Academic Staff Development Days Promote Inclusive Classrooms

The annual academic staff development day this year followed the theme ‘Engaging Classrooms / Inclusive Classrooms’ and took place over two days in August across the college’s Lisburn and Bangor Campuses.  

Staff attended one campus, according to their school,  and could join four sessions of their choice,  selecting from topics including Psychology of Learning, Empowering Assessment, Classroom Management, Using AI to enrich the learning experience, Neuro-inclusive classrooms, LGBTQIA+ Awareness Training and Supporting Learners with Dyslexia.  

Inclusive classrooms strands included “Being Professionally Curious, which explored how to be more confident in identifying students with barriers to learning, initiating conversations with students facing personal challenges and being able to signpost them to appropriate support. 

The Keynote speaker for the days was Sharron Sturgess, Student Success Officer for Inclusion and Belonging in the new Student Success Centre at Ulster University.  Sharron discussed Creating an Engaging and Inclusive Learning Environment, and tackled myths around inclusivity and accessibility, including the fear that inclusive practices compromise academic standards. She asked her audience to consider the principle that bad practice adversely affects disadvantaged groups, but good practice benefits everyone.  

Staff were also encouraged and helped to develop self-care strategies and build personal resilience, to deal with life's challenges – and were invited to relax and play games such as Jenga during the lunch-break! 

Resources from the Development Day are available on the Learning Academy site.