When reflecting on my teaching practice as we near the end of 2020, it is impossible to ignore the impact of two seismic events that have occurred this year, which have helped inspire and define my approach to teaching, but also changed the landscape of teaching in Higher Education.
Chronologically, those events were:
- The global COVID-19 pandemic and
- The murder of George Floyd and increased prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement
The Covid-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the globe, impacting the UK most prominently in March, which completely disrupted our social and economics norms and causing an unprecedented challenge for university teaching as we were forced into lockdown. For students at staff at UAL, this meant a wide-reaching schedule of changes to university ‘norms’ including, but not limited to:
- Shift from on-campus to blended/online teaching
- Staff and students working mostly from home
- Postponing of graduation ceremonies
- Changes to assessment practices
Personally, the biggest change to adjust to was the transition to blended/online teaching delivery. Initially, the scale of this change, sent anxious shockwaves through my body as this was a dive into unchartered territory; all my teaching until this point had been on-campus. I quickly identified some of the challenges affecting me as a direct result of this, including:
- Barriers to student relationships – lack of human contact
- Technical problems with resources and platforms
- Mental health and wellbeing – trying to find balance and calm in the chaos
Thanks to a wealth of resources, guidelines and guidance available online, including from UAL (UAL Teaching Online resources) (UAL, 2020), about managing the move to online learning , I found that I have been able to tackle these challenges in a structured, effective way. For example, I have found a trial and error method of working with anything technical (such as learning to use new platforms e.g. BB Collaborate/Microsoft Teams) has enabled me to learn the best ways around such problems.
In addition, I have been able to set boundaries for myself as a teaching professional, but also as a mother and human being, to enable me to be reflexive and adapted to cope with the emotional labour of the adjustments this year.
I have however, found many pros to this new way of working including:
- Sense of community brought about by the commonality of the changes impacting everyone simultaneously (Halls Life, 2020)
- Effective way of working online – saving travel time and money and defining own timetable
- More opportunity for inclusion for students e.g. opportunities for disabled
I have found that while there have been challenges in adapting to this new way of working, I am also excited by the opportunities it brings. Particularly with regards to the opportunity for a more inclusive way of working with better accessibility for disabled and other marginalised students, we are better equipped as teachers to support their diverse requirements.
I feel optimistic about the future of education, as I believe it can really be tailored to be accessible for all types of student and learning modes. I have also learnt that I am particularly reflexive in challenging situations like Covid-19 and I surprised myself at my ability to adapt swiftly as a teacher.
Despite this, Covid-19 has been an incredibly scary illness which has created massive uncertainly. It has not only brought about a massive program of change from university norms, it has also highlighted the systemic racial inequalities affecting people from BAME backgrounds and the theories of intersectionality.
The murder of George Floyd and increased prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted this further. This was a particularly traumatic time for me personally, as it was for communities across the world. However, this event really forced me to reflect on my positionality considering the impact of my teaching on students and reaffirming my social justice led outlook and approach to my practice.
I adopt a pedagogic approach which puts inclusivity at the forefront, adopting methods to teaching which aims to build a more diverse and inclusive learning environment. This is especially important at UAL, who prematurely described themselves as an ‘anti-racist establishment’. (Crawley, 2020)
At a time where there is so much confusion and heightened perceptions of racial inequalities and marginalisation, it is important for me to work towards enhancing my students’ feelings of being valued, respected, supported and included when learning. Therefore, I have adapted my practice to teaching to include compassionate pedagogic approaches.
‘Compassionate pedagogy encourages educators to foster belonging by creating conditions that acknowledge structural oppression and reduce their impact on our students’ – (The Exchange, 2019).
I take comfort in knowing that my methods to teaching will help close the attainment gap and help to address inequitable student experience (Ahern, 2019).
Some methods I actively practice include:
- Regular, structured well-being ‘check-ins’ with students
- Ensuring resources are provided in a timely manner in accessible formats
- Selecting resources which contain relatable perspectives and experiences for students
My commitment to social-justice led teaching also feeds into the UAL Social Justice and Anti-Racism Strategy, which has proposes a provisional action plan to work towards on improving attainment, equality, diversity and inclusion at UAL (Patel, 2020).
On one hand, as I am early in my teaching career, I almost feel ‘grateful’ to have two massively impactful and defining events to reflect on to help inform my views and practice as a teacher very early on. This is because the nature of these events has made me truly appreciate my role in helping to create some sense of stability, calm and inclusion. However, I cannot ignore the emotionally laborious toll of these events on myself, colleagues and students which will continue to affect us all still for some time.
References
- Ahern, S. (2019). ‘Compassionate Pedagogy in Practice’. UCL Blogs. 3rd July 2019. Available at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2019/07/03/compassionate-pedagogy-in-practice/#:~:text=%20Compassionate%20Pedagogy%20in%20Practice%20%201%20Abstract.,moves%20to%20liberate%20curricula%20can%20be…%20More%20
- Halls Life (2020) UAL: Our Community During Lockdown. 8th June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INM3iu9ADqg&feature=emb_logo
- Hockings, C.S. (2010). Inclusive learning and teaching in higher education: a synthesis of research. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/inclusive-learning-and-teaching-higher-education-synthesis-research (Accessed: 14th Nov, 2020)
- Shades of Noir (2020). Disabled People: The Voice of Many. Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people (accessed 12th November).
- The Exchange (2019). Fostering Belonging and Compassionate Pedagogy. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/223417/AEM3_FBCP.pdf (accessed 12th November).
- UAL (2020). Teaching Online. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/teaching-online (Accessed: 27th Nov, 2020)
- UAL (2020-21). Blended Academic Delivery Model. Available at: https://artslondon.sharepoint.com/sites/CanvasContent/Documents/Teaching%20and%20Learning/UAL%20Blended%20Academic%20Delivery%20Model%202020-21%20Guidance.pdf (Accessed: 27th Nov, 2020)
- Universities UK (2020). Covid-19 silver linings: how the pandemic has increased opportunities for disabled university students. Available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/blog/Pages/covid-19-disabled-students-increased-opportunities.aspx (Accessed: 27th Nov, 2020)