Promoting Inclusive Education at Tertiary Level

Background and Problem

The EU and its Member States promote inclusion and participation, non-discrimination, equality and fairness, and transparency in education, and ensure that no one is left behind, regardless of origin, gender, age, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and gender identity.

As part of democratic societies, universities also have a social mandate to convey democratic values, reduce discrimination and enable equal participation. They are therefore called upon to strengthen research on questions of diversity and discrimination, to change institutional structures and, not least, to train and professionalise their teaching staff – who are the key to shaping an equitable university – so that they can fulfil their responsibility towards a diverse student body and society.

This is where ‘JoinMe2’ comes in. The ERASMUS+ project aims to equip university teaching staff with the necessary competences in the field of equality and diversity so that they can create an inclusive, difference-sensitive and thus learning-conducive learning environment.

Research question

How is it possible to develop transnationally usable online materials that university teaching staff can use to develop their sensitivity to inclusion and difference?

Approach and Methods

The project was divided into four work packages:

1. Inclusive education

   • Quantitative questionnaire survey of teaching staff (n = 268) and students (n = 677) on their attitudes towards diversity and equal opportunities

   • Country reports (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Poland, Turkey and the UK) by the respective project partners, with a review of the state of research on, and implementation of, inclusive and difference-sensitive university teaching

2. Training portal

   • Development of online educational materials on the topics of disability, gender, ethnicity and culture, and sexual orientation

3. Piloting of the training materials

   • Pre-testing of the developed materials in the respective partner countries

   • Revision and finalisation of the materials

4. Knowledge portal

   • Online training materials (open access)

   • Provision of publications and presentations (project results)

   • Information on organisations and institutions that provide information and training on inclusion and sensitivity to difference

Results

The project showed that the state of development, knowledge and attitudes towards inclusion, inclusive education and sensitivity to difference varied considerably between the countries. As a result, the EU project itself broadened the perspectives of all partners and generated new knowledge.

It also became apparent that it was hardly possible to survey attitudes towards inclusion and sensitivity to difference without (re)producing difference and discrimination.

The evaluation of the training materials showed that the modules were rated very positively overall and found to be helpful. For the most part, the modules helped teaching staff and other education professionals to expand their knowledge and to feel more confident in dealing with heterogeneity.

Dissemination and Transfer Activities

The results of the questionnaire survey and the reviews were published in an edited volume. The training modules developed and the results of the evaluation were presented and discussed at a final conference in Turkey. The presentations and publications were available open access on the project website (www.joinme2.org).

Inclusive education and the question of diversity were not topics confined to the six countries involved in the project, nor were they confined to the higher education sector. The training portal for inclusive education was therefore of use worldwide, above all for teaching and learning practice (student teachers, teacher educators, programme directors, head teachers and/or centres of excellence) at all levels of education. The training modules, totalling around 90 minutes, remained available on the project website, alongside numerous other project results and further information.

Presentations

Bonna, F. & Nobili, Anna: ‘Promoting Awareness on Sex, Gender Identity and Gender Expression in Higher Education – Results of the evaluated Training’, JoinMe2 final conference, Izmir, 15 June 2023.

Publications

Bonna, F. & Heinemann, A.M.B. (2023): Inclusion and Critical Diversity in German Institutions of Higher Education. In: Aynur Yürekli & Nesrin Oruç Ertürk (Hrsg.): Inclusive Education. Definition and Conceptual Framework. (Voices from the Classroom, Band 2). Münster: Waxmann, S. 39-70.

Further information on the project can be found via the link in the blue box.