Equality Diversity & Inclusion Awareness for Health Social Care & Education Professionals
Course Outline
This module explores issues relating to equality, diversity, and inclusion. Informed by first person accounts from people who experience inequality and exclusion, it encourages participants to explore the reality of discrimination, inequality, and barriers to inclusion for various cohorts of people. Inequalities related to race, gender, sexuality, and disability will be considered. Participants will be invited to critically reflect on how these issues shape the experiences of the people that they work with and to consider how their own practice can be developed to support enhanced agency and advocacy around these issues.
Specifically, the module seeks to: (1) facilitate awareness and understanding of what Equality, Diversity and Inclusion mean; (2) create awareness of how inequality and exclusion are experienced from first person accounts; (3) support development of critical thinking about how Equality, Diversity and Inclusion can be promoted in professional workplace settings; (4) increase skills and competencies around promoting culturally sensitive, inclusive, and anti-discriminator work practices. Please see below a short introduction about the module.
Why Choose This Course
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 and the related Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty obliges all public bodies to eliminate discrimination, promote equality and protect the human rights of service users and staff. Competency in understanding and addressing equality, diversity and inclusion issues is thus a key skill need for professionals working in health, education, and social care settings. On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Identify key issues related to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Critically evaluate the concepts of equality, diversity, and inclusion from a rights-based perspective.
Understand, from user informed accounts, how discrimination, inequality and exclusion are experienced.
Identify skills and practices that promote diversity, equality and inclusion, and scaffold agency and advocacy in professional settings.
Undertake equality impact assessments of organisations, policies and procedures in professional settings and design solutions to overcome those obstacles.
Foster a culture of inclusion where clients and service users feel respected, and their perspectives and contributions valued.
Entry requirements
Applicants must have a primary honours degree (NFQ, Level 8) or equivalent. Applicants must be qualified professionals registered with the relevant regulatory body in their country of residence. Applicants without registration with a regulatory body are eligible to apply, subject to the approval of the programme Academic Director, if s/he can demonstrate at least three years' professional experience in a related field – examples include (but are not restricted to) disability support, therapeutic practice and community engagement work.
English Language Requirement: All applicants whose first language is not English must have attained IELTS Level 6.5 or the equivalent TOEFL score, with no individual section less than 5.5.
Application dates
CLOSING DATE 16 September 2022
How Do I Apply
Applicants need to be aware of the IT student checklist below before applying:
You will need access to a laptop or desktop computer running a modern supported operating system with all software updates.
Some of UCC's services (e.g. the Canvas Virtual Learning Environment) link to an external site and also have mobile apps for iOS and Android Devices that you may wish to use as part of your studies. However, we recommend using your desktop web browser for submission of assessments.
You should always use the most current version of your preferred browser. In general, we recommend the Chrome Web browser (Important Note: Internet Explorer will not work with Canvas).
We recommend a reliable broadband connection with at least 2Mbps or more.
You will require an Office suite of software (Microsoft Office or equivalent) and a PDF reader. You should always use the latest version of this software. All UCC students will have access to Office 365 which includes software such as Word/Excel/Powerpoint etc. once registered.
During your online application you will be required to upload the following documents:
Birth Cert or Passport
Curriculum Vitae
English Language Test Report [if applicable]
Transcripts [if applicable]
NOTE: Once you have selected your course your application saves automatically. If you don't complete your application in one session you can access your draft application in the "My Applications" section. The My Applications section will also keep you updated on the status of your application.
Duration
8 weeks part-time Blended
The programme will be delivered in a blended format, part-time online over 8 weeks. This will include 5 weekly pre-recorded lecturers, reading materials and 1 meeting with a designated research expert in the area of the student's interest. Three online drop-in sessions will also be facilitated over the course of the 8 weeks.