Inclusive teaching resources
In the 2021/2022 series of Inclusive Teaching Workshops we aim to generate a range of resources that may be useful for staff and this space provides links to them. Resources will be added on this page as the workshops progress throughout the semester.
- Workshop 1: What is Inclusive Teaching? Padlet from the session
- Workshop 3: Making course units accessible with Universal Design for Learning - Session Recording
Trigger warnings and content notes
The University has provided some guidance on this subject, which should be the primary source consulted by colleagues. This guidance can be found here.
SALC has also devised its own guideline document, which may be of help for colleagues interested in using trigger warnings, content warnings and content notes in their teaching:
FAQs
Do I have to use trigger warnings in my teaching?
No. This document has been created purely as a guideline for colleagues who wish to use them, and we recognise that some colleagues may regard such warnings as incompatible with certain pedagogical aims. We would, however, encourage all colleagues who teach using materials that have content relating to violence, racism and other forms of discrimination, war, sexual assault, and other similar topics to reflect critically on how they present these materials to students in a manner that best supports the learning and engagement of everyone in the classroom. For some students (who are not obliged to disclose their personal experiences, nor should be encouraged to do so in a classroom environment) these topics will have a more directly personal resonance and may well ‘trigger’ complex emotions, including PTSD, that require professional support and/or counselling. Both lecturing staff and students are not equipped professionally to respond to such reactions, and for this reason it is advisable to forewarn students of the nature of content in advance so they may seek appropriate support or manage their learning accordingly.
Do I have to use the term ‘trigger warnings’ or can I use ‘content warning’ instead?
This is at your discretion. It has been suggested that the term ‘trigger warning’ may be overly sensationalized in tone, or carries certain political connotations. The term itself does communicate the issue that certain subjects may ‘trigger’ an unexpected or difficult emotional response, whilst ‘content warning’ does not necessarily highlight the recognition of that possibility. However, it is entirely up to individual staff to decide how to apply these warnings if they choose to do so.
My whole course deals with content considered ‘sensitive.’ Do I put a trigger warning on everything?
Use warnings at your discretion. It is reasonable to expect that in a course centred on war, or crime, or other potentially sensitive subjects that are indicated in the title and course unit descriptor, students should expect to encounter distressing materials throughout the course and prepare themselves accordingly. That said, where a particular source includes explicitly discriminatory language of a specific character (i.e. racist) it may be appropriate to forewarn students and/or offer some guidance about the appropriate use of terminology, what words to vocalise, and what to refer to obliquely, before the class.
Rather than applying trigger warnings, should we just increasingly omit difficult content in our teaching?
Absolutely not. We are committed to teaching subjects that are complex; that reveal the history and diverse processes through which prejudice and discrimination have evolve and remain present with us today; that confront students with ‘controversial’ perspectives and challenge their existing views and assumptions; that expose students to the harsh realities of war, genocide, and other important events that define the human experience. The point of applying a trigger warning is to better enable students to engage more deeply with this material without compromising their mental health, or leaving them unduly vulnerable in the classroom due to differential personal life histories. In this way, we are seeking to find better strategies to build an inclusive classroom without sacrificing teaching certain texts, topics, or materials that are fundamental to understanding a subject, people/person, or event, and ‘trigger warnings’ are one potential approach to achieve this.