The Significance of Role-Modelling: creating an LGBT+ safe environment

To celebrate LGBT History Month, we asked UHI students and staff to share their thoughts, reflections and stories. Social Sciences lecturer Carol Shepherd discusses the importance of creating a supportive environment for LGBT+ students and staff.

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In terms of supporting our LGBT+ students, I believe role-modelling is key. With regard to supporting LGBT+ members of staff, I believe it is imperative that some of us are open about our sexuality to create a supportive environment for colleagues who may be struggling to be themselves in the workplace, or who may be dealing with incidences of stigmatisation in their personal or working lives.

I grew up in South Wales during the Thatcher years. Section 28 came into force in 1988 when I was 17 years old and attending a local FE college in a socially conservative area. At that time, I was struggling to understand my confusing dual attraction to both men and women, as well as reconciling that with my new Christian faith. How I would have appreciated being able to talk to someone about this complex identity crisis I was facing. No priests were going to entertain the idea of bisexuality as a positive, God-given facet of my being and it was illegal for any teacher to discuss such issues with me, under the new regulations in place. In her now infamous address to the Conservative Party Conference in 1987, Thatcher informed delegates and a watching TV audience of millions, that “children are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. All of these children are being cheated of a sound start in life.”

How times have changed, thankfully. The UK Government under Labour finally repealed Section 28 law in 2003, in part due to the campaigning work of the Stonewall LGBT Rights pressure group, and now many LGBT children are receiving the sound start in life so cruelly denied young people of my generation. Nevertheless, there is still a considerable way to go, before we can say there is an equal playing field for young people of all sexual orientations and gender IDs. The Stonewall Schools Report of 2017 revealed that nearly half (45%) of LGBT pupils are bullied in UK schools for being themselves, whereas a report by Stonewall and BritainThinks found that one in five LGBT NEETS (not in education, employment or training) have struggled to find a job owing to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

How does that impact on my role as a lecturer at UHI? As a teacher of Sociology and Politics, sexuality is a subject that frequently makes an appearance in teaching resources and classroom discussion. Being willing to use myself as an example in topic exploration, sends out a message that LGBT students are not only welcome in my class, but understood. It also communicates that even a queer woman from a non-liberal background can succeed in professional life. This is vital, when so many young people face micro-aggressions and sometimes outright hostility linked to their orientation or gender ID on a daily basis. As an out bisexual woman of faith, I have an intersectional identity (a personal identity consisting of two or more stigmatised aspects) which not only speaks to the complexity of existing within mainstream heteronormative society, but which also enables and challenges students enjoying heterosexual privilege, or indeed any other form of hegemonic identity such as white or male, to gain new insights into how different life can feel viewed through a minority lens.

Teaching the Social Sciences, as well as performative subjects such as Drama and Theatre Production, provide a platform to facilitate conversations on LGBT issues that other curriculum areas do not so easily lend themselves to. Whilst there is no obligation for any queer teacher to out themselves, and certainly no need to rub one’s sexual orientation or gender ID in people’s faces, the casual dropping of ‘my wife and I’ into the conversation about plans for the weekend, normalises same sex relationships and can be done no matter what the subject taught. There is no requirement to engage in unsubtle or unnecessary self-revelation to make it clear to students that it’s absolutely ok to be LGBT or simply ‘different.’

Such conversations apply to the staffroom and online meetings as well. This is my second year of teaching here, and I have to say, I am not aware of any LGBT staff groups, though I am a member of the EIS LGBT staff caucus. Whilst I feel secure in my sexual orientation and gender ID, there may be NQTs or younger members of staff who have not been privileged to receive the support I have from my line managers and colleagues at UHI and within the affirming church I attend in Edinburgh.

For that reason, I believe it is vital, where a lecturer feels able, to serve as a role model to students and colleagues alike.

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Support for LGBT students and staff is available here.

Growing up bi: films, TV shows and ‘otherness’

To celebrate LGBT History Month, we asked UHI students and staff to share their thoughts, reflections and stories. BA (Hons) Scottish History and Archaeology student Nicola Thompson reflects on her experiences growing up bisexual, and what LGBT History Month means to her.

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I’m 13 and standing in the women’s underwear department of Marks and Spencer’s, my face is flushed red, and I can’t look up at the display models staring down at me. What if someone knew what was going on in my head, could see what I was thinking as I studied my scuffed school shoes with artificial interest. There is something writhing in my stomach, low and nauseating. It feels like shame.

I haven’t done anything wrong. But nice girls like me from families like mine don’t have thoughts like that. It’s okay for some ‘types’ of people my mother would whisper. Actors and musicians, those sorts of people who were happy to break the mould and live in the colourful fringes of society. But under the warm light of the sensibly designed kitchen, there is little room for a daughter with those sorts of ideas.

