How can you be more inclusive in your teaching practices?

Inclusivity is defined as – “the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minority groups.”

There are several actions you can take to ensure you practice an inclusive teaching philosophy. They are:

• using general and non-exclusive pro-nouns. Stick to ‘they’ and them’ rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’ –  (unless the scenario or example specifically calls for it)
• plan to use examples from a variety of cultural, age, gender, ability and geographic sources
• pose questions that do not exclude people from answering based on their backgrounds or current situations
• create a learning environment that fosters broad discussions
• consider access to your learning materials and learning spaces – do you implicitly prevent people from enjoying the same experience as others? How can you improve on this?
• plan for contingencies by incorporating a variety of learning activities that you can choose from
• monitor your verbal and non-verbal communication. The things you say and do can have an impact, so be careful with any examples, gestures and other communication that could be interpreted as exclusionary or offensive
• engage with all your learners equally

Inclusive practice requires practice! But the results include a safer and more enjoyable learning environment. So the effort is very worthwhile.