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Pathways15: Department of Education, Skills and Employment - Higher Education
Rajan Martin, Assistant Secretary, Governance, Quality and Access Branch, Higher Education Division
The Australian Government wants to ensure that students with disability can access and participate in higher education on the same basis as students without disability.This presentation looks at the changes occurring this year to the DSP (Disability Support Program) designed to reduce the administrative burden on universities, the review of the Disability Standards for Education, and the establishment of the Equity in Higher Education Panel (EHEP), to provide advice and make recommendations relating to improving student equity in higher education.
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Video
Pathways15: Disability and the HE ‘Anxiety Machine’: Fitting your own oxygen mask first
Prof. Sally Kift, President, Australian Learning and Teaching Fellows
With the higher education (HE) sector in turmoil, and warnings now that the long-term mental health impact of COVID-19 must not be ignored, attention to HE mental wellbeing is now more urgent than ever before. This presentation will highlight that the wellbeing of disability practitioners deserves our sector’s care and consideration for three reasons in particular. Firstly, because all staff in the university community matter. Secondly, because disability colleagues have shouldered much of the burden as ‘first responders’. And thirdly, because, in increasingly precarious workplaces, it is salutary to remember that the wellbeing of staff impacts the wellbeing of students.
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Pathways15: Embedding Wellbeing and Inclusion at Griffith University
Lisa Chiang, Griffith University
The need for practices that support wellbeing, inclusion and accessibility has become more urgent and brought into the spotlight as new strategies are needed for this new world. We have spread the word at Griffith University on inclusion and inclusive practices through online disability awareness training, involvement in teaching and learning forums, creation of step-by-step accessibility resources and participating in university wide conversations. Putting wellbeing and inclusion on the map has also meant that we have been engaging and collaborating with the academic community towards buy-in and embedding these into curriculum For example, by building academic content that is accessible, inclusive and explicitly covers wellbeing from the ground up.
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Pathways15: Equitable learning spaces and deep consultation with students and staff, low impact sensory spaces for optimal design and functionality
Gemma Dodevska, University of Melbourne
Students on the autism spectrum face challenges with their social-communication which can often mask their academic potential and impede their participation in University life, including progression to graduation and transition to employment. The aim of this presentation is to share our experiences of developing low impact sensory friendly study spaces with students on the autism spectrum. Throughout this process we discovered multiple applications across different student cohorts including people with chronic fatigue, people who have experienced trauma and people with a diverse range of physical and mental health challenges.
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Pathways15: From Practice to Evidence: Inclusive Assessment Design - What Can We Learn from Assessment Adjustments?
Merrin McCracken (presenter and Author), Joanna Tai (lead Author), Mary Dracup and Yasmin Mobayad (co-Authors), Deakin University
Higher education providers in Australia are morally and legally obliged to provide all students equivalent opportunities to achieve academic success. However, students with disabilities continue to report poor assessment experiences, where assessment adjustments are only partially effective. This presentation will describe the outcomes of an initial research project undertaken at Deakin University to analyse some of the adjustments that were in place for students. It will also tell the story of how the practitioners and the researchers came together, and explore the value for all in this experience.
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Pathways15: Inclusion in higher education? The changing terrain of disability advocacy and scholarship
Ben Whitburn, Deakin University
'Nothing about us without us' is a phrase that has resonated through disability activism and scholarship since the 1990s. While enrolments of students with disabilities in higher education have unquestionably increased over time, if we were to critically reflect on the historical account of inclusion in the sector, we would note that plenty goes on without input from the diverse voices of those who live with disabilities. The argument I put forward in this presentation is that the conceptual tools, activist phrases and human rights instruments continually and comfortably referenced in the pursuit for inclusion in higher education may have reached the limitations of their utility. The purpose is to advance a manifesto for reframing the ways the sector responds to disability.
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Pathways15: NCSEHE research findings: supporting mental health, academic success and employability of students with disability in Australian universities
Nicole Crawford, David Eckstein and Tim Pitman, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education
Since 2016, the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) has supported twelve Equity Fellows to conduct targeted research projects, advancing student equity research, policy and practice. Three of the 2019/20 cohort will share findings from their year-long projects, with specific reference to students with disability and supporting student mental health and wellbeing: university students’ mental wellbeing from the perspectives of mature-aged students in regional and remote Australia; issues concerning the provision of careers support for university students with disability; and how universities can better support students with disability in succeeding in their studies.
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