Factors Influencing Learning

This article discusses the various factors that influence learning, including personal, social, cultural, cognitive, physical, and sensory factors. It explores the importance of promoting equality and diversity in education and how discrimination can undermine the learning process. The article also highlights the policy and regulatory frameworks related to equality and diversity in the UK and the influence of these frameworks on organizational policies and practices. Additionally, it emphasizes the role of working with other agencies in promoting diversity.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Task 1: Meanings of equality and diversity in the UK context
Equality and diversity are the two vital components in the modern world that guarantee
harmony and peace. However, the concept of equality and diversity are hardly seen practiced
today owing to the growing differences between people. While equality refers to equal treatment
to all the people and equal rights, diversity refers to the distinctions from what is considered
standard or expected. To describe more thoroughly, diversity refers to the valuing of these
distinctions amongst people and the ways through which these distinctions could contribute to a
more creative, richer and productive environment (Oswick and Noon 2014). Diversity thus,
means respecting and valuing the differences to appreciate and acknowledge the potential of
each individual and promote an inclusive culture (Kimura 2014). Taken together, the term
equality and diversity means the definition and championing of equality and diversity along with
human rights in the United Kingdom.
The term encourages equality for every individual in terms of opportunity to achieve her
or his true potential, devoid of any discrimination and prejudice. The UK legislation demands all
the public authorities to support and encourage equality in all the works they do. They are also
asked to make sure that other organizations fulfill their legal responsibilities to promote equality
while applying it to their own organizations. The Equality Act 2010 is one such legislation in the
UK that comprises various legal requirements promoting equality in nine protected feature areas.
These protected features or characteristics are collectively known as the “general duties to
promote equality” (Slater et al. 2015). The nine protected characteristics include age, disability,
gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or
belief, sex and sexual orientation. The legislation makes it a crime to treat anyone unfairly based
on the things that make that person different. It is the legal obligation of the public authorities in

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the UK to protect the people from discrimination by promoting equality. Discrimination could be
against an individual’s gender, sexual orientation, belief, race, religion, age or disability.
Equality means making sure, the individuals or groups are treated equally, not given less favour
based on their specific protected characteristics. The promotion of equality means the complete
removal of discrimination of any kind in the areas as mentioned above. The issues that come
under equality and diversity include victimization, bullying and harassment.
It is important to promote equality and diversity because it ensures that a nation, an
institution or an organization has an inclusive environment where there is no prejudice (Smith
2014). When this happens, it produces positive results for all the people involved. Promoting
equality and diversity also helps the organization or institution to function smoothly. Equality
and diversity ensure that all individuals are provided equal treatment and are given respect and
dignity they deserve. Furthermore, equality and diversity promotion stops discrimination against
people in the workplace, at schools or in any public place. Discrimination could be both active
and passive. While active discrimination means discriminating directly with the individual by
treating her or him unfairly, passive discrimination means setting up the environment in such a
way that it benefits one group and disadvantages other group.
Several ways are there to promote equality and diversity. Apart from the various
legislations that aim to protect and promote equality and diversity, the universities in the UK also
have devised certain ways to promote it. The first way is to provide equal treatment to the staff
and students and secondly, forming an inclusive culture for the staff and student. Thirdly,
making sure the students have equal access to the opportunities so that they are enabled to
participate wholly in the learning process. Fourth, allowing all the students and the staff to
develop their complete potential; fifth is equipping students and staff with the skills required to

