It's really important that our review is informed by the lived experiences of disabled students at Glasgow Caledonian. We have consulted directly with a number of disabled students across all levels of study and academic schools, including international students. Feedback from those students has been shared with our Project Board, and taken into consideration when establishing the overall project aims.
Our next step in establishing ongoing consultation with disabled students is the creation of a new Disabled Students Expert Panel. This Panel will report directly to the Disability Review Project Board. We hope to have our first Panel in place for the start of the 2024/25 academic year.
Students who are interested in applying to join the panel, can email disability@gcu.ac.uk for further details. Panel Members will be remunerated for their time.
Colleagues representing the key areas of university activity which will be considered in the review were invited to a consultation workshop in December 2023. Staff feedback informed a revised set of project objectives and proposed activities which have been discussed in relevant committees and staff forums.
The review is concerned with a university-wide approach to our support and inclusion of disabled students. Therefore, most staff will in some way be impacted, and asked to implement some changes to the way we do things, as the review progresses. Staff who wish to contribute, can do so by contacting the Project Manager or any of the Project Board members:
Fiona Campbell, Vice-Principal People & Student Wellbeing, Co-Chair of project
Louise Dixon, Pro Vice-Chancellor Education, Co-Chair of project
Jackie Main, Director of Student Life, Project Lead
Danny Gallacher, Disability Manager
Kerri McPherson, Associate Dean - Learning, Teaching and Quality, School of Health & Life Sciences
Samantha MacLean, Associate Dean - Learning, Teaching and Quality, Glasgow School of Business and Society
Mary MacLachlan, Associate Dean - Learning, Teaching and Quality, School of Computing and Built Environment
Alastair Robertson, Director of the Graduate School
Tom Cunningham, Senior Lecturer, Academic Development & Support for Learning
Joyce Nicol, Lecturer and Academic Disability Coordinator, Biological & Biomedical Science
Adrian Lui, EDI Adviser
Stephen Lopez, Academic Registrar
Alen MacKinley, Associate Academic Registrar - Quality Assurance and Enhancement
Craig Phillips, Senior Careers Adviser
Kirsty Roden, Director of Strategy & Planning
Wilfred Obi, GCUSA, Vice President SCEBE
Overarching strategic commitments to disability-inclusive practice, along with the provision of appropriate training and guidance to all staff, will be fundamental in helping us achieve the necessary changes.
There are two work-streams of activities proposed - which should help us to meet our objectives. Some of this work can be completed in the coming months, but much of the planned activity will take longer to implement and imbed. Taking an evidence based approach - gathering and monitoring relevant data and feedback to measure our progress - will be the best way of ensuring that these longer term goals are met.
1. Delivering disability-inclusive teaching and assessment which minimises the need for individual adjustments. This is likely to include:
- The introduction of 'Baseline Standards' for inclusive teaching, learning and assessment practice at GCU - which will seek over time to reduce the requirement for the most commonly recommended adjustments for disabled students, by instead providing these as 'mainstreamed adjustments' applicable to all students.
- Ensuring that all existing and new policies and guidance relating to student learning reflect disability-inclusive practice
- Promoting and supporting the adoption of disability-inclusive teaching & assessment practice, through e.g. staff training and guidance, and programme and module quality assurance processes.
2. Delivering appropriate and timely services and adjustments for disabled students. This is likely to include:
- A review of the role of Academic Disability Coordinators, and how they interact with the Disability Service. These changes will enable the Disability Advisers to make more informed recommendations for disabled students' RAPs, and academic departments to better understand the needs of their disabled students, and identify opportunities for inclusive teaching & assessment practice.
- Ensuring that the Disability Service is appropriately resourced and able to provide timely support to those students who need this service.
- Ensuring that there is adequate resourcing for the implementation of exam and class test adjustments, and for the maintenance of our systems for the communication of student RAPs.
The initial project will conclude by November 2024. Some of the planned changes will have been implemented by this time. However, as much of the planned activity will be longer term and will continue after this date, the Project Board will continue to meet to monitor our implementation of an action plan. The Project Board will then report to an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, as part of the refreshed EDI Strategy.