Today I had a good session with my other two peers. They have chosen really great ideas for their artefact.

The first was the idea is to enable students the opportunity to discuss their backgrounds (through textiles), to reflect on how they could bring these elements into their practice and to build connections and affirm their classmates. I really liked this idea of using material to express who they are. My only feedback was for my peer to do an example first, maybe show some fabric that they felt represented them. This would allow the students not only a clear understanding of the task but also an insight into their teacher, allowing them to create a safe space for sharing.

The second idea was to use the print room as an art gallery, for the students to display their work. Intersectionality an important element of this artefact, being a black male tutor, my peer wanted to create a space for other black students to be able to share their work and create discussions on their artwork. The concept would be that the artwork would be undated every few years so that students could see their work displayed and know it was a safe space to express themselves without fear of being misunderstood.

My interventions are to introduce positionality into the discussion before writing The Code of Conduct. I wanted to discuss what positionality is and use my positionality as an example for the students to understand but also to know that this was a safe space for us to speak.

Why am I doing this intervention?

Most of the students on the course I teacher are from Overseas, European, with some home students. I think it’s important to celebrate this diversity but also highlight the difference cultures, races, religions, and sexualities as they can been viewed differently depending on your own point of view.

Before writing the Code of conduct, it’s important for us all to think about who we are (our race, gender, religion, sexuality) and share it with the group. This will allow us to hear from other people in the group and consider how our own view of the world might differ from theres due to our lived experiences.

Do we have any social biases that could affect our relationships?

Look at this chart and think about all the different headings related to you.

· 5 mins to think about who you are

· 5 mins to share and discuss

Ideas for exercise-either or both

· 2 most popular fruit

· 3 facts one false

Feedback to my idea.

I had positive feedback from both of my peers. They liked the idea that it would build relationships by learning about each other whilst highlighting our differences and preconceive ideas.

I asked which exercise I should do, and they said that the fruit got the idea of positionality across very simply, but the ‘3 facts, one false’, gave a richer experience for all the students, especially when they have just started the course.

Overall I think that all our chosen artefact/interventions focus on inclusivity, the feedback was constructive as I think it allowed us to know that we were on the right track. This feedback from my peers helped me to consolidate my idea. Finally it was a good opportunity to chat to my peers to hear their thought and learn more about their teaching.

Whether we’re talking about race or gender or class, popular culture is where the pedagogy is, it’s where the learning is’ Bell Hooks

Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to be enlighten. I never considered that I was ignorance to the world around me or how much privilege I had by being born white. I knew racism existed and that there was still prejudice in the world, but I never consider the role I could play in changing it but as Margret Mead says, ‘it only takes a few thoughtful citizans to change the world’.

At the started this module, I felt that I wasn’t racist or prejudiced , so I didn’t recognise that I needed to rethink who I was. I recognise now that this was my white fragility. This module has already made me see the world in a completely different way, I have been a part of the problem but perpetuating a world that favours white, colonialist history as Robin Dianglo says “White people raised in Western society are conditioned into a white supremacist worldview because it is the bedrock of our society and its institutions. By doing this unit it has enabled me to look at the world differently from the perspective of minority student as well as reflect on my own positionality and intersectionality.

You are not born racist, you are born into a racist society, like everything else if we can learn it, we can unlearn it. -Jane Elliott

I have found this module to be transformative, inspirational and challenging. It has been the topic of many of my conversations with friends and family recently. Many people were aware or heard of positionality, intersectionality but wanted to know more, so it’s been great to open the discussion and hear others thoughts. With some fellow teaching colleagues, I have shared my thought and experiences since doing the module and they have gone on to do further read themselves or have asked me to share some of the resources with them. They now plan to build positionality into their teaching.

