceFunder: SHRE Society for Research in Higher Educationwww.shre.ac.uk Authors: Professor Nicola Martin, London South Bank University.martinn4@lsbu.ac.uk Dr Michael Wray, London South Bank University.Dr Abi James, University of Southampton.EA Draffan, University of Southampton.Joanna Krupa, London South Bank University.Paddy Turner, Sheffield Hallam University.

So, I was involved in this research project with a group of people who you'll recognise who are all Disability Advisers in one form oranother. or have been. So this project was called Implementing InclusiveTeaching and Learning in UK HE - Utilising Universal Design for Learning as a Route to Excellence - obviously taken as a route to excellence from the Layer report which underpinned this research. It was funded by the Society for Research in Higher Education which I highly recommend that everybody joins because, once you've paid £120 pounds, you can go to all the conferences for free and it's really good. So, it was authored by me; Mike Wray, who you will know was at York St. John and within the National Disability team and widening participation; Abi James and EA Draffan who were associated with Southampton but also worked beyond that; and Paddy Turner from Sheffield Hallam; and my colleague,Jo Kruppa was also involved. Jo delivers my Access to Work supportso without Jo I'm effectively complete wobbly jelly and incapable of doinganything. So fantastic to have Jo on board as well and working togethereffectively which is part of the theme of this talk across all sorts ofgeographical boundaries but we managed because we're basically on the same page and I'd say, thinking about our colleagues in NADP, we're all on the same page too.

Slide 5: Aims of the Study• Outline an approach to delivering inclusive practice within courses

of study to mitigate the risks identified in Layer (2017).

• Understand how disabled students experience the teaching and learning environment (including assessment at every stage).

• Utilize UDL principles as a framework for evaluating disabled student experiences.

• Investigate how a small representative cross section of UK HEIs are adopting the principles of inclusive practice and UDL.

• Collate case studies to inform best practice from examples 1 to 4 towards the development of a baseline provision of UDL incorporating DSA changes across the sector.

Ok, so the aims of this study were to outline an approach to delivering inclusive practice within courses; to mitigate the risks identified by Layer, this is the funder-speak that we had to use; to understand how Disabled Students experience the teaching and learning environment, including assessment at every stage of the journey from pre-entry to post exit, including how they interact with every aspect of student services, professional services, admissions etc. etc. and then we looked at a small representative cross-section of UK universities in relation to this and then, in another study that followed on, I replicated this with a small cross-section of American universities and I've got a paper in press about that which I've no doubt you'll get to see at some point and we did a source case study approach effectively.

Slide 6: Layer’s Triangle

DSA costs are a driver.Reasonable adjustments: university has a responsibility under the Equality Act 2010 to meet the requirements of disabled students.

Inclusive practice within a UDL framework reduces the requirement for bespoke individual requirements.OK. So this image you might be familiar with. This image is a triangle and at the pointy end it says DSA below it the third below it which is a sort of fatter part of the triangle as it goes towards the base says an individual reasonable adjustments and then the broad base at the bottom – the bottom third says about an inclusive learning environment. Again reinforcing that message of Universal Design. The more inclusive the learning environment is, the more likely a diverse range of students will access it and the more likely you are to comply with our requirements under the Equality Act which obviously in our profession we're incredibly familiar with but I wouldn't say that that as a ubiquitous understanding throughout every institution. Equality Act requirements - we find ourselves all the time having to bang on about them and sometimes the argument made in business case terms appeals more to people who are holding the purse strings, if you like. So this idea of reducing reasonable adjustments, sort of appeals to the business people but always throughout this report we made the point some students will need some bespoke arrangements but that reduces that requirement as the framework is much more of a solid foundation for all students.

Slide 7: SHRE Abstract

Ok so this is the abstract from the SRHE report which I'll just read out.The UK higher education (HE) sector is undertaking reforms to the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), until recently the primary means of funding support for eligible disabled students. (Operation of DSA is slightly different in Scotland but similar principles apply.) In a government-commissioned report, embedding Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive practices was proposed as an approach to reducing reliance on the DSA. This research examines the circumstances in which UDL is currently operating in a cross-section of English higher education providers with a view to contributing to a currently patchy evidence base. Focus groups, interviews and questionnaires were utilised to collect data from four universities and disability support staff.

