Staff development and curricular inclusion in higher education

Abstract

This article describes a small survey of staff developers in the United Kingdom Higher Education sector, aimed at exploring current awareness and knowledge of disability access in higher education amongst those responsible for ‘mainstream’ or non-specialist staff development and prompting awareness of issues affecting curricular access and inclusion for student with disabilities. A majority of the respondents were familiar with the general difficulties encountered by students with disabilities and the strategies required to address these. Awareness of disability-specific difficulties and strategies, particularly in relation to extra curricular activity and its impact on student learning, was less widespread amongst the respondents. The survey explored the expected impact of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Code of Practice, the disability discrimination legislation, Higher Education Funding Council for England weighted funding and the development of the Institute of Learning and Teaching on mainstream staff development.