Although we are only just beginning to start the curriculum, I’ve been struck by how important it is to just leave time to reflect – although obvious on paper. Within the brief time spent reading papers – especially ‘The New Life’: Mozambican Art Students in the USSR, and the Aesthetic Epistemologies of Anti-Colonial Solidarity by Polly Savage (2022); alongside understanding timelines and history of higher education and most importantly conversing with colleagues, it has led me to really question my position as an educator. It is then no surprise that I have found the readings related to positionality especially interesting and food for thought – often reflecting on my way into work of how my own experiences reflect on the way I teach. I find positionality particularly interesting as this brings both good and bad attributes to my assumptions and methods. One distinct aspect I’ve recognised as both a positive and negative is my economic background – as someone who struggled to fund their degree I tend to put an emphasis on trying to save my students money on their projects (although I believe this offers those in a similar situation a large benefit and equal opportunities that they should be privy to.), however, on the other hand of the spectrum I often come across students who simply want the easiest and quickest solution to their idea regardless of the costs associated and have to be able understand this and be responsive to those students regardless to how I would do it.
It’s funny really as this seems like such an obvious adjustment when written down, however, to me cost was not only just a limiting factor to my education, but also a motivator. As a child it motivated me to be able to create what other people had or could easily get, teaching myself the skills along the way (or more importantly the skills, in which to learn new skills) until I was able to use those skills to go beyond what others had, to create new and interesting ideas and believe that if I had not had these constraints my own knowledge and skill set would be significantly lower or even none existent. Now where this becomes important in my beliefs within my role as an educator is to understand that students come with a huge range of constraints that may not be economic, and instead could be social (such as family pressure to create the best work possible) or otherwise, and that I should not instantly draw my students into a workflow that I have developed due to my own circumstances.
Going forward I will instead try to recognise when I make assumptions and instead make sure I am taking the time to understand my students needs, goals and expected outcomes to the projects they wish to create – outlining the constraints they have and seeing how we can work together to work around those.
Bibliography
Savage, P. (2022) ‘“The New Life”: Mozambican Art Students in the USSR, and the Aesthetic Epistemologies of Anti-Colonial Solidarity’, Art History , 45(5), pp. 1078–1100. doi: 10.1111/1467-8365.12692.
This is an inspiring event to learn from constraints, and go beyond what others would do. Maybe others would not make any effort or if they would, just a few would pause to reflect on it).
What it resonates with me is your ability to create at difficult times, and the skill to teach it to students (that’s a life lesson that traces you!).
I would add that students may need time to learn, although they look out for ‘quick’ food for thought. This is part of the grades competition , and I empathize with them.Maybe the grades should not be part of the competition. Maybe the objective of learning should be the award.
Maybe the objective should be for students to go beyond the competition, and respect the gift of learning, and the interactive dialogue between students and facilitators.
I think that the interaction with students should be the learning lesson for them . Sure the facilitator is the person who soothes their anxiety for performance, anxiety for exams (this is a big relief for them at difficult times, they need help!). But this is a temporary measure because soon they will have to sit for exams on their own and perform on their own.
A lesson from a dialogue that’s what would empower students and each of us … who knows? one day will be able to find the right answer to the question ‘ do grades or effort can make changes to the learning process of each of us? ‘.