Lectures to reflect and support students.

What is an Edinburgh student?

Assumptions

Expectations

Decisions are made about our education which do not match our diversity!

Lectures that look like us.

Reflecting Students.

Do your studies look like you?

“It is a problem in science with having enough women, I have

only had four female lectures in five years and only two of them are course organisers… It is very interesting looking at the ratio of women undergrads (majority) to

women phds and postdocs (minority).”

Study Material

• “In science it is a problem that most academic work we study is written by men”. Ecological Sciences.

• “It always annoys me how we often only study women for their ‘feminist’ point of view on an academic debate”. Sociology (fourth year).

• “I found that we only tended to read stuff written by women when it was a course on a ‘female issues’, the same for black and minority ethnic people and the same for LGBT people”. English Literature (post graduate student).

Course Organisers pick literature.

Literature does not reflect the students.

Students do not see their own diversity reflected in the curriculum.

Lack of role models

Students do not feel there’s a place in postgraduate studies for them.

Lack of academic diversity (both in terms of academic materials and teaching staff).

“I feel like part-time study is considered a last resort, a soft option, looked down upon by

others”

Supporting Students

Problems with learning adjustments

Innovative assessment methods

“They’re just guidelines, we don’t have to follow them.

Who makes the decisions?

Constantly chasing adjustments up

Guilt

A culture…… of respect… of diversity