Introduction, Context and Challenges
I am Unit Leader and Lecturer for Fashion Histories, on MA Fashion Cultures and Histories at LCF. Although an HPL, I lead this unit, communicating with guest speakers, giving two lectures and taking students on external visits. The Unit promotes critical thinking about historical narratives. I have a co-tutor who assists at intervals. I am present at all lectures, liaising with speakers in advance. Students produce a cultural review and an essay. See proposal and figure 1 for additional context.
I have been the Unit Leader for three years and completed an iteration of the MA ten years ago as a mature student. This positionality helps me empathise with students. Additionally, my position as an intermediary between staff, the course leader and students, and HPL status, impact on my intervention. This acknowledges limitations, as well as small windows of opportunity (Shen and Sanders, 2023). I have greater involvement with this cohort than my other teaching and some input in the scheme of work and session framing.
I will develop lecture slides with greater consideration for diverse representation and inclusive formatting. This model will be communicated to guest lecturers. I will plan external visits and the space of the classroom with inclusivity in mind. Students are asked to think critically about historical research, who is represented and who is missing.
As in figure 1, I was given freer rein last year and considered diversity and inclusion in themes and speakers, drawing the latter from outside the university. This appeared to be successful judging by positive student engagement with each other and activities (see PGcert Unit 1 Case Study 2), post-lecture discussion with guests, student independent use of archives in their assignments and positive comments from colleagues.
However, my intervention responds to recent changes and feedback from the student survey, course committee and the external examiner’s report. Comments indicate that students were unclear of the unit purpose and found multiple speakers and visits overwhelming. This has been hard to reconcile with my positive observations and may relate to students seeing themselves as consumers (Flodén, 2017). Flodén (2017) advocate that feedback prompts change but is also guided by experience and the maintenance of academic integrity.
This overlaps with changes in LCF policy on the use of external speakers. As a result, the course leader has reshaped a brief, written the scheme of work and selected speakers, who now all come from LCF.
Inclusive Learning: Actions and Reasons
Diversity of representation (Hall, et. al. 2013), as well as forward planning (blog 1) and prompts to critical thinking, promote inclusivity for an international cohort (fig. 1) that includes mature students. It accounts for student disabilities, which are often not visible (blog 1 and UAL EDI Report, 2024). I aim consider all abilities in advance to construct a learning experience best for everyone, without singling students out, pre-empting and removing barriers to learning (blog posts; Garrett, 2024; UAL 2018). This includes anticipating access, stairs/elevators and travel time for external visits.
Intersectional factors may disadvantage students, producing awarding gaps (see blog posts; Crenshaw, 1991). UAL data is dominated by undergraduate performance and practice-based courses, making it hard to assess the impact of gender bias, LGBTQ+ and mature status for my MA. See figure 1 for typical demographics. The UAL EDI Data Report (2024, p. 17) highlights a slight increase in home undergraduate mature students to 14%, while 76.2% of students are female identifying (p. 28) and 23% now identify as LGBTQ+. How these factors intersect on the academic MA remains unclear.
I am predominantly informed by formal and informal student feedback, assessment grades and my closer relationship with this small group. On the Unit, there have been no significant gaps, students overwhelmingly attain A or B grades.
As guest lecturers now come only from within the department, opportunities for students to experience diverse authoritative positionalities, are limited. Diversifying speakers can work towards overcoming epistemic injustice (Rekis, 2023), increasing potential for students to feel represented, while potentially introducing discordant views (Henderson, 2019). The limitation to home speakers places additional significance on lecture content as the site of inclusive representation (Hall et. al., 2013).
I aim to ask lecturers to consider broadening represented identities in slides and/or discuss why some groups are missing, in order to embed an inclusive approach across the Unit (Maloney, 2020). This is directed by PGcert materials and the ‘protected characteristics’ enshrined in law (Gov.uk), but I acknowledge that what is considered a marginalised group depends on my positionality and that of speakers. This approach more specifically addresses the groups who have frequently been excluded from the white, female, western framing of fashion history.
I want students to understand that their identities and experiences are relevant and welcomed, both in the classroom and as subjects of study. I also remain aware that factors of identity may significantly shape how students think about the world and interpret assignments (blog 2). Attempting diverse representation risks stereotyping and tokenism, but I am reassured by peer feedback (fig. 2 and verbal comments). While I can guide lecturers, I cannot control their content.