Maybe had I been a lesbian, settled firmly in one direction they would have had an easier time understanding. But this strange, blurred area of bisexuality confused them. A word synonymous with promiscuity. Of colourful club girls who played loose and fast. Or equally synonymous with confused.  Like a rudderless ship blundering through life unable to commit to anyone or even commit to their attraction.

Every depiction of bisexuality on tv and in films was portrayed under those two categories. Darting from relationship to relationship, too wild and free to ever do something as mundane as falling in love.

And then the TV show The 100 came out. Gritty and post-apocalyptic, an unusual stage for a teenage girl to find a healthy depiction of love. But there it was in the shape of Clarke Griffin. A steadfast and committed woman who loved sincerely and with passion. Whose bisexuality was never treated as a joke. Who was not painted as confused or indecisive. She just was. And as a teenager desperately trying to carve out some sense of identity this was a game changer.

Then they went and killed off her lesbian lover in a classic example of bury your gays.  For those unfamiliar, it is a common trope in TV in which LGBT+ characters tend to be the first to die or are killed off just as their scandalous gay romances come to fruition. The 100 may have written some strong LGBT+ characters but they are no less guilty of burying them as many other TV shows are.

Buffy the vampire slayer gave us years of fast-paced and entertaining television. But also gave us the equally common bisexual love triangle. In which any bisexual character, or bi-questioning character must be embroiled in some angsty and drawn-out love triangle with a man and a woman. These are just two examples; the list goes on and on.

Watch carefully the next time you put the TV on. Once you start spotting it, you never stop. Play a game of bisexual-bingo! Tv and film have come a long way, but even now the word bisexual is often relegated to the fringes of romance. A fun little plot device to add some angst or steamy sex scenes into a show.

Growing up bisexual in a rural area there was little in the way of community. There was always this slight feeling of ‘otherness’ like you were carved out slightly wrong. Like someone had made a mistake when putting together your brain.

But once a year, just for a few weeks, I felt seen. Every June there was this confirmation that I wasn’t alone. There were others. Colourful pins stuck into polyester blazers.  A peek of rainbow socks poking out of the regulation black school shoes. Hints and flashes of pride shining through. And every year I felt less and less like a scared little girl peeking out of her closet.

Now I’m completely okay with who I am. I’m proud of how far I’ve come from that nervous teenage girl hiding away and desperately trying to find people like her on the screen.

LGBT History Month on the screen and away from it is a time to share love and pride, to educate others and most importantly feel seen. Feel heard. Feel like you’re not alone.

And a final thank you to Clarke Griffin and her dead lesbian lover on The 100 for showing a very confused teenage me that she wasn’t alone.

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Support for LGBT students and staff is available here.

UK Disability History Month – Reflections from UHI’s disability support coordinator

As UK Disability History Month draws to a close, Mark Ross shares some reflections on his role as UHI’s disability support coordinator.

The theme of this year’s UK Disability History Month is ‘disability, health and wellbeing’.

The Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education is taking the opportunity to highlight the experiences of disabled staff working in student services.

Lived experience helps

Sir Ranulph Feinnes is considered to have written a definitive biography of Captain Scott, due in part to his personal experience in Antarctica. As Feinnes explains:  

“No previous Scott biographer has manhauled a heavy sledgeload through the great crevasse fields of the Beardmore Glacier, explored icefields never seen by man or walked a thousand miles on poisoned feet.”

At the same time, every individual knows their own situation best and it is only by working with the student that student services staff can determine the impact of the student’s needs on their learning. The needs assessment process is underpinned by informed professional judgement and I would like to think that my lived experience as a disabled person gives me a head start in terms of cultivating empathy and understanding with the students and staff I work with. In a complex organisation like UHI, building relationships is key, after all.

Student equivalence

As a UHI graduate, I understand the practical realities of studying with a disability. I received an excellent standard of support as a student and my main motivation since taking up my current post in 2010 has been to use that experience to benefit others. As disability support coordinator, my role involves supporting our partnership to deliver consistent processes with student equivalence in mind.

At UHI, students can disclose formally and informally and at any time during their student journey. Student services staff at your UHI partner would be happy to speak with you if you would like to know more about the support available to you.

Flexibility is important

I believe passionately in UHI and work with a tremendously supportive group of colleagues. We all have extremely busy and varied workloads and, like many, I work flexibly. This flexibility is important because it allows me to manage the varying impact of my own needs on a day-to-day basis. It also enables to shape my role and, to some extent, make it my own, so I am proud of the role I play in ensuring disability support is an institutional strength at UHI.

All about the students

When our dean of student experience suggested I write something to mark UK Disability History Month, I wasn’t sure what I could contribute at first. As I see it, I am simply doing my job – it is a job I have grown into over the past thirteen years and one in which my lived experience is a definite benefit. For example, one of my former students feels that:

“Having a disability adviser with personal experience of disability…provides a kind of reassurance or confidence which is rare. This has been a really valuable thing for me during my time at UHI.”

