The Inclusive Pedagogy Scholars Program (IPSP) is initiated by faculty, students, and administrators at Pratt Institute. This initiative was proposed and developed by Black Lives Matter Pratt and the Social Justice/Social Practice Collective. IPSP is supported through the generosity and commitment of the Provost’s Office. Its mission is to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice on campus. By researching and assessing the needs of individual schools, the IPSP program will synthesize, strategize, and implement positive actions in order to address issues of exclusion, in both the curriculum and pedagogical practices used in classrooms and studio spaces across the Institute.
We Define Inclusive Pedagogy as:
- attending to and supporting all student differences, “by focusing on how achievements in learning are realized through participation in the community of a classroom.” (Florian, 2015)
- taking deliberate steps to ensure that all students, across differences in academic, creative and social background; across differences in race, ethnicity, culture, geographical origin, age, language proficiency, sexual expression, religious beliefs; and across differences of physical and cognitive abilities, feel welcomed, valued, challenged academically and supported in all classroom, studio and extra- or co-curricular spaces,
- being proactive and immediately responsive in addressing any expressions, large or small, of harassment, stereotyping, discrimination, hate speech or intolerance aimed at any person or group of people, whether those people are present in the classroom or not.
IPSP Scholars
There will be five scholars in the first year of the program, one from each degree-offering school. Each scholar will be granted either a one-semester (Spring) course release (for full-time faculty), or comparable stipend (for part-time faculty).
The scholars will work with Deans, Chairs, Curriculum Committees, faculty, staff, and students in each school to carry out research on the state of inclusive pedagogy in their home School. This will include:
- identifying the unique challenges for each school in incorporating and advancing inclusive pedagogy;
- documenting issues of concern and potential for improvements in inclusive pedagogy for each school;
- highlighting school and departmental goals that already address inclusive pedagogy;
- synthesizing how effectively inclusive pedagogy is addressed in school and departmental learning outcomes, syllabi and as part of assessment plans;
- developing recommendations to ensure inclusive pedagogies that are specific to the mission of each school
Scholars will work as a team, with the support of the advisory committee (described below), to create an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of inclusive pedagogy at Pratt. This overview will be attuned to the specific and varied teaching and learning practices at Pratt. Based on that research, scholars will develop a plan to address the challenges identified, and create communication channels across the Institute.
IPSP Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee is comprised of Pratt administrators, faculty, and students who have been involved in developing the IPSP proposal, or with relevant expertise. In the first year, their charge is to:
- initiate an application process and select the first-year scholars;
- support and advise the scholars during their research;
- organize training and team building as needed;
- utilize research findings of the scholars to recommend next steps to address the inclusive pedagogical challenges and concerns of each school;
- act as a liaison between the scholars and the Institute as a whole.
Email Dan Wright with any questions, dwright2@pratt.edu.