Evaluating institutional levers for promoting inclusive pedagogy in higher education

Inclusive pedagogy has been in the spotlight of academic scholars and policymakers alike. On the one hand, the ethical appeal of inclusion often leads to calls from policymakers and academics to develop teaching practices that respect students’ rights and needs. On the other hand, the performative market driven context often limits the implementation of inclusive pedagogy to ‘quick fixes’. The utilisation of inclusive teaching practices and faculty support for achieving this remains an under-investigated research topic. The current paper contributes to academic debate by evaluating the effectiveness of four levers institutions can use to promote inclusive teaching practices through a comparative US–EU study. The research is based on the data collected through an online survey. Results show that professional development and institutional support for formal and informal discussions around inclusive teaching are the only two potent levers to promote inclusive pedagogy. The cross-regional analysis indicates that while these two levers are efficient in the European Union, it is only the support for formal and informal discussions which is effective in the United States. Implications of these findings for higher education institutions are discussed.