Inclusive learning environments

Introduction to the Module

This module will inform you on the best ways to improve your learners‘ performance by creating inclusive learning environments. We will talk about what inclusivity means, how to assess the need for it in your classroom and, consequently, how to outline actionable steps to create it. We will reflect on the role of the educator, the use of inclusive language and the creation of safe spaces. You will also receive tips on how to make your teaching and learning materials more inclusive.

Although the focus of this training is on LGBTQIA+ learners and staff, inclusive learning environments that are properly designed should be inclusive of everyone, so the principles discussed here also apply more generally.

1. Definition of Inclusion
As discussed in the previous chapter, factors like people‘s racial, ethnic and religious background, gender and gender expression, sexuality, age, etc. often influence how (educational) systems treat them. A learning environment where all learners have equal access to educational opportunities and feel equally safe and valued is the inclusive environment we as educators should strive to achieve.

Creating an environment like this is no easy task: it requires attention, intention and consistency maintaining a proactive stance against discrimination, stereotypes and negative attitudes, while the minds of educators are constantly occupied with a million other things. This is where this module comes in: The aim is to break down the difficult and abstract task into smaller, concrete steps that you can take to make your classroom more inclusive.

In order to find our way through the multitude of strategies, let's divide them into four broad categories:
  1. Getting to know and understand each learner as an individual;
  2. Creating safer spaces in and outside the classroom;
  3. Diversifying teaching and learner materials;
  4. Self-reflexion and working on becoming a better ally.
What Inclusion Is Not
But before we begin, let's reflect some more on what inclusion means. Broadly speaking, it is an approach to the problem of social exclusion that is best illustrated by comparing it with two other conceptually outdated approaches that deal with the same issue: assimilation and integration. The biggest difference between the three is who or what they hold responsible for eliminating social exclusion.

Assimilation and integration models are based on the assumption that there is something wrong with the individual who struggles to fit in, and that this „something“ must either be fixed or disguised. Both approaches require some degree of giving up one’s identity, with assimilation requiring the individual to completely give up their identity, adopting one that is considered more „acceptable“ in a given setting, and integration expecting the individual to change and/or disguise certain aspects of it.



While assimilation and integration make the individual responsible for changing and adapting to the existing system, inclusion sees the system itself as responsible for adapting to its members. The fundamental idea is that all learners are different, and that these differences are not to be eliminated, hidden or minimised, but embraced and taken into account in order to meet the needs of every individual and to enable their participation without separating or differentiating them. Policies, opportunities and spaces are created that eliminate barriers, inequality and discrimination, enabling everyone to achieve their full potential. In other words, the system itself, the learning environment, is transformed and stretched to include everybody.

Ways To Understand Inclusion
It sounds great, and it indeed is, but the idea of inclusion is not quite as straightforward and contradiction-free as it might seem at a first glance. Talking about social exclusion inevitably requires us to assume a certain „normality“ and a „deviation“ from this normality. In other words, whether we like it or not, we assume that there are “normal” learners and those who deviate from this “norm” in one way or another: be it through a disability, a different skin colour, a different gender, a different sexuality and so on. Inclusion can be understood as normalising in the sense that we critically rethink our understanding of the “norm” and shape it in such a way that marginalised groups are included, and their barrier-free and non-discriminatory participation in this “norm” is made possible.

However, there is a danger of falling into one of two traps when it comes to how we treat the concept of “norm” and “difference”. We can either fail to acknowledge the life experiences of our learners, including experiences of discrimination, in our attempt to treat everyone equally, or we can exacerbate these differences by focusing too much on them and singling out these learners in an effort to include and make them feel seen. Moreover, it can be very individual: some people want to be seen and acknowledged as “different“ and some people just want to blend in. This is where the importance of seeing and getting to know each learner as a unique individual comes into play, which we will talk about a little later.

Inclusion can also be understood as deconstruction, referring to critically rethinking our understanding of the “norm” in order to reshape it, mentioned earlier. The thing that needs to be deconstructed is what produces and reproduces discrimination, namely: narratives or stories that we tell ourselves and others. We humans have an innate need to explain things, phenomena and events with the help of stories, they are a natural part of our lives. But stories can be different and they have a hierarchy of their own: there are stories that dominate our attention and there are stories that are often left unheard. Probably no one can explain this dynamic better than the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie did in her TED-Talk called „The Danger of a Single Story“.

