Icebreaker!

At the start of the session in the morning we were given an Icebreaker task that involved the group getting into groups of about five and having a dicussion. We were also given a ball of string. Every time a new voice spoke we had to make a loop around our fingers and pass the ball of string onto the group member speaking. It was a nice ice breaker, it’s been a while since i’ve been in the space of being a student rather than a tutor so old anxieties of ‘not fitting in’ and ‘imposter syndrome’ were bubbling under the surface for me but talking to my student colleagues finding synegies with our experiences helped to keep those emotions at bay, the exersise helped in that respect.

Evolving Priorities in UK,HE

Tutors fixed a timeline, with decade markers, a large wall outside the lecture theatre in the corridor and scattered a selection of coloured cards describing significant events on the floor, policies and educational trends/ innovations on the largest table. The tutors invited us to place cards on the timeline and add any additional cards.

Once all the cards were are up on the wall, we were invited to view the timeline and note down their questions/comments.

I recognised and heard of some of the events, especially the ones pre – 2000s but the majority of post 2000s events were mostly new to me and it was interesting hearing some of the academics speak about certain events and adjust the timeline and placement of them according to the conversation. I think these post 2000s events were new to me becuase of the following:

• I haven’t been studying in education in over twenty years.
• I’ve only been a contracted academic for 5 years.
• I haven’t any children going through Higher education.

Social Justice

We were invited in our groups, to derive a definition for social justice.

The tutors presented an exemplar definition and a range of examples from UAL strategy, national policy documents, the Professional Standards Framework and the PgCert course learning outcomes to show the extent to which justice, equality, diversity and inclusion (‘JEDI’) are featured.

Social justice is very important to me In HE as well as in industry. I have had first hand of eniquality within both on reflection of my past experiences. In the wake of Goerge Floyde which was a key moment emphasised and given a ‘card’ on the evolving priorities timeline i found myself duringthe pandemic invoved in a zoom conversation with a number of black and south asian creative academics having theraputic powerful conversations about our experiences within education and in industry. We solidified these conversations and formed a collective called FACE, Fashion Academics Creating Equality. We’ve created talks, symposiums, exhibitions and prizes for diverse students all dedicated to create a more equitable culture within education and industry for over 4 years now. I hope to have a chance to speak more about this within the upcoming units on the PGCERT.

Collaboration and Sharing Disscusion on Arts Pedagogy

The split us into new groups of four.

we had a session we shared our understanding and insights from the preparatory reading in small groups.

This was the part of the day i was most nervouse about due to how far removed the exersise was from how i interact with groups in my professional practice and my dyslexic struggles with reading, absorbing information in a short space of time. It was suggested that the reading prior to the workshop should take 2hrs and it took me at least 5 hrs to read / take notes. The exercise went well despite my anxiety. I think i was more comfortable with a face-to-face discussion than working alone trying to absorb the reading.