I do not tolerate any form of sexism, racism or homophobia , I always pick people up if I hear a racist, homophobic, or sexist comment, joke, or a derogatory comment. However, I’ve realised that over time I’ve become more passive and although my opinions are unchanged, I didn’t continue to grow or continue to challenge the system, I had become as D’angelo calls it a White progressives’. She says  ‘White progressives can be the most difficult for people of color because, to the degree that we think we have arrived, we will put our energy into making sure that others see us as having arrived.’I have had to look at my white fagility, I see that this is the start of my journey of ongoing self awareness and education. My role in teaching is to highlight and engage the next generation, to build inclusion into their experience and great understanding of the wider world.

During this module, at first, I was happy to just listen as I felt that what I was hearing from the other members of the groups was very powerful. I wanted to listen and hear rather than comment and engage. When talking with my tutor they asked if I had put myself in the position of a voyeur, I don’t think that was the case, I did engage but first I wanted to process, listen and learn and understand.

Reading the article, Critical Race Theory An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic really made me think about how much I take being white for granted. In the opening paragraph, the article talks about random events and interaction with people, be it a jogger or shop keeper, either the engagement can be either positive or negative, we might question it, but I would never consider race being a reason for this interaction, whereas it I was a person of colour I might. I thought this was insightful as it really brings in the concept of positionality, and how we view the world through our own lens. This has made me think about this in a wide context not only in race but in sex, gender, faith and disability.

I’ve experienced bias in the past because I am a woman. Working in a male dominated industry I often found men tried to trip me up by asking testing question so they could see if I was good enough and competent at my job. I always felt I had to prove myself but passing their ‘little test’. Sometimes a man would speak to me rudely or in a patronising way or making a sexual innuendo, and I remember thinking that if I was a man, they would never have dared speak to me or make me prove myself like that. However, this not my norm, these were one of events, but its does give me a small microcosm of how something that I am, that I’m proud to be and cannot change, can be used again me.

Shades of Noir  

Shares of Noir is a great independent programme who’s resource support the pedagogies of social justice. It has consistently enlightened me with truthful conversation around subject such as race, gender and sexuality. This is an incredibly important resource, for everyone. It has help me with keys terms and given me sighting into the lives and lived experiences of many of our students. Below I have highlighted a few articles that I will discuss in my teaching. I will also signpost the Shares of Noir site for students to be aware of this resource.

Intersectional Film

This s a great resource that I will recommend to my students to read, and also refer to in my lecture. For my intervention for this module, I will be looking at positionality and intersectionality before we create with the students their ‘Code of conduct’. This resource will allow them to see how change is happening in the film and TV industry as well as offering them further insight into intersectionality. The Key terms at the back will give them greater understanding and clarification of these terms. The articles also cover many topics like ‘Intersectionality safety in the classroom’ again a very important topic for me as a lecturer and for my students to understand the reason why we need to create a safe space, so that discussions can take place within the group but with the knowledge of what is acceptable and what’s not.  

Conversations. TV and Film.

It’s great to read and hear about some of the reviews and thoughts of other students. This is a great resource for my students to see a wider view within the TV/film genre that they might have other wise missed. From This is England/ La Haine to Monster and even Brooklyn 99. Many of these films are about the culture we live in today, and its intersectionality. I teach on MATV which is a factual course, but all these resources allow for us to start conversations and look at the changing representation of race, gender, sexuality, disability in TV/Film world. By using this resource, it allows students to challenge their own programme making and understand the power they have to create change through equality and positive representation.

https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/category/media/film-tv/

Mental health and creative healing

Again, another helpful article for my students. This year due to covid I know many people of have struggled. Overseas students arriving in the UK for the first time found lockdown incredible difficult, they’ve said how hard it was to be isolated in a new country and culture with little support and being far from home. I have also had other students confide in me that they suffer from anxiety and/or depression, so being online has been quite challenging for them at times.

This article offers support information, and although it focuses on what well-being looks like for young ethnic minorities, the information it gives is relevant for everyone. It also gives key advise to tutors like me about the process and actions that we can put in place to help students from diverse populations/backgrounds in regard to mental health. The role we play in build a good rapport with our students and keeping an eye on attendance and following up to check in if they are ok. I personally have found this incredibly helpful and have used this in my teaching.

