International students bring incredible diversity and richness to our classrooms. But their success isn’t just about how well they adapt, it’s about how we teach. That’s why we created the International Students’ Pedagogies Toolkit (ISPT): to make inclusivity something we do intentionally, every day.
This project began with a simple but worrying pattern: high resit rates in modules with mostly international cohorts. On paper, these students had the right IELTS scores. In reality, many were struggling, not just with language, but with academic expectations and critical thinking. In the Educational Development team, we asked ourselves: Are we doing enough? Traditionally, struggling students are referred to English for Academic Purposes or the Academic Skills teams. But those referrals weren’t solving the problem. It became clear that support shouldn’t be an add-on but needed to be embedded in the teaching itself. That’s when the idea for the International Students’ Pedagogies project was born.
When we began thinking of how to develop the project, we knew it had to be sustainable and practical. We also knew that in order to best support our international students, we needed to support the lecturers who teach them. So, we started by listening to our students and colleagues: conversations with academics, focus groups with students, and lots of reflection shaped our approach.
We wrote the project as a Theory of Change, breaking it into steps:
- Understand the problem: course monitoring and student feedback.
- Research: interviews and focus groups with staff and students.
- Share what we learned: with student support teams, international recruitment and across the sector.
- Build something practical: a toolkit that helps academics reflect and adapt their teaching practices
- Keep learning: through a Community of Practice that supports international students’ transition through focused sessions on diverse topics, such as inclusive feedback, classroom management etc.
Three big themes emerged from our research:
- Language is not equal to academic literacy: meeting English benchmarks doesn’t mean students can navigate disciplinary language. Simple steps like glossaries, worked examples and micro-tasks can make a huge difference.
- Assessment design matters: hidden assumptions lead to confusion. Annotated exemplars and clear rubrics help students understand what “good” looks like.
- Communication is cultural and engagement norms vary: simple practices such as structured turn-taking and write-before-you-speak prompts make participation more equitable.
One of the outputs of our project is the International Students’ Pedagogies Toolkit.
The ISPT isn’t a rulebook, but rather a resource for reflection and action. It lives on our VLE so staff can access it easily and choose what matters most to them.
It’s organised into five sections:
- Inclusive Practice & Pedagogy - designing for diversity from the start.
- Assessment & Feedback - making expectations clear and feedback useful.
- Communication - understanding cultural differences and creating safe spaces for dialogue.
- Supporting International Students - knowing where and how to signpost our staff who support our students.
- Resource Repository – quick guides, useful links and case studies.
Each section also includes “Check Your Practice” prompts, “Tips & Tricks” adaptable to different teaching contexts, discussion board for sharing ideas and good practice, as well as practical activities.
The ISPT is a resource for all of our colleagues to reflect on their practice and make sometimes small, but meaningful changes. Though it started off with a focus on supporting international students, inclusivity isn’t just for international students – it benefits everyone. Clearer expectations, structured participation and thoughtful assessment design improve learning for all. Our toolkit is a living entity that will be expanded and improved – it will also be reviewed periodically to monitor whether it is meeting institutional needs and to inform additional training.
Our recommendations to any colleague who wants to reflect on their practice and learn about different approaches that create greater inclusivity include:
- Create space for reflection: individually and as part of a team
- Share good practice: encourage colleagues to share simple strategies that work in their context.
- Use what you have: ask your tech colleagues for help and host resources on your existing VLE/systems.
- Build community: start a small peer group or online forum.
Inclusivity doesn’t require a large budget - it requires self-awareness, commitment and collaboration. It doesn’t just happen; there needs to be a conscious effort on our part to make it the foundation of everything we do.
Find out more about the International Students’ Pedagogies Toolkit (ISPT)
Simona Golshetti is a Senior Fellow and Educational Developer in the Educational Enhancement & Impact team at the University of Staffordshire. She leads the Staffordshire Route to Fellowship programme and drives initiatives for international student pedagogy, focusing on transition and curriculum development.
Juan Raman Mullor is a Senior Fellow and is a researcher and evaluator at the University of Staffordshire with an MA in International Relations and a background in education, social research and international development. He specialises in delivering participatory mixed-methods research, covering inception, tool design, data collection and reporting to evaluate projects aimed at reducing student inequities.