About Trinity-INC

Since October 2020, the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum (Trinity-INC) Project has been working to embed principles of diversity, equality and inclusion across all teaching and learning at Trinity College Dublin. Based in the Office of the Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Equality, Trinity-INC works collaboratively across the College community - with staff and students, academic and support spaces - to achieve its mandate. The Project Director is Dr. Edurne Garcia Iriarte, with Seán Adderley as Acting Project Manager. 

The project goals:

• Create an accessible curriculum that supports the engagement, representation and action of all students, including those from diverse worldviews, cultures, and identities, and with different learning backgrounds, abilities and strategies.
• Embed the principles of inclusion in all aspects of the academic cycle, across all courses, modules and programmes at Trinity College Dublin.
• Establish Trinity College Dublin as a community of belonging and respect for diversity, where all our students feel supported in achieving their learning goals.
• Equip students with the qualities, skills and behaviours encompassed by the Trinity Graduate attributes.

Trinity-INC Four Pillars of Activities

Project activities are focused around four (equal) pillars of initiatives:

• Academic: Creation of a community of practice; led by the Trinity-INC School Champion Programme
• Student: Collaboration and partnership with students; led by the Trinity-INC Student Partner Programme
• Institutional: Embedding inclusivity in College policies and discourse related to curricula development
• Infrastructural: Supporting capacity across College to further inclusive teaching and learning practices and meet the support needs of all students.

Trinity-INC is also supported by a robust Advisory Board made up of students and staff from across the College community, and relevant external experts.

What is an Inclusive Curriculum?

An inclusive curriculum is one in which all students, regardless of background, personal circumstances, or learning backgrounds, abilities or strategies, have equitable opportunity to engage fully in their studies and achieve their learning goals. Curriculum design, often unwittingly, can exclude certain students in relation to class (Quinn, 2006), gender (Quinn, 2006; Francis, 2006), sexuality (Toynton, 2007), ethnicity and disability (Fuller et al., 2008, 2009). Such exclusions can occur, for example, through the lack of diversity reflected in reading materials, inaccessible teaching or assessment approaches, or lack of consideration given to individual circumstances, including unequal access to IT and the internet, caring or other responsibilities. These aspects should be considered when preparing courses, modules and online materials and should be reflected in learning outcomes.

Research documents that exclusionary practices prevalent in universities damage student attainment and retention and negatively impact on student experience. There is no 'average' or 'typical' student: students are not one-dimensional but vary on many dimensions of learning, cultural and living circumstances. Inclusive learning environments nurture individual potential and support Trinity as a place of excellence for learning.

Understanding Diversity: Table outlining four broad types of diversity - educational, personal, home-life and cultural 

Trinity-INC Fit with College Strategy

• The Trinity Inclusive Curriculum project closely aligns with the Trinity Strategic Plan 2020-2025, critically, Goal 1: We will foster an ever more diverse and inclusive student community, and Goal 8: We will be one Trinity community.

• Trinity Strategic Plan 2020-2025 states that by 2025 underrepresented groups should be 25% of our population (1.5), that 30-35% students will come from outside Ireland (1.1). It further asserts that, in Trinity, we will empower disabled students (1.9), that equality, diversity and inclusion will be a cornerstone of our ethos and practice (8.2), and we will grow student numbers (9.3).

• The Trinity-INC project supports the cross-cutting goals of fostering an ever more diverse and inclusive student community, supporting a transformative student experience, practising next-generation teaching and learning.

• The Trinity-INC project promotes the qualities, skills and behaviours which are encompassed by the four Trinity Graduate Attributes: to think independently; to communicate effectively; to develop continuously; and to act responsibly. These attributes will be fostered both through the embedding of inclusivity principles into all curricula, and through the Trinity-INC Student Partner Programme.

The Trinity-INC Team

Get in touch!

For further information contact us at trinityinc@tcd.ie, or check us out on Twitter @TCDInclusion or Instagram @trinityinclusivecurriculum