Climate Justice:

Climate justice encompasses environmental, social and racial justice.

After my initial reflections on reading material for this topic, I was thankful for the relisation that elements of climate justice does run through my current practice.

UAL released the Climate action plan in 2021. The quote articulates its purpose.

“This plan is a project of cultural recovery. In which issues of climate, racial and social justice intersect to address structural inequalities.”. Till.J (2021) UAL climate action plan

At LCF I taught on a unit called Better Lives. This unit is completed by 1^st year fashion design students in their 2^nd term. It has been designed to deliver on the themes of Diversity, Social Responsibility and sustainability in fashion, in the hope that students would move into their design careers with the imbedded practice of designing for environmental and social impacts. I delivered lectures and workshops on different approaches to sustainability through design.  As a result of the lectures I designed and delivered, the lectures themselves have expanded my own knowledge of the subject. This knowledge of sustainable practices, and experience of teaching, helped me understand ways to change the way we teach in order to address the issues.  I now embed this knowledge into my current DPS practice and the question of sustainability has been added to the DPS final placement report.

One area covered in UAL’s Climate Action Plan, is the intension to change the way we teach.

It highlights that, we not only change what we teach, but also our approach to teaching and learning. Using the science of climate change, students are introduced to different systems of thinking that in turn enable them develop skills and make better creative decisions.

An aim is for teachers to be supported and trained in the areas of climate justice so that they feel confident in their knowledge and skills to make changes to their curriculums. UAL Career action plan (2021).

I believe this aim to be of high value.   In my experience teaching sustainability, I benefited greatly from the inadvertent training I gained through working collaborative with my peers, some of whom were sustainability experts and renowned researchers. Without it, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable implementing it into my current practice.  Having said that, there is so much more to learn because my course has an element of economic and social injustice running through it. We are currently trying to encourage all our placement providers/ businesses to pay our student at least daily expenses and end the over reliance and sometimes exploitative nature of unpaid placements.

References:

UAL climate action plan 2021

https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/374128/Climate-Action-Plan_.pdf

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How do I feel about being observed? This was one of the 1^st questions asked in this briefing.

My answer at the time was ok…. I have been observed a few times in my teaching career so I feel I’ve learnt the art of being open to feedback. Because I have only been teaching 5 years, I welcome the opportunity to continue to learn and develop, especially from other teachers and my peers.

The same however cannot be said for Stephanie who was a fictional character written as part of a case study by  Bruce Macfarlane’s 2004 book Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice . (Macfarlane, 2003)

This was a very interesting read. I may appreciate or even enjoy the activity of being observed and receiving feedback however, not all teachers do. How we are observed and the feedback we are given can affect us differently.

In the case of Stephanie, she found the receiving of student feedback both stigmatising and a botheration. I do appreciate this. I have recently requested that the DPS course I lead be added to feedback on course committee. Although I feel confident about my course, I am nervous at the thought of negative feedback and receiving it so publicly! Sometimes feedback feels unjust and unfair!

This case study raised questions to me about our personal motivations to teach, our investment in our practice and passion for our subject matter. And for our own professional growth and development: Our willingness to not only be teachers but learners.

How easy is it to adapt our teaching methods, to be inclusive, to not make assumptions about our learners and to always stay student focused?

1^st step for Stephanie? A re-evaluation of her commitment and time to teach, to not take feedback too personally and seek the support and mentorship of others, to relate, inspire and promote professional growth.

References:

Bruce Macfarlane 2004 book Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice (Routledge).

This blog is a reflection of a cross programme event held by Dr Neil Currant.

What does it mean to practice and deliver compassionate assessment and
feedback?

It was helpful that this lecture started with a re-establishing of what it
means to be compassionate. Compassion can be interpreted and categorised by
some as being sensitive, patient, kind, empathetic. It can means different
things to each of us as demonstrated when the group was ask to share what
being compassionate meant to them.

Dr Currant shared this definition: ” Compassion means the noticing of
social or physical distress to others and the commitment to reduce or prevent
that distress”. (Gilbert 2017:189)

My immediate thought on this was…..ok so making assessment and feedback
easier, However Dr Currant explained that compassion in assessment and feedback
is not about lowering standards or making things easier. In fact, students
actually want to maintain standards. It’s about minimising distress.

There are many reasons why we assess, and the list of reasons shared by my
fellow classmates was endless: To engage, reflect, check understanding,
motivate, help develop, for validation, check engagement, course success and
learning.  We understand the principle aspect of assessment well enough.

Assessment is so fundamental, and the QA aspects and assessment regulations are
very important, but is it compassionate?

“Compassionate assessment and feedback must be underpinned by equality not
equity”.

I found this to be an interesting quote from Dr Currant, as one of my
questions during the session was what about parity for all students and isn’t
one of our responsibilities as teachers to prepare and support students to take
challenging feedback, because we are preparing them for an industry that can be
brutally judgmental and opinionated! I think that compassionate assessment and
feedback can be a mixture of both equality and equity because part of it comes out
of the awareness that some students find certain forms of assessment distressing
so we create an environment where all can flourish fairly………

References:

Gilbert, P. (2017) Compassion : concepts, research and applications. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

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“Where do I begin?”…………..

With anxious trepidation, just preparing for my first introductory workshop was far more daunting than the workshop itself! The questions to ask ourselves, the initial research, the reading required and the compiling of a mini presentation felt quite overwhelming.   No place to just sit back online and take notes! Active processing of thoughts and participation was required!

For the 1^st part of my presentation I decided to share a series of images that depicted my professional and creative identity. I worked in fashion industry as a technical and product development specialist for 17 years. This involved a large amount of collaborative work and travel resulting in a humbling amount of personal and professional growth. I shared images of my travels visiting other specialists and creatives/craft people around the globe which has shaped my own creative and professional outlook.

Another image I shared was that of a roadmap. The roadmap marked out all the questions we ask ourselves on the start of our professional journey’s. This forms part of my identity as a careers tutor and as I’m starting on a personal academic journey to obtaining my PgCert I thought it quite relevant as well.

The research I conduct in order to share what I had learnt about pedagogy and /or Pedagogic research was so challenging for the simple fact of “where do I begin?” How will I find something that literally “sparks” my interest. Fundamentally what can I read and understand? The language used in some of the papers I read was like a foreign language and truly head scratching!

However, I found something I could relate to. It was written by a careers and employability practitioner called Hannah Breslin who wrote a piece titled: Wittier, cleverer and more ambitious: Moving beyond a standardised approach to skills audit exercises  ( Breslin.H 2017)

This piece introduced me to a principle called Ipsative teaching method for Self-Assessment.

The Ipsative model of self-assessment: Supporting students in identifying and reflecting on their own development and skillset.

As I use skill audits in my own teaching practice, this piece was so relatable and tangible that I felt reassured that I would be able to get past the fear of academic theory and make direct correlations between pedagogy/ pedagogic research and my own practice.

This piece raised many questions for me, namely the perceived lack of confidence students have in assessing and identifying their own strengths and skillset. What can I do in my teaching practice to help students overcome barriers and encourage them to feel uninhibited when promoting themselves as a professional candidate?

It was useful to know how the implementation of an ipsative model can help students be the author of their own skills audit, based on their own reflections rather than a prescribed tick list. That makes sense!

1^st hurdle jumped. I’m on my way……..

References:

Breslin.H (2017) Wittier, cleverer and more ambitious: Moving beyond a standardised approach to skills audit exercises /SPARK / Volume 2.No . 1