 ‘A pedagogy of social justice education: social identity, theory and intersectionality’, Read Hahn Tapper (2013).

I think the text highlights that to deal with conflict within the intergroup
workings, it not enough to just have contact by working together as this can be
superficial but that we also need to have discussions about social identify.
This was very much highlighted in the Video ‘Room of Silence’ where students
wanted to engage and talk about issues but without the conversation and feedback, they were left feeling exposed and frustrated. It’s not enough to just aware, it’s also important to talk and discuss and share, only though
communication can students integrate their experiences and voices, and conflict can be resolved.

I also thought that what Freire highlighted was very poignant, the role of
the tutor and the role we play in terms of social identify and status. We do
have to be mindful that we don’t presume that everyone in the classroom is
coming from the same place as us. It’s easy when you only have an 1hr lecture
to ‘lecture’  or  as Freire calls it the ‘banking concept’ but he highlights that we need to create experiences ‘with and not just for students’. By sitting alongside the students, we are also learning from them and them from us. bell hooks discusses her engagement and  interaction with her students in her book Teaching to transgress by saying “When everyone in the classroom, teacher and students, recognizes that they are responsible for creating a learning community together, learning is at its most meaningful and useful.”. 

I think the power dynamics is interesting between the tutor and students as
it’s a tough one to change. I have found that when the students arrive on the course, they often look looks to us for knowledge and support, thus creating this in-balance, but as the course progresses, they dependency on the tutor shifts and they become more independent and confident in their voice. Sometimes culture plays a part of this as they have only ever seen the role of the
teacher as the dominant power in the classroom. By reading more about Freire work and the democratic relationship, and bell hooks ‘Teaching to Transgress’ it is important that we change this hierarchy structure to one of equal footing .  

 “Witness- Unconscious Bias” 

The video with Josephine Kwhali discussing ‘unconscious bias was a short, honest and succinct talk about the problem with the term, ‘unconscious bias’. By mere fact that by allowing and using the phrase, it’s making it acceptable for people to be bias and as Kwhali says use it  ‘get out of jail free card’.  It made me think of the lecture on “Whiteness and institutional racism: Hiding behind unconscious bias by Shirley Ann Tate and how she breaks down the word into ‘un’ and ‘conscious’ , as she says ‘Un’ is significant because this is where the denial of anti-Black and people of colour racism is maintained’ (Tate 2018)

I had never considered this point of view before, and since hearing it, it has changed my thoughts on the concept of what ‘unconscious bias’s means. Bias is conscious and as Josephine Kwhali said, she was conscious of what racism was from the age of 4. She then goes on to say that with all the years of anti-racist debates, policy and strategies, ‘there is something worrying about what it will take for the unconscious to become conscious, ….and if it really is unconscious then that is of significant concern’. 

If the term ‘unconscious bias’ is allowed to the acceptable norm but at what point does the unconscious bias become conscious and how can we make the conscious the norm. 

The video also discusses the concept of improving the profile of women, but this usually means white middle class women when it should include all women and that we should stand together and be count as equal, irrelevant of race or class. Having read ‘Teaching to Transgress’ by Bell Hooks, it echo’s her calls for all women, to be involved in the feminist movement and that it’s not just for white middle class women. “As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood cannot be fully realized.(hook 2000) There has been a conscious shift to take action and steps have been made to improve women’s profiles, but still not enough is being done for black or minority women or working class.

Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ by Finnigan and Richards 2016.

1. The Report discusses the concept of the identity in students work and how the tutor can influence their work with their own thoughts and options, thus change the direction of the student’s idea. This alienates the student from their own work, as they no longer recognise it and are trying to interpret a tutor’s idea rather than their own. This also stops innovation of a fresh outlook. I think that although we often want the students to look at their culture and identity and reflect that in their work, when we give feedback, we can overlook those aspects and revert to our ‘known’ area of knowledge and positionality. By being mindful of this and sitting alongside them so we support then to enable their vision and creativity.

