Towards Conceptualisation of Safe, Inclusive and Accessible Classrooms

Abstract

The paper situates classrooms within Higher Education institutions as central to the learning process. Despite this, engagement with classroom spaces is much ignored, with the exception of scholars engaging with feminist pedagogy. Such engagement perceives classrooms as sites of consciousness-raising and thus calls for efforts by the teachers to shape the classrooms into a safe, inclusive and self-affirming space. It is a recognised fact that to create such classroom spaces which are non-judgemental, inclusive and affirming, where students’ and teachers’ identities in relation to their caste, gender, sexuality, religion, class, ethnicity etc, choices are respected needs sustained collaborative efforts between teachers and students. This article argues that the efforts to create such classroom spaces within university structures involve strategic changes in both the teaching and learning practices, involving syllabus framing, reading materials and engagement with students and teachers. The paper is based on qualitative exploratory analysis of a diverse set of students’ responses towards creating ‘safe classrooms spaces’ within university structures. It aims to make an effort towards conceptualising and identifying the parameters of a safe, inclusive and accessible classroom.