Towards a reasonable adjustments framework to improve inclusivity of fieldtrips for neurodivergent students

Fieldwork is an important part of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) teaching in Higher Education with undergraduate student spending 40-100 days in the field over the course of their degrees giving students the opportunity to put theoretical learning into practice and develop valuable skills for employability and future professional accreditation (Rogers et al., 2023). However, this can be an intense experience: unfamiliar locations, communal living and long days of 8-12 hours in the field coupled with evening teaching sessions (Lawrence and Dowey, 2021; Giles, Jackson and Stephen, 2020).

These features of fieldtrips create specific barriers for neurodivergent students particularly such as those who are autistic or dyslexic.

This research aims to explore barriers to neurodivergent students' participation in field-based learning within GEES through answering the research questions: 1. What barriers exist to neurodivergent students' participation in field-based learning? 2. What do trip leaders, lecturers and support staff understand about neurodivergent student needs on fieldtrips?

3. Can a reasonable adjustments framework improve fieldtrip accessibility for neurodivergent students?

This qualitative research project will explore these questions through using a Participatory Action Research approach in collaboration with neurodivergent GEES students as well as staff involved in planning for fieldwork. Participation by neurodivergent people is integral to this study, a collaborative approach will seek to equalise the balance of power (MacLeod, 2019).

As a neurodivergent person myself who has lived experience of undertaking fieldwork, I am additionally interested in conducting this research from a Critical Disability Studies and Critical Autism Studies perspective to challenge deficit-based, medical models of disability and critique the ways in which existing systems exclude disabled people from society and, in this study, education (O'Dell et al., 2016).