Inclusive Education Steering Subcommittee

Terms of Reference

Purpose and Remit

The Inclusive Education Steering Subcommittee (IESS) is a subcommittee of WMS Education Committee established to provide strategic leadership, coordination, and assurance of inclusive education activity across Warwick Medical School (WMS). Its primary purpose is to ensure sustained progress in embedding inclusive education as a cross-cutting cultural driver across all education portfolios (UG, MBChB, PGT, and PGR). The IESS exists to support, connect, and evaluate work that’s undertaken across the School.

The IESS operates as a sub-committee reporting directly to the WMS Education Committee, with a dotted line relationship to LTQC’s for the respective education portfolios. The IESS recognises that course teams retain ownership of their own data and action plans; the subcommittee exists to support, connect, and evaluate this work at School level. IESS aligns its work with institutional priorities and national regulatory drivers including:

• The University’s Access & Participation Plan (APP)
• The University’s Inclusive Education Strategy
• Office for Students (OfS) regulatory requirements
• General Medical Council (GMC) Promoting Excellence standards and Medical School Council (MSC) publications (Active Inclusion, Challenging Exclusions)
• Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and Research Excellence Framework (REF) if/where appropriate
• Research funder requirements where relevant (particularly to PGR study), e.g. MRC, UKRI, Wellcome Trust, etc.

Membership

Standing Membership for the IESS includes:

• Chair of the IESS 

• Secretary of the IESS 

• Member of each LTQC (or equivalent) to serve as Inclusive Education Representative as nominated by the respective chair. No fixed term. 

• Data Specialist with expertise in evaluating inequity (3-year term) 

• Member of Professional Support Services with active interest/subject expertise (3-year term) 

• Members with Subject Expertise (3-year term). 

Terms of Reference

The IESS will:

• Oversee the WMS IE strategy and own the WMS Inclusive Education Action Plan which comprises actions from the inclusive education plans across all WMS portfolios. While portfolio plans are owned by respective LTQCs, this cross-cutting group seeks to maintain coherence and a joined-up approach across the School.
• Commission, review, and monitor portfolio-specific inclusive education data, including intersectional analysis, benchmarked to the four identified areas of the Access and Participation plan, namely: student recruitment (access), progression through their degree (continuation), final degree outcome (attainment), graduation destinations (progression) of student groups, in addition to devising ways of measuring impact in the work across the School relating to Inclusive Education.
• Coordinate horizon scanning to identify emerging risks, policy shifts, sector trends, and institutional opportunities.
• Advise and make recommendations to WMS Education Committee on priority areas for action based on analyses undertaken, strategic resource requirements, policy development, and issues requiring escalation to the University.
• Facilitate knowledge exchange and shared learning across portfolios and professional services.
• To consider other matters specifically referred to it by the Education Committee

Meeting Frequency

IESS will meet termly. Meetings will include discussion of evaluation indices, portfolio action plans, sharing of best practice across the School and more widely, horizon scanning, and escalation of issues where necessary.

Reporting

IESS reports to WMS Education Committee, with dotted line to LTQCs via Reps. Reports will be made twice a year to WMS Education Committee, providing:

• 3-year WMS Inclusive Education Action Plan
• Annual Inclusive Education Progress Report
• Emerging risks and recommendations

Secretariat

The Education Projects Officer will act as Secretary to the group. The Secretary to the IES will be responsible for the collation and circulation of papers for discussion at the IES meeting.

Secretary: Sean Barrett , Project Officer (Education)

Papers for consideration by the WMS IES should be submitted to the Secretary no later than two weeks in advance of the meeting at which they are to be considered.

Meetings

The IES will meet 4 times per year academic year. Dates of meetings will be circulated by the Secretary at the beginning of the academic year.

Membership