‘Diagnosing’ academic literacy needs in higher education: deploying the ethical resources of disability studies to interrogate information sharing in educational transitions

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Australia’s universities has led to a new emphasis on identifying and developing this broader cohort’s academic literacies. Enhancing students’ ability to work with the specific means of communication in formal education has come to be seen as key to both social justice and academic excellence. ‘Diagnostic testing’ of such skills soon after enrolment is one strategy often adopted to identify and support those seen as ‘at risk’ of withdrawal or failure. This paper draws on the perspectives of disability studies to reframe both such ‘diagnostic’ processes and the way information generated from them might be shared. We argue that there are two approaches which can be valuable ‘ethical resources’ for institutions seeking to be responsive to a more diverse range of students. These are: (a) the nuanced consideration of the consequences of identifying and labelling students, as found in disability studies, and (b) the experience of disabled students themselves of managing information about their particular needs.

Keywords:

• Disability studies
• early diagnostic assessments
• academic literacies
• information sharing
• stigma

Notes

1. According to Review of Australian Higher Education Final Report (the Bradley Review): The stated aim in the Bradley Review is to have forty per cent of 25–34 year olds achieving degree-level qualifications by 2020 (Bradley et al. 2008, xiv).

2. However, Dunworth’s study ‘indicates that over one third of Australia’s universities offer some kind of PELA, with many more considering their introduction’ (2009, 9). See Green and Agosti (2011), for details of diagnostic tools used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

3. In schools diagnostic tests are often used to determine the need to differentiate teaching strategies to cater to a range of learning abilities (e.g. Benjamin 2014). While it is beyond the scope of this paper to reflect in detail on this practice in university contexts see Rogers (2009) and Tulbure (2011) on the value of differentiated teaching in universities.

4. While we do not claim any privileged insight into disability, each of us has found the insights of disability studies to lend powerful insights into our personal as well as professional lives.