Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) were presented with the prestigious University of Kent Diversity Mark Award at the recent Teaching and Learning Conference at the Canterbury campus.
Celebrated alongside other courses, KMMS, represented by project-lead Dr Helen Bintley, were presented with the award for work within the Professional Development and Person-Centred Practice 1 (PDPCP1) module.
The Diversity Mark is an institution-wide programme run by Student Success, that celebrates modules that offer an inclusive learning experience and diverse range of resources. To achieve the award, convenors must provide evidence that inclusive resources have been made available to the module, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion must be demonstrated throughout teaching practice and in learning resources.
The award is given to those that undergo a process of review and reflection with students to ensure that reading lists are considered and varied, with regards to authors and their perspectives from divergent backgrounds. This includes race, gender, sexuality, disability, and socio-economic contexts within their discipline.
Dr Bintley commented: “The process of successfully applying for the Diversity Mark Award has further developed my understanding of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in teaching and curriculum, and has enabled the module team to include, in particular, global voices more effectively in the reading list and module.
“This has meant that not only have we made material changes to the reading list and, importantly, the wider module and beyond but we have also learned from those changes, which has enabled a continual cycle of development that has extended into this year’s module teaching and learning.
I hope to now use this learning and development to support others in my school to undertake their own application processes, learning from the challenges we overcame and the learning we gained.”
Special thanks has to go to Dr Bintley, for leading on this project, and to Manfred Gschwandtner and Dr Nicole George St-Louis for all their hard work in getting this module accredited.
KMMS aims to take other modules through this process to enhance the inclusivity of the whole curriculum.