Recognising and supporting student achievement

This chapter will seek to discuss the ways in which practitioners can work with students to support their achievements. Using the Universal Design For learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018), which enables learning to be designed or modified for the greatest diversity of learners possible this chapter will offer for suggestions for designing and teaching inclusive activities, considering wider strategies of inclusion and inclusive approaches to assessment and feedback. It will exemplify case study pieces of research conducted with students at a higher education institute to consider the range of challenges, opportunities and needs presented by learners. Using ethnographic research these studies value student voice and their lived experiences. The first case study considers students perceptions of barriers to their attainment. It draws on their reflections of their time studying, their journey to higher education and their support mechanisms. They discuss the challenges of studying, working, and socialising and the factors they use to measure their own successes. The second case study explores the needs of neurodiverse students studying in higher education. Again, student voice is represented through their reflections of what helps them to learn best and the challenges being neurodiverse can bring. Considerations for staff and students studying in higher education are discussed when considering how best to support students to achieve. The final case study looks at using active digital education to support EAL learners in an online environment.