Moving into a new socially just and equal ‘normal’- the lessons Higher Education must learn from its disabled students

Dr Suanne Gibson, University of Plymouth, and Dr Zeta Williams-Brown, University of Wolverhampton

Email: S.Gibson-1@plymouth.ac.uk; zeta.williams-brown@wlv.ac.uk

Session recording

Presentation

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Abstract

The past three years have witnessed seminal change occurring in and to education. The pandemic brought much pain, but with it also hope. Where many students experienced segregation and inequality, others experienced empowerment, being heard and finding success. The authors are referring to the lived academic and life experiences of many UK UG and PG disabled students. This paper draws on findings from and related outputs of a study that took place during the second year of the pandemic, entitled Building back better: Working with disabled students to address unequal outcomes in UK HE.

Throughout the study, the project leads and co-investigators, worked closely with the national body Disabled Students UK: https://disabledstudents.co.uk/, resulting in contribution to DSUK’s (2022), national report on the pandemic for disabled students and panel dissemination,- Going Back is Not a Choice: https://disabledstudents.co.uk/not-a-choice/, the publication of a special edition journal paper, an invitation to submit a BERA blog series, contribution to a House of Lords report on the Disabled Students Allowance, conference paper invites and media coverage.

This presentation draws out seminal findings and themes from the study and related work for HEIs to consider, in terms of their new ‘normal’. We argue this is a new ‘normal’ that sustains and builds upon wider access and successful inclusive provision. The benefits when genuine collaboration and partnership between students and educators happen in education is well evidenced (Gibson and Cook-Sather 2020), our work has uncovered a clear need for co-created inclusive pedagogy and provision, one where disabled students are front and centre of the discussion, decisions, roll out and evaluation.

References

Gibson, S. and Cook-Sather, A. (2020) ‘Politicised compassion and pedagogical partnership: A discourse and practice for social justice in the inclusive academy’. International Journal for Students as Partners 4 (1), 16-33

Disabled Students UK (2022), Going Back is Not a Choice, DSUK, March 2022, Available: https://disabledstudents.co.uk/not-a-choice/

Dr Suanne Gibson 

Associate Professor of Inclusive Education, Plymouth University

Dr Suanne Gibson is an Associate Professor of Inclusive Education at Plymouth University, she has previously acted as Interim Director for Plymouth Institute of Education (2019-2021), been Associate Director of Teaching, Learning and Internationalization (2017-2019) and also led the BA Education degree (2005-2015). Her specialist areas of teaching, research and knowledge exchange are disability, special educational needs (SEN), inclusion and critical pedagogy. She teaches undergraduate, masters and PhD students, gives keynotes and has published widely in Special Educational Needs, critical disability studies and teaching and learning in higher education.

Suanne conducts research and teaching with colleagues in the UK, USA, Cyprus, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia addressing questions of inclusion, social justice and diversity. In partnership with students and schools, Suanne has designed and leads the successful Knowledge Exchange project Opportunity Plymouth. Suanne is currently working in partnership with House of Lords, Disabled Students UK, ALLFIE, Disability Rights UK, Plymouth County Council, contributing to national policy development and leading research with Monash University (Australia), Plymouth Marjons University, Plymouth Secondary Schools and Plymouth Education Board on the international project- ‘Are we included?’

Dr Zeta Williams-Brown

Reader in Education for Social Justice for the Centre for Research in Education and Social Transformation (CREST), University of Wolverhampton

Dr Zeta Williams-Brown is a Reader in Education for Social Justice for the Centre for Research in Education and Social Transformation (CREST) in the School of Education at the University of Wolverhampton. She is leader of the Childhood, Family, Diversity and Inclusion hub and co-convenor of the BERA Children and Childhoods special interest group. She is an executive member of the British Education Studies Association (BESA) and completed a three-year term as chair. She is also co-editor of the Educationalfutures journal. Her research interests include education policy, inclusive education, social justice, and innovative research methodologies. Most of her research focuses on inclusive education from early childhood to higher education.