Professor Jess Power, Director of Learning and Teaching, Davina Whitnall Academic Development Lead and Professor Vish Maheshwari Associate Dean Academic – Student Experience, University of Salford.
Jess Power, Director of Learning and Teaching, Academic Development lead Davina Whitnall and Vish Maheshwari, Associate Dean Academic – Student Experience explore the University of Salford’s Inclusive Curriculum Transformation programme. Through the lens of assessment and feedback, they present the University of Salford’s Inclusive Assessment and Feedback principles as an exemplar of sector best practice.
Prioritising Inclusive Teaching and Assessment
The University of Salford is embarking on a journey to be a global leader in inclusive education. This ambition underpins our purpose, to build towards social justice to create a more just and equitable society through “innovating to enrich lives”. T
Salford recognises that students should have equal opportunity to succeed in higher education regardless of background, characteristics or circumstances. Inclusive education is a cornerstone to student success, fostering engagement and wellbeing, and a sense of belonging and community, . Continued work on student engagement such as the QAA’s 2023 framework for inclusive and effective practice shows that through fostering inclusive communities, we strengthen students’ sense of identity and belonging. These inclusive approaches have been shown to boost engagement, motivation, and academic progression. Crucially, applying these principles involves recognising and valuing the distinct and diverse skills and experiences of students entering higher education. By embedding inclusive practices into curriculum design, assessment, and institutional structures, barriers to learning are significantly reduced. In empowering students to reach their full potential it is recognised that learning environments should be supportive and equitable.
Sustainable change for diverse student populations requires evidence-informed best practices, to drive effective institutional strategies and inform sector change. At the University of Salford, our approach began with a sector-wide review of cultural inclusivity, which we tailored to our local context. We drew on institutional best practice and sector examples, along with evidence collected from workshops where we explored enablers for, and barriers to success for students – “creating learning environments that work for BTEC entrants to higher education.”
Principles for Inclusive Curriculum Transformation
We developed an evidence-informed set of principles. Central to our work was a commitment to avoid deficit-based thinking, instead positioning inclusivity as a strength. Co-created with students and staff, our framework emphasized voice and agency, ensuring lived experiences shaped its development. Through three key innovations: a new design framework, collaborative activities, and supportive environments, we cultivated a creative space for staff to connect, share, and embed inclusive practices that truly support student success. We underpinned these with the following principles to support inclusive assessment activity.
- Clear – we employ straightforward language and processes in our assessment briefs and feedback, ensuring students know what is expected of them throughout their educational journey,
- Understood – by simplifying assessment and feedback mechanisms, clearly aligned with module learning outcomes, learning activities, and the wider programme, we foster shared comprehension between staff and students, promoting universal assessment literacy,
- Authentic – developed in partnership with stakeholders, resonating with students’ interests and lived experience, ensuring they are anchored in practical real-world skill application, preparing them for the professional world,
- Robust – with opportunities for formative and synoptic assessment of student activity,
- Personalised – offering opportunities for diverse activities with flexible assessment options and opportunities for negotiation, allowing students to express their knowledge in various ways, so that assessments cultivate community and ownership.
The principles of Clear, Understood, Authentic, Robust, and Personalised guided colleagues to create learning environments that support all students. This helped teams move into tangible curriculum redesign, with programme teams rethinking how assessments are communicated, structured, and experienced.
Reflecting on the Pilot
The pilot case studies collectively provided clarity & understanding through consistent examples of marking rubrics, clearer briefs, deadlines, glossaries and immersive tools. In some areas we redesigned feedback student actionability and embedded this as standard.
The pilot work has been grounded in authenticity & real-world relevance through scenarios and projects; there are a range of portfolio-based assessments and industry-aligned tasks with safeguarding awareness integration.
Critical to the disciplinary lenses are personalisation & flexibility. We embedded this through a series of optional modules and curriculum updates. These included flexible assessment formats, final project personalised options, digital portfolios and the utility of Universal Design for Learning. Some of the pilot programmes provided opportunities to enhance robustness & consistency emerged from increased and consistent assessment structures across modules and refined marking and feedback mechanisms.
Impact on Student Success
The focus on Inclusive Assessment and Feedback has led to measurable improvements in student progression. The “Pass All Modules First Time” metric showed positive trends in targeted cohorts, with programme teams reporting increased student confidence, engagement, and academic performance. Programme teams benefited from a range of support approaches, highlighting the role School Workshops with a focus on level of study. Further thematic support addressed inter alia language needs, BTEC/A-Level backgrounds, command words in assessment, and neurodiversity. Some key benefits for programme teams and individual educators included:
- A collaborative and supportive network to support practice-sharing, buddying, and cross-departmental collaboration.
- Follow-up one-to-one meetings to discuss access to further support.
- Recognising that ‘actions’ are not fixed but lived and evolving, through regular connections and conversations.
- Development activity that is measurable and learner-centred
- A deeper understanding of the wider academic community at Salford through exploring neurodivergence, the hidden curriculum and accessible language.
Salford University Business School‘s approach
The Business School focused on embedding real-world projects and curriculum updates to improve clarity and authenticity. Colleagues developed flexible assessment formats to enhance engagement. The changes helped students connect academic tasks to professional and applied contexts, to boost employability. In one example, the Law programme prioritised clarity, consistency and robustness in assessments and marking schemes. Optional modules offered students more choice, and curriculum updates reflected contemporary practices in the legal sector, including the role and impact of technological growth. These changes made assessments more relevant and supported diverse learning needs.
Impact and value for staff
All the pilot teams found the connected and principled approach beneficial, helping them tackle progression challenges. Each interpretation by the pilot programme teams was aligned to disciplinary needs and pedagogies, whilst significantly improving inclusivity within the curriculum. These lenses have provided practical starting points for other programmes across the institution as we embark on our journey to be a global leader in inclusive education.