Meeting new people on a new course always feels like too many names, too many identities to remember, even within the smaller sub-group of ‘Group B1’ aka ‘John’s Group’. But what stuck out where the mix of people and background. Yes, undeniable that tutors from creative backgrounds would dominate given that we are based in an arts school. But it was interesting to hear from those within the group who are from a business or science background, which should bring some different approaches to our group discussions as the course progresses.

One strand of discussion that came up in a couple of presentations centered on language and explorations of teaching in a multilingual and ‘less articulate’ teaching environments. Through these presentations, I came across the work of Dr Jamila Lyiscott, based in the US and Dr Victoria Odeniyi based in the UK (with UAL connections). ‘Less articulate’ struck a chord because when I was a student, coming from an ethnic minority and working class background, my way of speaking underwent a radical change at University. Was I policed into a narrow acceptable speech or did I feel the pressure to conform into the new environment that I found myself. Whichever one it was, was there something of individuality and the authentic self that was lost as a result? My take-away from the presentations is to think further about how I can support each student to bring their authentic selves and (cultural) experiences confidently into their learning and practice.

The presentations were followed by group discussions around three questions. I chose to join this group: ‘Is it possible to encourage the radical change needed to tackle social and environmental injustice within a dominant structure such as a university?‘ I started the discussion with a lot of optimism openly sharing my view that teaching for me is a political act because as tutors, we are placed in a role of supporting students to thinking critically about established systems that they will be joining as the next generation of the workforce, with the hope that they can find pockets in which they can disrupt and act as agents of change. My fellow PGCerters brought me right back to earth and the reality of the highly commercialised university environment of UAL in which we work. Also, how the social justice rhetoric of the university is mainly brand-washing rather than any meaningful way of radically changing social and environmental injustice. I also have wondered the disconnect between the university’s social justice stance and its strategy to have a large proportion of staff (at least in BA Architecture) on insecure contracts as Associate Lecturers, whilst also paying significantly less to these lecturers compared to other Architectural courses in London.

To end on a positive note, it was great to meet other tutors from other departments and disciplines, and to listen to their reflections on their pedagogic practice to date. I’m looking forward to finding out more about them as the course progresses, hopefully developing tactics together for creating pockets of disruption for change as tutors and as UAL staff members.