This interactive Maturity Model Matrix and the accompanying Self-Assessment Tool are designed to help course teams assess and improve the inclusivity of their courses.
The model examines five key dimensions of inclusive education across five maturity levels.
Use these tools to:
Evaluate your current inclusive education practices
Identify areas for improvement
Get personalised recommendations for advancing to the next level
Track progress over time
As you explore each dimension in the Matrix, select the maturity level in the Self-Assessment Tool that best describes practice on your course. Once you have chosen a level for each dimension, generate your recommendations and develop a plan for course enhancement and the sharing of good practice.
The expectation is that you need to demonstrate how you reach Established Level in each dimension for revalidation, and that as you go beyond to Advanced Level and Embedded Level, you will be sharing your good practice with colleagues across your school and the wider university.
Maturity Model Matrix
Curriculum Design
How course content, learning materials, and learning outcomes address diverse student needs
The curriculum doesn't generally consider the variety of learning needs, backgrounds, or abilities of individual students.
The curriculum narrative remains unchallenged and does not leave room for debate.
Learning materials may reinforce racial, cultural, and gendered biases without accountability and awareness.
There is high potential for feelings of exclusion, hindering academic progress for some students.
There is superficial representation of diverse groups without deeper exploration of their experiences, perspectives or contributions and without a critical analysis of power dynamics or systemic inequalities.
Some modules incorporate decolonial and critical race perspectives, but others remain unchanged.
There is only a basic understanding of how to approach decolonisation of the curriculum or learning materials.
Clear guidelines and principles are followed consistently by the course team, ensuring accessibility for all learners, and reducing bias and stereotypes in learning materials with a consistent move towards decolonisation.
Curricula increasingly incorporate analyses of historical legacies, including colonialism, alongside diverse knowledge systems and critical perspectives on systemic inequalities affecting marginalised groups.
Co-creation with students/staff from diverse backgrounds ensures curricula reflect lived experiences.
Collaborative and continuous development of an inclusive curriculum, with input from a diverse range of stakeholders, including students.
Regular review and revision of learning materials to ensure ongoing cultural responsiveness, accessibility, and promotion of social justice.
The contributions and perspectives of scholars from all marginalised communities are given substantive recognition and influence, avoiding tokenistic inclusion.
Highly collaborative curriculum design process, involving co-creation of learning experiences with students.
Strong emphasis on an embedded curriculum that extends beyond traditional academic content to intentionally incorporate crucial social, emotional, and essential life skills, recognising the holistic development of each learner through a social justice approach.
Decolonising the curriculum is a core, continuous practice, inherently integrated into the curation of learning materials and assessments.
Teaching Methods
How instruction is delivered and varied to support diverse learning preferences
Pedagogy is teacher-centred and privileges traditional pedagogical approaches (e.g. lecture-based, passive learning).
Limited awareness of critical pedagogies (e.g. participatory, dialogic, or experiential approaches).
Learning spaces silence student agency, discouraging critical questioning of power structures.
Students whose learning styles or needs differ from the norm may disengage or suffer significant learning challenges.
Despite engaging with diversity and inclusion training, lecturers might tend to default to established teaching techniques, thus not yet fully utilising a broader toolkit of pedagogical methods to enhance learning for all students.
Predominant reliance on traditional, teacher-centred approaches.
Limited experimentation with more inclusive teaching approaches (e.g. small group work, participatory activities).
Staff actively experiment with multiple means of engagement and explore strategies for differentiation to address the varied learning styles and needs within teaching groups.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and critical pedagogies (e.g. Freirean dialogue) are standard.
Lecturers typically engage in staff development focused on inclusive teaching strategies, leading to a more consistent adoption of varied instructional techniques and appropriate scaffolding practices within classrooms.
Consistent implementation of inclusive teaching practices, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.
Lecturers trained in trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and culturally-sustaining pedagogies.
Regular collaboration to share expertise is welcomed to further refine inclusive pedagogical approaches throughout the curriculum.
Pedagogies of liberation (e.g. bell hooks, Frantz Fanon) drive all teaching.
Students are positioned as co-educators and knowledge producers.
A wide range of inclusive practices are seamlessly integrated into all aspects of teaching.
Educators at this level are highly adept at personalising learning experiences, fostering a strong sense of student agency.
Assessment Practices
How student learning is evaluated with consideration for diverse expressions of knowledge
Standardised and traditional assessment formats dominate, and may not offer equitable opportunities for all students to effectively demonstrate their learning.
Limited flexibility or accommodations for diverse learning needs, reinforcing ableist and elitist norms.
Providing accommodations and reasonable adjustments may be viewed as a separate administrative task, requiring students with additional needs to self-advocate.
