The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication 1 What are Inclusive Pedagogies in Higher Education? A Systematic Scoping Review Abstract 'Inclusive pedagogies' have been recommended as an approach for addressing increased student diversity in the university classroom. However, to date, no research has sought to map the field of inclusive pedagogies in higher education (HE) to establish how researchers have conceptualised and investigated this phenomenon. In this systematic scoping review, 5 databases were searched for literature published on the topic of inclusive pedagogies in HE. The findings suggest that HE researchers do not share a common understanding of inclusive pedagogies. We argue that inconsistency and fragmentation in perceptions of inclusive pedagogies is the result of inclusion itself being a philosophically contested matter; and that this needs to be reflected in the way that inclusive pedagogies are discussed in HE -even if this goes against current performative and marketdriven trends that emphasise quick fixes over acknowledging the complexity of pedagogic issues.
Inclusive education has become a prominent international ideal and value in educational policies and practices. It is a seemingly simple concept about opportunities, equality, and solidarity that has wide global appeal. However, inclusion as applied to education connects with various social and political values that have been contested over many decades. One issue that underlies inclusion as a value is whether it represents a single coherent value or multiple values that can come into tension leading to dilemmas that need to be resolved. This issue is often overlooked in considerations about inclusive education but does affect various key issues about differentiation in the design of curricula and assessment, the location of provision, and how difference is identified and labeled and about participation in the social interaction between students who are different. This is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Inclusion is seen as an ethical obligation, grounded in notions of equity and social justice for all groups and at all stages of education, with higher education (HE) representing a distinctive space where the inclusion agenda is becoming more influential. However, inclusion is also increasingly recognised as an ambiguous concept that might have lost its critical edge and is in many cases reduced to 'chatter'. To explore inclusion in this context, we analysed 48 policy documents from the websites of the 24 Russell Group Universities (the 'elite', research-intensive, UK universities) using a critical discourse analysis approach. We found that inclusion was rarely defined clearly, and that tensions, complexity and pedagogical implications of inclusion were not discussed. Inclusion was also related to excellence and ideas about a 'global university' that are central to a university's reputation and ability to attract international students and staff. We see three ways in which these findings are significant: the way inclusion was approached in the policy documents could largely be described as managerial/legalistic, seen as the responsibility of human resources; inclusion was perceived as an act of legal compliance that was also expected to influence everyday relationships -but without an explanation of
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