Slide 8: Abstract Continued…Pockets of good practice such as inclusive virtual learning environments were identified, and it is noted that such strategies benefit all students rather than just those who would have been entitled to DSA. Strategic

engagement and embedding UDL was thought to require joined-up thinking between various staff groups under the direction of a named senior leader. Participants suggested that this did not happen coherently. Students felt that systems in place to support their learning were hard to navigate. Some staff were surprised that they were not communicating about this as effectively as they thought. A sector-wide benchmark does not currently exist and would be a helpful tool for creating a stronger foundation on which to build change.

So nothing there would surprise anybody who works in professional service, particularly in disability services, but we operate in our bubble. We're all talking to each other and it's a mistake to think that this applies across the whole of the university - this level of understanding. We know this.

Slide 9: Overarching Themes

• Disabled / disadvantaged students and some staff do not necessarily know what support is available at university

• Joined up approaches between academics and Professional Services (PS) staff are rare and PS staff are seldom included in research around student experience

• Students in transition do not know enough about what is required of them at university as staff rarely work together between educational phases

• Lack of info puts students off-supporting students starts with aspiration raising and is crucial in the pre entry stage

• Universal Design for learning (UDL) is an approach designed to include all students and minimise the requirement for bespoke reasonable adjustments.

• UDL views disability and disadvantage through a social model lens • –ie the university should work towards the eradication of barriers at

all stages in the student journey• WP to the front door is not social justice• INTERSECTIONALITY

OK. So there's some overarching themes. Disabled and disadvantaged students and some staff don't necessarily know what support is available at university and that's quite interesting actually. That presenting to staff, saying you know students can access support from the library support, from skills for learning team, disability support, mental health support etc. and University academic staff were saying things like 'we didn't realise that was available' and that's because nobody really put it into the induction for staff and it's as if they're supposed to imbibe this knowledge through a process of osmosis or disability services and other professionals run around trying to make sure everybody knows and this comes right around to joined up thinking, senior leadership etc. So joined-up approaches between academic and professional services are rare and professional services staff are seldom included in research around student experience. I've done a lot of research around critical disability studies. Some of which looks at student experience and I cast my critical eye over it and I think 'Where's the student voice?' Nothing about us, without us, obviously but where are all the voices, also, of colleagues in professional services for whom this whole thing is their bread and butter and they've got wisdom to impart. It feels like it's telling half a story very often and this is something else that I've written about and I've got a paper in press in something another which you will get to see. I'll make sure NADP colleagues get to see it. So students in transition do not know enough about what is required of them at university as staff rarely work together between educational phases. We know this to be true. NADP did a lot of work, particularly with Deb Viney, when Deb was around, in various universities. We would, and when we had widening participation colleagues by our side as well, we would target year 12 pupils and bring them along to events and talk to them and their supporters - they were a bit of a side issue because we talked directly to the students about the support available at university. Parents would be there and, almost universally, transition teachers were incredibly surprised about the support available at university, as were parents, as were the pupils and I'm sure that puts people off even thinkingabout the university because it's this idea you never kept you'll never survive in university and that is really problematic and it became moreproblematic as widening participation, AimHigher, ceased to be funded and so on.

So, lack of this information put the students off and supporting student

starts with aspiration raising and is crucial at the pre entry stage and Iwould say to our widening participation colleagues - aspiration raising starts you know, in infancy practically. It’s as if as soon as somebody internalises this othering message 'university is not for you' the damage is done really. So I think that there's an interface that needs strengthening there. So Universal Design for Learning is an approach designed to include all students and minimise the requirements for reasonable adjustments. UDL views disability and disadvantage through social model lens ie the university should walk towards the eradication of barriers at all stages in the journey. So it's not about the wrong students; it's about the wrong systems. A widening participation up to the front door is not social justice because, for example, you'll get universities that lower their tariff points and so if somebody comes in without GCSE maths and it's immediately on a module which requires maths above the level of GCSE and they fail that module, who's surprised? Well, you know, we needed to be teaching them some maths in order for them to pass that module because we in all honesty knew they didn't have GCSE level maths, for example, and then this word in red at the bottom 'intersectionality'. Thisthing about ‘multiple disadvantage’ is really important. Particularlyin this time of Covid. We've really been shining a light on this and everybody's now talking about digital poverty because if you've got a family of five all trying to do their various bits of homeschooling, university courses, on one mobile phone, it's a very, very different situation from somebody who's in a perfectly equipped home office with all the assistive technology they need and everything else. So just thinking, the intersection between poverty and other aspects of disadvantage is incredibly important and a real reality for ourstudents and there's a lot of work about the BAME attainment gap or achievement gap which fails to look at the fact a lot of our students from BAME backgrounds are also living in poverty which means they're working full-time while studying and having family responsibilities, very often. So it's not you know it's not just a factor of BAME heritage which is not an homogenous thing anyway. Its identity is much more complex than that and this is something that we know full well because we meet loads of different people from loads of different backgrounds and we're good at not stereotyping people according to any sort of label and this is something which is pretty fundamental really in terms of inclusive practice.

Slide 10: Reasons for the research

• Funding mechanisms to support disabled students have changed• Requirement to minimise individualised reasonable adjustments but

be aware of anticipatory duty and Equality Act 2010• Need to embed inclusive practices• Lack of clarity as to how policies and procedures can be actioned by

HEIs • No method of evaluation by stakeholders

So the reasons for this research. The funding mechanisms to support disabled students have changed. There's a requirement to minimise individual reasonable adjustments but still know that the Equality Act duties are anticipatory relation to disabled students; so we don't just bung on a sticking-plaster later we need to embed inclusive practice but there's a lack of clarity about how policies and procedures can be actioned in actual practice in our education and the evaluation of all these processes by stakeholders is pretty difficult without a sector-wide baseline against which to measure and assess these things.

Slide 11: Key Findings• UDL was identified as relevant to all aspects of the student journey • UDL is not effectively championed at senior level or adequately

reflected in TEF metrics. https://university.which.co.uk/advice/choosing-a-course/teaching-excellence-framework-tef-the-ratings-in-full

• The sector lacks a UDL benchmark so comparison is impossible. • Joined up thinking between various roles was identified as important

to ensuring that students could access university services Inc. those which enabled them to develop academic and ICT skills.

• Students did not feel that they knew how to access services. Some experienced daunting layers of admin and bureaucracy associated with various processes.

Ok. So, our key findings. UDL relevant to all aspects of the student journey. Well we could have told you that before doing the research! It's not effectively championed at senior-level and it's not adequately reflected in the TEF metrics. So, the Teaching Excellence Framework, which identifies your university as gold, silver, bronze or provisional, that goes out into the public domain and if the talk about student experience was much more strengthened along UDL lines it might form part of our baseline and be more of a lever than it is. Although we welcome it, it could do better [...] you know as a benchmark. We don't have a

benchmark it's a sort of crude like League Tabley type of measure. Like 'Oh, I'll have a look at that university - they've got gold in the TEF.' Hmm! So, joined up thinking between various roles was identified as important to ensuring that students could access university students including those which that enabled them to develop their academic skills. So sometimes you get disabled students accessing disability services who thinkthey can't access anything else because they're accessing disability services but within an entitlement model, they've paid their fees as well and they're entitled to access skills for learning, library services whatever it is and those services also need to be accessible in an anticipatory way. And students really did not know how to access services and they felt that they were covered in daunting layers of admin and bureaucracy. The DSA was criticised heavily for the bureaucratic layers involved but so were just finding your way around other services because of the lack of a joined up map which is very common.

Slide 12: • Communication between staff and students and various staff groups

was not always as effective as staff thought• Academic input was identified as only part of the picture and

working together with professional services colleagues was viewed as key 

• Technology was valued by staff and students alike and little distinction was made between making use of accessibility functions and using assistive technology

• Awareness of available technology and how to use it effectively was identified as important by staff and students. Communication about this was not always effective

• Staff and students felt they needed input into the practicalities of using the technology. Staff were aware of not making use of all the potential functionalities of technology in teaching and assessment but struggling to find time to learn how

So communication between staff and students and various staff groups was not always as effective as staff thought and that's so getting together in our research with professional services colleagues and academics and students and it's as if they were all on a different planet in relation to how they interpreted information and I'd say things like 'Oh this embedded inclusive practice in our... you know in our courses da..de...da' and then somebody from Disability Services would say 'yeah but that works in your course; it does not work right across the university'. Like, for example, we always put things up on Moodle, which is our virtual learning platform, in advance and that's just the ordinary practice in education but that doesn't mean everybody does and it's easy to assume that the pockets of good

practice are the practice across the university and the people who know are our professional services colleagues, of course, because they are outside the faculty bubble, or whatever it is. So academic input was identified as only part of the picture and working together with professional services colleagues was viewed as key, obviously. Technology was valued by staff and students alike and little distinction was made between making use of accessibility functions and using assistive technology. This is incredibly important because not all students have a package of all sorts of assistive technology but all students can be supported to understand how their computer works so that it can be as assistive as humanly possible but in order to support students to do that, staff have to know about the functionality and those bits of joined up thinking are not necessarily that common. So awareness of available technology and how to use it effectively was identified as important by staff and students but communication about this was not always effective.

