How Teachers Can Build Equity in Higher Education?

Equity in Higher Education

In recent years we have witnessed a great increase in the inequity in higher education. According to experts’ opinion, higher education is considered as a tool of social mobility, but now it is supporting inequality. Everyone talks about the importance of getting an education, and governments promise to make education available to everyone, but with the increase in the number of students and educational institutions, the equity in education is becoming more questionable. We can easily find cases related to inequality in higher education in every country, as only the upper class has easy access to top universities and colleges. The upper-middle-class get this access after mouth to hand efforts and the middle and lower class can only get access to the local public universities. For them, the top private universities are a dream only.

Importance of Equity in Higher Education:

According to assignment writing services, the equity in higher education means that there is a standardized test for every student and every student is assessed in the same way. Equity in education means that all students are equal and every student has a right to get a quality education and learning. When students get equal education they will get equal chances or opportunities for the future and this will lead to equity in the economy as well.

Role of Teachers in bringing Equity in Higher Education:

The role and importance of teachers in higher education cannot be denied. Teachers are responsible for shaping the thinking and acting ways of the students. Teachers provide students with values and experiences that help them to step into a practical world and make success there. Hence the development of students is mainly dependent on teachers. Based on this important role of the teachers, they are considered important in building equity in higher education. For building equity, teachers can follow the following steps and necessary measures

  1. Teachers must adapt to those measures that provide equal opportunity and support those students who are facing challenges of any type.
  2. They must address those factors that are hindering the performance of students.
  3. They should put efforts to contribute to policies that minimize the impact of factors that are causing hindrance in students’ performance.
  4. Students expect that teachers should acknowledge their identities. In class when there are students from different backgrounds and cultures they expect that they will be treated equally and their values, racial experiences, religious beliefs, and mother tongues will not be a problem for their grades or they will not be judged based on their racial or religious difference.
  5. In many societies, there is gender discrimination in education. In many countries, females do not get equal education opportunities, and males are given more values. In such cases, the teachers have to understand the role and responsibility of their job and have to teach both female and male students equally.
  6. Teachers play a vital contribution in curriculum structuring and designing. At this stage, they need to keep all students in mind and shape the curriculum in such a way that it is suitable to all types of learners. Similarly while deciding the class activities teachers need to focus more on those students that are always behind the rest of the whole class.
  7. It is also the responsibility of the teacher to report the equity-related issues to higher management on time and must support to resolve those issues.
  8. They need to make a learning environment that provides equal opportunities to all students.
  9. Teachers must give equal access to resources to all students.
  10. In case when there are some conflicts, or any student brings any idea or discussion that is based on biasness, oppression, or identity conflict, at that movement instead of calling out or yelling at the students they must be called in and the issue should be discussed so that they can learn from it.
  11. Teachers must not assess the students on self-made assumptions about the background of the students.
  12. Sometimes teachers are unintentionally involved in biasness or creating inequity in classrooms. Teachers must not discuss any racial topic or issue in class that can relate to a specific student of a class only.
  13. Through the curriculum, teachers can create and build equity and tell the students about the importance of equality in the classroom.
  14. Sometimes teachers self-create any expectation from a student without any specific reason. For example, the teacher might perceive that the female students cannot perform well in mathematics, so they must not opt for mathematics as their majors. It can lead to inequality in higher education. Teachers must encourage all students and must have equal expectations from all students.
  15. Teachers are in charge of creating the environment of the classroom. They must try to create a learning environment in which every student feels the equal right to speak.