While I have some misgivings about positionality statements (blog post 3), this is implicit in week 1, in which my co-tutor and I discuss who we are and how we came to study and teach fashion history. I am also mindful of my positionality in terms of my role as facilitating the student experience and the relative power I hold within the classroom as a more experienced guide (Bayeck, 2022; Addison, 2014). The discussion of positionality is embedded in prompts for students to think critically about history and themselves as researchers. As across the blog posts, I reflect on my privileges, noting as in critical race theory, that my work will include biases, which I work to surface, while drawing this to the attention of students as a way to think about their own research.
Feedback and Reflective Responses
Tutorial feedback suggested including a reflective student exercise to gauge the impact of my intervention, drawing on Gibbs’ (1988) model. I may progress with this, but am tentative. The external examiner suggested a written student reflection but this hasn’t been included in the scheme of work or metnioned by my Course Leader. Multiple avenues for feedback exist and the challenge is rather in responding. I will consider introducing a simplified reflective exercise in the final group tutorial, depending on my reading of students needs at this time. I don’t want students to confuse this with a brainstorming session and they need to focus on imminent submissions. It was also suggested that I make students co-learners and alternate in my role as a facilitator and practitioner. I will keep this in mind, especially in my contributions to guest sessions, seminar activities, group discussion and off-site visits.
Tutorial feedback suggested ways slide material could be made more inclusive. This was useful, specifically in noting resources about Alt text (Harvard online). While I aim to make my slide material as inclusive as possible, I am tentative about being too prescriptive for other staff and offering a template. As they are senior staff with PGcert and PhD training, a level of trust is warranted. I intend to summarise key aspects (e.g. font size and background colour) and include a link to further guidance (Harvard and Oxford websites; LCC Teaching Hub). I will formulate a template for this instructive e-mail to lecturers, which will need to be agreed with the Course Leader.
Tutor feedback made me newly situate my actions in light of institutional and national frameworks and policies. I will further investigate and critique policy and my alignment, such as those of Advance HE and UAL’s Access sand Participation Plan. Section 3D of the Plan links to my intervention in aiming at ‘decolonising teaching and learning, belonging and compassionate pedagogy and assessment for social justice’ (p. 17).
Peer feedback suggested that I include videos and activities to overcome restrictions in speakers (fig. 3). My Course Leader now requests that all speakers include one key reading and 5-6 suggested readings. I am wary of overloading students and the need to encourage their engagement with academic sources. I do see opportunities for developing class activities to promote more active engagement with resources and I will review the course reading list. Prompted by peer comments I discovered Bellet’s (2023) text, which may inform my future approach to teaching fashion history. Comments also made me more conscious of who has written the resources we suggest to students (fig. 2 and verbal comments)
Evaluation, Future Actions and Conclusions
I intend to roll out most of these ideas, although I will consider the extent to which some notes on supporting materials and additional opportunities for feedback can be put into action. Guidance for speakers is circumscribed by my Course Leader. My position as an intermediary can sometimes be difficult to manage and my intentions can’t always be exercised. Based on recent communication and planning, some guest speaker guidance may be limited to verbal suggestion.
Given that these actions respond to changes in the unit and student feedback, it will be interesting to hear responses to these changes in formal ways (e.g. course committee meeting) and through my observation of the classroom. I will continue to think about other ways I can collect evidence of the intervention’s impact.
Responding to speakers from the previous PGcert cohort, I will also focus on the organisation of seating of the classroom (Nehyba, 2021) and perhaps explicitly introduce the idea of discomfort in historical research (Zembylas, 2020).
Having now met with my co-tutor, I may draw ideas from them and generate a more discursive atmosphere in the classroom. They can also be a source of feedback for the intervention.
I will think more about how I manage slides, notably, the amount of text on slides and how this functions in class but also as a resource on Moodle.
Overall, the Inclusive Pracitces Unit has supported my pre-existing activities and thinking. Specifcally, it promted me to consider disability more boradly in how this is difined and how barriers are mitigated where possible for the benefit of all. It was also enlightening to consider the impact of faith in the way students understand the world and prcoess ideas. I found the practical advice on slide presentation especially useful, clarifying the need for such practices as well as techniques.
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Figures
Fig. 1 Slides from Peer Presentation of Intervention Proposal
Fig 2 Peer Feedback: Tokenism
Fig. 3 Peer Feedback: Additional Materials