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challenge discrimination and inequality in their work or study environment. Furthermore,
another way to promote equality and diversity is to make sure that no learning materials are
included in the curriculum that discriminates against any group or individual. One of the vital
ways to promote equality and diversity is to ensure that the policies, processes and procedures do
not discriminate against any student or staff based on their specific protected areas. These
common ways to promote equality and diversity in the UK are followed by various institutions
such as universities. However, it is important to understand that there needs to be concrete ways
that promote equality and diversity. It is not enough to include the components of equality and
diversity into the system because without effective implementation and monitoring, the effort
might become futile. Further, it could stated that although the different ways suggested are ideal
for promoting equality and diversity especially in the learning environment, these must be given
added prominence. The concerned authorities must make sure that these suggestions to promote
equality and diversity are scrutinized everyday to ensure that all the students and staff are
enjoying a privileged environment.
Task 2: Factors influencing learning
Many factors influence learning that include, personal, the social and cultural factors.
Apart from that, the cognitive, physical and sensory factors also influence learning. Prior to
explaining the influence of these factors on learning, it is important to understand the common
factors that influence learning. Motivation, ability, will power, readiness, achievement and
inspirational level, attention, health of the learner, and maturation are some of the factors that
influence learning. Motivation is considered one of the most important factors that influence
learning. Motivation comes under the personal factors that influence learning. One factor comes
from within the individual. Motivation generates in the learner, the will to learn. Motivation is

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categorized into two types, which include intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic
motivation happens when the learner receives motivation by observing or reading something.
Extrinsic motivation comes from outside. For example, a learner learns to make airplanes
because her or his father or mother motivated her or him to do so. Will power and readiness are
also types of personal factor that influences learning. When the learner has the will to learn,
nothing could stop her or him.
When it comes to social factors, rivalry and cooperation are the two important factors that
influence learning. Rivalry refers to the competition that a learner feels against other learners.
Cooperation is the support and encouragement that learners provide each other. The cultural
factors also affect learning because when a learner from a different cultural background comes to
learn in foreign culture, her or his learning is bound to be influenced. The way of teaching or
instructing, self-learning varies from culture to culture and hence, it influences learning as well.
Other than these factors, the various abilities including the sensory, cognitive and physical
abilities further influence learning. The various cognitive abilities such as concentration,
perception, memory and logical thinking have huge influence on learning because these improve
the ability of the learner to understand better and in a less time than others do. The sensory issues
on the other hand, influence learning in a negative way when there is some issues with the
learner’s sensory abilities. Some learners suffer from the “sensory processing disorder”; a
disorder where the sensory signals from the environment is misinterpreted and creates difficulty
in doing or understanding any task. Some learners struggle to speak, see, touch, taste or smell the
things, which are required to learn about new things. These sensory issues negatively influence
learning. In the physical abilities, the health factors are crucial in influencing learning. With the
learner having sound health, learning becomes an easy process. However, the learner with ill

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health finds it difficult to concentrate in learning and this affects her or his cognitive abilities as
well. Within the physical factors, the visual and aural abilities are also included that affect
learning. Learners with strong visual and aural abilities will have positive experience of learning
whereas learner with weak visual and aural abilities will have negative experiences. The review
of these factors reveals that all the factors including cognitive, sensory and physical abilities are
interrelated and a flaw in any of these factors would influence learning.
When some individuals make fun of the limited capability of some learners without
understanding the social, personal or cultural factors, it leads to discrimination and inequality.
Any act of discrimination by the individuals undermines the equality and diversity. The
discriminative actions could include demeaning a visually or aurally incapable learner due to her
or his inability to learn. Then, the discriminatory practices of using English as the language of
communication in a class where learners from other languages are also present. Furthermore,
including subjects or topics sensitive to a learner from a different cultural background in the
curriculum that makes the learner uncomfortable is also an act of discrimination that undermines
equality and diversity.
Some systems and structures in the UK do not promote equality and diversity. These
could include the healthcare system and the education system. In the healthcare setting,
discrimination based on disability, ethnicity, age and sex are quite prevalent. According to the
government statistics, more than 20% of the people living in the most deprived areas of England
with highest health issues belong to the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnicity (Connolly, Baker
and Fellows, 2019). The government statistics also reveal that inequalities across the different
dimensions exist in England. In the education system as well, the rate of inequality is quite high
in the UK. The country ranks one of the lowest in income equality that is a major factor affecting