The British sociologist Michael Oliver, who pioneered the academic discipline of disability studies, rightly described disability as “an essential part of the self.” Still, one of the many wonderful things about UHI is the recognition that, whilst my disability is a significant part of my life, it certainly doesn’t define me or change what is expected of me. I much prefer to let my character, work ethic and abilities speak for themselves – which frees me up to be as full a member of our student services team as anyone else, and hopefully to inspire one or two people along the way. As our team motto says: “It’s all about the students.”

Quote from Dr Iain Morrison, Dean of Student Experience

Mark is highly professional, hard-working, conscientious, respected across our complex partnership and externally, a charming and enthusiastic ambassador for UHI and an unending source of puns and jokes that are annoyingly better than my own. He is also a disabled person. He is certainly not defined by this and, as one of my longest lasting colleagues, is a core member of my team purely because of his many personal strengths and the expertise he brings to his role.

The extent to which his own health conditions inform his work is a matter for Mark and I would not presume to fully understand the challenges he faces. What I see are the benefits in the empathy, understanding and insight he applies through his work to the benefit of our students. I can think of no issue or situation through the 13 years of working closely together that have caused problems in ensuring that Mark played his full part in the life of the team and UHI. It is his ability that has shone brightly.

I am delighted that, through his blog and the focus on student services colleagues with disabilities as part of UK Disability History Month 2022, we can celebrate Mark’s work and underline how we can create supportive and encouraging environments for all our colleagues to thrive.

Introducing: Stephanie Kirkham, new Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

“We are a progressive and unique university, proud to be inclusive, offering flexible and supportive learning from access to PhD level.”

Stephanie Kirkham, newly appointed Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, aims to cultivate a more inclusive learning environment, enriching experiences and collaborating with staff and students to support, promote and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion:

Our staff, students, and the communities we serve are central to our future planning and vision of becoming a connected and diverse organisation. Enhancing equality and inclusion will ensure all staff and students can be the best version of themselves, regardless of their socio-economic background or protected characteristic (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation).

Our ‘Daring to be different’ strategic plan is built around our core values: Collaboration, Openness, Respect and Excellence. Each value reflects the essence of equality and diversity, where we aspire for everyone to feel a sense of belonging. 

During Black History Month we are highlighting some online and in-person events taking place across Scotland.

Students and staff can also sign up to Santander Scholarships ‘Union Black: Britain’s Black cultures and steps to anti-racism’ online short course which explores Black British history, cultures and steps to anti-racism.

Online:

• Every Tuesday lunchtime in October: Black History Month – Lunchtime Talks by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities and the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science.
• Friday 14 October: Curating Discomfort and Black History Month in Scotland by The Hunterian.
• Tuesday 18 October: Teshome Douglas-Campbell interviewing Ade Adesina by the V&A Dundee.
• Saturday 22 October: Multicultural and Intergenerational Folk and Extracts from Aces’s Book Project by the African Caribbean and Elders in Scotland Society.
• Thursday 27 October: Scotland, India, Families and Race by The Hunterian Museum and University of Glasgow.
• Thursday 27 October: Racializing Children: Addressing Anti-Black Racism in the Museum of Childhood Collection by Museum & Galleries Edinburgh.
• Thursday 27 October: Ancient African Queens by National Museums Scotland.

In-person:

• Saturday 15 October: Family Fun Day for Black History Month, Eden Court Theatre and Cinema, Inverness.
• Friday 28 to Saturday 29 October: ‘Enough of Him’ by the National Theatre of Scotland, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Pitlochry.
• Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 November: ‘Enough of Him’ by the National Theatre of Scotland, Perth Theatre, Perth.

Further key dates coming up:

• Monday 10 October: World Mental Health Day.
• Monday 24 October: Diwali (Hindu, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists- Festival of lights).
• Saturday 19 November: International Men’s Day
• Sunday 20 November: Transgender Day of Remembrance
• Friday 25 November: Elimination of Violence Against Women Day
• Friday 25 November to Friday 9 December: 16 Days of Action raising awareness of Gender Based Violence
• Saturday 3 December: International Day of People with Disabilities
• Saturday 10 December: Human Rights Day
• Sunday 25 December: Christmas Day
• Sunday 18 to Monday 26 December: Hannuka (Chanuka)

Supporting students with dyslexia

To mark Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland, our disability support coordinator Mark Ross has gathered insights from staff who have experience of dyslexia and provides information about support services which are available.

Dyslexia has consistently been among the most disclosed disabilities within our university partnership and across further and higher education over the last few years. The university has clear processes in place to ensure the support requirements of individual students are identified, captured and communicated with relevant staff on a need-to-know basis.

