NEON Working Group – Addressing Differential Outcomes for Diverse Learners

Workshop Title: ‘‘We are stories. Stories are Us’[1]: The Power of Stories to Enhance our Students’ Sense of Belonging and Success’

Wednesday 22^nd April 2026, 14.00 – 15.30 (online via MS Teams)

This working group serves to provide a space for addressing the challenges of establishing better outcomes for ethnically diverse learners in Higher Education and explores innovative approaches to developing good practice in this area by way of practical discussions, research/case study analysis, and peer support.

14.00-14.10 Welcome and Introductions (Karen Lipsedge, Kingston University, Chair)

14.10-15.00 Karen Lipsedge (Associate Professor and Senior Teaching and Learning Advisor (EDI), Kingston University)

Workshop Summary:
Based on the success of Karen’s storytelling workshop at the NEON Symposium 2025, in this interactive workshop Karen will provide participants with another opportunity to examine the power of storytelling to enhance our students’ sense of belonging and success and address the challenges of establishing better outcomes for ethnically diverse learners.

By interacting with a wide range of stories, evoked through visual and written texts, in this interactive workshop Karen will argue that students, regardless of discipline, are open to a diverse range of peoples and cultures that enable them to not only see themselves but also enhances their understanding of others.

As the award-winning author, academic and activist Bernadine Evaristo observed, ‘We are stories. Stories are us’. In this interactive workshop Karen will use practical and adaptable examples to show how storytelling empowers students to cultivate their own sense of belonging and to put themselves at the centre of their own learning journey, both in education and beyond. The workshop will also equip participants with the confidence to find new and imaginative ways to support students on their academic journey and enhance their potential in their future careers.

During the workshop, extracts from two texts will be circulated for examination and discussion, giving participants the opportunity to experience some of the benefits and potential challenges of using texts and storytelling in the classroom. At the end of the workshop attendees will leave with a practical toolkit to deploy storytelling strategies effectively and empower students to cultivate a sense of community and widespread universal and inclusive sense of belonging. These strategies will also help to empower participants to see themselves at the centre of their own future.

Core questions to be considered at the workshop: 

• What do you think is the power of storytelling?
• Do you use storytelling as part of your pedagogical practice and why?
• What are the challenges of using storytelling in the classroom?
• Which texts, visual and written, would you use to help students to be open to a diverse range of peoples and cultures and enable them to not only see themselves but also enhances their understanding of others?
• Are there any aspects of today’s discussion that you think you will adapt or apply in your own practices and/or share with your networks

15.00-15.15: Feedback and Q&A

15.15-15.30: AOB and next meeting

[1] Bernadine Evaristo, ‘The Stories We Make Up and The Stories That Make Us’ Gresham College Lecture Series

June, 2024.