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education (Theconversation.com, 2019). These statistics and facts reveal that these systems and
structures do not promote equality and diversity. Therefore, it could be recommended that the
government and ground level institutions come together to create policies that could benefit
people from all specific protected characteristics. It is also recommended that the minority
groups who are discriminated against are included in the decision-making process.
Task 3: Summarize policy and regulatory frameworks relating to equality and diversity
and inclusive evidence
A: Summarize the policy and regulatory frameworks relating to equality and diversity and
inclusive practice
The concept of equality includes the approach towards creating a fair society where each and
every individual can participate and also have the similar opportunity towards the fulfillment of
their potential. The approaches towards equality is backed by the legislation and the employment
regulations and the codes of the practice in the context of the organizations and the institutions in
UK. This is the equality Act of 2010 which was developed for addressing the unfair
discrimination, the victimization, harassments, the advance equality regarding the opportunity
and the fostering of the good relations among the people within the educational institutions and
organization. According to () diversity means differenced. The approaches towards the diversity
acknowledge and value the wide range of the differences among people with the employment
place within the wider society. The policy and the regulatory frameworks within the approach of
the diversity includes the equality of opportunity within the employees, the awareness related to
visual and deaf awareness, standards related to professional and vocational factors and
regulations related to workplace.

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In the context of the teaching institutions in UK, the legislation and the policy that is needed for
the promotion of the equity and the diversity and the inclusive practice includes the procedures
and the physical aspects of the accessibility and environment. It is essential for the educational
institution and teaching institutions in UK to focus on the training of the staff for addressing of
the specific needs. This training must focus on the facilitation on the staff ratios, the quality
assurance process and the investments. The policy for the training of the teachers within the
organization aims towards promotion of the facility of equity within the staff, diversity that is
encouraging employees and teachers from various backgrounds and the practice of the
inclusiveness. In context of the policies regarding the teaching institution, one of the major
approach is the professional standards for the teachers and trainers in training and education.
Developed by Education and training foundation of UK these are considered as the policies that
were developed in the consultation with the practitioners for setting the standards of the teachers’
own educational values. Assumptions and the practice in the era of the changing educational
world.
B: What are the influences of the above on your organizational policies and own practice
The influence of the above factors over the organizational policies varies. Three of the major
factors that influences the organizational policy of the teaching institution includes staffing
ratios, the complaints procedures and the marketing and the promotion of the courses. The
staffing ratios within the organization induces the organization to develop the policies for
recruitment of employees for each and every departments so that learners get access to their
benefits. In the context of the complaints procedures of the organization, the polices of the
organization revised for receiving complaints from the learners regarding their issues and
challenges that left unaddressed by the trainers and any of the complaints regarding the teachers

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and trainers. The organizations policies were modified with the introduction of the zero tolerance
policy regarding any of the complaints against the trainers and the teachers.
Influences of these factors over me as the trainer had been beneficial since it made me aware
regarding the current legislation. It furthermore helped me in the recognition of my own roles
and responsibilities and helped me to review my own personal approaches and promote through
m approaches to teaching. The above stated factors influenced me to review my own
perspectives regarding earning and my understanding towards the challenges and the issues faced
by the students or the learners of the organization. I got aware regarding the current legislation of
the teaching standards which helped me to understand the ways and process to interact the
learners and the students in the organization.
C: Explain how working with other agencies can promote diversity
There lies several of the positive factors towards the promotion of diversity by working with
different agencies. This is because it develops the concept of the inclusiveness within the society
in larger perspective. Within the educational institute, there lies several of the referral services
that helps in the promotion of the diversity .Some of the examples include workshops by
different agencies, helping the earners and the students for developing their skills and overcome
their learning difficulties. Another of the example includes the invitation of the police force for
delivering of the workshops and introduce the current legislations for uncovering many of
misunderstanding. They can furthermore demonstrate their promotion of diversity through their
works. Besides these educational fair can be arranged that can elaborate over several of the
resources so that the learners can consider further education and skills. Two of the major factor
that needs to be discussed in this context is the role of equality and the human rights commission.

