Developing Inclusive Practice: the View From an Academic Department

Mike Wray

Wednesday 19th June, 14:10-14:55

This workshop seeks to explore the links between centrally organised professional services such as disability offices and academic departments. It will outline the findings of a project which was undertaken to investigate lecturers’ approaches to inclusive teaching, learning and assessment practice and student experiences of these. There will also be reflection on the role of an academic departmental contact in relation to the demands of policy bureaucracy versus the development of support for students. It is intended that the following themes will be discussed with delegates as part of the workshop:

• Best practice approaches to developing the links between academic staff within departments and disability staff
• Common barriers to developing links with academic departments and how to overcome them.
• The role of student support plans (SSPs) in improving practice within departments

Mike Wray

Mike is a lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of York where he is Deputy Programme Leader for the MA (Education). He teaches across a range of modules at both UG and PG level and supervises students from across the world. Mike has taught at several HEPs including the Education University, Hong Kong and before teaching managed learning support services within the sector. He was a national coordinator for the HEFCE/DELNI funded National Disability Team and Senior Policy Adviser for the national coordination team for widening participation. A proud Lancashire lad he now resides in Yorkshire where he supports his children in detoxing from too much screen time and colouring in rainbows and unicorns.