☍ The Danger of a Single Story
☍ Theories of Inclusion


According to Adichie, single stories can either be the result of a misunderstanding and/or lack of knowledge or created with malicious intent to oppress groups of people for one reason or the other. For example, a lack of understanding and knowledge about neurodiversity and its effects led to countless „laziness“-narratives around it. An example of stories created with a malicious intent would be the unscientific and incredibly harmful eugenics theories that emerged and were spread as a justification for colonisation. Unfortunately, these harmful stories spread back then still exist to this day and have a major impact on the lives of millions of people.

This is no trivial issue: hearing „single stories“ about yourself over and over again can lead you to believe them, which in turn can affect your own behaviour and can cause you, among other things, to miss certain opportunities. For example, a woman who, despite her good performance, does not pursue a STEM career because she believes that she cannot keep up with men in this field, as she has often been told that men are supposedly naturally better at science. People who believe “single stories” about you and have a degree of authority, like educators, can make decisions on that basis that can have just as big a negative impact on your life and opportunities. An example: A teacher does not recommend a pupil for an advanced course in a subject in which the pupil is obviously talented and interested because they believe that the pupil would not make it due to the deprived financial situation of the pupil's parents.

But what can we do about it? First of all, it is important to ask ourselves, following the lead of Adichie, how stories are told, who tells them and under what circumstances. Take a critical look: this is the first step towards deconstruction. Are those stories really true? Who tells them and why? On what evidence are they based? Who benefits from them?

The second step is to give the quieter and less heard stories a voice to counter stereotypes, clichés and misconceptions of „single stories“. This can be achieved by diversifying teaching and learner materials that you use in your class and, most importantly, by actively listening and trying to see things from other perspectives.

Empowerment is the third way inclusion can be understood. To empower someone literally means to give them power: to encourage them, to help them gain confidence in themselves. It is important for learners to feel heard, understood, believed and taken seriously when they talk about themselves, their problems and their life experiences. You can achieve it by making the learning environment into a safer space where everyone can feel comfortable to share experiences and their perspective without the fear of not being believed or being discriminated against.

With that, we're finally done with the theory, which will hopefully make it a little easier to get started in practice:



2. Inclusivity Needs Assessment In Class
Now, let’s talk inclusivity needs assessment in class: What is it? How do you do it? What to keep in mind and what to do with the results?

As mentioned before, getting to know your learners as individuals is crucial for creating an inclusive learning environment. You learn a lot from interacting with them and seeing them work in the classroom every day. Observation is a valuable tool, but it takes time, and sometimes it is easier, quicker and more reliable to simply ask your learners about themselves and their needs.

One of the easiest ways to do it is to conduct a survey at the beginning of the course. Ask your learners questions that they will enjoy answering and that will give you the information you need: What is your preferred name? What are your preferred pronouns? How would you describe yourself with 3 words? What are you expecting from this course? How do you learn best? Do you have any accessibility needs or requirements? etc.

The needs assessment should also include an evaluation of your performance and the learning atmosphere by the learners. An anonymous questionnaire will help you to determine if the inclusion needs in your class are met later on. It can give you an indication of what you already do well and what you could change in order to make the learning environment even more inclusive.

The focus of such a questionnaire can vary depending on your goals and the aspect of inclusion you want to focus on. Your goal (or one of your goals) may be to assess classroom climate:
  • How do your learners feel in class?
  • What is their relationship with each other like?
  • Are there any signs of bullying?
You could also ask your learners to evaluate the inclusivity of teaching/learning materials or of your teaching practices in general:
  • Do they feel represented?
  • How are their life experiences reflected in the materials?
  • Do they see you as someone they can confide in?
  • Do they experience your teaching practices as inclusive?
Although it is impossible to pay due attention to all intersections in a short list of questions, a questionnaire like this can still provide you with useful information.

Questionnaire: What To Keep In Mind?
The aspect of anonymity is crucial in these types of questionnaires. Remember: there is a power dynamic at play. As an educator you have a certain amount of power over your learners, in some cases educators can even make decisions that impact their learners‘ future. Even if it’s not the case, the status itself can influence how your learners behave, what things they choose to share and how honestly they are prepared to talk about their experiences with your class. Knowing that their identities will not be associated with their answers and that the responses will remain confidential is key to getting honest feedback. Therefore, avoid asking for any information that could reveal the identity of your learners like their names, learner IDs or e-mail addresses. Another thing that might make them feel like their answers could be traced back to them is their handwriting. To avoid this, consider either not including open-ended questions in your paper questionnaire and going for multiple choice or Likert scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree) questions instead, or using online platforms like Mentimeter, SurveyMonkey, Typeform or Google Forms. Don't forget to reassure your learners that their answers will remain anonymous and explain to them how it all works if necessary. Transparency will help!

