Using reverse mentoring to support inclusivity

Antonia Aluko, a student in Greek and Latin, worked with Dr Mazal Oaknin to reverse mentor a group of educators working in Gender Studies to help make their teaching more inclusive.

I worked with Dr Mazal Oaknin, Associate Professor (Teaching) in Spanish Language and Literature and Gender Studies, to formulate this project in response to our growing understanding of the non-inclusive teaching models in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Our project “Decolonising Gender Studies Through Reverse Mentoring in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities” took place within the 2023-4 academic year. 

The aim this reverse mentoring project was to inform and equip teaching staff in our faculty on how to be more considerate of the multi-faceted experiences and interests of their students. 

Facilitated by students

We facilitated three sessions on inclusive teaching:

• Session 1: we explored some of the legislation regarding inclusivity and engagement in the classroom, as well as introducing participants to key scholars that have not always been included in traditional Gender Studies reading lists.
• Session 2: we focused on the benefits of inclusive teaching for students and how this increased student satisfaction and attainment
• Session 3: we shared techniques and methods of inclusive teaching so that participants could have inclusive teaching resources to use in their everyday teaching experiences

Together, the group (on average eight attendees) discussed their own personal experiences in classrooms as educators and students. They used these conversations to form opinions and strategies on how to approach the modules that they are teaching with intersectionality, diversity, and inclusion in mind. 

Each session included a lunch or coffee break where participants had time to interact and socialise. 

Our approach and preparation

Intersectionality was at the forefront of our approach. We ensured that our project answered questions in regard to disability, race, gender, class as well as other protected characteristics.

Dr Mazal Oaknin says: "Intersectionality was used as a framework for suggestions to educators on how to make their modules more inclusive by considering their students' lived experiences and protective factors. Additionally, we used intersectionality to understand participants' lived experiences and how this would affect their teaching experiences."   

Over a month, Dr Mazal Oaknin met with me regularly and offered training and support to equip me with the tools to facilitate the sessions with confidence and ease.  

I collated a questionnaire for prospective mentees and shortlisted candidates who were selected out of UCL’s teaching staff. I also prepared handouts and presentations for the sessions, to give mentees a sense of an agenda and structure.  

Feedback

We were delighted with the feedback from staff after the sessions. 100% of the attendees found the sessions very helpful. All attendees all said they would recommend the project to their colleagues and felt they left with practical ideas for making their classes more inclusive.