Five Gamechangers for More Inclusive Learning

Are all your learners able to fully participate? Are your programs accessible? Do your learners see themselves in your scenarios and examples? Do all your learners feel their contributions are valued? Do they feel they belong? Do the words used make sense to all your learners?

For nearly a decade, I’ve examined what makes learning inclusive. I’ve reviewed how factors such as gender, ethnicity, disability, and neurodivergence shape learning experiences. My doctoral and ongoing studies have included both empirical research and literature reviews. I have worked with hundreds of policymakers, educators, and learning teams to strengthen the inclusiveness of their programs. Through this work, I’ve identified the following five gamechangers for more inclusive learning.

1. Acknowledging that Learning is Not Created Equal

Across sectors, research continues to show inequality in the opportunities to learn and develop based on gender, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic class, education level, and other aspects of background and identity.  Even more troubling, studies indicate that the groups that face labour market challenges are the same groups that struggle to access and benefit from learning programs. This should give us pause. Our current approach to learning is not closing gaps, it is reinforcing them.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are often overlooked in the design and delivery of learning programs. The 2024 study Trends in Learning in Organizations by Stimulearning (2024) illustrates this clearly. Among 429 respondents, nearly half reported that they do not, or only marginally, consider inclusivity and equal opportunity. In two online polls I conducted among L&D professionals in November 2024 (200+ respondents) and June 2025 (120+), 45% and 37% respectively said their programs do “not enough” to enable all learners to participate fully.

The first gamechanger is recognising that the programs we design and facilitate may not work equally well for all learners. Noticing this gives us the chance to reduce, rather than reinforce, inequality in our workplaces, educational institutions, and society.

2. Holding a Strong Belief that Inclusive Learning Matters

The second gamechanger is to fully embrace that inclusiveness means better learning and better results for everyone. First, diverse experiences and perspectives strengthen our programs, and accessibility tools like closed captions make learning easier for a wide range of learners, not just those with disabilities. Second, the impact and return of any program are limited when some participants cannot fully access or benefit from it. Third, organisations that value diversity and inclusion need learning programs that actively supports these goals; if programs primarily serve those who already thrive, progress will remain slow.

Inclusive learning is also ethical. In an unequal and divided world, it is simply the right thing to do. Exclusion in learning is not an abstract idea. It is a real and often painful experience for our learners. In my work, I see that learning professionals truly understand this when they hear the personal stories behind the data. So let me share a few of the stories people have entrusted to me over the years, stories of not being considered, of being overlooked, excluded, or unheard in learning. A participant from the Global South joined a global program only to find every example rooted in U.S. contexts. A student from a working-class background had to repeat their first year because the language used was needlessly complex. A learner with a chronic illness was given no flexibility in coursework, despite clear needs. A disabled learner was excluded from an activity and told to observe. And a woman who raised gender bias related to the training topic was told it fell outside the program’s scope.

3. Examining our Own Assumptions and Design Choices

In learning, reflection is a core practice. We examine what works in our programs, what doesn’t, and what we should do more of, less of, or differently to reach our goals. We also ask participants to reflect on their own behaviours and processes, and to consider how these can be improved. Reflection matters but developing more inclusive learning also requires reflexivity. This means examining how our own experiences, opportunities, values, and assumptions shape the way we design and facilitate programs, and how those choices may benefit some learners more than others.

As designers, coaches, facilitators, or trainers, we may not have experienced challenges linked to gender, ethnicity, class, or disability. This can lead us, consciously or not, to assume that these factors do not need attention in our programs. But how does that affect learners for whom these issues are very real? Do we assume that our perspective is the standard or the right one? And how might that limit learners who experience the world differently and hold knowledge we may not recognise?

