Shades of Noir

SoN is an independent set of resources created in 2009 by Aisha Richards to support:

• Curriculum design
• Pedagogies of social justice through representation
• Cultural currency
• Accessible knowledge

It is intended to facilitate the design of more inclusive learning environments.

The resource will provide a useful reference point for critically reviewing my teaching materials, specifically the visual references I draw upon when delivering my lessons. Currently I can see the materials I draw upon are very ‘euro-centric’ and do not encompass the breadth of identities and experiences of my students. Additionally, I will use the reading list to inform the design and delivery of future teaching materials.

The ‘netiquette’ resource will also be invaluable to my online teaching; when I started teaching online I had very few resources and support so had to learn by trial and error. Having this guidance as a reference will help me create a more inclusive digital classroom. I noted that online learning threw into stark relief any barriers present in the physical classroom. The format inhibits open discussion for example, so certain voices felt emboldened to contribute while others would refrain from doing so. Learning to resort more heavily to chat-based dialogue permitted greater levels of inclusivity.

The Three ‘Ism’s: Negotiating Race, Sex and Class identifies the need to be more ‘cognizant of class’ within institutions.

While I see this cognisance as an important element of my teaching practice, the greatest barrier to working class students are the exorbitant fees charged by these institutions and the failure to provide sufficient materials. When designing activities for a first Year BA Illustration course I had to be carefully attentive to my students’ varied access to resources. This became particularly problematic when the students were required to complete online modules in adobe photoshop.

In my teaching, I have come across a minority of students from working class backgrounds visibly struggling not only with access to resources but also feelings of alienation which stem from their being among a majority of affluent students. This is a product of the financialization of higher education institutions; within this context, there is a limit to what I as an hourly paid lecturer can do for these students if the university will not charge them exorbitant fees and refuse to provide them with basic materials. 

Another obstacle to these students once they manage to enter the institution is the paltry provision of mental health support within them. A number of my students have found this support difficult to access and often inappropriate for their needs. As a result, my tutorials at times have become counselling sessions which I am untrained for; having SoN as a resource will allow me to facilitate these co versations with greater sensitivity but also provide a useful reference point for the students themselves.

A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment, Hahn Tapper

I am familiar with Freire’s ideas via Bell Hooks’ Teaching to Transgress. The principle of eradicating hierarchies in the classroom and placing equal value on the experiences and identities of the students, is something I have increasingly tried to implement into my teaching. This involves a reconfiguring of the teacher-student relationship so that “A teacher create(s) experiences with, and not for, students, integrating their experiences and voices into the educational experience itself.”

The power imbalance is integrated into classroom behaviours and habits that I had not previously questioned; for example; delivering a briefing presentation from the front of the classroom to students sat at desks. To disrupt these habits I have sought to amend this structure, and what Freire terms the ‘banking system’ approach to teaching.

Freire argues for the creation of an educational structure that allows for a more mutual exchange between teacher and student, for “authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in a ivory tower isolation, but only in communication.”

The implementing of this more open channel of communication could be affected by something as simple as where I place myself in the classroom- in one lecture I noticed a shift in the students’ engagement when I moved away from the front of the room and walked amongst them. I noticed that the quieter students felt more emboldened to speak, and the tenor of the class shifted into a dialogue rather than a lecture.

The paper examines a social justice pedagogy founded on Freirean theory by an intergroup educational organisation in the US. Within these programmes, teachers function as facilitators, guiding students through a process whereby they educate one another social identities and inter-group dynamics through critical thought.

Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ Finnigan and Richards 2016.

This report considers the retention and attainment of students of diverse backgrounds within the subject discipline of art and design. The report highlights “the importance of students having a strong sense of belonging in HE which is the result of engagement and this is most effectively nurtured through mainstream activities with an overt academic purpose that all students participate in.”

It found that 31% of Black British Carribbean and Black British African students gain an upper degree in comparison to 64% of White students (Woodfield 2014, pp. 63-4); an attainment gap of 33%. 

Art and design is one of the disciplines with highest percentages of students leaving with no award (6 per cent), with a disproportionate difference between white (6 per cent) and black student groups.

Finnagan cites the ‘one-to-one tutorial’ model and lack of teaching as a factor.

Studios are viewed sites of ‘co-production’ and self directed learning.

Students are encouraged to ‘self-direct’ their study, supported by feedback supplied by tutors. 

However, due to unwieldy class sizes, the nature of this feedback is fragmented, often not allowing for every student to receive adequate attention. In this context, the students with greater levels of confidence in this setting (often from more affluent backgrounds) will benefit the most from this support.

Equally, this approach reduces time spent teaching.

“I wasn’t expecting to be left to do projects completely on your own. I was expecting more guidance with it being first year and I didn’t know what kind of work they were looking for. “

The dearth of instruction in practical skills will likely deter many students from applying, as it reduces their employability.

Increasing class sizes on the courses I teach on reduce the amount of time I can devote to each student, resulting in the drop in attainment from less confident/engaged students and a spike in mental health problems.

One of the courses I teach on has been steadily increasing its student numbers; while this is purely anecdotal- in the last year, two of my tutees have reported mental health problems, while around half have failed to submit for at least one unit. One student went briefly missing, another I did not even manage to meet in person.

One student in particular had been struggling with her work, when I confronted her, she burst into tears and told me she was struggling with depression. She described her feelings of alienation as someone from a working-class background. “everyone else here is rich,” she told me bluntly.

All these students are from diverse backgrounds.

In a context of a financialised institution, how can students from diverse backgrounds thrive?

White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo, Shades of Noir

The article discusses the need to understand racism as a system of power, and white people’s immunity to this concept. DiAngelo posits that this inability stems in part from a world view that identifies white people as individuals rather than a racial group, while people of colour can only represent their race.

Hence they cannot see racism as something systemic, that extends beyond individual injustices. This blinkered world view enables us to ignore systemic racial patterns.it also makes us fragile when this world view is challenged.

This reminds me of an exercise described by bell hooks in Teaching to Transgress in which she instructed the students to write down and read aloud an experience of racism. This would signal the breadth of identities and experiences in the classroom and challenge the dominant one of white male supremacy embedded into the structure of the institution.

I would like to adapt a similar exercise in my illustration classes; perhaps based on visuals rather than text.