These tools have been designed to prompt reflection by course teams and individual teaching staff on good practice and inclusion in curriculum design, assessment, teaching practices, learning environment and staff engagement. They reflect Cambridge’s commitment to widening access and participation and to addressing awarding gaps by promoting inclusive practices.
Many of the aspects of good practice identified in the self-evaluation tools will already be integrated into your course design or teaching practices. Some may still be developing as we advance our understanding and awareness of the principles of inclusion.
These self-evaluation tools are designed to accompany the Mind the Gap Toolkit, for use by course/Tripos teams but also by individual paper coordinators who wish to self-evaluate the inclusivity of their individual papers, courses or teaching. The checklists have been designed with a series of prompts to map where and how current interventions and good practices occur in the course, as well as to develop an action plan for further work.
The checklists ask you to evaluate your progress against each prompt using the following scale:
| Not yet started | We have not yet begun to discuss this in our department, or discussions have been limited. |
| Aspiring | We recognise the value of inclusive practices and have noted the importance of addressing awarding gaps, but are not yet sure where to start. |
| Introducing | We have identified awarding gaps of concern and have started planning to address them. |
| Developing | We have begun to address identified issues, and work is in progress to extend this across a wider group of students, courses or programmes. |
| Enhancing | Identified issues have been addressed, we have a systemic action and evaluation plan in place, and have evidence of positive impact. |
Five self-evaluation tools
(MS Word downloads)
- Inclusive curriculum design
- Inclusive assessment
- Inclusive teaching practices
- Inclusive learning environments
- Inclusive staff & student engagement
Course teams or working groups: please contact the Awarding Gap Consultation Team to arrange for a facilitated workshop that focuses on the first section of each self-evaluation tool. The workshop will provide an opportunity for directed discussion and will provide an evaluation report for your records.
We value feedback on the self-evaluation checklists from colleagues using them to reflect and enhance on practices. We would also like to hear from colleagues who have applied the checklists in other contexts. This feedback will help to inform further iterations. Please get in touch.