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Lecturers’ Attitudes to Inclusive Teaching Practice at a UK University: Will staff “resistance” hinder implementation?

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Abstract

Higher education institutions in the UK are required, by law, to make anticipatory reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities. Inclusive teaching practice, if adopted across the sector, would ensure that the needs of students with disabilities are considered and provided for, before they even arrive on campus. This paper sets out the background and key findings from an institutional research project at a UK university that aimed to discover if academic staff’s attitudes would be problematic or conducive to the implementation of inclusive teaching practice. The paper concludes that there is little evidence of widespread “resistance” but rather, the research discovered a prevailing belief in the rights of students with disabilities to education, albeit a belief which is limited in its practical application in the classroom. The paper also reports on a number of recommendations made to the case study university as a result of this research.

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Correspondence to Maria Smith.

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Smith, M. Lecturers’ Attitudes to Inclusive Teaching Practice at a UK University: Will staff “resistance” hinder implementation?. Tert Educ Manag 16, 211–227 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2010.497378

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