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The European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching (EFFECT, 2015–2019) (EFFECT, 2019), a project co-financed by the European Commission, through its Erasmus+ programme, has been exploring effective methods for university teachers’ development at the European level, including pedagogical staff development “modules” to support inclusivity and citizenship in teaching and learning practice. Throughout the project and in this chapter, the authors have taken “inclusivity” to convey an attitude and appreciation for principles which inform “inclusion” as a practice – in the context of reflective and reflexive practice the words become largely interchangeable.

The way academic staff teach is of critical importance in any reform designed to enhance inclusion and citizenship in higher education. Conveying these values-related topics in an academic context hardly lends itself to a traditional pedagogical training model. Promoting inclusion means stimulating discussion, challenging stereotypes and unconscious biases, as well as improving educational and social frameworks. The Change Laboratory methodology (Engeström, 2001) was chosen for the pedagogical staff development workshops under EFFECT, with a view to engaging teaching staff in a deeper reflection about the topics and about their teaching practice. Change Laboratory is an intervention-research methodology that aims at reconceptualizing activity: it intends to provoke authentic reactions, responses and disagreements among the participants and provides opportunity for them to work together to reimagine their activities and to identify “concrete” solutions that address persisting issues in their practice. The theory takes a broad conceptualization of “activity” and “practice,” which is not specific to the education sector or the “classroom.” The Change Laboratory is a methodology designed to support the “expansive learning cycle” described by Engeström and as such can be understood as a theory of change which the EFFECT project team applied to a pan-European higher education learning and teaching context.

In 2017, the project team designed and implemented four physical, face-to-face pedagogical staff development workshops on inclusivity and citizenship skills based on this methodology, attended by over 100 participants from across Europe. In 2018, the workshop model was adapted to a virtual learning environment and three online sessions on inclusivity and citizenship skills for higher education teaching staff were offered.

The pedagogical staff development workshops enabled participants to use open reflective questions to provoke discussion about the challenges faced in their own learning and teaching contexts, think about their pedagogical practices and identify their unconscious biases. Most of the participants rated the workshops as very good and innovative, and considered the methodology an effective vehicle for promoting meaningful open discussion.

In this chapter, the authors reflect on the design, implementation and lessons learnt from the pedagogical staff development workshops on inclusivity and citizenship skills. The authors propose a set of recommendations for individual teaching staff and institutional leadership to consider when addressing continuous professional development for inclusivity and citizenship.

Education needs to be viewed in a holistic manner; it does not end when one simply acquires a degree or a job. Education creates human beings, shapes them into what they are and influences their behavior and attitude toward life. It contributes to creating a long-lasting effect on people’s mind and attitude. Developing a curriculum is not an easy task as it involves various dimensions of life, and one of them is to inculcate the idea of inclusivity and multiculturalism in the minds of young learners and help them to become effective leaders in the future. The process of teaching, delivery of lessons, assessment, evaluation and various pedagogical approaches needs to be aligned to deliver multicultural education. Society’s values, beliefs and goals should be translated into a curriculum that is relevant and connects students to society. Humanizing education to instill values that supports inclusivity and equality should be built around the cultural context synthesizing opinions and facts derived from the work of researchers and academics. This book aims to review research work conducted by academics across the world. Authors argue how social justice education and inclusion should be an inherent part of the curriculum. Strategies and tools are suggested that can strengthen the learning abilities of students and create an attitude of appreciation toward inclusivity. Case studies and interventions that have been effective are cited from Africa to the USA and UK, which can help create an intentional design of a classroom environment supporting multiculturalism. The book illustrates the importance of appropriate curriculum development involving all stakeholders and the integration of multicultural education in the curriculum. Concepts such as Ubuntu and academic freedom toward leadership development have also been stressed in this book.