Inclusive pedagogy in the context of a 3-day intensive teaching weekend.

Context & positionality

I teach a unit on MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise (CSM) which is delivered largely online (November – February) and paired with Hong Kong University. I typically teach 25 students in Hong Kong as well as the “UK” cohort of around 15 – 20 students. What is described as the UK cohort is typically a very international group with around 40% of students based in the UK and the remainder being from a variety of countries worldwide. My unit also includes an intensive 3-day face-to-face teaching weekend at Central Saint Martins for the UK cohort. Students will travel from their home countries to attend these sessions. Teaching takes place from 4 – 7pm on the Friday, 10 – 6pm on the Saturday and 10 – 4pm on the Sunday so the days are fairly long. I plan to focus on the in-person element of the course for this intervention and to focus on the online learning environment for my Unit 3 intervention. It will be my third time delivering the intensive teaching weekend this year which takes place at the end of November (week 2 of the 12 week unit).

In terms of positionality, I am a white female in my early 40’s, originally from Northern Ireland and fairly new to lecturing. For the past 14 years, I have been running a successful craft market business and creative community so am able to draw on my own practical experience of being a company director as well as an extensive network of creative professionals in my teaching. Another factor which is relevant in terms of my positionality is that I am also an alumni of the course, having graduated in 2020. This is helpful in that I also have my own student experience to reflect upon.

Intervention

In thinking about how the student experience could be improved, I will reflect upon diversity amongst students and how the intersectionality of their various characteristics could impact their learning experience (Crenshaw, 1991). Identity characteristics are often discussed by the students in the context of their own interests and their ideas for the end of unit assessment. Race, social class and disability are the more obvious characteristics which spring to mind but it is also likely that less obvious factors such as faith may also be relevant to the student’s classroom experience. Some of the challenges I would like to address through my intervention are how to create a sense of community amongst the students and how to facilitate the sharing of their own diverse skills and experiences.

I have been thinking about this specifically in the context of the student presentation element of the face-to-face weekend. Students are tasked with reflecting on their journey with the course and how it may help them with their future career by delivering a short presentation to their classmates. Currently peer feedback is given verbally and generally led by me as the tutor. I would like to introduce a digital feedback mechanism to sit alongside the verbal, not only to encourage everyone to engage in the feedback process but also to enable those who may not be so willing to speak up in class to partake fully in the exercise. The main reference I will be using for this is Freire (2006) and his “problem-posing” model which emphasises the importance of dialogue in teaching.

References:

Cook,J., Hull, L., Crane, L. & Mandy, W. (2021). Camouflaging in an everyday social context: An interpersonal recall study

Crenshaw, K., (1991) Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp.1241-1299

Freire, P (2006) Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, Continuum.

Freire, P. (1985) The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, and Liberation. London: Bergin & Garvey

Oliver, M. (1990). The Individual and Social Models of Disability.

Tien, J. (2019) Teaching identity vs positionality: Dilemmas in social justice education, curriculum enquiry, 49:5, 526 – 550