Slide 13: • Students found notes in advance on virtual learning platforms

helpful. The practice appeared to be more embedded in WP universities although variation between courses was noted by professional services staff.

• Recording lectures was viewed as an entitlement for students, particularly for staff in WP contexts. Students who felt that routine access could not be assumed found this disappointing.

• Time with helpful, understanding, well-informed staff was highly valued by students. Staff expressed frustration about the demands on their time.

• In WP universities staff acknowledged that students required detailed study skills input at least initially and discussed plans to embed this more fully in order to help students to develop their academic skills and learner autonomy. An example of effective student self-assessment was provided.

• WP university staff discussed the importance of student self-assessment and formative assessment which resulted in helping the student to develop their academic skills rather than assuming they arrived with them already in place

So staff and students felt they needed input into the practicalities of using the technology and staff were aware of not making use of all the functions. Because they didn't really know how to and, for example, you'd have somebody think 'I know I must turn the captions on' and you know I'm on board with it philosophically, but I have no idea which button to press and I really don't want to say I don't know because I should know;

because I keep banging on about it but actually I'm not doing it cuz I don't know how to do it and I am embarrassed and that is a common, common experience. OK, right, the students found notes in advance of virtual learning platforms helpful, obviously, especially if they are accessible. Practice appeared to be more embedded in widening participation universities although variation between courses was noted by professional services staff. This argument that it's my academic property doesn't sit well with the anticipatory duty of the Equality Act and the argument people won't attend if they've got notes in advance. We're moving along a bit to blended learning and so on and asynchronous lectures so that argument has to be cognisant of that change. The world is changing in that respect. So, recording lectures was viewed as an entitlement for students particularly for staff in widening participation contexts but students who felt that routine access could not be assumed found this disappointing. Students should not have to say to lecturers: 'Can I record this lecture?' Especially when everybody's recording it on their mobile phone anyway. Time with helpful well-informed staff was highly valued by students but staff expressed frustration about the demands on their time because some academics are completely rushed off their feet and sometimes they are talking to students about stuff which the library staff are better equipped to deal with, for example. But the student didn't know the library staff would sit down and tell them how to do referencing and so the academic is doing it and that was because of lack of joined up thinking, lack of communicating with each other. And in widening participation universities staff acknowledge that students require detailed study skills input, at least initially, and discussed plans to embed this more fully in order to help students develop their academic skills and learn autonomy and we'll give you an example of something that we did at South Bank, where I work. Widening participation staff were really keen on formative assessment which helped students to identify their own current academic skills; and requirements in terms of developing these skills. They really wanted to put something like that in place if it wasn't there already.

Slide 14:

Image: Are disabled students afforded flexibility in access to the curriculum in UK HE courses as suggested by UDL?Or are there barriers to implementation?Possible Perceived Barriers:

Difficult to implement Time consuming Requires more work Beyond my remit Lack of UDL knowledge

This is just a little diagram saying [...] are disabled students afforded flexibility and access to the curriculum UK HE courses, as suggested by Universal Design for Learning, or are there barriers to implementation? Some of the barriers, perceived barriers: difficult to implement; time-consuming; requires more work; beyond my remit; and lack of UDL knowledge. And that really speaks for itself, I think.

Slide 15: Possible disconnects – sample commentsStudent:  'Services are not available when I am at university as dyslexia support is only open in the daytime and my course sessions are 4-30 after work'.Staff-Skills for Learning Team Study Skills Tutor 'We can make evening appointments for students'Staff 'course director' 'We had no idea about evening appointments'

Ok. These are examples of some disconnects which came up in some of our focus groups. So a student: services are not available when I'm at university as dyslexia support is only open in the day time and Michael sessions of 4:30 after work. Staff Skills for Learning Team: we can make evening appointments for students. Course director: we had no idea you could do that. So it just shows how we're not necessarily talking to each other.

Slide 16: Possible disconnects – sample comments (continued)Staff-Skills for Learning Team Study Skills Tutor'We have done loads of work on making resources to help students with academic writing including short screen shots, worksheets for planning essays and all sorts of stuff like that'Staff-course director'We had no idea about this or where to find these resources'Staff-disability contact for course'We have annual evaluations of our services and something that comes up is that students say that lecturers don't always seem to know about their support plans'Another example, Skills for Learning Team: we've done loads of work on making resources to help students with academic writing including short screenshots, worksheets for planning essays and all sorts of stuff like that. Course director: we had no idea about this or where to find these resources. Staff disability contact: we have annual evaluations of our service and something that comes up is that students say that lecturers don't always seem to know about their support plans. So again, joined up think.

