Changing Mindsets Project Consortium Symposium, Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), February 2019
Vikki Hill, Educational Developer – Attainment (Identity and Cultural Experience), UAL
This symposium featured presentations of emerging findings from the quantitative and qualitative data collected so far across the project partnership, as well as presentations focused on the different approaches each of the four partner institutions has taken to enabling staff and students to work in partnership to tackle inequalities. A student panel discussion explored the question: “What should “working in partnership” look like in practice?” from the students’ perspectives.*
Much of these discussions centre around themes captured in the zine, the main one being the curriculum – what it constitutes and how specific course curricula relate to the institution as a whole, moving beyond reading lists to consider decolonisation of wider systems and structures influencing what is taught. The other recurring theme is the persistent underrepresentation of academics and students of colour in the arts academy.
Aside from sparking discussion, the zine is also influencing the development of decolonised arts research which is connecting creative practices and pedagogies. As decolonisation grabs the attention of so many and securing support from the institution, we are mindful of something one of the zine contributors state in their essay, a caution to be ‘watchful of ‘decolonisation’ not turning into another trend, but a form of criticality to shake the very group on which UAL stands’ (M.F. 2018, p.17).
Image credit: Crudo Volta & Tommaso Cassinis
Our next step is to open up more spaces for such criticality, with a series of exhibitions and events across the UAL colleges through 2018-19. The Teaching and Learning Exchange are continuing to work in collaboration with the Arts Student Union on developing and facilitating this programme, plus new collaborations with academics, students and librarians at each college to explore decolonization at a more local and disciplinary level.
The series kicks off at the London College of Communication from 4-31 October, with an exhibition in the main Library space and across vitrines in the canteen and Typo café, complimenting other events being organized by the Arts Student Union for Black History Month. Students and staff are invited to attend events on Thursday evenings through October from 5-7pm, in which they will hear recitals from Zine #1 contributors, discussions about decolonising the LCC locale and disciplines, and finally to participate in a critical production event exploring ‘the zine as decoloniser’.
This will be followed by exhibitions and events across the Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges from November to January, then London College of Fashion in the spring and Central Saint Martins in the summer for the anticipated launch of Zine #2. The exhibitions, events and production of Zine #2 intend to sustain such criticality and to continue prompting the ‘opening up of creative spaces to facilitate the production of culture informed by indigenous thinking and doing’ (Singh 2018, p.1).
Image: Decolonising the Arts Curriculum zine and call for further contributions
On Thurs 14 June staff from UAL and Arts SU, and UAL students, came together to celebrate the official launch of a new zine, ‘Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Perspectives on Higher Education.’
Over the last six months the Teaching and Learning Exchange has been working with the Arts Students Union to co-create a zine for staff and students to share thoughts, views and experiences of decolonising the arts curriculumin higher education.
Hansika Jethnani (Arts SU Education Officer 2016-2018), Rahul Patel (Researcher, Curator and Lecturer) and I came together because of our shared determination for race equality and our understanding that decolonisation plays a critical role in this. We identified the need for a platform to discuss decolonisation specifically in relation to the arts curriculum. It was essential that such a platform would be supported by the institution and would allow for diverse perspectives, on this complex and contested topic, from both students and staff at UAL. The decision was made to co-produce a zine, as a way of breaking down some of the barriers to expression that traditional academic publishing can create.
A call for submissions was made in March, and a wealth of responses were received on the why, what and how of decolonisation in relation to arts education in general and specific creative practices. All submissions have been included, and offer personal, professional, creative and critical insights through a range of literary and visual media.
The launch event was held at UAL Central Saint Martins with a display of some of the zine contents. Hansika and I opened the event with some background to the zine’s production, and then Rahul invited contributors up to the stage to speak.
Image: Contributor Abbas Zahedi (and child) talking about the project behind his front cover image.
It was at this moment that we recognised what it was we have created, when hearing the contributors explain how important it has been for them to have space to share their experiences in relation to decolonisation, and inevitably colonisation. Contributors spoke of their own ethnic and national identities in relation to Britain’s colonial past and ‘multi-cultural’ present. They spoke of the current political situation affecting those of the Windrush generation, of islamophobia, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination based on race and nationality which affect both students and staff.
We hope that the zine will be supportive in this respect, whilst also contributing to wider discourses around decolonisation, and helping to inform developments in arts education, for the benefit of all of our community. And we hope for the discussion to continue through further events and the online platform, which has been set up for further perspectives to be shared.
The zine launch display at is open and accessible to the general public in the reception area at UAL Central Saint Martins (King’s Cross) until 9 July.
The Changing Mindsets Project has been taking place at UAL throughout this academic year (2017-18).
