Rethinking Teaching Practice: Tools for Incorporating an Intersectional Perspective into University Teaching

On 9 June, Elisava, Faculty of Design and Engineering of UVic-UCC, hosted a training and discussion event organised by the UVic-UCC team within the framework of the project. The event brought together university teaching staff, technical staff and professionals working in higher education to explore how an intersectional perspective can be incorporated into teaching practices and institutional contexts.

The event was structured around two complementary activities. The first was the training session Rethinking Teaching Practice: Tools for Incorporating an Intersectional Perspective into University Teaching, aimed primarily at university teaching staff and delivered by Gloria García-Romeral, Principal Investigator of InterHEd and a member of the GETLIHC research group at UVic-UCC. The session introduced the project’s main conceptual and methodological foundations, exploring the concept of intersectionality and its application to higher education.

The training also introduced the guide From Reflection to Action: The InterHEd Resource Guide for Incorporating Intersectionality into Higher Education, one of the project’s key outputs. Participants explored the guide and its practical tools for incorporating an intersectional perspective into specific dimensions of teaching practice, including learning environments, curricula, teaching methodologies, student participation and assessment.

Beyond presenting the resources, the session invited participants to work practically with the tools proposed in the guide, reflecting on their own teaching experiences and exploring concrete ways of applying them in their educational contexts. Through practical examples and collective discussion, the training facilitated the translation of InterHEd’s findings and resources into strategies that can be applied in everyday university teaching.

The second part of the event was the roundtable Challenges and Experiences in Addressing Inequalities in University Teaching, which provided a space for discussion and exchange around the incorporation of an intersectional perspective in higher education institutions. The roundtable featured Marisela Montenegro Martínez (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Rachel Louise Palmén (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) and Ariadna Graells Sans (Escola Superior d’Infermeria de l’Hospital del Mar), and was moderated by Mar Binimelis, Director of the Equality and Diversity Unit at UVic-UCC.

The speakers addressed different challenges related to incorporating diversity and inclusion into university teaching, highlighting the need to develop educational practices that recognise the complexity of students’ trajectories and experiences. The discussion with participants further explored issues including institutional transformation, staff training and strategies for moving towards more inclusive and equitable universities.

Núria Gorchs, Secretary General of UVic-UCC, closed the event with reflections on the importance of applying an intersectional perspective to pedagogical policies.

Through this event, the InterHEd project, co-funded by the European Union, continues to support the transfer of research findings into practice and the development of practical tools for integrating an intersectional perspective into higher education, contributing to more inclusive, equitable and diversity-sensitive university environments.