Introduction
This intervention aims to highlight and engage with cultural diversity in the classroom through an exploration of the different calendars that shape students’ lives. Rather than focusing solely on national holidays, it invites students to share the religious, cultural and personal celebrations that structure their year and influence their experiences of studying at university.
This idea emerges from my own background of growing up in a Global South country where culture was comparatively homogeneous. Although there were, of course, religious and cultural minorities, public life was largely organised around the Catholic calendar, and minority traditions often remained invisible. Public holidays, school timetables and national commemorations reflected this dominant perspective. Even historical events, such as the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas, were commonly framed as “the discovery of the Americas”, illustrating how dominant narratives become normalised while alternative perspectives are marginalised.
Living and working in the UK has exposed me to a much more culturally and religiously diverse environment. At the same time, I have observed that this diversity often remains largely private. People are understandably careful when discussing religion or cultural identity. Students celebrate important events within their own communities, but these celebrations are rarely shared or acknowledged as part of university life.
This is not necessarily a failure of inclusion, but it can mean that institutional calendars and practices continue to reflect certain cultural rhythms more readily than others. Consequently, some students’ experiences become less visible within the academic environment. Making these different calendars explicit could therefore create opportunities for mutual learning while also helping staff better understand the different temporalities that shape students’ participation throughout the academic year.
Context
I am a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in the Computer Science Programme within the Creative Computing Institute, where I teach both MSc and BSc students. This intervention is intended for second-year BSc students. By this stage of the programme, students have already developed some relationships with one another, but there is still considerable scope for strengthening their sense of belonging and community.
Initially, I planned to embed this activity within one of my teaching units, revisiting the calendar throughout the semester. However, following discussions with colleagues during the peer-to-peer sessions, I realised that embedding it within a technically focused Computer Science module might feel disconnected from the unit’s learning outcomes. Instead, the intervention evolved into a community-building activity taking place at the beginning of the academic year, outside formal teaching.
During this session, students would collaboratively construct a calendar containing important celebrations, commemorations and events that are meaningful to them. Students would be invited, if they wished, to explain the significance of these celebrations by sharing aspects such as traditions, food, music, clothing or personal stories. Participation would always remain voluntary, recognising that some students may prefer not to disclose aspects of their cultural or religious identity.
The activity would conclude by inviting students to remind the group throughout the year when these celebrations occur. Those who wish could organise informal gatherings, bring food, share music or photographs, or simply explain the significance of a particular celebration. A collective Miro board would accompany the project throughout the year, allowing the calendar to grow organically through students’ contributions.
Inclusive Learning
This intervention seeks to create opportunities for students to share aspects of their cultural and religious backgrounds that might otherwise remain invisible within university life, echoing the concept of hermeneutical injustice [1] already referred in my previous post [2].
Rather than assuming that all students experience the academic year in the same way, this intervention recognises that institutional calendars inevitably align more closely with some cultural traditions than others. For example, a student observing Ramadan may have to balance fasting, altered sleep patterns and family commitments alongside assessment deadlines, whereas Christmas coincides with the university’s scheduled holiday period.
The purpose of the shared calendar is therefore not simply to celebrate diversity, but to make visible the different ways in which students experience time throughout the academic year. By creating a shared understanding of these differences, both students and staff can better appreciate how cultural practices influence participation, workload and wellbeing.
Reflection
The proposal evolved considerably through discussions with both my peers and tutor.
The first significant feedback concerned the feasibility of embedding the activity within a technical Computer Science unit. Although I initially wanted students to revisit the calendar during teaching sessions, this risked appearing disconnected from the module’s intended learning outcomes. Students might reasonably question how the activity related to the academic content of the unit. As a result, I reframed the intervention as a community-building event at the beginning of the academic year, where students could meet in a more informal environment, perhaps over coffee and food.
