Educators' conceptions of student diversity in their classes

This article reports on an international study investigating university educators' ideas about the diversity of their students, carried out by using semi-structured email interviews. The information obtained from participants was analysed using a phenomenographic approach to obtain an outcome space, in which the narrowest conception ignored any differences between students, the broader conceptions made allowance for such differences, while the most expansive conceptions utilised diversity as an essential pedagogical resource. Educators' ideas are illustrated by quotes from their interview records, and the analysis is situated in the broader debate about the nature and role of difference and diversity in higher education and beyond.