Our disability and personal learning support plan processes enable us to make reasonable adjustments for students with dyslexia in line with our responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010. We also do as much as possible to ensure our provision is accessible to current and prospective students in advance and we recognise that not every student will require, or wish to set up, a personal learning support plan.

Gerald McLaughlin – Student Services Manager, Perth College UHI

The most often seen condition at Perth College UHI’s additional support service is specific learning difficulties. These conditions constitute around 40% to 45% of the students we support each year. Specific learning difficulties is an umbrella term for conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. The etymology (origin of the word) of these conditions is: dys – difficult, then add the suffix (or ending) lexis – speech (for dyslexia) or praxis – movement (for dyspraxia) and calculia – to count (for dyscalculia). The most common specific learning difficulties condition we see is dyslexia.

As a dyslexia specialist and specific learning difficulty assessor of a number of years now, it is clear that the benefits of a dyslexia diagnosis are multifaceted and, more often than not, personal to the individual. The obvious benefit for our higher education students is to unlock funding such as Disabled Students’ Allowance.

However, there is personal benefit in terms of a diagnosis too. Anecdotally speaking, after more than a decade working in additional support, you begin to see patterns of folk with specific conditions congregating in certain courses. While I have not done any formal research (although, I do believe I have a PhD thesis in here somewhere) my contention is as follows. People with dyslexia are attracted to jobs that are more practical in nature, childcare and early education being a good example.

From around 2012 onwards, colleges such as Perth College UHI saw a steady stream of early childhood practitioners come on to degree courses such as the BA (Hons) childhood practice. A number of these, usually mature, students began to struggle with the advanced literacy elements of their courses. The college support systems would kick in and dyslexia screening and eventual diagnosis would be scheduled. Having completed a number of diagnoses for these (predominantly female) students, the overwhelming feedback I would receive from is that of catharsis! The student would invariably feel a sense of relief. Some comments I would receive, would be along the lines of ‘I knew I wasn’t thick’ – ‘I always knew there was something not right’. There were sometimes even tears of relief.

Many of these students would continue their educational journey to success. They would often report a sense of achievement from their hard work and endeavour. You could see their negative experiences of education dissipate; it is almost tangible.

They would now be supported appropriately by the university support systems and have equal access to the curriculum, sometimes for the first time in their life.

My part in the student journey to success is relatively incidental. You simply give the student a key. It needs to be said though, as a specific learning difficulty assessor, being able to give someone the key that allows them to unlock their full potential is by far the biggest privilege you can have!

Dr Gareth Davies – Lecturer and Programme Leader, Lews Castle College UHI

I started secondary school in Wales in 1979 and I was told I was thick. In the late 70s there wasn’t as much known about dyslexia as there is today and there was far less understanding of the challenges that those with dyslexia faced daily. A teacher told me I was too thick to do “O” level English and the school refused to put me in the “O” level group. 

Thus, I was denied the opportunity to study for one of the most basic and important gateway qualifications. Fortunately for me, my mother was an English teacher and she did not give up on me.  She told the school that she would keep me home on a Thursday morning and teach me herself. She did and I passed, but that was not the end of the story. I struggled to gain a BTEC diploma in business studies and then got relatively mundane jobs.

One job was working in a shop on the high-street in Bangor. I spent Saturdays watching students from the university casually milling around and popping into the pubs and I thought that looked like a fun thing to do, so I signed up for “A” level English evening classes and I squeaked through with a grade D which was enough to get me into Bangor University to study psychology. I honestly thought that if I lasted until Christmas before they found out I was thick and booted me out, I would be doing well. But that did not matter because I was in university having a great time and I was not working in the shop. Much to my surprise, I made it through to the second year (a degree is three years in Wales and England). 

As part of the degree, participation as a research subject was strongly encouraged so I signed up to be a control participant for Prof Tim Miles, a name that many in the dyslexia community will recognise. He told me I had come on the wrong day and that the subjects with dyslexia should come the following day. Of course, I protested that I did not have dyslexia, but Prof Miles just smiled and said that he was pretty sure that I was dyslexic. Who was I to argue? He referred me to an educational psychologist who confirmed his hunch. Thanks Tim!

Discovering that I had dyslexia was a moment that gave me the confidence to carry on with my studies. I did and I was successful. I had the feeling that a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I was not, after all, “thick”. It was a great boost to my self-confidence.

I did a Master’s degree straight after my Bachelor’s degree and a few years later I completed a teaching qualification. A couple of years after that I did my PhD. The school was wrong, but to be fair, this was 35 years ago and dyslexia is now far better understood. Help and support is available in ways that didn’t exist when I was a student. There was some; I was given a computer and extra exam time and that was it. No one ever asked me how I was getting on. The university partnership has a host of resources that those with dyslexia can access so seek the help that is out there – it is far better than the help that was on offer 35 years ago. 