Using respectful and inclusive language is equally important for learners to feel safe to express their opinions. Later in this module you will receive specific tips on how to do this.

There are other things to keep in mind when creating a questionnaire. First and most important rule: try to keep your questions assumption-free. Suggestive questions that could manipulate learners' answers or reveal your own opinion on the topic or your expectations of the answers should be avoided. Also, make sure the questions are simple and easy to understand to avoid confusion affecting your results.

Learners with disabilities may have accessibility issues that need to be considered. For example, you may need to adjust the font size and screen contrast for learners with visual impairments.

When you have your results, take the time to analyse them and identify patterns and areas of improvement. Once both short- and long-term actions that can be taken to address the needs and concerns raised by the survey have been identified, these need to be specified and translated into a concrete action plan. Important: The plan must be realistic and sustainable enough for you to actually stick to it. Imperfect but achievable is better than perfect and unachievable.

Remember: Feedback should be taken to heart, but not personally. The method - which can always be adapted and improved - is what is criticised, not the educator as a person. The very fact that you take the time and effort to listen to your learners and respond to their concerns shows that you care, and this does not go unnoticed by them.

Look at these questions – what could be wrong with them? (No answer options available, the reader can reveal the correct answer when they are ready)



Examples of Questions to Inspire Your Creativity
Questions on demographics (Optional and Anonymous)
  • Which of the following best describes your gender identity? (Multiple options including "Prefer not to say")
  • Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation? (Multiple options including "Prefer not to say")
Feelings of Safety and Inclusion
  • On a scale of 1-5, how safe do you feel expressing your true identity in the classroom?
  • How often do you feel included/excluded?
Curriculum and Representation
  • Do you feel that the curriculum reflects a diverse range of identities and experiences? (Yes/No/Somewhat)
  • Do you personally feel represented by the current curriculum?
Peer Interactions
  • Have you witnessed bullying or discrimination in the classroom? (Yes/No)
  • Have you personally experienced bullying or discrimination in the classroom? (Yes/No)
Teacher Support
  • Do you feel comfortable approaching your teacher with concerns about inclusivity? (Yes/No/Somewhat)
  • What do you think our classroom needs to become more inclusive and safe? (Offer several options to choose from, leave space for their own answer)
Extra materials:

☍ How to promote inclusion in the classroom:

☍ Learning for justice. Resources for Educators:


3. Your role as an educator
We have talked about what inclusion means and discussed some of the methods that you can use to identify inclusion needs in your classroom. Let us now digress a little to talk about human nature.
The Human Need to Sort and Organise
We humans have basic cognitive tendencies, like categorising and stereotyping, that have helped us survive throughout history when it came to making quick and efficient judgements and, consequently, high-stakes decisions. Who is a friend and who is a foe? Which plant is edible and which one is poisonous? Which animal is harmless and which one wants you for dinner? - In the distant past, people’s lives depended on answering these questions quickly and correctly and on putting things into boxes labelled „familiar and safe“ and „alien and dangerous“. Members of different tribes could lay claim to the few resources or bring in new diseases, and so humans did their best to protect themselves from such dangers. Eventually, our brains have become wired to do it automatically.

A lot has changed since then, but these mechanisms remained. The truth is, they still help us navigate a vast array of information we are surrounded with, but there are hidden costs and dangers too. In our modern world these mechanisms often lead to prejudice and discrimination, as we still continue to categorise and stereotype people, often based on their appearance (among other things), which gives us information about their race, gender, social status and much more. And by doing that, we run the risk of reducing them to mere labels and ignoring the full complexity of their individuality and experience.

Categorising and stereotyping is something that everyone does, even those of us who believe that they don't. There is no shame in it: it happens automatically, unconsciously and immediately. You might have noticed it yourself: If this process cannot be completed for one reason or another, we get irritated. For example, people who do not immediately fit into the binary categories of "man" or "woman" can sometimes trigger this reaction in others: irritation arises because the categorization process cannot be completed. Much like a computer struggling with a computational task, we find it difficult to deal with things that don't fit in preexisting boxes. As a result, there is an urge to complete the categorization, which can lead less considerate people to invade the person's privacy and ask awkward questions that will inevitably make them uncomfortable.

Implicit and Explicit Biases
And there are even more layers to unravel in our thinking, as cognitive biases also come into play here. For example, we tend to seek, interpret and favour information in a way that confirms or reinforces our pre-existing beliefs; the so-called confirmation bias. When we meet a new person against whom we have unconscious or conscious prejudices based solely on their appearance before we have even got to know them as an individual, we automatically look for characteristics and behaviours that confirm our stereotypes about the group of people they belong to.

