An inclusive pedagogy in Arts and Humanities university classrooms: What faculty members do

Abstract

This article shows the educational strategies developed by faculty members that their students with disabilities considered as excellent for carrying out an inclusive pedagogy in Higher Education. One hundred and nineteen faculty members from 10 Spanish public universities participated in the study, 24 of whom were from the field of Arts and Humanities. Through a qualitative methodology, individual semi-structured interview was used for data collection. The data were analyzed inductively through a categories and codes system. The results show how the participants considered students' opinions when designing their methods. Moreover, the study shows the teaching strategies that the participants used to ensure the participation of all their students. Lastly, the article describes how the participants attended to the concerns of students with disabilities. Finally, we discuss these results with previous studies, and we consider the main elements for an inclusive pedagogy that may serve as an example for other faculty members.

Methodological Strategies of Faculty Members: Moving toward Inclusive Pedagogy in Higher Education

“…To this end, the results corroborate the findings of previous studies: the educational processes must be based on the use of different methodologies that grant an active and participatory role to the students and allow the faculty members to respond to the different learning styles, motivations, interests and capabilities [50,59]. In fact, inclusive pedagogy is focused on guaranteeing the academic success of all students in the classroom through their participation in it, always recognising their individual differences [8,56].…”

“…The participants of this study were concerned about protecting the climate of their classrooms. These inclusive faculty members were characterised for being enthusiastic, respectful, accessible and flexible in the learning process of the students, as well as for promoting the motivation and curiosity of the latter [8,9]. For these faculty members, attending to the affective and emotional component of the student was an essential element for the development of inclusive practices in the classroom [20].…”

“…In Spain, in the academic year 2019/2020, students with disabilities represented 1.4% of all university students [7]. The presence of these students is progressively increasing, which has led a significant number of countries to implement actions in favour of inclusion and accessibility in their university institutions [8]. In this line, authors such as Thomas [9] and Wilson et al [10] claim that guaranteeing access of students with disabilities to university is not enough, and that it is also important to guarantee their continuation.…”

Widening HE participation in the arts: Impacts of an access module on learner preparedness

“…Key themes associated with teaching a more diverse student body in the arts and humanities can be discerned in the accessible and inclusive pedagogies which help students with disabilities overcome barriers to traditional learning. For example, Carballo et al (2019) explored with arts and humanities faculty staff in a Spanish context how working 'with' learners, basing teaching decisions on their students' opinions, and knowing their students, produced adjustments which benefitted all. Key insights emerged from a faculty philosophy by which there was belief in the capacities of all students, leading to flexible and helpful teachers who shared plans and used initial contact to gauge what learners needed and to adapt accordingly.…”

Inclusive pedagogy in Health Sciences Spanish faculties: Educational resources and methodologies for all students

“…Usually, inclusive pedagogical actions, as well as understanding attitudes towards disabled students, are associated with faculty members in the field of Education (Vasek, 2005). However, the literature shows that faculty members of other fields of knowledge are equally inclusive (Carballo et al, 2019;Savvidou, 2011).…”