The lesson I have taken away from all this is never to let anyone hold you back. Having dyslexia does not mean that you cannot succeed – you can. I did.

The university’s accessibility project

To help staff ensure their learning content is accessible and to comply with accessibility regulations, the university is running a project with staff training at the heart of it. Not only will this ensure that students with disabilities are able to access learning content, creating accessible learning resources also enhances the experience for all students.  

The accessibility project team has:

• Established a university-wide accessibility champions forum which will help staff locally
• Created a self-directed accessibility support module for staff, comprising a suite of useful resources
• Arranged online support which will include webinars, workshops, drop-ins and question and answer sessions
• Used software tools to help make learning content accessible and available to students in alternative formats
• Created an accessibility communications site which will give staff the information they need to start their accessibility enhancement journey

Students with dyslexia may find some of the available alternative formats such as audio, tagged PDF and BeeLine Reader useful. The BeeLine Reader is particularly helpful for people with dyslexia as it displays lines of text in different colours. For more information, see the BeeLine Reader section on Blackboard Ally’s  alternative formats webpage.

Microsoft Office

University of the Highlands and Islands students can download the offline versions of Office 365 applications (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, etc) for use during their studies. Microsoft Office has several in-built accessibility tools which can be useful for students and staff alike.

Accessing support  

• Students who would like further details of available support can contact student services for advice.
• Students can also contact their personal academic tutor for further information on the university’s accessibility project.

Our work to support dementia education

World Alzheimer’s Day takes place every year on 21 September. To mark this day, Dr Leah Macaden, a senior lecturer in nursing, a senior fellow of Advance HE and an expert in dementia education, provides an insight into the work of our nursing and midwifery department in enhancing dementia knowledge in healthcare practitioners.

Dr Leah Macaden

In the UK, 850,000 people (one in 14 adults over the age of 65) are estimated to be living with dementia. With future prevalence predicted to mirror global trends, dementia has been declared a global health priority by the World Health Organisation.

Deficiencies in the quality of care for people living with dementia are associated with gaps in dementia-specific knowledge amongst practitioners. This has been recognised as a key challenge throughout the UK and has intensified the need for appropriate dementia workforce development.

Our department aims to address this issue with a strategic approach to dementia education across our undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes.

As a senior lecturer in nursing, I worked with colleagues from our educational development unit to develop the ‘dementia enhanced education to promote excellence’ initiative as an integral component of our three-year BSc nursing programme in 2017. The initiative is underpinned by Scottish policy and is delivered with interdisciplinary colleagues from NHS Highland, Alzheimer Scotland and Connecting Communities. Students are certified as ‘dementia friends’ in the first semester of the programme and progress through the ‘informed’, ‘skilled’ and ‘enhanced’ levels of Scotland’s promoting excellence framework for dementia training over three years.

Our MSc advanced nursing / professional practice programme includes an expert dementia practice module and we have two externally funded PhD projects focussed on dementia too. One is exploring technology enabled dementia education for remote and rural practitioners and the other is looking at the role of technology and virtual access to the outdoor environment to enhance wellbeing for people with dementia in care homes.

Supporting dementia practice in care homes

The COVID-19 crisis has had a disproportionate and devastating impact on care homes, including staff and residents living with dementia and complex care needs. Structure, routine and familiarity are vital cognitive ramps for people living with dementia to make sense of their world. It is a well-established fact that an appropriately trained workforce enhances confidence and competence, promoting positive care experiences and interactions both for staff and residents.

As a Churchill Fellow, I was keen to support dementia practice in care homes through education to meet the demands for new learning at an unprecedented pace in the constantly evolving and changing COVID-19 landscape. We secured money from the COVID-19 Action Fund to develop ‘COVID dementia education for care homes’, the first dedicated blended learning resource to promote dementia care excellence in care homes during the pandemic. The resource was developed in consultation with the Balhousie Care Group and is set to become part of the UK’s COVID-19 knowledge bank.

Twenty-seven practitioners have now completed this training and we have secured additional funding to train staff who provide home care in the community. We have received positive feedback from many stakeholders and participants:

“Dr Leah Macaden secured a grant competitively from our COVID-19 Action fund, networking with two other Churchill Fellows from the Highlands to lead ‘COVID dementia education for care homes’ in response to the immense challenges faced by care home staff during the pandemic. We were able to hear first-hand from care home staff about the transformational impact of the training, both for them, the residents they care for and their families. We consider our investment to this cause very worthwhile and believe that the partnerships that have developed as a result of the project will go from strength to strength. We look forward to following the evolution of the training beyond this crisis and seeing how it continues to strengthen the enormously important field of dementia education.”

