Student voice and the inclusive curriculum: how do aspirant student teachers navigate the taught curriculum in higher education?

Douglas Gardner, Janet

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Douglas Gardner, Janet (2026) Student voice and the inclusive curriculum: how do aspirant student teachers navigate the taught curriculum in higher education? Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitian University.

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Abstract

This thesis examines student voice and the inclusive curriculum, investigating how aspirant student teachers on an undergraduate two-year accelerated degree in Primary Education navigate the taught curriculum in Higher Education (HE). It has sought to ascertain key factors and inclusive educational practices conducive to the success of ethnically diverse students. The research was completed at a post-1992 university through the theoretical and conceptual lens of Community, Cultural Wealth (CCW), Funds of Knowledge (Fok), Motivation and Self Determination Theory and Relational Pedagogy.
The literature review of policy and practice in Higher Education (HE) and the changing landscape of widening participation highlights the issues of social justice as a result of societal inequity of race, discrimination, social deprivation and social class in the United Kingdom (UK) (Arday and Mirza, 2018; UUK and NUS, 2019) and the impact of COVID-19 (WHO, 2020; Filho et al, 2021). The review of literature also details the potentially beneficial effects of the inclusive curriculum and incorporation of student voice in HE (Selby, 2018; Burke, 2012; McLeod, 2011; Young and Jerome, 2020; Hockings, 2010; McDuff et al, 2020).
Epistemologically, the research is qualitative in nature applying the interpretivist paradigm aligned to Thomas’ (2019:72) suggestion that “the ways we think of the world is paradigm” which include the elements of “purpose, questions and method” on which a successful research project depends (Crotty, 1998:3).
Friendship conversations (Heron, 2020) of fifteen voluntary student participants, of diverse ethnicity and mature-age, from three cohorts of the course were analysed using reflective thematic analysis of Braun and Clarke's (2006 and 2022) six-step approach. The cohorts provided comparative data in this longitudinal study. The innovative approach of friendship as a method (Heron, 2020) was adapted for the data collecting process using a three-step approach to elicit student views on prompt questions: firstly, a pre-conversation meeting with the researcher and the friendship pair; secondly, the friendship conversation without the presence of the researcher, and thirdly, the post-conversation meeting and reflective process with the researcher and friendship pair.
The study found that all students felt their lived experiences were valued within learning and assessment activities and that the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted on their sense of belonging and their preferred way of engaging with learning in the physical classroom. Curriculum practices grounded in relational pedagogy which provided opportunities to discuss social issues such as race, ethnicity, gender and class positively impacted their student journey. The rich CCW and Fok which are often ignored by institutions of higher learning for students who are working class and ethnically diverse was acknowledged throughout the journey of their course.
Fourteen of the 15 participants obtained “good” degrees of first class and upper-second class. This is of significance in the context of the discourse of “degree differentials’ (UUK and NUS, 2019; UUK, 2022) between white students and students of other ethnicities since it challenges the deficit assumptions about the knowledge that students bring to HE. The data from this study shows the importance of valuing and acknowledging the Fok and CCW brought to the institution by this ethnically diverse group of African, Asian and White students and the impact of the supportive peer and staff relationships established which contributed to their motivation and autonomy as HE students.
The success of the participants navigating the taught curriculum to complete their course of study informs the recommendations advanced to adapt curriculum practice to enhance student voice and learning experiences in HE. Such practice facilitates students as leaders or co-producers of learning with opportunities to value and incorporate their lived experiences, skills, talents and heritage languages where possible.

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