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The role of equality in the education sector revolve around the equal access towards the
education for all the gender irrespective of the social status. It furthermore projects the equality
of the teachers to get employed and teach the students. The human rights commission of the
country is responsible for the protection and the promotion of the human rights regarding the
right towards life, liberty, dignity and equality.
D: Reflect on how the promotion of equality and diversity can protect learners from risk of harm
Being a teacher and a trainer it is my responsibility to foster the greater understanding among the
individual and diverse groups and underpin regarding the contribution to the society. It is to be
understood that the greater level of understanding bring some of the tolerance and helps in the
reduction of the risk related to harm among the individual members and groups. This will help
me to counter attack towards some of the challenges that bring harm to the learners and the
individuals like stereotyping of race and sex, gangs fights, inter racial tensions and religious
fundamentalism. It can furthermore be stated that the students or the leaders might get neglected
if the diversity and equality is not being promoted in the class. In case when the diversity and
equality are not being promoted in the classroom it can furthermore lead to demoralization of the
individuals followed by the loss of the confidence within themselves. One of the major factor is
that this will tackle the issues and the challenges of bullying. The forms of the inequality covered
by the strands of the equality can furthermore be divide in dimensions. The primary factors
include the culture, disability, ethnicity, accent, age and color. The secondary factors include the
intelligence and ability, family background, health, criminal background, financial status,
religion , race and the position within the social class.
Task 4: Inclusive practice and analysis of promotion of inclusion

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A: Why is it important to promote an inclusive learning environment
Inclusive environment can be defined as the approach and the environment where
individual becoming from all the cultural orientations can freely express their identities, their
perspectives, their opinions and their view points. In the context of the inclusive environment in
teaching practices in UK, the environment enables full participation for the learning, teaching ,
working and some of the other social activities. It is to be noted that the creation and the
development of the inclusive environment of learning is extremely essential aspects regarding
the modern education since it ensures all the learners gets entitled to be treated with dignity and
respect. According to several of researches, each and every one is an individual with different
abilities, experiences and needs. The inclusive learning environment furthermore helps in the
identification and the addressing of the needs of the individual and work towards the removal of
all the barriers that the students might have. Four of the major factor that is associated with the
promotion of the inclusive learning environment includes the celebration of achievements,
motivation of students , creation of culture of tolerance n empowerments of the students in the
classroom.
B: Summarize your own role and responsibilities in promoting inclusion, equality and diversity
The active promotion of the equality regarding the diversity, opportunity and the
inclusion requires certain skills and behavioral traits. My role and responsibility towards the
promotion of the inclusion, diversity and equality includes challenging of some of the most
inappropriate behaviors, working in adherence with the policies of the organization,
encouragement of myself and peer assessments and the giving y students and the learners
regarding their responsibility for their own actions. Some of the main and the generic skills as

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per my knowledge which is required for the application of the promotion of the equality of the
diversity, opportunity and inclusive in my area of responsibility are leadership. Effective
communication, motivating the learners for doing good, monitoring the works and the actions of
the students, evaluation of their actions, planning for their development goals, reporting to my
supervisor regarding the student’s progress and development of the management strategies. It is
my duty to identify my personal responsibilities and liabilities under the equality legislations and
implement the written equality of the organization by following all the policies and the
legislations.
C: Analyze ways to promote inclusion
The concept of the inclusion is regarding the creation or the development of the varied
level of the interest and inspire the learning opportunities for all the learners for ensuring the
contribution of the learners by the methods and the resources. I believe it is an approach to the
learning and the teaching that endeavors for encouragement to the fullest participation of all the
learners. The promotion of the inclusion according to my personal insight includes working with
others, confronting the challenge and the issues of bullying, tackling of any sort and kind of
discrimination and encouragement of some of the best practices with positive attitudes within the
classroom. Being a teacher and a trainer it is my responsibility to promote inclusion regarding
equally and diversity so that these are equally valued and accepted.
D: Explain actions that can be taken to value individual learners and explain good practice in
providing individual learners with information
Some of the good and effective actions that I want to take for valuing the individual
learners are the following. I will initially make my learners aware regarding the objectives and

