Strategies for creating inclusive environments: learning from neurodiversity (Funded Project)

Sarah Parsons, Bronagh Walsh, Kate Freeth , Joe Cunningham,

We are a group of researchers and educators who share a commitment to strengthening our inclusive practices in order to improve outcomes for neurodiverse students, including those on the autism spectrum. This project will establish a Neurodiversity Action Learning Set [NeurALS] with colleagues from different Faculties at the University, as well as from the Widening Participation team. We will also involve local FE colleges and schools who support students to apply to Southampton and research our own learning in seeking to change our own practices. We include colleagues from the Initial Teacher Education programme at the University, thereby aiming to ensure that the learning that takes place for us as a group can also be shared with the next generation of school educators who will have responsibility for supporting our future students’ aspirations. The main question that we aim to address is: How can we learn from neurodiversity to create more inclusive teaching and learning environments at Southampton?