Telling real stories to make a difference! Podcasting for inclusivity in higher education

In the 21st century, there is a growing demand fordecolonizing, globalising, and de-nationalising higher education curricula.However, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) struggle to achieve practicalinclusivity due to neoliberal perspectives that marketize inclusivity, leadingto structural, systemic, and implicit biases. Reflecting broader inequality inthe UK Higher Education systems, severe disparities affect marginalised,minoritised, and underrepresented students, creating significant gaps inunderstanding implicit bias and unintentional discrimination that obscuresaddressing and dismantling discrimination. This paper highlights unintentionaldiscrimination in HEIs using innovative storytelling and proposes inclusive frameworksthrough diverse lived experiences to improve outcomes.Employing interpretive narrative, thematic analysis andstorytelling methods through a series of podcasts; hidden commentaries wererevealed. Participants included current and former students and staff withdiverse characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, neurodiversity, anddisability, were recruited voluntarily. The participants’ experiences coalescedaround six themes informed by the literature review. These themes aredecolonization of the curriculum and cultural sensitivity, inclusivity andflexibility, addressing unintentional exclusion, practicalising inclusivity,improving students' experience, and exploring lived experiences. Each themeembodies the voices and experiences of participants, highlighting the existenceand impact of unintentional discrimination and implicit bias in highereducation. The study affirms the existence of unintentional discrimination inHEIs and importance of comprehensive and practical inclusive pedagogicalapproaches using storytelling for authenticity and rigour, advocating thepractical application of the generated themes (using a framework and toolkit) todevelop inclusive learning environments.