In these bite size videos Vikki Hill is in conversation with Dr Gurnam Singh, discussing key learning and teaching concepts in relation to academic achievement.
Pedagogy Bites #4 discusses how critical pedagogy connects the logical and emotional aspects of the learner to advance dialogue and why this is of relevance to universities for addressing differential outcomes for students.
Vikki Hill is UAL Project Associate for Changing Mindsets and UAL Associate Lecturer, Thinking Teaching: An Introduction to Teaching in Higher Education
Dr Gurnam Singh is Principal Lecturer in Social Work at Coventry University and Visiting Fellow in Race and Education at UAL
The Changing Mindsets Project has been taking place at UAL throughout this academic year (2017-18).
In these bite size videos Vikki Hill is in conversation with Dr Gurnam Singh, discussing key learning and teaching concepts in relation to academic achievement.
Pedagogy Bites #3 considers how critical pedagogy, drawing on Bourdieu and Friere’s work, can address symbolic violence and forms of oppression by developing a critical consciousness in both students and staff to address attainment differentials in Higher Education.
Vikki Hill is UAL Project Associate for Changing Mindsets and UAL Associate Lecturer, Thinking Teaching: An Introduction to Teaching in Higher Education
Dr Gurnam Singh is Principal Lecturer in Social Work at Coventry University and Visiting Fellow in Race and Education at UAL
In March 2018 Vikki Hill, Changing Mindsets Project Associate and Associate Lecturer: Thinking Teaching visited Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design under the EU Erasmus Staff Training Mobility programme.
All image credits: Vikki Hill unless otherwise stated.
Image Courtesy of ABK Stuttgart
The three buildings that make up Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (also known as ABK Stuttgart) are situated in the leafy Killesburg Park area of Stuttgart and neighbor an impressive UNESCO World Heritage Site – The Weissenhof Estate, built as part of an ambitious 1927 Modernist Housing exhibition overseen by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with contributions from Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, amongst others.
Against the backdrop of these Modernist structures, I began my 2-day Erasmus Staff Training Mobility in a university, city, state and country with a very strong cultural history, sense of identity and incredibly good traditional cuisine (Swabian). The state of Baden-Württemberg borders both France and Switzerland and is amongst one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The demographic of the student population at the Academy (900 students) is very different to UAL’s and I was interested in learning about their approaches to art education and attainment.
My fantastic hosts, Rector Prof. Dr. Barbara Bader and Junior Professor Annette Hermann, spent time with me giving me an insight into the schooling and higher education systems in Germany as well as sharing their own research. Annette is the newly appointed professor for teaching and learning and is responsible for FLAG.
Image Courtesy of the Flag project, ABK Stuttgart
FLAG is an innovative learning and teaching laboratory for art education. It is situated at the intersection of the art teacher training program at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, and its associated partners in the educational domain. The aim of the project is to intensify the integration of academic and in-school training by way of research-oriented and research-based teaching and learning opportunities for students, teachers, and professors alike. By implication, this cross-institutional and intergenerational endeavour aspires to closely link (art) educational theory and practice.
As part of her PhD, Annette has been developing an action research project with students and teachers to explore the role of an art teacher with a particular focus on motivation and interest. What was particularly interesting to me, in context of attainment, was our discussion about the many levels of inclusion and exclusion experienced by the student population that studies Fine Art Teacher Education. One of the most startling statistics is that 60% of fathers 40% of mothers of students studying to be fine art teachers have at least a Masters degree. This is well above the national average, statistically. Annette had also researched the inheritance rate – 22.2% of all students had a family member who was a teacher.
In my interview with Silke Heimlicher, Head of Academic Affairs, we discussed positive discrimination in context of gender and disability in the workplace and although changes have begun to take place, the gender pay gap still exists in Germany.
Although the work on sexual discrimination is landed, there is no data collection or analysis in context of race. Partly due to there being a very low number of students identifying as non-white German at ABK-Stuttgart, and also from a cultural perspective where ethnic monitoring is seen as highly problematic, there is currently no institutional lens to view the experiences of students from BME backgrounds.
Silke explained that although monetary obstacles in accessing higher education are reduced (there are no university fees in the current German system), the barriers to progression exist culturally.
Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and those whose parents did not attend university, are more likely to be expected to enter an apprenticeship. Mindset, rather than performance, is a deciding factor in parental support in continuing education.
Sonja Fendal, Head of International Student Experience and her colleague, Samantha Schramm, discussed the difficulties that some Erasmus exchange students from the UK face in terms of language acquisition. This was particularly interesting as, in context of my attainment work, I often hear staff refer to ‘international students’ as a homogenous group, and it was refreshing to consider that we are all ‘international’ and that language and cultural differences are an inherent part of our global experience.
