Diversities in higher education: academics’ inclusive views and reported practices in a regional Australian university

ABSTRACT

The paper reports on results of a survey on inclusive education developed for a university. The University Inclusive Education Survey was designed to examine academics’ views on inclusion of a diverse range of students including sexuality and gender, disability, cultural and ethnic diversity and Indigenous Australians. Inclusiveness has focused on access for students with disabilities and has broadened to access for all with little research on how this is being achieved. The survey contained five scales – comfort, confidence, importance of including a range of specific diversities, intention to implement strategies and overall inclusiveness. The results indicate connections between self-efficacy and importance of diversity with a weaker connection to implementation strategies. Those who completed the survey indicated very strong interest and efforts in inclusive teaching. A majority outlined inclusive practices in qualitative responses though there was evidence of uncertainty about implementing inclusive practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• diversity
• sexuality
• gender
• cultural difference
• indigenous students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).