Intentionality for inclusivity - the journey at Middlesex University

Education has changed in a myriad of ways over the millennia, but one of the most noticeable areas is the makeup of the groups being taught. Centuries ago, learners were grouped based on their local area. Their backgrounds and ethnicities would usually be similar and in many cases, even their genders would be the same. Fast forward to the current day, and we find that across education settings, local learners make up a smaller percentage of the total group than those from further afield. In higher education especially, the number of students studying outside the country they were born in is notably high. Indeed, lecturers share anecdotes of their cohorts being made up of learners from over 60 nationalities. The variety of countries represented in a group of learners is not the only difference to consider in teaching today. Consideration needs to be given now to the different genders of learners, their sexuality, their marital and employment status, their mental health, their ability level and their preferred method of assessment, to name a few.
As such, issues of diversity are integral to teaching in 2022. The discourse around it and its sister topics, equity and inclusion, has become increasingly pertinent in the learning and education space. As a result, many institutions are years into their thinking about how best to support diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). In this paper, we shine a light on how DEI efforts at one university in the UK are being combined strategically with something else: intentionality. By definition, intentionality is the act of being deliberate or taking an action with purpose. At Middlesex University, it is explained as the difference between thinking about a topic passively and thinking about it proactively and then acting upon those thoughts.
In this paper, we look at how the institution has built a robust and holistic approach to DEI, blending intentionality with action, which has had excellent results.