My time in Stuttgart would not have been complete without a visit to the Staatsgalerie to see the permanent collection alongside the Master of Messkirch exhibition. This was an incredibly informative show that detailed the work of an artist from Swabia who adhered to Roman Catholic practices that countered the Reformation that encompassed the whole of Württemberg.
What I gained from the Erasmus Staff Mobility
The Erasmus Staff Mobility offered a much-needed period of reflection on my own work as Changing Mindsets Project Associate and the opportunity to share best practice and learn from the academics I met. The networking has encouraged a collaboration between myself and Annette Hermann to explore attainment, progression and intersectionality across our institutions. I also connected with teaching staff and was able to introduce them, by email, to academics at UAL to share their practice and approaches.
I was previously unaware of the cultural specifics around language and terminology such as the word ‘race’ that in Germany is only used for animals, not humans. This is influenced by Germany’s 20th Century history and it was important for me to consider the impact of this in how I design and plan my workshop presentation for the upcoming ELIA conference in Rotterdam. It was through my conversations and interviews at ABK-Stuttgart that I explored the impact of presenting work about race and attainment in a North-Western European context.
My understanding of the education system in Germany and the routes into university was a particular point of interest. Barbara Bader explained the progression to become an art teacher and the government accreditation that is received.
Finally, to be an outsider, to be reliant on others for translation, opens up a space to build empathy towards UAL staff and students whose first language is not English. I am happy to discuss the application process or anything further about the exchange. I would like to thank Prof. Susan Orr, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Bertha Archer, Erasmus Finance Administrator, for their support from UAL, and also to Rector Prof. Dr. Barbara Bader and Junior Professor Annette Hermann for their kind welcome and hospitality in Stuttgart.
A new round of Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Applications for UAL staff (Technical, Administrative and Academic) have opened for travel between July 2018 and February 2019.
The Changing Mindsets Project has been taking place at UAL throughout this academic year (2017-18).
In these bite size videos Vikki Hill is in conversation with Dr Gurnam Singh, discussing key learning and teaching concepts in relation to academic achievement.
Pedagogy Bites #2 discusses the role of critical pedagogy in social justice – the transformation of oppressive structures – and why this is of relevance to universities for addressing differential outcomes for students.
*Please use subtitles as sound levels are quiet*
Vikki Hill is UAL Project Associate for Changing Mindsets and UAL Associate Lecturer, Thinking Teaching: An Introduction to Teaching in Higher Education
Dr Gurnam Singh is Principal Lecturer in Social Work at Coventry University and Visiting Fellow in Race and Education at UAL
The Changing Mindsets Project has been taking place at UAL throughout this academic year (2017-18).
In these bite size videos Vikki Hill is in conversation with Dr Gurnam Singh, discussing key learning and teaching concepts in relation to academic achievement.
Pedagogy Bites #1 discusses how critical pedagogy has developed through the perspective of political and philosophical educational theory. Dr Singh explains why this is of relevance to universities for addressing differential outcomes for students.
*Please use subtitles as sound levels are quiet*
Vikki Hill is UAL Project Associate for Changing Mindsets and UAL Associate Lecturer, Thinking Teaching: An Introduction to Teaching in Higher Education
Dr Gurnam Singh is Principal Lecturer in Social Work at Coventry University and Visiting Fellow in Race and Education at UAL
“Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Perspectives on Higher Education”
Deadline: 5pm Fri 09 March
This zine is a Student Union and Teaching & Learning Exchange co-production, and is part of the ongoing work to address the attainment gaps that persist at UAL and the call to widen the curriculum.
It is aimed at both students and staff, and intends to offer a collection of perspectives, ideas and thoughts on decolonising the curriculum, especially from a creative arts and design perspective.
It is not intended to be a definitive education tool, but rather a zine that will engage those who are currently not engaging with these topics, raise awareness and open up conversations that will allow people to take things further in their courses and collaborate within and outside the university setting.
The University has launched the Academic Enhancement Model (AEM) this year and we are pleased to introduce the four senior academic leads at each college:
The aim of AEM is to improve student experience and student attainment at UAL measured against four key metrics:
NSS
Overall attainment against sector benchmarks
The attainment differentials between Home BAME and Home White students
The attainment differentials between International and Home students
AEM joins up attainment activity across the university to give courses focused support to reach our target of closing the attainment gap by 2022.
We’re looking forward to working with Course teams across UAL in the coming year and to sharing good practice, initiatives and projects focused on closing the attainment gaps and improving the student experience at UAL.
Please do get in touch with your college lead if you’d like more information.