As if that wasn't enough, there are a multitude of factors that influence the way we see the world and other people without us realising. How privileged we are, what experiences we have had in life, what media we consume, what the people around us think and so on - all of this predisposes us to certain opinions and points of view, if we do not reflect on ourselves and our beliefs.

Educators are, unfortunately, no exception. What sets us apart from most people, however, is the fact that we have power in our classrooms, and these cognitive processes, if left unchecked and unsupervised, can be detrimental to the success and well-being of our learners. Therefore we need to reflect on and challenge our prejudices and consciously cultivate our attitudes. The way we behave towards other people, how we give grades, how we pay attention or explain things can be heavily influenced by our biases. So, what can we do about it? The answers lie in awareness and critical self-reflection, in an open attitude, in empathy and in continuous self-education.

The first step in overcoming biases is to become aware of our personal prejudices, thoughts and feelings. It is important to reflect on your own beliefs and attitudes. Can you spot any prejudices you might have? Where do they come from? How do they manifest in your daily life?
Biases can be explicit and implicit. While explicit bias involves conscious attitudes and beliefs that one is aware of and can control, implicit bias refers to unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that influence our understanding, actions and decisions.

It's generally rather difficult to tell which implicit biases you do and don't have if you can't remember a specific situation where you could recognize them by analysing your thoughts and actions in the moment. If you are in doubt, there are tools that can help you explore them. Here you can access and try out a test designed specifically for this purpose:

☍ https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Seek feedback from other people with different backgrounds, identities and expertise. The questionnaire we talked about in the previous chapter could be a good starting point. This allows you to find out how your learners see you and what things they notice about you that you may not notice yourself.

What Can Be Done?
Once you’ve identified your biases, question them by exposing yourself to different perspectives, experiences and information that contradict or expand your existing views. What „single stories“ affect your perception? Who is telling them and for what purpose? Have you ever heard the other perspective, which is perhaps a little less loud?

Do not expect minorities to teach you about their issues, be proactive and start with information that is already available to you. Engage with and listen to the stories and experiences of minority individuals. This can be through personal interactions, reading memoirs, watching documentaries, or following activists or minority advocates on social media. Next time you want to read a book or watch a movie, consider picking something written or produced by a minority author. This is a good way to gain a new perspective and expand any „single story“ you might have. Here are some recommendations for you:

Books:
Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride | ISBN-13 = 978-1524761479
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde | ISBN-13 = 978-3-446-26971-2


As an educator, it is within your power to use your privilege to address inequalities and injustices in your classroom and to show your support for marginalised groups. In other words, it is within your power to become a good ally to them.

What differentiates good allies from bad ones is their willingness to take concrete actions to support and advocate for change. While bad allies act performatively and have a dismissive attitude towards feedback, good allies actively listen and learn from the experiences of marginalised groups, amplifying the voices of those they support rather than overruling them. They recognize and use their privilege to make real changes for the better.

Bad allies often use individuals from marginalised groups as tokens to make themselves look morally good, rather than genuinely supporting them. To tokenize someone means to include a member of a marginalised group in a superficial or symbolic way, often to give the appearance of diversity and inclusion. It’s when no positive changes to a system or an institution occur, but the presence of marginalised individuals (who most likely had difficulty getting into it in the first place due to their marginalised status) is emphasised to make the institution appear minority-friendly at the expense of these people. Unfortunately, it’s still quite a common practice.


There are ways you can and should signal your allyship to your learners. We believe it is important because it contributes to the atmosphere of inclusivity and safety in your classroom (we will come back to this topic in later chapters). For example, you can signal your allyship by using inclusive language, sharing your preferred pronouns, displaying LGBTQIA+ themed flyers and posters, hanging the Pride flag in your classroom and by encouraging and supporting learner-led initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

4. Inclusive Language
It’s time to talk about inclusive language and how to use it. The main purpose of inclusive language is to avoid words and phrases that either discriminate against or exclude groups of people based on race, gender, socio-economic status, disability, sexual orientation, and other identity markers. It is a way of communicating that recognizes diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equitable opportunities.


It is not a surprise that language shapes and influences the way we think. Let’s take the influence of the generic masculine on our thinking as an example. The generic masculine refers to the use of masculine nouns and pronouns to refer to all genders, or to individuals whose gender is unknown or unspecified. The use of the generic masculine was subject of countless studies in many gender-marked languages and it was found every time that it elicits masculine representations. In other words, when we hear „policemen“ or „chairmen“, we automatically think of men, even when these words are meant to imply every gender.

