Educational innovation and the uneven integration of intersectionality in Spanish higher education

Intersectionality has become an increasingly prominent framework in European higher education, yet its integration into teaching practices remains uneven. Despite growing policy commitments to equality and diversity, there is limited understanding of how intersectional approaches are incorporated into university curricula in practice. This study examines the extent to which educational innovation programmes facilitate the integration of intersectionality within the Spanish higher education system, focusing on how academics translate these perspectives into teaching. A qualitative research design was employed, based on semi-structured interviews with 21 scholars involved in educational innovation projects across Spanish universities. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling to capture a range of disciplinary and institutional contexts. The findings show that, while gender perspectives are increasingly present, intersectionality is only partially and unevenly integrated. Educational innovation initiatives do not systematically incorporate intersectional approaches, which tend to depend on individual lecturers’ commitment and expertise. These results highlight the need for stronger institutional frameworks to support the systematic inclusion of intersectionality in higher education, with implications for curriculum design, teaching practice, and policy development.