ADVOCATE

Current approaches to diversity have tended to focus either on auditing teaching and learning deficits for protected characteristics or, on valuable discursive insight with limited ability to apply these to teaching and learning contexts. The result has been a decrease in disadvantaged apprentice starts (Social Mobility Commission, 2020). This project reviewed diversity, specifically diversity capital, within the Open University’s (the UK’s largest degree apprenticeship provider) nursing and social work degree apprenticeships. Initial findings identified examples of an increased need for apprenticeship learning and teaching design to overcome the stigma of individuals sharing their diversity status, like sexual orientation and minority background. To pragmatically support engagement with diversity in a sensitive and ethical way, a framework for diversity capital has been identified detailing; intrinsic characteristics that are personal and sensitive connected to the outside world through extrinsic experiences with Home, social and community, academic and workplace contexts. The framework details 4 As for ‘diversity capital’ learning design; agency, actions, ability and axioms. Specific examples were identified of how appreciating the potential of student and teaching diversity can increase resilience, empathy and problem-solving. Evidence is presented around existing, valuable, and well-designed learning and teaching that benefited students’ diverse needs. This was identified to be primarily in the OU driven learning outcomes from the apprenticeship and significant aspects of the OU teaching delivery. However, there are also key areas that block diverse needs, in particular ‘recruitment’, practice ‘teaching and learning’ and aspects of the assessment approach. These findings have already fed into recommendations for the curriculum review for the nursing apprenticeship and also on-going curriculum updating for the social working apprenticeship. Curriculum management have identified that these findings resonate strongly with their understanding and the framework itself provide guidance to support applicable interventions for the change management.