Blog Post 3 : Race

When I started my PGCert, I had only heard of SoN briefly. I’ve been overwhelmed with so many interesting resources. It’s not been easy for me to see how I would apply these resources to my teaching practice. After much thought I decided I could do this in the following ways:

Reading corner incorporating diversity

During the IPU we were introduced to the UAL anti-racist plan and we had a discussion in our groups. It’s great to see UAL has something in place but this plan will only make a difference if we all do our own bit in making changes within the University. I was set an objective in my PRA to ensure I do one thing that contributes to this plan. I was very confused at the time as to how I would be able to do this within my role as a Learning Zone Senior Advisor. It’s only now after being on the PGCert that I realised there are many ways. We could create a anti-racist LZ. “Decolonsing the curriculum” (UAL Anti-Racism Action Plan, 2021, p11) proposes: “Produce materials which enhance teaching practices and support student learning and experience” and also to “Recognise the work of colleagues to further the decolonising agenda through curriculum and pedagogy”.

We currently have a book corner with books we recommend as staff or we put relevant books there for special days etc. This area can be used to have so many different books on decolonisation. I feel throughout my practice I could also reference SoN and all their online resources available in my workshops so students feel they have a rich source of resources on their student journey.

2^nd Resource – Hahn Tapper (2013) ‘A pedagogy of social justice education: social identity, theory and intersectionality’,

My understanding of this this article is that it explores a theoretical and practical understanding of social justice education through an examination of a US-based intergroup educational organization running conflict transformation programs since 2005. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with and surveys completed by administrators, educators, and student participants of the organization’s programs, this article analyses a case example of social justice education that integrates Freirean thought, social identity theory, intersectionality, and experiential education, including empowerment and responsibility education. Offering different programs aimed at distinct constituencies yet all based in the same pedagogy, the organization’s primary goal is to empower participants to engage in social justice activism.

One thing that really stood out to me and its very relatable, “He asserts that one way to move students toward freedom is to create an educational structure whereby both teachers  and students engage in habitual, critical reflection, a model that takes into account their identities. In his own words, “Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication, Tapper 2013, p414.

With the first pillar being Paulo Freires teachings, each additional pillar draws from and builds upon the preceding pillars.

Freirean thinking is central. Freires model of education which is co-created through the integration of identities and experiences of all participants is present in the pedagogical approach throughout.

This core emphasis on the identities of participants is developed through the application of Social Identity Theory (SIT).

Tapper situates SIT in the context of another theory in the field of intergroup education namely, Contact Hypothesis _{(Allport, 1954)}. Contact Hypothesis emphasises the potential for interactions between certain groups to ‘deconstruct or even eliminate (…) negative stereotypes’ _{(Tapper, 2013 p.415)} between them. This approach is based around individual identities being reviled to uncover shared humanity. However, Tapper critiques it as having limited reach (or even potentially being counter productive when ‘connections’ are only made on a superficial level), as it fails to take social identities and inherent power dynamics into account. For this reason the organisation uses a SIT model from which to build a framework around group interactions.

The organisations use of SIT feels more comprehensive and more rooted in lived reality, as it takes account of the many overlapping group and personal identities individuals hold. Considering the conditions in which these collective identities become more or less important to the individual. Tapper goes on to hi-light how SIT can be misused when taken to the extremes of only recognising group OR individual identities and disregarding other elements of positionally.

However, Tapper describes the institutions’ understanding and application of intergroup encounters through the third pillar; Intersectionality.

  “The Core Pillars of the Organisation’s Pedagogy of social justice Education” Tapper. 2013, p.426

Resource 4 – Ted talk video “Witness Unconscious Bias” video.

This reminded me of our session and discussion after watching Professor Shirley Anne Tate, Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind unconscious bias. After much thought, initially I thought it would difficult to include this within my teaching practice but I think within our community of students, maybe students could be challenged on how they think about their own (un) conscious bias and their privileges. I think this video demonstrates that we need to take responsibility for a persons bias and also to look at the impact on others of not doing so.

● Review ‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ Finnigan and Richards 2016.

This report addresses the issues faced by students of colour in terms of getting into university, progressing from year to year and the grades they attain. I was already aware of the retention and attainment gap between white students and students of colour, so found some of the reasons attributed to this issue to be of more interest, especially in terms of how I might help the current and future students of colour that visit the Learning Zone.  So two things I learnt:

1. Staff can be a barrier towards supporting students of colour at all stages. Bias can kick-in during the admissions process where the admissions staff have power in terms of deciding who has potential and ability. Later staff can easily stifle an individual’s exploration of their own identity, steering them away from difficult topics that a student wants to explore if they feel ill-equipped to supervise that student’s project. “For Bourdieu, it is an ‘obvious truth’ (Bourdieu, 1991) that art is implicated in the reproduction of inequalities, and that the relationship between culture and power is such that taste creates social differences. Certain kinds of art can only be decoded, and appreciated by those who have been taught how to decode them (Bourdieu, 1984). The cultural capital of the working classes, and certain ethnic groups, is devalued and delegitimised (Bourdieu, 1984). (Burke and Mcmanus 2012, p. 21)”

“Sabri (2015) discusses the exclusionary practices within the Art and Design subject area which can be observed at times in the Academy, and within the retention and attainment data, where, although there is a liberal sense of all-encompassing, tolerant, open, risk-taking and democratising spaces within the art studio, some students soon learn that these are not places for them.”

2. I learnt that there are many initiatives being conducted by Finnigan and Richards to understand and improve retention and attainment for students of colour. The case studies include approaches and findings that can be adopted by courses, ranging from staff training and education (currently via this PGCert and the MA), student centred learning, and race equality. I plan to review my practice around these three themes, adopting the recommendations from the report. I would also like to offer up my course to Finnigan and Richards for their next experiment, as I feel there are many areas that can be improved.

My final question/provocation is how can I engage with current students to discuss issues of discrimination without them feeling threatened or intimidated within my role as Senior Advisor?

 I would appreciate hearing your views from an inclusivity perspective, especially as you will have had so much experience of staff getting it right, but also getting it wrong. I don’t want to get it wrong. I particularly like the student artefacts approach. I wonder how effective this could be as both a short and long-term approach.