Guidance on Teaching for Social Justice in Irish Higher Education: Insights from the DISCs Project

This document is designed to support the development of teaching for social justice in the higher education (HE) sector in Ireland. It offers guidance to those who teach in any and all HE disciplines on embedding a social justice orientation in one’s teaching. This guidance is based on lessons learned from a National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning-funded project based across University College Cork (UCC), Dublin City University (DCU) and Maynooth University (MU) called ‘Disciplines Inquiring into Societal Challenges’ (DISCs). The project ran from 2019-2021 and as such, was significantly affected by the pandemic. It was focused on the development of 17 Project Advocates, i.e., staff who teach in a variety of disciplines in the three institutions. The project has curated several resources including recommended readings, workshop slides, DISCs Advocates’ professional journeys, and a self-assessment tool for those reflecting on their practice on a regular basis. The project collected data on the Advocates’ experiences and, with the support of USI, also ran a national survey of HE students’ experiences of social justice and equality themes in the classroom and on campus.