Julia Weston, CEO of The Churchill Fellowship

“I have been involved in Leah’s unique approach to dementia nurse education since 2012, sharing my perspectives as a dementia carer. As a Churchill Fellow from the region, I jumped at the opportunity to be part of this project. The resource covers the A to Z of dementia care and, as far as I know, is the only training programme that does this. Before the pandemic it was difficult enough to get experts to our remote, rural location to train staff. Then, with the pandemic when we needed it the most, it was impossible. The fact that the training is interactive using a blended approach is a tremendous plus for organisations like ours.”

Ann Pascoe, Founder/Director: Connecting Communities, Churchill Fellow [2012], Sutherland

“The Balhousie Care Group has committed to provide a therapeutic environment for people to live and die well with dementia. This project provided a valuable opportunity during the pandemic for our social care staff in North Inch and North Grove Care Homes to access a unique blend of quality education from practice and academic experts. The resource has equipped us to continue our journey in continuous improvement for dementia care excellence in our organisation.”

Lindsay Dingwall, Clinical Care Quality Manager, Balhousie Care Group, Scotland

“Being an expert group member to develop the resource was rewarding. The pedagogical and interdisciplinary approach used to design and deliver it were unique, exceptional, innovative and pandemic friendly.”

Alka Goel, Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, The Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

“Improving care and support for people with dementia is a national priority. Working with Dr Macaden to design valuable digital resources to support dementia training in care homes during a pandemic was purposeful, rewarding and timely.”

Andrew Gibson, Educational Development Leader, University of the Highlands and Islands

To find out more about our health courses, visit http://www.uhi.ac.uk/courses

To find out more about our department of nursing and midwifery, visit www.uhi.ac.uk/en/studying-at-uhi/nursing

Connecting the partnership: how video conferencing shaped the University of the Highlands and Islands

As the University of the Highlands and Islands celebrates its tenth birthday, our longest serving video conferencing expert, Roray Stewart, provides an insight into the importance of the technology to the development of the partnership.  

When did you join the University of the Highlands and Islands partnership?

I started as an apprentice IT technician with Shetland College UHI in 1998, before becoming a video conference technician with the university in 2001. At the time there was an expansion of IT services taking place across the partnership. Partners could submit bids to host services. Shetland College UHI won the right to run the video conference service.

As part of my work at the college, I’d had some experience of helping staff and students use the video conference facilities. I found it interesting and could see that it had potential for becoming a more widely used technology. I worked alongside the senior video conference technician and video conference administrator.

How has your role changed over the time you have been with us?

There have been a few significant changes over the years:

• The growth in video conferencing demand. In 2001 we ran 2200 conferences. Fast forward to 2019 and we were running 22140 conferences. For obvious reasons 2020 saw a significant growth with approximately 92,000 meetings on Webex alone. Add on Microsoft Teams and we will have hosted over 100,000 meetings!

• The technology has moved on leaps and bounds with better quality audio and video and added features. Two of the main ones that enabled growth were desktop calling and recording of conferences.

• We are no longer as hands on with scheduling meetings. We used to manually create each meeting the morning of the day it was due to take place.

What are some of your most memorable moments?

• When we hit 10,000 conferences in a year in 2011. That seemed like such a milestone at the time.

• Presenting at two online sessions which I would describe as being well outside my comfort zone. In August 2020 I ran a Webex training session to over 180 staff members. I had never presented to as many people before (or since). I also gave a presentation to the Webex community recently about the university and our transition to Webex. The live session reached 17 countries with 43 different organisations represented by 78 attendees.

• Being lucky enough to have travelled around most of our campus locations throughout the years. The scenery is stunning and we have great staff around the partnership.

What is your proudest moment of working with the university?

Seeing university title granted and becoming the University of the Highlands and Islands. The hard work by many over the years had finally paid off.

Do you think the role of video conferencing has been vital to the development of our university partnership?

For me, it certainly has been one of the key tools in the development of the university partnership. Video conferencing has been used since the early days of getting the university off the ground, through the different phases of our development, to being awarded university title and now continuing through a global pandemic.

Due to our geographic spread, video conferencing will remain a key tool in our development going forward. It may take on a new name and the technology may change, but video will still be at the heart of it. Using a blend of face-to-face teaching and innovative technologies offers students the flexibility to study when and wherever they choose.

Do you think the university partnership is a pioneer in this area?

We were well known for being a pioneer in video conference use and our opinion was respected by other institutions, at conferences and by the equipment vendors. I remember colleagues that had attended or given presentations at conferences saying that the other attendees were always impressed by the sheer volume of video conferencing we did back then.

What do you think the future holds for video conferencing and online meetings?

Video conferencing and online meetings are here to stay – I think that’s safe to safe to say. Conferences and events will offer some form of online capability alongside in-person attendance for a while to come, although I’d expect that to reduce over time.