Many of the frameworks we use in learning, such as skills, transfer, or lifelong learning, work differently depending on a learner’s context, identity, or background. We often treat them as neutral and universal, but they are not experienced that way by everyone. A familiar example is how the same negotiation skill is judged differently depending on who applies it: a woman using a confident tone may be seen as “too assertive,” while a man using the same strategy is praised as a strong negotiator. And “lifelong learning” looks very different when learning means no income, and life circumstances instead demand “lifelong earning”.

Reflexivity starts with asking ourselves different questions. How do our own opportunities, values, and assumptions shape the programs and tools we design and facilitate? How might our learners’ realities, shaped by gender, ethnicity, class, language, age, or disability, differ from our own? If we rely mainly on our personal experiences and perspectives, whom might we unknowingly exclude, and whose knowledge might we overlook? And finally, how can we learn more about the lived realities we do not personally experience, and use that insight to make our programs more inclusive?

4. Building Competence for Inclusive Learning

Most educators and learning professionals care deeply about their learners and want their programs to be inclusive, yet many are unsure how to turn that intention into practice. The data reflects this. In the Stimulearning (2024) study, 47% of internal L&D professionals and 30% of L&D providers reported lacking the competencies needed to design and deliver inclusive programs. In my own online polls, 81% of respondents in November and 76% in June said they either still had much to learn or only knew some of what was needed to create inclusive learning.

I recently facilitated a session with first- to third-year Learning and Development (L&D) students at the University of Applied Sciences in Nijmegen. We explored why inclusiveness matters in L&D, identified exclusions in a case study, and generated strong ideas for making learning more inclusive. For these future professionals, inclusiveness is set to become the norm.

However, many educators, trainers, and learning designers have simply never been taught to consider inclusiveness in learning. It is rarely a structural part of L&D curricula, train-the-trainer programs, or teacher education. Learning conferences do not always include it on the agenda. And while there is academic research on the topic, it is often difficult to access, or not easily translated into practice. While there is growing attention to accessibility for learners with disabilities, inclusivity requires us to go further. It asks whose perspectives are recognised and whose knowledge is treated as legitimate. A learning environment can be accessible and still centre one “default” way of seeing and knowing. In that case, it may be accessible, but it is not inclusive.

Changing the game for more inclusive learning requires us to actively develop ourselves by, for example, engaging with research, joining conversations, collaborating with experts and peers, and seeking feedback.

5. Measuring and Rewarding Inclusive Learning

Finally, a game changer will be when we consistently measure and are rewarded for the inclusiveness of learning. That is why last year, Will Thalheimer and I launched a set of survey questions to help organisations understand how inclusive their learning programs are. Before we launched the questions, we tested them in a real-world setting, and co-authored an academic paper reporting on this case study. The paper, Evaluating the inclusiveness of employee training programmes: a research-practice partnership, was published in  Human Resource Development International. It is peer-reviewed and open access, making it freely available for all.

We developed five survey questions that help you gather feedback from participants in conferences, coaching, webinars, courses, and training. They focus on accessibility, language, imagery, real-life barriers, and belonging. In our research, we found that the questions give a voice to participants who are often overlooked. They prompt designers and facilitators to think more inclusively and help surface the realities and barriers people encounter.

The questions are available for free on the website we created, which also explains how they were designed and offers practical guidance on how to use them: https://www.inclusivelearningsurvey.org/. You are welcome to explore the website and join a community of learning professionals who meet periodically to discuss lessons learned.

OEB 2025: Five Gamechangers for More Inclusive Learning

At OEB 2025, I will be facilitating a Boardroom Dialogue on Thursday, December 4, 2025, from 12:15 to 1:15.  During this dialogue, we’ll combine research insights with real-world stories and practical strategies to make learning more inclusive. Together, we’ll ask new questions, challenge assumptions, uncover common barriers, and share ideas and experiences to change the game. If inclusive learning is of interest to you, I look forward to connecting in Berlin.

Dr Ingeborg Kroese
Enhance Facilitation | Open University, UK | Tilburg University, NL

Written for OEB 2025 by Ingeborg Kroese.