Studies have shown that the use of the generic masculine compared to inclusive language in job advertisements can have a negative impact on the readiness of women and non-binary people to apply for the positions. The reason for this is that the male bias of the wording makes it unclear whether the advertiser was looking exclusively for men or employees of any gender.

This effect has also been observed in primary school children. There are studies in which they were given job titles either in gender-neutral language or in the generic masculine together with the job description and were later asked whether they could imagine doing this job in the future. The results showed that girls were more likely to imagine themselves in “typically male” professions when these were presented in inclusive language (e.g. „police officer“ instead of „policeman“).

It shows that despite the good intention of using the generic masculine to include all people, it still makes us think of men, whereas gender-neutral language is far more effective on a cognitive level when it comes to inclusion. But how to use it? It’s quite simple: Addressing your learners with „folks“, „all“ or „everyone“ is more inclusive than addressing them with „guys“. Usings terms like „partner“, „spouse“ or „significant other“ instead of „husband/boyfriend“ and „wife/girlfriend“ if you do not know the gender of the spouse or the sexual orientation of the person you are talking to is more preferable. Gender-neutral job titles such as chairperson, firefighter, flight attendant, police officer and salesperson are much more inclusive than chairman, fireman, air hostess, policeman and salesman if you aren’t talking about a specific person whose gender identity is known to you. Consider using "they/them" when referring to someone whose gender is unknown or to include all genders.


Be careful to avoid derogatory terms and offensive slang. Refrain from using terms that have a demeaning connotation. Consider using person-first language, such as "a learner with autism" rather than "an autistic learner" or, even worse, „autist“ in order to avoid making your learners feel reduced to their autism. The term “autist” as a noun implies that autism defines the person, whereas using the term “a learner with autism” emphasises that autism is only one of the person's many characteristics.

The same applies to words like “homosexuals”. Using “homosexuals” can sound dehumanising and objectifying not only because it reduces people to their sexual orientation, but also because the term has a negative connotation, having played a role in discriminatory medical literature. Opting for terms like "gay" or "lesbian" is more respectful.

As mentioned in the previous modules, you should address learners by their preferred names and pronouns. Names are an essential part of our identity, and using a learner’s chosen name and proper pronunciation is a simple way to show them that you respect and accept them

Don’t worry if you get something wrong, making mistakes is part of the process. Your consistent effort and willingness to learn is what counts!

Extra materials:

Study: Exploring the Onset of a Male-Biased Interpretation of Masculine Generics Among French Speaking Kindergarten Children

☍ frontiersin.org

Study: Reminding May Not Be Enough: Overcoming the Male Dominance of the Generic Masculine

☍ journals.sagepub.com

Study: Yes I can! Effects of gender fair job descriptions on children’s perceptions of job status, job difficulty, and vocational self-efficacy.

☍ researchgate.net

Study: Changing (S) expectations: How gender fair job descriptions impact children's perceptions and interest regarding traditionally male occupations.

☍ sciencedirect.com


5. Inclusive Spaces
The term 'safe space' was used for a while before it became clear that it can be quite misleading. This term is intended to describe aphysical or perceived space that is free from discrimination and violence, which presupposes that such a space can exist and is absolute. This is where it becomes misleading: even in safe spaces there can be discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes and violence. The term 'safer space' is a newer term coined to address this issue and it emphasises the relativity of safety: it means something different to different people. Not everyone will feel safe in the same environment, and despite our best intentions, we are sometimes unaware of certain issues and can be unintentionally inconsiderate.

To create a safer space means to create an environment where everyone can feel comfortable enough to express themselves and share experiences without fear of discrimination or judgement. This is particularly important in education, as studies have shown time and again: Chronic stress and unaddressed mental health issues have a negative impact on learners' academic performance. In other words, learning can become a futile struggle when you are stressed and/or don’t feel safe.

Minority groups happen to be most affected by this problem as their marginalised status makes them more likely to face discrimination, prejudice and exclusion in and outside of the classroom. So, LGBTQIA+ learners consistently report higher levels of stress and mental health issues than their heterosexual and cisgender peers, often leading to poorer academic performance and higher dropout rates. But the situation is far from hopeless: There are things you can do to help, things that will in the end be beneficial for every learner in your classroom.

Making Physical Space Safer
Let's talk about physical space first. We've already mentioned how you can decorate your classroom to create an atmosphere of inclusion and safety: hanging the Pride flag, displaying information flyers and so on. Moreover, you can use posters and stickers that indicate the „safer space“ status of your classroom.

Even simple and basic things like the table placement can contribute to a friendlier and more open atmosphere. Studies show that the seating arrangement in the classroom has an impact on learning, motivation, participation and the relationship between learners and learners and teachers.

