Unit 2: Inclusive Practices Unit

Dates: April - July 2023

Credit rating: 20

Level of study: 7

Contact Hours: 24

The ‘Inclusive Practices’ unit takes the position that racist structures underpin all institutions and that it is the responsibility of everyone to work to combat this in their own professional contexts and life practices.

In this unit you will develop your understanding of the pedagogies of social justice through the Freirean frame of critical pedagogy, and the notion of education as a non-neutral space. Through your engagement with the resources presented, you will develop a deeper criticality and awareness of your practices. You will reflect on your personal and professional identities and how these inform your actions. You will learn about inclusive pedagogy and critical race theory, and how they apply to your day-to-day work at the university. Using the lenses of intersectional anti-racism and positionality, you will scope, design and integrate a small change within your own practice. This unit is process-led, not product-led. A key objective is personal change through identity work. Reflexivity will support your journey to learn about, critique, reflect on, and transform your environments and your practices. The overall aim is to energise participants to create learning spaces which are more open, divergent, and just.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

• Articulate the development of your positionality and identity through the lens of inclusive practices. [Communication]

• Manifest your understanding of practices of inequity, their impact, and the implications for your professional context. [Knowledge]

• Critically evaluate institutional, national and global perspectives of equality and diversity in relation to your academic practice context. [Enquiry]

• Enact a sustainable transformation that applies intersectional social justice within your practice. [Realisation]

Indicative Content

At the start of the unit you will reflect on your own positionality and consider your personal assumptions around diversity, race and social justice.

As the unit progresses you will critically explore current debates found in scholarly resources, policies and practices of inclusivity. Using your PgCert blog, you will undertake three blogging/vlogging tasks, responding to a wide range of materials drawn from theory and arts practice.

You will consider key intersectional themes around social justice and how they relate to your own context. Working in groups you will be required to complete a set of tasks and engage in dialogue via commenting on peer blog posts. Your blog is an opportunity to share resources or pedagogies that have proved useful or even challenging within your own practice.

Finally, you will design and potentially embed a small practice intervention, which will be steeped in intersectional anti-racism theory. You will draw together your thinking in a reflective piece of writing that considers the differences the intervention may make and the challenges that you may encounter in your ongoing practice- and self-development. Authentic, critical reflexivity in action is the key to success in this unit.

Assessment Requirements

This unit will be assessed holistically through a portfolio of coursework, which will include the following elements:

• Respond to set themes and resources by authoring a minimum of 3 x 350 word blog posts or 3 x 2.5 minute vlog posts, and commenting on the posts of peers.

• Design and evaluate an intervention that enacts intersectional social justice in your context.

• A reflexive response that critically articulates how the intervention applies social justice theories to practice. (1500 words).

Essential Reading

Bhagat, D. and O’Neill, P. (2011) Inclusive practices, inclusive pedagogies: learning from widening participation research in art and design higher education.

Croydon: CHEAD.

Burke, P. J. and McManus, J. (2011) ‘Art for a few: Exclusions and misrecognitions in higher education admissions practices’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(5), pp.699-712. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2011.620753

Cowden, S. and Singh, G. (2013) Acts of knowing: Critical pedagogy in, against and beyond the university. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

England, K. (1994) ‘Getting personal: reflexivity, positionality, and feminist research’, The

Professional Geographer, 46(1), pp.80-89. Available at: https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10214/1811/18-England.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Fletcher, T. (2010) ‘“Being inside and outside the field”: An exploration of identity, positionality and reflexivity in inter-racial research.’ Available at: https://www.academia.edu/243923/_Being_Inside_and_Outside_the_Field_An_Exploration_of_Identity_Positionality_and_Reflexivity_in_Inter_racial_Research (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Friere, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Continuum.

Gabriel, D. and Tate, S. (eds.) (2017) Inside the ivory tower: Narratives of women of colour surviving and thriving in British academia. London: UCL IOE Press.

Hatton, K. (2015) Towards an inclusive arts education. London: Trentham.

hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. London: Routledge.

Lorde, A. (2013) Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Berkeley: Crossing Press.

Richards, A. and Finnigan, T. (2015) ‘Embedding equality and diversity in the curriculum: An art and design practitioner’s guide.’ York: Higher Education Academy. Available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/eedc_art_and_design_online.pdf (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Shades of Noir [website] (2020) Available at: www.shadesofnoir.org.uk (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Shades of Noir (2020) ‘Inclusive Practice.’ Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/inclusivepractice (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Shades of Noir (2017) ‘Mental Health & Creative Healing.’ Available at: http://shadesofnoir.org.uk/mental-health-creative-healing/ (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Shades of Noir (2018) ‘Peek a boo we see you: Whiteness’. Available at http://shadesofnoir.org.uk/peekaboo-we-see-you-whiteness/ (Accessed: 2 December 2020).

Smyth, J. (2011) Critical pedagogy for social justice. New York: Continuum.

Steventon, G., Cureton, D. and Clouder, L. (2016) Student attainment in higher education: issues, controversies and debates. London: Routledge.