• The report discusses the imbalance between the tutor’s desire to allow the students to be creative and take risks and how this ambiguity confuses the students. However, new students want guidance and clear briefs so they could complete their learning modules. Initially the students want to settle in and feel reassured but as tutors we want to harness their fresh ideas and not influence them.  Looking at these two points, it shows how impotent the tutors support is to the students, giving enough to encourage confidence but not too much to influences unrecognised change. As tutors our job should be to allow and encourage space for creatively and personally identity to development as well as academic attainment.

I was brought up Roman Catholic. My parents came from a catholic background and wanted to bring me and my sisters up in the same way. Now as adults, none of us go to church or practise. I turned my back on the catholic religion, as didn’t agree with many of their views and I find its history appalling, South America conquistadors, the Magdalena laundries in Ireland, sex scandals, the list goes on. But I do believe in a stronger force so I guess I’d call myself spiritual.

The other day I was with friends and I was questioned if I was a catholic? I said ‘no I’m not now but was raised that way’ and their answer was ‘once a catholic, always a catholic’. I went to protest, and then thought about my catholic guilt which still lives with me every day, I still believe if I speak badly about religion, I will be punished, I pick my kids up of they blaspheme and I still pray to God when something terrible happens. So, I guess I’ve been indoctrinated and no matter how hard I try to step away, it’s part of me,- sadly mainly the guilt!

I respect and am respectful to peoples religious beliefs and their traditions. I understand why religion is so important to so many people. That it is part of who they are. I think that essentially all religions goal is to bring out the good in humanity , but I struggle, when religion beliefs end up causes so much pain and bloodshed.

I’m interested to develop more understanding so I’m looking forward to reading more.

Religion, belief and faith identities in learning and teaching.

This was an incredibly helpful document with loads of great articles and insight. Its great source of information on religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs that can be used to engage discussion.

I found the case studies really helpful as they offered examples of different exercises and methods to engage with students regarding the conversation of religious belief and identity. The case study on Pen portraits, I found a simple yet a clever way to start, getting the students to open up without having to delve too deep. Through creating these opportunities, it enable discussions for everyone, including the teachers, to gain insight into the beliefs and perspectives on a range of issues and topics.

By doing exercises like the pen portraits case studies, gives us, as teachers, a greater understanding of who we are teaching and for the students to understand the teachers thoughts.

The students I work with have the goal of going to the media industry after their MA. It is important not to indoctrinate and spread false truths though the work we do, but to highlight non biased views, equality voices and representation. The media is a key source where these issues can he discussed and promoted to create change, empathy and understanding. The factual programmes that the students make should give a balanced presentation, to not mislead or misinform the viewer. Most importantly to ensure impartiality.

Due to this we need to be aware of who we are when we make these programmes, by addressing our own positionality we can better understand our views and beliefs.

‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.

I found this a fascinating reading, I never considered how entwined church and the state were in the UK. As every state in the EU gives funding to religious schools or for religious educations in state schools. In the UK, for example, we have the Church of England but there is an autonomy, this means that no church can influence the government and the government can’t influence religion. That every person is able to have the ”freedom to believe, worship and form religious organisations within the law”. I find the last quote confusing as there is an autonomy, which means the government can’t influence the church, but is it not being influenced by the fact that religion has to stay within the law?

Changes in religious demography was about social change in Britain and the decline of religion in general and of public religion in particular to Christian beliefs and practise. It seems today that in the UK there is a rise in ‘beliefs without belonging, spirituality or implicit religion’. Believes in God has decreased but belief in the soul has increased. I am one of these people as I no longer believe in one organised religion but I do believe myself to be a spiritual person.

Although there has been a decline in religious beliefs in the UK, there has been an increase in other religions due to immigration. ‘Minority group religions’. have changed the religious geography in Britain. There has been a shift as cities have become more religious than in the countryside. This is because there has been an increase of immigrant to large cities which has increased the number of people practising in minority faiths. For many who immigrated to the UK, their religion is important to how they live their lives and they have kept their beliefs and continued to practise.