For example, a traditional classroom with rows of seats facing the same direction will result in teachers spending more time lecturing and learners being less actively engaged with the learning material and with each other. In contrast, round table or horseshoe seating arrangements result in teachers and learners engaging more in active learning activities, which leads to better learning outcomes and more friendships formed. It takes away some of the learners' fear of speaking out and engaging in a discussion.

There are many international events that are worth paying attention to. It is a good idea to mark the International Awareness Days in your calendar and use them as an opportunity to raise awareness of specific issues by providing information to your learners and informing them of support opportunities. Here are a few awareness days to keep in mind:
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination March 21
International Transgender Day of Visibility March 31
International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia May 17
International Day for Older Persons October 1
International Day for Tolerance November 16
International Day of Persons with Disabilities December 3
Human Rights Day December 10

On the official websites of the United Nations and UNESCO you will find calendars and information materials on the Awareness Days that you can use to educate both yourself and your learners.

☍ un.org

☍ unesco.org


Consider decorating your classroom accordingly to celebrate awareness days - all of these things will make the physical space of the classroom feel more welcoming.

Perceived Safer Space
To create a perceived safer space, there are several things you need to pay attention to. Firstly, recognize that your actions and words can have unintended impact on others, and their feelings are valid regardless of your intentions; this applies to your learners as well. The physical and emotional boundaries of all those involved in the educational process should be respected. If someone crosses a boundary, let them know, but don’t automatically assume ill intent: we are all learning, and making mistakes is part of the process.

This advice has a broader relevance as well: we should avoid making assumptions about others in general. Be careful not to assume someone's gender identity, sexual preference, health or economic status, religion, background, beliefs and so on. Many disabilities are invisible, just like the struggles of the people who live with them. Take someone dealing with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder): The great effort these learners have to make to keep up with everyone else hides behind the appearance of a lack of motivation or laziness. There are people who have to work twice as hard just to appear „like everyone else“: don’t devalue their efforts. There are LGBTQIA+ learners who are either still figuring themselves out or are not yet ready to come out for fear of judgement, and who should not be excluded from support opportunities just because they are assumed not to be part of LGBTQIA+ community. This way, you could put them in the awkward position of having to ask, and therefore to reveal information about themselves that they are not yet ready or willing to reveal.

This leads us to the next important thing: Make sure to keep confidentiality and to protect learners‘ personal information. Do not pressure anyone to answer personal questions they are not comfortable with, and keep whatever they tell you confidential. What they choose or, sometimes, have to share with you is not yours to share with others, including their family and friends. Don’t assume that someone already knows said information based on your perception of their relationship with that person.

Personal information like that may include their disability, gendered history including dead names (the birth name a transgender person no longer uses after transitioning), sexual orientation etc. Revealing these things without consent can have unpredictable consequences for the person concerned, with the loss of trust in you being, unfortunately, the least serious of them.

That all being said, don’t forget to take care of yourself and your own safety as well! If you belong to a minority yourself, don't feel obliged to share with your learners things about yourself and your life experiences if that makes you uncomfortable.

Extra materials:

Study: Factors Associated with Academic Achievement for Sexual and Gender Minority and Heterosexual Cisgender Students

☍ oro.open.ac.uk

Classroom seating arrangements

☍ poorvucenter.yale.edu

Safe and Safer Space: The Difference

☍ queer-lexikon.net

Safer Space Guidelines

☍ mentalhealthcommission.ca


6. Inclusive Lesson Materials
Promoting inclusion and awareness by representing diversity in your teaching and learning materials is an incredibly powerful tool that will benefit everyone in your class. This will not only help learners from different backgrounds and with different needs to succeed, but it will also help to provide a much more accurate picture of the incredibly diverse world we all live in and thus encourage acceptance and understanding. Exposure to diverse perspectives encourages us to think critically about different viewpoints and develop a more comprehensive understanding of the world.

Inclusive lesson materials are crucial for the emotional, cognitive and social aspects of learning. When learners see themselves represented in lesson materials, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated to actively participate in classroom activities. Representation promotes a sense of belonging and gives learners the feeling of being a valued part of the learning community. This can increase their overall sense of well-being and reduce feelings of alienation or marginalisation.

Materials that reflect the identity and experiences of the learners can make the content easier to understand and, therefore, retain. In addition, presenting different role models in the teaching materials can give learners the opportunity to see themselves in different, otherwise seemingly unattainable roles, broadening their aspirations and goals.

