The changing legal context, continuing professional development and the promotion of inclusive pedagogy for disabled students: some questions

As a consequence of changes to anti-discrimination legislation in the UK relating to disabled people, higher education institutions have additional duties, one of which is to devise and publish a Disability Equality Scheme (DES). The first section of the paper argues that this requirement will mean staff spending valuable time in compiling the DES, time which might be used more effectively in other ways especially in promoting inclusive classroom practices. The latter is identified as the major challenge facing those promoting the recruitment and participation of disabled students. For this to happen, there is a need for effective professional development, both at an initial level and on a continuing basis. Issues associated with professional development are explored in the second section of the paper prior to the concluding part which presents a number of suggested exercises which could be used when planning and delivering staff development. The paper ends by considering progress made so far and identifies a challenging and potentially controversial target by which to judge the attainment of effective inclusion.

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