Journeying Towards Inclusion
The very nature of inclusion means that teachers and learners may have deeply personal visions and expectations of what the term should mean, and different expectations of what a journey towards inclusion should look like. I have been humbled for many years—at Dalhousie and elsewhere—by the generosity of spirit of those who have helped me on my own learning journey about what it means to be truly inclusive. At Dalhousie, we have reports and plans that have contributed materially over the past five years to an increasingly shared sense of the meaning of inclusion. Some early conversations about inclusive teaching excellence were spurred by documents available to all members of the Dalhousie community on a website called, simply and importantly, Belong. All of these documents were in response to some form of systemic concern, including, of course, the Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Through individual and collective efforts, many of us can point to changes we have made in program content and teaching methods. These are to be celebrated, whilst recognizing that our journey towards inclusive teaching practices has really only just begun.
The published scholarship of teaching and learning has long provided evidence that inclusive approaches to program development and teaching broaden the minds of all involved as well as creating welcoming learning environments.[1] Inclusive approaches impact the teacher as much as the learner since such methods lead to learning environments where respect for difference is a clear foundation. The rationale for “respect for difference” is, for some, self-evident, due to the horrendous political and cultural inequities faced by so many of our planet’s residents. Others might argue that western ways of knowing and of scientific inquiry along with the dominance of English as our lingua franca (with all the results that brings) justify a continued focus on “business as usual.” One challenge for all of us as instructors is that “we do not know what we do not know.” Several intervening variables have shifted the landscape and propelled those in post-secondary education to engage in self-reflection. The first of these has been growing exponentially in recent decades due to the availability of relatively cheap flights for traveling the globe. This variable has materially impacted the numbers of students, and to a lesser extent, instructors, who travel to learn and to teach. A second intervening variable that has complex interactions with, and impacts on, the first one is the ubiquity of mass news media that rarely provide neutral and balanced reporting. A further variable is individual and institutional uncertainty in the face of changing expectations. These expectations include: those we set for ourselves as instructors that often require specialist guidance; those from students who hope to improve society through meaningful work; and beliefs held by taxpayers about the purposes of education.
Goals to foster meaningful change in any complex institution require an underpinning of optimism, persistence and fortitude. Such goals also need to be jointly developed, ideally with all stakeholders. Dalhousie’s overarching strategic priorities were developed through such a method and are, as a result, worded in relatively general terms. Digging deeper into the objectives for each teaching and learning priority, and aligning them with the goal to “foster a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness” is where the rubber truly hits the road. If we are to innovate or help evolve our curricular content and our methods for teaching without considering diversity and inclusion, we are doing a disservice not only to our students, but to ourselves and the future of our planetary home. Meaningful curricular work for diversity and inclusion is rigorous and therefore hard work, and cannot in all fairness be left to the few to champion. Across all too many institutions, we speak with honest intent about including perspectives new to us, and then we rely on a relatively tiny group of colleagues to come into our classrooms to present those perspectives. This is a step forward in some ways, and an entirely misjudged approach in others. We all need to learn what it means for our disciplines, and our life on Earth, to approach our scholarship with different lenses, to develop our courses through probing and challenging questions, to teach in a way that invites clarity around different perspectives and that fosters respectful debate.
Wanda Thomas Bernard has written of the individual and institutional responsibilities for diversity and inclusion, especially in relation to social change, and characterizes this work as “creating brave spaces.” [2] Evolution of academic programs occurs iteratively and is driven by new scholarship, new methods for teaching, as well as by Faculty or institutional level goals. Evolution also occurs when academic quality assurance processes actively support such goals. Approval of academic programs and their ongoing quality is part of the mandate of Senate. Support for the evolution of existing programs and the development of new ones is part of my mandate as a member of the Provost’s team. Senate committees and the Provost’s Office work closely together and, collectively, we pose supportive yet challenging queries about the proposed content for new programs. Significantly, the proposed new Senate Policy for Faculty Reviews of Academic Programs, includes the following section: “Culture of Respect and Inclusivity. Dalhousie seeks to increase diversity and inclusion through program design and delivery.” The Policy then poses questions that program leaders as well as review teams need to address: “How does the program ensure inclusive program design and teaching practices that include different ways of learning and knowing and intercultural perspectives? If the program controls its own recruitment and admissions, how does the program contribute to access and pathways for historically underserved student populations? How diverse is the faculty complement delivering the program as measured by the categories in the Dalhousie Census? What plans are in place to maintain or increase the diversity?” By posing such questions for all program reviews, Senate is expecting, and supporting the goal of, greater diversity and inclusion across all of our programs.
Inclusion is the opposite of exclusion. In Canada, we aim to welcome debate on difficult topics, whilst upholding federal and provincial laws that protect rights and freedoms. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees certain freedoms to everyone in our country including freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. We are on a determined—and determining—journey at Dalhousie to ensure that we fully recognize difference as a part of inclusiveness, and as part of avoiding discrimination. There is one element relating to inclusion that, while discussed within some Faculties, has recently been taken up by Senate colleagues. This element relates to the very definition of a student and has a connection to the need to avoid discrimination related to age, family circumstance, etc. I feel very encouraged that we may adopt a definition of a Dalhousie student that is inclusive of our learners in designated pathways or professional development programs. Program structure and timing should be as inclusive as program content. In some cases, separation of professional development from direct-from-high school as well as entry-to-practice degree programs is justified. In other cases, however, we do a marked disservice to many mid-life learners through a calendar structure that largely ignores the evening and weekend hours when many of these learners are able to study.
Inclusion’s scope is broad and deep and one of the many benefits of Dalhousie’s investment in our excellent Centre for Learning and Teaching is the recent appointment of Tereigh Ewert-Bauer, specialist in diversity and inclusivity. Actively pursuing inclusion in a teaching and learning environment is complex, hard and essential. Our journey is far from over. In years to come, I trust that higher education will have played a key role in helping this bonnie blue planet to be a place where we live in harmony with all members of our own and other species.
FOOTNOTES
[1] A helpful literature review and commentary is found in Daryl G. Smith, “Student Learning and Success,” chapter 7 in Diversity’s Promise for Higher Education: Making it Work. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015, pp. 210-242.
[2] Dr. Thomas Bernard contributed the lead article, about experiences in Dalhousie’s School of Social Work, in CLT’s themed issue on diversity and inclusiveness: Focus on University Teaching and Learning 23.3 (Fall, 2015): 1-3.