Every learner is unique. To effectively understand and promote inclusion and awareness, educators need to recognize the various types of diversity present in their classrooms. This includes understanding intersections such as race, gender, sexual orientation, language, socioeconomic status, etc. and how they interact with each other, as covered in other modules. An intersectional approach is essential to achieving our goal of diversifying our teaching and learning materials effectively. So, the very first step you need to take is to get to know your learners, which we have already discussed in the chapter on assessing inclusion needs. As you can see, knowing your learners is the cornerstone to any improvement in inclusivity in your classroom!

The next step is to evaluate your current teaching and learning materials to determine the need for improvement. First, take the feedback of your learners into consideration. Second, analyse your materials through the lens of different intersections. Here are some questions that may help you:
  1. Do your materials reflect different cultural and ethnic backgrounds?
  2. Do the materials that you use include diverse sexual orientations and family structures?
  3. How is gender represented? Is it represented as a binary or as a spectrum? Are women, non-binary and transgender people represented in different roles and contexts to avoid stereotyping?
  4. Are people with disabilities represented? How is their disability framed?
  5. Do you spot any stereotypical descriptions or representations? Are multiple perspectives on the same topic represented in your materials?
It is a difficult but often important task to recognize deficiencies not only in your own materials, but also in the books and curricula you are presented with. They aren’t necessarily perfect when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Do not hesitate to modify or skip the materials that don’t pass the diversity test.

Working With What You Have
Depending on the subject, you will sometimes have no choice but to introduce historical texts and materials in your class that can include offensive language, including racial and ethnic slurs, anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric, and other derogatory or dehumanising references that reflect historical realities of the time period when they were created. If that’s the case, give your learners a warning before you proceed engaging with that material. Emphasise the fact that it is a product of its time and therefore contains derogatory terms relating to minority identities that should no longer be used. Make your position on this matter clear: You will not tolerate the use of those terms in the space of your classroom.

There are ways to compensate for controversial historical material like this. For example, you can extend a history lesson to the world beyond the history and culture of the country you live in. You can use references and analogies to other cultures in your lessons and assignments. It will both show that perspectives on certain issues haven’t been the same all over the world and allow learners from different cultural backgrounds relate to the theme of the discussion personally. Another great strategy is to invite different speakers and activists to contribute different perspectives and real-world contexts to different topics. Try to always include multiple perspectives on a given topic to encourage critical thinking and empathy, especially if this topic has to do with social issues. Encourage learners to critically engage with the material, questioning and discussing the diversity of perspectives presented.

It's not uncommon for educators to feel the need to take a strict, controlling approach when it comes to managing their classroom. However, the most valuable lessons are often learned through learners' own experiences, so allowing some freedom of exploration in the course helps establish a deeper connection to the course material. Group assignments are also a good way of exposing learners to different perspectives within the group and giving them the opportunity to investigate and solve problems together.

Avoiding The Reproduction Of Stereotypes
There are subjects that need to be addressed by the educators. Inequality and power imbalance are incredibly difficult subjects to address, especially from a privileged position, but it is important that learners see that their educators are aware of inequality and actively address it. To talk about inequality, you can use examples from history, current events or hypothetical scenarios. Using real-life examples that learners can relate to is obviously more effective as it can improve their understanding and help them see these issues as something current and relevant as opposed to seeing them as relics from the past (the way people often see, for example, women’s issues). If the topic of your lesson lends itself well to addressing inequality, consider expanding your materials to include this discussion by bringing up relevant stories and examples.

What you should avoid at all cost is the reproduction of stereotypes and inequality that you address. Consider the following two examples:


    Case 1
    An older female teacher speaks to a class of young adults about misogyny. She presents them with stereotypes about women that she believes need to be addressed and disproved, but the learners look confused: They seem to have never heard of them before. You can hear some learners in the class giggling. One learner thinks, "Hey, there might be a grain of truth in what she just said," completely ignoring the teacher's attempts to refute the introduced stereotypes. Other learners begin to express other misogynistic stereotypes about women. The female learners look uncomfortable and upset.


Here you have an example of the unintentional reproduction of stereotypes in the classroom. The teacher is a woman herself, most likely a feminist, and her intentions were undeniably good. Perhaps she has experienced all the negative things she talks about personally and just wanted to help the new generation of women by addressing them. But where did it go wrong?

Stereotypes not only emerge, change and disappear, but also depend on the socio-economic and historical background of a particular country or region. Stereotypes about white women will differ from stereotypes about women of colour, as will stereotypes about women from different economic classes (hence the intersectional approach). They will also differ from country to country. The stereotypes older people have will differ from those younger people have because they have grown up in different historical contexts. Therefore, you should not assume that you and your learners are aware of the same prejudices. Expressing them the way the teacher did in our example allows forgotten stereotypes to gain new life in people’s minds.