A couple of possible developments down the line could be 3D video conferencing or virtual reality meetings where attendees will meet in either a virtual representation of a real space or a purely virtual one. There are start-ups and companies already working on this, but whether they come to market time will tell.

For me it’s an exciting technology sector to work in and one I have a real passion for. Also, I finally no longer need to explain what my job is as everyone has been video calling or ‘Zooming’ for the last year or so!

Reflecting on interdisciplinarity at the University of the Highlands and Islands

When the University of the Highlands and Islands partnership was awarded university title in 2011, Professor Meg Bateman, a writer and senior lecturer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI, composed the celebratory poem, Let the Northern Land Shine. Ten years on, Professor Bateman, reflects on the development of the partnership and collaboration across its sites and subject areas.

Ten years ago, Alison Lochhead kindly asked me to write a poem to mark the University of the Highlands and Islands becoming a university. I was inspired. I saw our thirteen colleges like a constellation, pulling together an area that had become fragmented and demoralised by emigration, two world wars, distance from centres of power and the brain drain of its youth. 

It wasn’t always so. It appears that the wider culture of building stone circles, and thousands of years later of building brochs, was initiated in the north of Scotland and moved south. Pictish, Gaelic and Norse culture had probed the land mass and aligned peoples with various centres of power, among them Burghead in Moray, Finlaggan in Islay (and Greece in the imagination), Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides and Man. Far from the sea being isolating, it was enabling: of trade in gold from Ireland, wine from Spain and pigments from the Middle-East and of salvation as monks sailed to islands as far as Iceland and possibly even as far as Greenland and Canada, on sea-roads later extended by the Norse. Place-names too reveal a palimpsest of linguistic, religious, fiscal and topographic connections.

How wonderful that after generations of the young being ‘educated out’, it is now possible not only for students to remain on their native turf, but for the Highlands and Islands and its populations to become the beneficiaries and frame of reference.

By some alchemy of the ancient and modern, it is remarkable in our current environmental crisis that Gaelic poetry, lore and crofting offer a useful paradigm of man’s respectful and reciprocal relationship with nature (and there is archaeological evidence of this relationship being far older than Celtic civilisation). While the poetic trope of nature’s fertility being dependent on her satisfaction with her mate might be taught at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, its practical ramifications are manifest in the research on renewables in Shetland and Orkney and on the health of the sea at SAMS. It is often along such interdisciplinary fault-lines that understanding bubbles up. 

I teach six hours of grammar a week before embarking on literature, philosophy and what-not. I undertake this attention to detail gladly: it feels like combing the hair of the language. But over and above that daily practice, I want to describe the satisfactions of interdisciplinarity in my involvement with cultural studies and the Institute for Northern Studies in Orkney College, much of it in co-operation with that powerhouse, Donna Heddle. First we wrote a course looking at the medieval literature of the Highlands and Islands in five languages (I handled one). Then she asked me to write ‘The Gaelic Legacy’, a core module for the MLitt in Highlands and Islands literature. In this, I tried to present the most interesting and salient aspects of Gaelic culture to post-graduates of other disciplines, for example, history, psychology, theology and geography.

The results were startling. An American student wrote an essay comparing Fionn mac Cumhaill and his Fenian band to a brotherhood of Vietnam war veterans, proud bikers on the edge of society. Instantly she had imbued these medieval tales and ballads with contemporary social and creative relevance. Another student looked at the archetype of the sovereignty goddess, who is both destructive and nurturing, as a precursor of the female warriors of modern animations.

The module is now taught by Iain Mac a’ Phearsain while I have a hand in supervising theses. We both feel that seeing Gaelic culture through the prism of other disciplines and vice versa has afforded us some of the deepest insights of our careers. Supervision has taken me where I would never have gone alone. My delight in selkie stories was challenged by their analysis in terms of toxic masculinity and rape apology. This year a student is showing how subjecting several Highland novels to a Jungian analysis can reveal and perhaps resolve some of our current social conflicts.  While I have been to the City of Dreadful Night with another student, I have also seen the bareness of Hoy as key to the numinous in the writing of George Mackay Brown and in Sylvia Wishart’s art.

It is a privilege to work with this institution whose backdrop is the physical beauty of the Highlands and Islands and whose work feels like a slowly opening flower – let’s say my favourite, grass of Parnassus, which grows locally in acidic soils, delicate, green-veined and honey-scented.

It is essential that we talk together more, our focus, the characteristics and inhabitants of the land, skies and waters, their ecosystems and their cultures, past, present and future.

How promising to hear our new principal Todd Walker say that Gaelic is what most excites him about coming to the University of the Highlands and Islands. Good man!

Gender equality in education: what are the challenges and how do we overcome them?

Ahead of our International Women’s Day event, we asked speakers and colleagues about their thoughts on gender equality in education.