Slide 17: Some Positive Comments!Staff-disability contact for course'all student computers have ClaroRead'Staff-course director'We have a lead for ICT on our team. She could do with knowing that about ClaroRead so she could tell the rest of the team'.Staff- lecturer

' We have a student with VI who is really good at telling us how she wants material presented. She makes it easy. We send stuff to her in advance in an accessible form and she reformats it'.Students 'Our lecturers put everything on Moodle in advance and it's really helpful‘ and 'Our lecturer went through the assignment requirements point by point in the first session and kept coming back to it in the lectures. It was very useful'OK. And some positives. A staff disability contact said 'all student computers have Claro Read - yeah brilliant! Staff course director: we have a lead for ICT on our team she could do with knowing about Clara Read so she can tell the rest of the team. Hard to promote it, if you don't know it's there and a lecturer: 'we have a student with visual impairment who's really good at telling us how she wants materials presented. She makes it easy. We send stuff to her in advance, in an accessible format and she reformats it. Nothing about us without us; student autonomy etc. Students: our lecturers put everything on Moodle in advance and it's really helpful. Our lecturer went through the assignment questions point by point - that was really helpful. So, you know just examples really.

Slide 18: DSA Assessment• DSA assessment requires sensitivity to personal and institutional

context• First year UG students may have different requirements from

doctoral students (and everything in between)• Prior educational experience is relevant• Looking on university websites is a starting point for DSA

assessment• Talking to the Course Director is ideal• Students are still entitled to access all the university services even if

they get DSA - but they do not always realise• SRHE research revealed that finding a joined up map of services is

difficult in most universities• Could a DSA funded mentor help the student to navigate their way

between systems?• Transitions are important. DSA assessment often focusses on

transition in but what about the next step? (Access to Work is poorly understood)

DSA assessment obviously requires sensitivity to personal and institutional context. So a first-year undergraduate student may well not have the same requirements as a doctoral student and everything in between. Prior educational experience is obviously relevant. Looking on university websites is a good starting point for DSA assessment but it's really great if you can actually talk to somebody who understands the course, like the course director. When I used to do DSA assessments, we had that as one of our tick list things that we actually had to do. I don't know the extent that that happens now, because I've been out of that world for a long time. So students are still entitled to access all the university services, even if they get DSA - but they don't always realise it. I advocate, in DSA assessment reports, thinking about self esteem; thinking about the bigger picture; and actually telling students that, within the context of the report. Our research revealed that finding a joined at map of services were so difficult in most universities. We looked at websites. We went, you know, mystery shoppered, to student services desk and said 'have you got a joined up map for all your services?' 'You know, I don't think we have. That would be a good idea.' That happened all the time. Maybe a DSA funded mentor could help the students navigate between the different systems. In DSA reports sometimes you see people talk about transitions being really important but one big thing is the transition out and where there is lack of joined up thinking, I think, is the segue between DSA and Access to Work funding and the level of understanding by people who work in the Career Service and the alumni people about Access to Work and things like that because the Equality Act means that disabled students have equal entitlement to those services but they sort of fall off a bit in terms of being accessible and you know thinking in an anticipatory way about the requirements of disabled students. So, this talking to each other in transition with the students at the heart of it is obviously pretty important.

Slide 19: Pierre Bourdieu Three types of Capital (1984)

Argues that both cultural and material factors influence achievement and are not separate but interrelated.

Bourdieu also talks about ‘educational capital’ and ‘cultural capital’. He argues that the middle class possess more of all three types of capital.

