Page 44 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

the bottom up, with students being the agents of change. Students are important;

they are participants in the educational system who should decide about their
education and improve it. Before making conclusions, proposals, procedures, or

providing support for their education, we should always ask the students about it.

However, simply occasionally consulting students from groups facing barriers or
only including them at the beginning of the decision-making process, but then

proceeding to act without them in further stages is not enough. As previously
mentioned, true inclusive practice relies on an inclusive mindset and philosophy.
In other words, we must be willing to work with students from various

marginalised groups instead of simply for them, involving them in each step of the
decision-making process as well as approaching them as equals in this setting. It
also requires us to challenge our own professional identities as “experts” and the

position of power or supremacy that comes with it.

Thus, it is necessary that we are constantly on the outlook for new inclusion

practices or modes of ensuring a truer, more comprehensive inclusion process.
These new models are often found not in the current academic circles, but rather
in the marginalised/underrepresented/vulnerable communities themselves, among

activists and experts belonging to these groups. Examples of such models include
lived experience informed practice and co-production.

Lived experience informed practice is a model that considers the research evidence

but emphasises the lived experience of the individuals and communities we are
trying to include and engage. It is a response to the limitations and biases of the

evidence-based approach, especially when it comes to the field of social sciences
and helping professions (Wise, 2023). If considered in the context of this paper and
the aforementioned need for an individualised approach when trying to ensure a

more inclusive social dimension of higher education, this model offers a new

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