Alex Walker, Professional Development and Recognition Lead, University of the Highlands and Islands  

The University of the Highlands and Islands is holding an International Women’s Day event to explore gender equality in education. The event will provide an opportunity to reflect on the way societal contexts and inequalities impact our student and staff groups and to identify what can be done to champion equality across our partnership.

For example, COVID-19 has impacted on all our lives, but especially on young people and on women. Those under 25 are twice as likely to work in a shut-down sector than those over 25 (Blundell et al) and women are more likely to have taken on extra caring and domestic responsibilities, with mothers spending on average two fewer hours doing paid work and two hours more on housework and childcare compared to fathers (Andrew et al).

This has particularly impacted BAME women, with a recent study finding that 45.5% said they were struggling to cope with the different demands on their time, compared to 34.6% of white women and 29.6% of white men.

There are clear implications for women staff and students working and studying at universities in this time of crisis. It’s important we reflect on the pandemic’s impact on women and how we can harness existing networks to provide spaces to share experiences around these challenges.

Ash Morgan, Highlands and Islands Students’ Association Vice President for Further Education

One of my personal bugbears in the further and higher education sectors is the lack of support and recognition offered for the extra burden placed upon people who study and additionally have caring responsibilities. This can hugely affect a person’s ability and capacity to study.

We know that caring is often a silent or hidden responsibility. It is often an unpaid position, done through love and, more often than not, falls to the women of the world. This year I wish to celebrate all women studying who have caring responsibilities on top of seeking out an education.

Tracy Kennedy, Humanities Lecturer, Inverness College UHI

There are studies showing that female academics are coping with extra pressure and sacrifice in the current pandemic. There was one female academic, for example, who asked on Twitter whether 4am to 6am was an appropriate time to be recording lectures. She is not alone. Female academics and students are often the ones home schooling or looking after very young children as well as working/studying.

In a recent class, I had an additional student (a four-month-old) who was not well and was being comforted by her mother while mum was trying to complete her work. I also teach a mum who has two lovely, lively boys, both under school age, who demand attention from their mum and have often joined in lectures! This has, of course, led to extra stress and strain as these, and all the other amazing mothers out there, try to work, study and teach their children at the same time.

Dr Natalie Jester, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, University of Gloucestershire

Gender-based inequality still pervades further and higher education; whilst awareness has definitely improved in the last few years, this alone will not be enough.

An important starting point is to ask who holds the (top) jobs and who gets the grant money. Rollock finds that there are only 25 Black female professors in the UK, for example. A feminist approach to education means ensuring that all marginalised groups get a seat at the table and, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is arguably more important than ever because marginalised groups suffer a disproportionate burden.

Women – who often have primary responsibility for childcare – suffer disproportionately, with much less time for research (Smith and Watchorn), whilst Morgan makes the case that BAME staff (his own framing) are often more precariously employed and, as a result, more likely to lose their jobs during the pandemic.

The equalities impacts of COVID-19 are vast and still being explored. Further thought needs to go into examining this intersectionally, however, otherwise we risk shutting out people multiply marginalised by gender, ‘race’, class and/or disability.

Donna Clark, Human Resources Systems and Records Manager, University of the Highlands and Islands  

I recently saw a reference that described the past year as ‘the corona-coaster’ and that is certainly apt. It has been a relentless and dizzying rollercoaster of continuous change and adjustment amidst the full spectrum of human emotions. It has been the most challenging year of my career.

COVID has pushed the boundaries of leadership and management and highlighted how important it is to have a strong organisational structure in place. People management (also referred to as line management) can often be seen as an ‘add-on’ to someone’s role, almost an afterthought, but I believe that people management should be recognised as a job in itself. These skills help to cement the stability of an organisation and are essential at a time when many employees are feeling isolated and overwhelmed.

Training, mentoring and other forms of support can be invaluable in helping to develop those who have people management responsibilities, but perhaps we need to stop and rethink how we view people management as part of the wider organisational structure. Are we prepared to recognise it as a job in its own right and not just an ‘add-on’? COVID has provided an opportunity to push this question further up the agenda.

Keith Smyth, Professor of Pedagogy, University of the Highlands and Islands  

In advancing gender equality in education, we need to recognise the means through which the male voice has been the privileged one within the academic and related work of educational institutions. Historically this has included the technologies of printing and publishing being harnessed by male-dominated organisations, to distribute knowledge produced predominantly by males who were already in privileged positions. This links forward to the dominance of the male voice in learned societies, on journal editorial boards and within the structures and hierarchies of universities.

However, there are a number of approaches through which we can take directed action in tackling these and the myriad other ways in which women’s voices have been marginalised and underrepresented in learning and teaching, research and professional practice. Male colleagues who recognise this can have an important role to play in supporting the amplification of women’s voices in education, including through gender-balanced approaches to curriculum design, scholarship and research, and to supporting women in educational leadership.