• Although UDL is likely to reduce reliance on DSA it will not eliminate the requirement for bespoke reasonable adjustments

• Student entitlement to all the other services the university has to offer can be emphasised during DSA assessment

• The Equality Act 2010 sits alongside principles of UDL• Self-esteem is really important

OK. This is a little bit of stuff about cultural, social, symbolic, economic, I'd say, academic capital. Pierre Bourdieu talks about forms of capital one of them being academic capital and students don't all start at the same point and it's really important not to make assumptions about the level of academic understanding a student has about what university is going to be like and just keeping that in mind all the time is really important and not trashing people's self-esteem by making assumptions they understand the things which are completely outside of their prior experience because they weren't brought up with two graduate parents surrounded in books etc. etc. So UDL might reduce reliance on DSA but will not eliminate the requirement for bespoke reasonable adjustments. So one, think about students whose academic grounding is not steeped in the principles of understanding university - think how you're going to meet their requirements. Think about the requirements of students for whom a UDL basis is really good – inclusive practice is really good - but they need more and that 'more' is usually delivered by the DSA. Also think about the students who can't access DSA and also need moreAnd that is quite a hot potato. This thing about joined-up access and all the services is important; Equality Act is important; then I say self esteem is incredibly important because you can really trash people's self-esteem without meaning to, very easily. We are really good at not doing that. I think DSA assessments need to big up what a student has achieved as well as talking about their requirements to achieve what they need to achieve more.

Slide 20: Leadley-Meade & GoodwinThis is an article that was in the Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further & Higher Education. The reference for this is at the end.This is the abstract:A pre-entry self-assessment protocol was developed by academics and professional services staff with input from students at London South Bank University (LSBU). It was trialed with a cohort of undergraduate students in the Division of Education. The purpose was to help the students to identify the practical and academic skills they would need to develop in

order to succeed and to understand what sort of support would be available to help them to do so. By completing the exercise pre-entry, students were able to generate a personal action plan….

Slide 21: Impact on StudentsDeveloping sense of belonging:

• Receiving guidance was comforting and reassuring• Not on their own - aware of support available to them

“You think ‘oh am I really ready for uni?’ ‘Am I gonna be able to finish it?’ But then when you know that there’s things out there that can help you, it gives you that confidence to take the step to better yourself but know that there is always help just in case you do have difficulties.”Encouraging student agency:

• Students aware of areas of confidence and areas of need• Students independently accessing services

“Because it asks you about how you cope and then it says this could help you, rather than saying ‘this is here to help you’. It’s going from yourself to the help that’s available rather than from the help to yourself.”Here is what the students said about it. Develop their sense of belonging - it was comforting and reassuring to get this guidance. They felt they weren't on their own because they knew what support was available. What staff said about it: it encouraged student agency; students were aware of areas of confidence and areas of need and students were independently accessing services. So I'll just read one of the quotes "you think Oh am I really ready for uni? Am I going to be able to finish it? but then when you know there's things out there that can help you, it gives you that confidence to take the step to better yourself but know there's always help in case you have difficulties." And that's what we're trying to achieve in terms of the communication with students.

Slide 22: Covid-19Is this a moment to embed UDL? Covid is obviously our challenge. Is this the moment to embed Universal Design for Learning? Because suddenly we're all experts in distance learning delivery and everything else and things that werenotionally impossible, suddenly are possible because (what is it?)something about necessity is the mother of invention. So thinking about how the Covid moment is impacting on us.

Slide 23: Discussion Points• How does UDL benefit non-disabled students?• How can we avoid putting students off the idea of university?• What do we need to do to help students prepare for university?• How can we do joined up thinking to move beyond WP up to the

front door?Then just a few discussion points: How does UDL benefit non-disabled students? How can we avoid putting students off the idea of University? What do we need to help students prepare for university? And right back to the theme of working together. How can we do joined up thinking to move beyond widening participation to the front door, to a fully inclusive university based on principles of universal design where everybody talks to each other, we work as a team (with the students at the heart of the team).

Slide 24: Resources• FutureLearn “Inclusive Learning and Teaching Environments”

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/inclusive-learning-teaching/• Leadley-Meade, Z. and Goodwin, R., 2019. Pre-entry self-assessment

and mapping to relevant services as a means of developing learner autonomy in undergraduates. The Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education, 1(11), pp.4-13.

• Wray, M. & Houghton, A. (2018) Implementing disability policy in teaching and learning contexts: shop floor constructivism or street level bureaucracy? Teaching in Higher Education: 24 (4):510-526. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1491838

• SlideWiki https://slidewiki.org/deck/112637/implementing-inclusive-teaching-and-learning-in-uk-higher-education

The few resources here including the Leadley Meade paper which you can get off the NADP website, if you go to the journals and the reference for you is there. So that's me. I think there's time for questions and I think I have to stop the recording now. So I hope this doesn't hasn't come out as a complete dogs breakfast because it's the first time I've done it without Lynn holding my hand. Thank you - Lynn for showing me how to do it and if this is rubbish, blame Lynn! Thank you very much.