We want all our students to be able to access and benefit from our world-class education – regardless of their disability, health, gender, ethnicity or home background.
We have brought together below a summary of the many resources that exist across the University to support you in creating a more inclusive learning environment at Oxford.
A good place to start is the Guide to inclusive teaching developed by the Centre for Teaching and Learning. Here you’ll learn about key principles of inclusive teaching that apply across different settings and contexts.
You may also like to enrol in a short online course in Canvas, An introduction to inclusive teaching at Oxford (SSO required).
What Oxford-specific guidance and resources are available to help me?
Accessible teaching and learning
With small changes to how you design your courses, presentations and other learning materials, you can:
- remove barriers to student learning
- improve your students’ learning experience
- encourage more interactions from students
- make it clear to students that you care and think about their learning and welfare.
Find out more about accessible teaching and learning.
Flexible and inclusive teaching
Learning from the approaches adopted during the pandemic, you can:
- accommodate student needs for when and where they may need to study
- explore ways of breaking down teaching sessions into smaller segments
- plan for a mix of asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities
- use Canvas templates (SSO required) to make courses consistent and link to the tools and resources students need.
Find out more about flexible and inclusive teaching.
Racially inclusive teaching practices
By considering the voices and perspectives students engage with in your teaching, you can:
- impact on students’ sense of academic belonging, learning and achievement
- create an inclusive learning environment that values racial diversity
- encourage all students to engage in discussions about race.
Find out more about racially inclusive teaching practices.
Digitally supported inclusive teaching
By making use of University-supported digital tools such as Canvas, ORLO, and Panopto, which have been designed to be accessible and relevant to the Oxford context, you can:
- support diverse students in their learning by anticipating common barriers to learning, such as those most frequently recommended in Student Support Plans
- reduce the need for individual adjustments to teaching and learning
- work to create a flexible and inclusive teaching environment that benefits all students.
Find out more about digitally supported inclusive teaching.
Designing inclusive assessment
By designing inclusive assessment, you can:
- provide a balance of assessment tasks to ensure all students have equal opportunities to demonstrate, to their full potential, the breadth and depth of their learning
- strengthen the academic integrity of assessment and contribute towards reducing awarding gaps
- reduce the need for individual adjustments to assessments.
Find out more about designing inclusive assessment.
Supporting student academic transitions
By acknowledging the challenges of adjusting to study at Oxford, you can
- help students adapt to new people, places and academic expectations
- create environments where all students feel able to ask questions
- encourage students to make use of opportunities to develop their academic skills
- minimise the impact of the pandemic on prior educational experiences.
Find out more about supporting student academic transitions.
Diversity of Student Experience research project
The Diversity of Student research project is investigating how students from diverse backgrounds experience teaching and learning at Oxford, with a special focus on how the experience of systemic barriers affects their degree outcomes. The project is:
- investigating the educational experiences of students most affected by awarding gaps
- collaborating with students to pilot and develop a range of investigate approaches and methods
- contributing to the revised Access and Participation Plan and associated actions
- attending to the wellbeing of all staff and students participating in the study.
Find out more about the Diversity of Student Experience research project.
What other support is available from University central services?
Central services provide a wide range of support to lecturers, tutors and professional staff looking to ensure that all students are included in Oxford’s educational opportunities.
If you have a question about inclusive education that isn’t answered on this page, or would like to speak to someone about IncludED, please contact the Centre for Teaching and Learning at contact@ctl.ox.ac.uk.
