Disability and Participation in the Professions: Examples from Higher and Medical Education

Learners with disabilities remain under-represented in higher education and courses, such as medicine, that grant access to ‘the professions’. National and professional legislation, policy and guidance have changed over the last few decades in response to reforms in the way disability is viewed and valued by society. Principles of equal rights and equality of opportunity inform the negotiation of widened participation in the professions. However, drawing on the example of medical education, it is possible to see that widening articipation agendas may be insensitive to the needs of learners with disabilities. Analysing the development of practice and policy from a participation perspective suggests that tokenism may have played a role in deprioritising the voices of individuals with disabilities, rendering policy disconnected from the needs of marginalised groups. The concept of participatory parity may provide an opportunity to readdress this misrepresentation.

Review into the Proposed Registration of Teachers and Others who Support Learning in the Independent Sector with the Education Workforce Council

During the passage of the Education (Wales) Bill, Assembly Members called for parity in the way the behaviour of practitioners within maintained schools and the independent sector are regulated. This study was therefore commissioned to gather the views of groups and individuals who work in the education sector in Wales, on whether: i) there should be a requirement for practitioners (both teaching and learning support staff) within independent schools and private FE institutions to register with the Council ii) employers should be legally required to refer cases of unacceptable professional conduct and serious professional incompetence to the Council It was also intended, through this process, to gather views on the potential implications associated with any such registration so that the resulting impact could be identified. The individuals and organisations consulted included head teachers, college principals, governing bodies, teaching staff, learning support staff, trade unions, registration bodies, independent sector representative bodies, inspectorates and teaching councils. Consultations took place between August and November 2015, with data gathered through an online survey, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews and via email.

All the Lab's a Stage: the Use of Drama to Promote Engagement in Higher Education Science

Communicating science can be challenging at any educational level. We used informal and experiential learning to engage groups of potential University applicants in one project that involved staging a play in one of the teaching laboratories at the University of Worcester whilst a second project designed a play in house and took this to schools. In the first project the plot centred on stem cell research. School pupils and students from FE Colleges were offered complementary sessions including a lecture exploring the science behind stem cell research, a discussion on ethical aspects involved and a practical using university facilities. We ascertained attitudes to Higher Education in the students participating before and after the event. We found an enhanced view of the science and a highly significant change in attitude to attending University for students taking vocational subjects at FE level. The second project was aimed at exploring attitudes to ethics and animal welfare among a cohort of 15 – 18 year olds. Students engaged with the issues in the drama to a high degree. Our conclusions are that drama is an excellent way to inform potential students about higher education and HE level science in particular. Additionally we demonstrated the importance of events taking place at HE institutions in order to maximise change in attitudes to HE.