Reimagining inclusion: developing the NURTURE framework scaffold through Universal Design for Learning at Northumbria University
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi41.1638Keywords:
universal design for learning, inclusive pedagogy, neurodiversity, institutional transformation, higher educationAbstract
This paper presents NURTURE (Northumbria University Responsive Teaching for Universal Reach and Engagement), an implementation scaffold operationalising Universal Design for Learning (UDL) across institutional practice. Developed in response to widening participation and the limitations of deficit-based accommodation models, NURTURE reframes inclusion as collective institutional responsibility rather than individualised adjustment. Grounded in critical pedagogies (Freire, 1970; hooks, 1994) and disability justice frameworks, it integrates UDL’s principles of multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression (CAST, 2024) to challenge systemic barriers in curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment. The paper critically examines NURTURE’s theoretical foundations and development, offering an account of the framework at an early, formative stage of institutional embedding within a post-1992 UK university, phased 2025–2030. Though still in progress, NURTURE offers a replicable model for embedding systemic inclusion, contributing to scholarship on translating UDL into institutional practice for learning developers, educators, and policymakers.
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