The section on Religion and knowledge of religion in UK universities I was surprised to hear about the role of chaplains. I had no idea that this was available to everyone. I think this paper was really enlightening for me as I hadn’t really considered how interlinked religion has on universities and for the students. I didn’t consider religion in my teaching or look into the role of the university. As an associate lecturer, I tended to turn up, teach my lecture and leave. From doing this unit its highlighted to me how important it is to consider religion in our teaching. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the focus of the lesson but we do have to be mindful of our students beliefs and that cultural assumptions can’t just be made.

Freedom of speech is important and that must included everyone. We must respect all opinions even if they are not our own, creating a space for debate and discussion that can facilitate opportunities to enable greater understanding.

UAL has a large number of international students and this is great as it creates a diverse and rich environment to learn. Students are not just learning their chosen craft but also about other cultures, religions, thoughts and opinions. The ideas for case studies to open up these conversation are good but I wouldn’t have know of any of these resources if I had not done this course. This conversation should be a part of the mainstream but how can we do that? Who’s responsibility is it? How do we build this into our teaching, if people aren’t aware that its an important topic to discuss?

These questions were answered in the SoN The little book of Big case studies. It was a really insightful read of how a discussion can go badly go wrong and the impact it had on a student. The book offered tools to help set up discussions and create a safe space to enable open conversations to flourish.

 Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith lecture on Creed.

I found this so interesting to listen to his talk examining identity and religion. In the lecture he talks about how religious practice is as important as religious writings.  I related to the idea that over the centuries all religions have had to reinterpreted their scriptures to fit the times in order to survive, As Kwane said ‘religious identities, like all identities are transformed through history, that’s how they survive’. He goes on to add that ‘religion doesn’t shape society, but society shapes its interpretation of religion’. He talks about women in Islam and how often the scriptures are interpreted to restrict women’s freedom or power, and yet in Bangladesh and Pakistan, ‘countries where Islam is the state religion, have had more women prime ministers, and have a larger percentage of women in their legislatures than the United States does’. In the UK we spend a lot of time talking about the role of women in Islam and use quotes from the Quran to back this up but this shows that different communities interpret their religion in different ways. All religion is open to our own interpretation. That often the stories are metaphors for how we should live our lives.

Later he goes on to say that although you might study the Torah and embraced all its principles and beliefs this doesn’t make you Jewish. So, religion is also an identity, you can be Jewish and not practise. My sister still believes herself to be catholic but no longer practises or goes to church. For her its apart of her identity, her moral compass, the way she lives her life rather than a place to go. I however, I no longer consider myself as Roman Catholic, but I was raised and went to a RC school. Even though I don’t identity with being RC, I’m sure it’s a massive unconscious part of who I am, due to it being a part of my life for so long. I feel that Kwane lecture has provoked me to question my religious identity, something I no longer considered relevant. Can we really step away from our religion, when it was a part of the foundations of our childhood?

I would like to listen to this lecture again at the end of this topic, once I have a wide understanding of the role religion still has in as our society.

Bibliography:

‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher
Education.’ Stimulus paper (Modood & Calhoun, 2015)

Kwame, A.A (2016), The Reith Lectures: Mistaken Identity series, Creed. Available at:BBC Radio 4 – The Reith Lectures, Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities, Creed

Blogging Task 1- Disability

This Blog is a work in progress, I am using it as a way to process my thoughts and my learning. I will continue to edit and update it.

How could you apply the resources to your own teaching practice?

Through my reading, I’m more aware of how some some disabilities might not always be visual and that some students might choose to not disclose information about themselves. It is important to never assume that everyone’s experience of learning is the same. I think as a tutor it’s important to be aware of the issues that some students might be facing and to teach with his in mind.

