Developing and Promoting Diverse Learning Environments

1
Developing and Promoting Diverse Learning
Environments

• Mary Pat Sullivan, PhD
• School of Health Sciences and Social Care
• 9th UK Joint Social Work Education and Ist UK
  Social Work Research Conference
• 11-13 July 2007

Funding Grant Learning and Teaching Development
Unit, Brunel University
2
Context

• School of Health Sciences and Social Care with
  undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in
• Social Work
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Nursing
• Neurorehabilitation
• Health Promotion
• Learning and Teaching Strategy
• Attract and meet the needs of students from
  diverse backgrounds
• Curriculum
• Anti-oppressive practice and anti-discriminatory
  practice
• Culturally competent practitioners
• Awareness of cultural difference

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Study Aims

• To examine interactional diversity as a
  potential learning and teaching tool for the
  development of critical thinking and critical
  action among health and social care students  
• What are the students perspectives
• regarding their learning experiences
• within a diverse learning environment?
• Are they prepared to work with a diverse
• client/patient population?
• How are academic staff responding to
• student diversity as a teaching
• and learning opportunity?
• What factors assist and/or
• challenge their response to
• diversity?
•  

4
Theoretical Framework

• Critical pedagogy (Giroux, 1994 1997)
• Adult experiential learning (Kolb,1984)
• Meanings of diversity in higher education
  (Hurtado et al, 1998 Gurin et al, 2002 Mayhew
  et al, 2005)

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Study Design

• Cross sectional survey of undergraduate and
  postgraduate students in final weeks of study
• (n 400)
• Depth interviews with a volunteer sample of
  students and academic staff digital recording
  and verbatim transcription
• Survey data analysis assisted by SPSS (13.0.1)
  software qualitative data analysis according to
  Wolcott (1994) assisted by N6 software

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Survey Results Sample (n304)
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Perception of Structural Diversity
8
Desire to Interact with Diverse Groups(n304)
9
Interactional Diversity Formal and Informal
Opportunities
10
Diversity and Student Development
Confident to communicate across difference
Able to see the world from another persons
perspective
Curriculum will prepare me to work with different
groups
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Diversity and Student Development
Confident to engage in critical thinking
Confident to engage in community action
Able to see the world from another persons
perspective
Confident to manage conflict
Curriculum will prepare me to work with different
groups
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Student Interviews (n10)

• Readiness to participate in interactional
  diversity
• Desire to learn about a group, but less
  understanding about relevance in terms of future
  practice
• Previous positive or negative social
• experiences and current socio-political
• climate impacting on desire
• Extent of formal interactional diversity appears
• to vary between and within programmes (eg. SW
• and OT versus PT)
• More emphasis within SW and OT versus
• PT or Nursing
• Extent of interaction appears to depend on
  lecturer (eg. non white British lecturer)
• Focus for learning tends to be on racial
  difference with several blind spots (eg. age,
  sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic
  status)

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Student Interviews

• Perception of their own skill development
• Skill development in practice learning rather
  than classroom
• Their confidence and lack of confidence in skill
  development not well understood
• Use of appropriate language (eg.
  anti-discriminatory practice), but less
  understood in terms of day-to-day practice
• Expression of different points of view not always
  encouraged or supported discussions on sensitive
  topics often circumvented to avoid potential
  conflict
• Fear of exposing themselves and being criticised
  by peers/academic staff

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Academic Interviews (n10)

• Diversity as a teaching and learning tool varies
  between and within programmes
• Lack knowledge and training to consider
  interactional diversity as a teaching and
  learning tool (eg. developing self awareness,
  purposeful interaction to understand an others
  social/cultural identities)
• Lack confidence to raise issues that might viewed
  as sensitive and/or potentially cause conflict
• Classroom considered an unsafe place for openness

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Discussion

• Formal classroom interactional diversity appears
  to be less developed/less understood
• How do we develop an academic commitment to
  interactional diversity?
• How do we become a critical educators?
• How do we create opportunities to prepare
  students for interactional diversity (eg.
  understanding individual identities and common
  identities)?
• How do we create opportunities for formal
  interactional diversity across all programmes
  (eg. embedded in all modules, specific diversity
  module, maximising on opportunities bridge
  classroom learning and learning in practice
  settings)?

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Conclusion

• Lacking a political project, the role of the
  university intellectual is reduced to a
  technician engaged in formalistic rituals
  unconcerned with disturbing and urgent problems
  that confront larger society.
• 
  (Giroux, 1997, p.265)