Students with disabilities mentoring staff: supporting scalable academic development for inclusive education

Abstract

Students with disabilities are the fastest-growing equity cohort in Australia, and yet they continue to face barriers to their success and completion at university. In this paper, we present a scalable model for one-to-one staff and student dialogue that positions students with disabilities as mentors to university staff. By doing so, we emphasise how students mentoring staff programs can be harnessed to support academic development for inclusive education. The program presented further provides a relationship-rich alternative to accessing and leveraging student voice compared to traditional methods, such as student experience surveys. We conclude by reiterating the importance of generating whole-of-community programs to support diverse learners, which foster genuine conversations between students and staff.