Bridging Mindset and Behavior: How Community College Faculty Define and Engage in Inclusive Approaches to Teaching in Their Classrooms

Background: Community colleges serve increasingly diverse student populations, while long-standing inequities continue to shape who has access to opportunity, support, and success in postsecondary education. These challenges, together with the continued expansion of online and hybrid learning following the pandemic, have intensified the need for inclusive teaching approaches that hold the potential to address various students’ needs. Purpose of Study: Despite increasing attention to inclusive approaches to teaching, we have yet to understand and engage more fully with faculty assets—their own definition and meaning-making about inclusive teaching, and their knowledge and experiences deeply rooted in the classroom. Engaging these perspectives would allow us to harness the wisdom and insights they hold, which can inform faculty professional development efforts and fill in the missing parts of the faculty’s vision. Therefore, this qualitative study investigates how faculty understand and engage in inclusive teaching in their classrooms. Research Design: Adopting a basic qualitative approach, this study drew on 26 semi-structured interviews with 18 faculty members at two large community colleges. Interviews delved deep into the community college faculty members’ perceptions and understanding of inclusive teaching, instructional practices, accommodations, and interactions with students. Transformative learning theory guided the data collection and analysis, providing a conceptual foundation for examining faculty mindsets and practices and for considering how institutions can better support the development of more inclusive learning environments. Conclusions or Recommendations: The results highlight three key ways in which community college faculty define inclusive teaching: by grounding their definitions within an understanding and appreciation for students’ various identities and backgrounds, by tapping into pragmatic approaches for accessible learning environments, and through a commitment to removing barriers for students. Findings also identified three main ways in which faculty adopt inclusive approaches in the classroom, including adjusting teaching based on students’ needs, building connections with students, and contextualizing learning. Equally important, this study identifies tensions and conflicts between faculty’s definitions and actions. Therefore, this study calls for more professional development opportunities to facilitate faculty’s reflection and examination of their assumptions, beliefs, and approaches, as well as engaging their vision, knowledge, and perspectives in designing professional development toward inclusive teaching.