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the learning goals by the means of a detailed curriculum. This process will be followed by initial
assessment of the learner to understand the needs and the aspiration of the students. I will
furthermore use the formative and the summative assessments during my teaching process for
the identification and the recording of the progress that is made by the learners. Being a teacher
I will use my learners assessment for valuing the individual learner. I will furthermore introduce
the merit system for encouraging the learner towards their progress and their achievements of
their goals and targets. Four of the major factor that I will target includes the facilitation of the
group forming and the encouragement of the positive dynamics of the group. Encouragement of
the social and the cultural experiences, promotion of my personal values and recognition and
meeting of the needs of the students.
Task 5: Relationship between own role and role of other professionals
The individual plays a vital role in encouraging inclusive practice within the classroom
environment in particular. The reason for this is that the individual has closer connections with
people from other cultures or specific protected characteristics; the individual stays close with
them, observes them closely and understands their issues. Inclusive practice means a teaching
approach that acknowledges the diversity of the learners or students, allowing them to have
access to course content, participate fully in learning and show their strengths and knowledge at
assessment. The individual sits close with the students coming from different cultures and
background and has better understanding of the students. The other professionals such as
teachers however, do not have close access to the students from other cultures. The teachers have
the broader responsibility to create an environment where the students from other cultures and
background feel included. The teachers have the most important role to promote, protect and
maintain diversity within the learning environment. The teachers as professionals have the role to

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identify the children with disabilities if there are any in the classroom. Then, they have the role
to accept the student with the disabilities and encourage other students to do the same as well.
Similar has to be done with children having other differences. Primary teachers in particular have
the role to play as a support teacher whose primary role is to support the students with
differences.
The relationship between own role and the role of that of the other professionals who are
involved in inclusive practice thus is evolved from the way both cooperate with each other.
While the professional has to have clear teaching strategies for inclusive practice, the individual
could help the professional in implementing those strategies effectively. One of these strategies
could be to encourage child-centric learning where the student is allowed to choose her or his
preferred way of learning. In making this happen, own individual and the professional have to
cooperate in the sense that the individual could become a communicator for the professional if
the student hesitates or feels shy from communicating directly with the professional. The
professional has the role to encourage collaborative and cooperative learning environment where
the individual has the crucial role of helping in the cooperation and collaboration. Both the
individual and the professional must clearly understand the individual learning needs of the
student in order to work together towards achieving an environment promoting equality and
diversity. In order to understand the learning needs of the students, it is important that the
professional takes initial assessments and take interviews with the students to understand their
challenges to learning. The interview could include the own individual as well who might give
further insights into the learning challenges, styles and capabilities of the student. By doing this,
the professional would be able to establish a lesson plan that could involve the learning style of
the student. The main point of referral that could be identified to meet the individual learning

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needs include the maintenance and promotion of equality and diversity. When the individual is
able to meet the learning needs of the student, she or he will be able to establish equality within
the learning environment.
The individual could cooperate with the professionals in learning the sign language in
order to communicate effectively with the students with disability. Here, the role of the
professional becomes very important because the professional must possess the skills required to
communicate with students who have difficulty hearing or seeing. The teacher has to receive
training in communication for the students with disability and then make the individual adept in
the same. This would help the individual to further help in creating an environment that values
equality and diversity. In terms of language difficulty also, the individual could cooperate with
the professionals to help the student with foreign language feel at home and at ease.
Task 6: Communication strategies to promote diversity
Communication strategies are many when it comes communicating with students from
different cultural and other backgrounds.
Distributing general handouts to communicate: while giving out paper-based
communication resources to the students, I would make sure to keep much space and make sure
that the paper is not clumsy with too much information. Furthermore, I will choose the font style
and size carefully as well because some students could be there who is dyslexic or the learner
might also request it. I would use simple English because it would help the learners to identify
and understand words clearly. Apart from that, I will make sure that if charts, graphics, table and
pictures are used, I must explain all of these into text format to let the learner understand.