A second important point concerned representation. If the activity simply reflected the majority of students in the room, dominant cultural groups could unintentionally occupy most of the calendar. As facilitator, I would therefore need to ensure that all students have opportunities to contribute, while being careful not to pressure anyone into sharing information they would prefer to keep private. The goal is not to categorise students according to identity, but to create an environment where different cultural experiences can emerge naturally.
Finally, we discussed how the calendar might continue to function after its initial creation. This generated the idea of encouraging students to revisit it throughout the year whenever an important celebration approaches. These moments could become opportunities to share stories, music, food or photographs, gradually transforming the calendar from a static document into a living resource that accompanies the cohort throughout the academic year.
Action
This intervention forms part of a wider programme of community-building activities that we have been developing within the Computer Science Programme to strengthen inclusion and students’ sense of belonging.
Many of our students commute to campus and typically attend university only one or two days per week. Combined with the fact that our programme is based in Holborn, in a building with relatively few communal spaces, this can make it difficult for students to develop meaningful connections with both peers and staff. To address this, we have already organised a variety of informal activities, including visits to local exhibitions, walks in nearby parks and hackathons.
The proposed calendar complements these initiatives by creating a different kind of shared space. Rather than focusing on academic work, it encourages students to learn about one another’s cultural lives and experiences. In doing so, it may help challenge assumptions, encourage empathy and create opportunities for new forms of interaction throughout the year.
I also believe the intervention could benefit staff. Many colleagues similarly experience a lack of informal opportunities to connect with students outside teaching. Involving academics and professional services staff in the initial activity, and encouraging them to attend future celebrations where appropriate, could strengthen the sense of community across the programme.
Personally, I expect the intervention to deepen my own understanding of students’ lives beyond the classroom. Much of my interaction with students naturally centres on teaching, assessment and academic support. This activity creates space for a different kind of encounter, one in which students and staff situate themselves within broader cultural, temporal and social contexts. I believe this richer understanding will ultimately strengthen my teaching practice and my relationships with students.
Evaluation
The intervention aims to benefit both students and staff.
From the staff perspective, success would be reflected in a greater awareness of students’ different circumstances and the ways in which cultural calendars influence attendance, workload and participation. This understanding could contribute to more informed and empathetic conversations with students throughout the year.
For students, success would not be measured solely by participation in the initial activity, but by continued engagement with the calendar afterwards. Indicators of success might include students contributing new material to the Miro board, organising informal celebrations, sharing stories or cultural practices with peers, or referring to the calendar during the academic year. These ongoing interactions would suggest that the calendar has become a meaningful shared resource rather than simply an introductory exercise.
Finally, I would actively seek students’ feedback after the first implementation. Their reflections would help identify aspects that worked well, elements that felt uncomfortable or exclusionary, and opportunities for improvement. In this way, the intervention itself would remain iterative, evolving alongside the community it seeks to support.
Conclusions
This proposal emerged from a personal reflection on cultural diversity and the visibility of different ways of organising time, celebration and belonging within higher education. Although universities often promote inclusion, institutional calendars and everyday practices can unintentionally privilege certain cultural and religious traditions while rendering others less visible. Drawing on the concept of hermeneutical injustice, I have argued that this invisibility is not simply a matter of representation, but also of the limited interpretive resources available for recognising how different cultural calendars shape students’ experiences.
The proposed calendar seeks to create opportunities for students to share aspects of their cultural and religious lives that might otherwise remain outside the classroom. Rather than treating diversity as a collection of fixed identities, the intervention encourages students and staff to recognise the plurality of temporalities that coexist within the programme and the ways these influence learning, participation and belonging.
Ultimately, the success of the intervention depends not only on creating the calendar, but on whether it becomes a living resource that continues to generate conversations, celebrations and shared experiences throughout the academic year. By remaining open to students’ suggestions and allowing the activity to evolve over time, I hope it will contribute to a more inclusive, participatory and reflective learning community.
Reference
[1] Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford University Press.
[2] https://teopgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2026/08/05/blog-post-2-faith-religion-and-belief/
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