The Whole-School Approach: Drawing on Existing Resources

Outline

Many barriers remain within higher education for a diverse university population which includes students, academic staff, and non-academic staff. These barriers shift when teaching moves – either partly or entirely – from an analog into the digital realm. Different learning and teaching formats come with their own set challenges for learners and teachers alike. The good news is, that universities often have a number of resources in place that can be drawn on for support. The bad news is, that individul actors may not always be aware of where to find these resources. In this discussion, we thus invite you to think about which resources are available to you and your students. 

The Whole-Institution Principle

Connecting different actors between institutions and within one institute is known as the “whole-school approach”.

As the RETHINKING LEARNING Initiative explains, “[w]hole school approaches broaden the focus of school-based interventions beyond the explicit curriculum to include the people and contexts that support” learners’ progress holistically [RETHINKING LEARNING: A Review of Social and Emotional Learning for Education Systems. UNESCO 2020]. In order to study and teach successfully in an inclusive, critical Virtual Exchange context, certain parameters must be given. Accordingly, the ROCKET project considers the following resources where actors within higher education may find support:

• Antidiscrimination services
• Career development offices and leadership organizations
• Counselors of all kinds
• Disabilities department staff
• Equal opportunities groups
• Health services
• International Offices / counseling and connection opportunities for international students
• Learning labs and writing centers/ workshops
• Life-long learning opportunities
• Psychological counseling
• Resources for parents on campus
• Student associations
• Study administrators and advisors
• Tech Services 

The overview above was created with a range of diversity factors in mind, which we can link to the aspects you have thought about in the DEI introduction module. Below, you can find a project example of what a Whole-Institution Map may look like at the University of Göttingen:

Overviews like these can be found on many institutional websites, directing their readers to a range of helpful offers. For instance, the University of Groningen offers a similar flowchart. In the following, we will ask you to share your own experience.