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Communicating with deaf or partially hearing learners: I must know that the classroom
will have students with hearing difficulties, students who either are born deaf or are deaf
suddenly. Hence, the communication strategy that I will employ is to use technology for
enhancing the deaf student’s access to language. The technologies include electronic mail or e-
mail, provision of hearing aids to intensify sound, loops, which could be fixed permanently in a
room or a portable loop to be set up in any room deemed suited. Apart from using the
technologies, I will make sure that I have a continuous gaze at the student while speaking. In
addition to that, I will use language clearly, maintain a natural speed, and avoid startling the deaf
student, keep minimum background noise and so on.
Communicating with blind or partially sighted learners: Similar to deafness, some
students are born blind while some became blind suddenly. I will use different sorts of
technologies to assist the blind learners in communication. I will make sure that I use the
student’s name first and call out aloud so that the student knows that I am interacting to her or
him. I will make sure that I give enough time to the student to respond. I will also make use of
assistive technologies to help the students communicate.
Communicating with learners having physical disabilities: The physical disability could
be permanent or temporary and it determines the way the learner is affected by it and the level of
influence it has on learning. While some learners might have difficulties making use of their
hands, others might have issues walking or doing activities. I will make sure that I understand the
disability and ask the learner the best way she or he will be able to participate.
Some learners also have difficulties in learning due to some cognitive issues. The definitions that
are used to define learners with cognitive learning difficulties include “profound and complex

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learning difficulties”, “severe learning difficulties” and “moderate or mild learning difficulties”.
The best way to communicate with these learners is to use nonverbal communication to motivate
and inspire the learners.
Firstly, I should look at myself, audit my very own frames of mind, and conduct against
all the hierarchical strategies and practices. I should make sure that I implement best practices in
terms of encouraging equality and diversity throughout all areas of my teaching. I will make sure
that I promote inclusive practice by encouraging inclusive learning environment for my learners.
I will ensure that I work with all other professionals so that my learners benefit from it.
Furthermore, I will collaborate with the community groups, share good practice and contribute to
In-Service Education and Training (INSET). At the point when students experience great
practices, they become advertisers for the associations or organization and thusly this attracts
more students.
Task 7: Effectiveness of inclusive practice
Identify own strengths and areas for improvement in relation to inclusive practice and promotion
of equality and diversity and plan opportunities to improve own srategies in inclusive practice
and promotion of equality and diversity
As a teacher and an educator I believe that there lies some of the major key factors
regarding the benefits of an inclusive learning environment. The society has been becoming
more diverse and hence it is essential that no individual from any of the community remain
disadvantaged. According to my personal insight, some of my personal strengths regarding the
inclusive learning environment includes encouragement to the students, providing the students
the opportunities for participation and group activities, enabling the learners and the students to

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self assess their own set of skills with my support. Apart from all the strengths and the benefits,
some of the areas that I need to improve in inclusive learning environment includes my
communication skills, my innovative strategies that will help the course content to become
interesting for the students to learn. I furthermore need to comply with some of my traits and
behavioral practices with the legislative policies of the organization I am serving. I need to focus
on development of the transferability of the skills for the provision of the material through
various of the contents.

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References:
Connolly, A., Baker, A. and Fellows, C. (2019). Understanding health inequalities in England -
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https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2017/07/13/understanding-health-inequalities-in-
england/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].
Kimura, M., 2014. Non-performativity of university and subjectification of students: the question
of equality and diversity in UK universities. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 35(4),
pp.523-540.
Oswick, C. and Noon, M., 2014. Discourses of diversity, equality and inclusion: trenchant
formulations or transient fashions?. British Journal of Management, 25(1), pp.23-39.
Slater, R., Pearson, V.K., Warren, J.P. and Forbes, T., 2015. Institutional change for improving
accessibility in the design and delivery of distance learning–the role of faculty accessibility
specialists at The Open University. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-
Learning, 30(1), pp.6-20.
Smith, D.G., 2014. Diversity and inclusion in higher education: Emerging perspectives on
institutional transformation. Routledge.
Theconversation.com (2019). Inequality of education in the UK among highest of rich nations.
[online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/inequality-of-education-in-
the-uk-among-highest-of-rich-nations-105519 [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].

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