A better idea would be to present learners with a task or a situation that would shine light on what they really think, something that could potentially irritate their worldview. For example, a text that subtly subverts gender roles and makes the reader either believe they already know the genders of the characters based on certain traits long before they are revealed or make them constantly doubt their assumptions throughout the text, only to subvert their expectations in the end. This moment of irritation caused by this subverted expectation could be used to trigger self-reflection in your learners. The discussion could follow with the following questions: What led you to think so? Why? Does this idea really reflect reality?

Another important thing to remember: addressing stereotypes like that and making people think critically about their own beliefs is very useful, but don’t forget to also empower the representatives of the marginalised group you are talking about that are in your class! Now, to the next case of unintentionally reproducing stereotypes:


    Case 2
    A teacher plans to address issues of asexual people in class. Most of his learners don't seem to have heard anything about this sexual orientation, let alone have thought much about it. The teacher says a few words about what asexuality means and continues with stereotypes about asexual people and the ways they are often misunderstood, later presenting learners with the information that shows why these stereotypes have no basis. The lesson is over and the learners leave the classroom. Although the teacher has done his best to convey the necessary information, they cannot shake off the feeling that asexuality is something inherently weird. One can hear the learners still discuss the negative things about asexual people that they heard in class.


Here is another example of unintentional reproduction of stereotypes. The learners didn’t know anything about asexuality: neither the truth nor the misconceptions. Starting the discussion by introducing the misconceptions about asexuality to people who didn’t know anything about it was neither necessary nor a good idea: what you hear first (especially if it is something negative) is what sticks best. The initial bad associations will remain, no matter what comes next.

The teacher should definitely have begun the lesson with an open discussion and asked the learners what they already know in order to then present them with the information about asexuality and the experiences of asexual people. The misconceptions and misinterpretations that will most likely arise during the presentation and discussion should be addressed on the spot: However, they should come from the learners as a result of them actively engaging with the new concept and not be introduced by you as an educator.

Imagine there is an asexual person in this class who hasn’t come out yet. How would they feel during the class or immediately afterwards when they hear their classmates' discussions? They will most likely feel uncomfortable, alienated and unsafe. As educators, we want to avoid such situations.

When addressing topics and issues that affect minorities, it is important to remember that you as a person and as an educator do not exist in a vacuum and you cannot claim to have a perfectly neutral position. This does not mean that you are a bad person or that you are not allowed to address these topics unless you yourself belong to the marginalised group you want to talk about. Make it clear to your learners that you are aware of your own privilege and make sure your knowledge and sources come from the representatives of the marginalised group in question: authors, scholars, journalists or activists. If you have representatives of the group in your class, let them know that you do not claim to know better than them and that you are open to learning more.

Unfortunately, it is a common misconception that talking about homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, etc. contributes to their existence. In other words, some people think that if we don't talk about these things, they will eventually go away, which unfortunately is a change that cannot be achieved through silence. Some educators are reluctant to talk about discrimination because they don't want their learners to „find out“ that there are people in the world who may not like them for who they are. But this worry is groundless: This won’t be breaking news to them. What will definitely be a problem, however, is denying your learners the opportunity to get the resources, empowerment and support they need dealing with the realities we currently live in. Don’t be afraid to raise these issues and questions in your classroom, the strategies described above will help you with this task. Extra materials:

The importance of Diversity and Multicultural Awareness in Education

☍ drexel.edu

Resources to Developing an LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Classroom

☍ glsen.org

Reflecting on Anti-bias Education in Action

☍ antibiasleadersece.com



7. Checklist Review, Reflexion
Here is a checklist to remind you of everything you have learned in this module. Tick the points if you feel that you have successfully completed them:
  • I understand what inclusivity means and how it differs from assimilation and integration.
  • I understand the functions of inclusivity.
  • I know what to pay attention to when assessing inclusivity needs in class.
  • I know which platforms I can use and I have ideas for questions.
  • I learnt ways to self-reflect as an educator.
  • I know what inclusive language is and how to use it.
  • I know what steps to take to create a safer space in my class.
  • I learnt how to make my teaching materials more inclusive
  • I know how to avoid reproducing stereotypes.
Reflexion questions:
  1. What does inclusion mean to you personally? What methods do you use to make your classroom inclusive? What methods described in this module could you imagine using in your class?
  2. Think of the implicit biases you might have. Where do they come from? How do they influence your life as an educator? How could you minimise this influence?
  3. Would you describe your teaching materials as diverse and inclusive? What changes would you make to them to improve the inclusivity aspect?