Who are we?
The Belonging, Dignity and Justice in GTA Development Working Group is a coalition of educational developers and changemakers committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into GTA development across the UK. We refuse to accept outdated (and unwanted) EDI models that reduce systemic change to box-ticking. Instead, we take an alternative approach to EDI that can enable GTA development to be a flourishing space where all GTAs and developers can feel empowered to shape the future of education.
The Belonging, Dignity, and Justice in GTA Development Working Group is a space for collaboration. We are planning a conference series dedicated to exploring and showcasing good practice in GTA development through the lens of Belonging, Dignity and Justice. This series will provide a platform to share and develop innovative approaches, institutional strategies, and impactful practices. We aim to develop an education system where GTAs are not just trained but can realise and maximise their potential – truly flourish. We invite you to be part of this work.
Our Story
This Working Group was set up following the Sheffield GTA Developers Network Meeting (2024), where, 30+ GTA Developers from across the UK took part in a World Cafe-style workshop – the Belonging, Dignity and Justice Brainstorm facilitated by Working Group originator Olumide Popoola (Queen Mary) – and began to reimagine GTA Development through the lens of Belonging, Dignity and Justice. Quite a few innovations came from that – the full list of ideas and approaches is inspiring – take a look at the SEDA blog post write-up and the resource here (which also outlines how Belonging, Dignity and Justice links to human flourishing in positive education…)
Recognizing the potential of the Belonging, Dignity and Justice framework to address inclusion and diversity challenges from the ground up, the GTA Developers Network agreed to establish the Belonging, Dignity and Justice in GTA Development Working Group in order to facilitate the implementation of some of the ideas and innovations that were emerging.. This initiative leverages the network’s shared values and the passion of its members to drive meaningful change for GTAs. By embedding Belonging, Dignity and Justice principles into GTA development programs, this Working Group hopes to foster flourishing and a positive education experience for all GTAs and developers. Ultimately we hope to manifest these insights as initiatives and strategic outputs that can guide GTA development, programming, curriculum and leadership. See our Terms of Reference for more on this.
In the spirit of transparency and ‘planned happenstance’, the group was composed through an open call to GTA Dev Network members interested in fostering flourishing, social justice and the Belonging, Dignity and Justice values in GTA development. This call has brought together a merry band of educator and academic developers with interests and specialisms in (including but not limited to!) postcoloniality, sustainability, inclusive technology, mentoring in the curriculum and embodied education. Meet the founding members in the Community section
Belonging Dignity and Justice in practice
The Belonging, Dignity and Justice Brainstorm is a workshop that invites stakeholders to reflect on and imagine what belonging, dignity, and justice could look like in their own teaching and learning environments. Rooted in practitioners’ and participants’ lived experience – rather than top-down policy – this reflective practice helps surface values, challenge assumptions, and reframes ‘EDI’ as a grassroots shared responsibility rather than an institutional compliance task.
The workshop in its current form utilizes a Belonging-Dignity-Justice Reflective Model (developed in consultation with Queen Mary Academy Fellow Professor Louise Younie) is a values-driven tool to help educators critically and constructively ‘reflect for flourishing’, as part of the creation of flourishing spaces. The model supports reflection that is not only personally meaningful but can also support institutional and social transformation. The model offers four guiding lines of enquiry—Positional, Relational, Structural and Transformative—that help educators explore how Belonging, Dignity, and Justice are experienced (or not) within their learning spaces.
The Four Lines of Reflexive Enquiry:
- Positional: How do my identity, power, and standpoint shape the ways I foster (or hinder) Belonging, Dignity and Justice?
- Relational: How do I affirm and cultivate Belonging, Dignity and Justice in my day-to-day interactions with learners and colleagues?
- Structural: What institutional systems, norms, or traditions affect how Belonging, Dignity and Justice are distributed or denied?
- Transformative: What bold or subtle changes—personal or systemic—can I make to advance Belonging, Dignity, and Justice?
Why Reflect for Flourishing?
The ultimate aim of the Belonging Dignity Justice Reflective Model is to enable and support Flourishing for educators and learners, as well as the communities and institutions we inhabit; it is a key component of Younie’s Flourishing Spaces model which works on developing physical, digital and conceptual spaces that enable flourishing, and creating conditions where all can thrive intellectually, emotionally, socially, and ethically (see Flourishing, Belonging, Dignity, and Justice: A Dynamic Interconnection for more on this)
We invite educators to use the Belonging, Dignity and Justice Brainstorm and Reflective Model in their practice and to share and reimagine resources and approaches to GTA Development.
What next
In our initial meetings we identified the following guiding objectives that will see through our first year of activity:
- Build a community of practice around implementing Belonging, Dignity, and Justice in GTA development.
- Compile and disseminate a toolkit of good practice in Belonging, Dignity, and Justice for GTA development.
- Improve GTA development practices in members’ own institutions and across the sector.
Inspired by collaborative models such as the Active Learning Network and #CreativeHE, the Working Group will operate with a distributed community ethos that will hopefully encourage grassroots efforts. The door is open – get in touch! Contact us via the Resource page if you are interested in joining us.
Belonging, Dignity, and Justice in GTA Development 