In Christine Sum Kims film, I love the idea of her ‘reclaiming sound as her property’ even though her way of engaging with it is different from ours. She feels sound rather than hears it. I love the idea that we can all experience things in different ways all the time, and that people shouldn’t just be presumed to not be able to experience something due to their disability.

In the social model of disability it says ‘we are not disabled by our individual differences, we are disabled by the the barriers in the world around us’. This is so poignant, as changes can be made in the buildings, attitudes and of course, the courses we teach. But representing these attitudes in our teaching we can inform change and greater understanding and inclusion.

In my teaching I try to facilitate an environment of sitting along side my students, that they feel there is a relationship of trust. I like to make myself available in an informal manor. Since teaching moved online we have lost the ‘packing up at the end of the session chat with students or the talk down the corridor’. I found that this was often the time when students found a safe informal space that created and opportunity to share. I try to replicate this in my online teaching by being the last one to leave the session and to hang around incase anyone has something they wish to discuss. Occasionally, students have stayed on and shared personal information that affects their learning. I think the issue of mental health has been one that has become more prevalent this year. This is a delicate subject with no visual signposts and one that students don’t often want others, even tutors, to know about. I think the article Mental Health & Creative Healing by Shades of Noir, on mental health highlighted some of the things we as tutor can look out for eg- attendance, building rapport with students and highlighting support services that the University offers, for all the student to accessed if they need to. I try to support the students, by show that we are all have different ways of learn, engage and relate. When giving feedback to be mindful of how I/we deliver it, to be supportive and kind.

How could you integrate the research/work your students do on this subject into your teaching/professional practice?

I think I could incorporate but asking for feedback, how they felt about a unit, if they encountered anything that I could imporve on in the future. to let them know we are all on the journey and that I don’t always have all the answers and wish to learn from them too. That it’s a cycle of ‘to and fro’ .

To check-in and highlight that things can be though and this might affect them at different time but give the resource of space to be able to reach-out if they struggle. On the course I teach, most of the students are from overseas and resource from county to country might differ but also their coping mechanism can change. Not having family and friends to help, meeting new people, anxiety and loneliness can all be unknown feelings.

Mental health and wellbeing is very much a topic that is now being acknowledged and discussed in the UK, this can still be a taboo in many cultures. These are areas that for some of my students could be deemed as ‘hidden or unspoken or misunderstood’.

It not just mental health, in many countries being disabled is treated badly with no support or respect. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-33523742) What we teach can impact everyone and change the conversation.

Can you cite examples? You will share your thoughts within your groups and comment and share further resources you use in your own context.

Christine Sum Kim

Christine Sum Kim is fascinating expression of how, as a deaf, person she has chosen to reclaim sound. She is a visual artist who works with concepts around sound and visual language. She has been deaf since birth, but she deals with sound as a medium that can be physically expressive, communicative, and experienced viscerally. In her work she sets out to ask asks audiences ‘to consider the role that sound and listening have in building an experience of both inner and outer worlds and the way that touch can inform listening and language’.

#DisabilityTooWhite article

This article on Vilissa Thompson talks about the need to diversify disability, and that people are colour should be equally represented, be part of the conversation and for there to be a wider support for their voices. The lack of a media representation makes it hard for people to understand what it’s like to be a person of colour and disabled. By the the media industry highlighting the portrayal of disabled actors and actresses it will allow then to be more visual and enable them to tell their stories. She goes on to-say that when the media does represent people of colour its usually as a ‘charity model’. The lack of representation hinders the ability to belong as a person of colour and as a disabled person.

Mental Health & Creative Healing by Shades of Noir

This was a really insightful guide to many different aspects to mental health, from the key terms that are used to distinguish the types of mental health disorders to addressing depression, anxiety and safe space. I found the essay on ‘key advice for tutors’ a simple yet powerful way on how we can acknowledge, support and address mental health with our students. I will use this in the future and dip into it throughout my teaching as it gives me ideas and reminders as to how we can help and how we all need support even tutors.