This approach to assessment may fail to accurately gauge the true knowledge and skills of a diverse student population, amplifying existing inequities for already marginalised groups.
Some alternative assessments (e.g. oral presentations, reflective journals) are introduced, but only in select modules.
Accommodations may be provided to students with identified needs, but these adaptations are not standardised or uniformly applied across the curriculum.
This can lead to potential disparities in grading and in the expectations placed upon students with diverse learning profiles, leading to frustration and inconsistency.
Clear guidelines are established to support consistent and equitable assessment practices, recognising that traditional methods and structures may not be suitable for all learners.
Assessments are diversified (e.g. digital storytelling, community projects) to disrupt bias and enable multiple ways of demonstrating learning.
A range of inclusive assessment methods are used across courses, with the provision of appropriate accommodations to ensure fair and equitable evaluation of all students.
Formative focus with multiple feedback pathways.
A wide range of inclusive assessment methods are used, providing multiple pathways for students to effectively demonstrate their learning and understanding.
Decolonial assessments (e.g. collaborative zines, counter-storytelling, community-engaged projects) are mainstream.
Assessment is viewed as an integral component of the learning process, with actionable and timely feedback and feedforward provided on students' work to allow them to succeed.
Assessments are co-designed with students.
Assessment practices are continuously reviewed and refined to ensure they remain inclusive, culturally responsive, and aligned with the principles of social justice.
There is little need for accommodations since assessments are designed with inclusion in mind.
There is a strong focus on providing continuous, actionable, formative feedback, encouraging self-reflection, and offering diverse opportunities for learners to demonstrate their understanding in authentic and relevant contexts.
Learning Environment
How physical and digital spaces support access and belonging for all students
Learning environments may not be physically or psychologically safe or welcoming for all students.
There may be a lack of attention to ensuring accessibility for students with disabilities and neurodiversity, or to fostering a genuine sense of belonging for students from diverse backgrounds.
Broad considerations of psychological safety, emotional well-being, and fostering a genuine sense of belonging for all students are often overlooked.
Instances of bullying or exclusionary behaviour may go unaddressed or be minimised allowing microaggressions to go unchallenged.
Attention to both the physical and psychological safety and the fostering of a genuine sense of belonging for all students can be sporadic.
Microaggressions are sometimes challenged, but responses are inconsistent and dependent on individual lecturers.
Some efforts are made to ensure accessibility for students with disabilities and neurodiversity, but these may not be comprehensive or consistently applied across all learning environments.
There may be a lack of consistent attention to fostering a genuine sense of belonging for students from diverse backgrounds.
The creation of inclusive learning environments are a recognised priority.
There is a clear commitment to establishing physically accessible and psychologically safe learning spaces for all students.
Consideration of marginalised students (e.g. promotion of mentorship programmes).
Intentional approach to the creation of inclusive learning environments to ensure that they are welcoming, fully accessible, and supportive of the diverse needs of every student.
Strong sense of belonging and community.
Active solicitation and incorporation of student voice throughout the curriculum is welcomed by all staff.
Learning environments are meticulously designed to ensure that both the physical and virtual spaces are inherently accessible and inclusive for everyone.
Pervasive culture of belonging, mutual respect, and empathy, with students actively participating in upholding and further developing an inclusive ethos that values every individual.
Student Support & Engagement
How diverse students are supported and included in the learning community
Support is primarily initiated in response to needs becoming highly visible or disruptive.
Marginalised students must self-advocate for basic needs.
Limited implementation of proactive strategies aimed at engaging diverse learners from the outset.
Resources and interventions might be allocated based on immediate crises.
Engagement levels vary considerably, depending on the degree to which individual lecturers implement inclusive practices and the consistency of the support they receive.
Equity gaps are acknowledged, but no systemic strategies are in place to address them.
Uneven student experience, highlighting the need for a more unified and systemic approach to avoid frustration and the potential for some students to be disadvantaged.
Formalised systems for identifying and providing support to students with diverse academic, social, emotional, and behavioural needs are well-established.
Good degree of collaboration among lecturers and support staff in order to provide optimised support to students.
Early intervention processes are established.
Student-led support initiatives are standard.
Comprehensive and seamlessly integrated systems of support in place to address the academic, social, emotional, and behavioural well-being of all students.
Significant emphasis on fostering student voice, agency, and leadership.
Students as partners in support design and delivery.
Support systems are highly personalised, empowering students to effectively self-advocate for their needs and take ownership of their learning and overall well-being.
Students are actively involved in meaningful decision-making processes, and assume leadership roles.
Self-Assessment Tool
Rate your course's current level in each dimension:
