The Six Elements of Teaching Within

About GEMS

Our Mission:

To collate the Voices and Perspective of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff for Strategic Progress of all UAL Staff and Students.

Our Vision:

To be the voice of BAME staff, to impact the development in all corners of UAL with equality at its heart.

Terms of Reference 2014:

• The group will endeavour to promote the personal development of BAME staff by contributing to the discussions, and monitoring the progress of the University’s published objectives, including UAL’s Equality & Diversity Framework 2010-2015.

• To support the University in meeting its legal obligations under The Equality Act 2010, in particular its duties in relation to employment training, consultation and monitoring.

GEMS will:

• Develop and implement programmes for development and progression.

• Highlight issues of concern from the BAME staff perspective in order to assist in improving organisational practices, policies and procedures within the University.

• Support the development of existing and proposed policies, practices and procedures and their impact on BAME staff and communities.

• Review, advise and support the implementation of UAL policies, practices and service delivery; in particular the University’s Public Sector Equality Duty Objectives and UAL’s Strategy 2010-15.

• Create avenues and guidance for BAME staff in relation to work-related issues.

• Raise issues affecting the personal and professional development of BAME staff within the university.

• Steer the collation of data to evaluate and monitor the development and progress above.

GEMS is Chaired by Aisha Richards, Annabel Crowley, Melodie Holliday & Jhinuk Sarkar

About Fact Not Fiction

Fact not Fiction is a two day course designed by the Shades of Noir team that builds on the Teaching and Learning Exchanges introduction to teaching in Higher Education course Thinking Teaching.

The aim of this course is to support the participants in engaging in facts supported by theory and or experiences including those of our Teaching Within community. Our objective is to contextualise educational experiences and demystify the process by which practitioners can gain entry into the profession.

This compulsory two-day training workshop is designed to support previously marginalised creative professionals and or social justice advocates who wish to pursue a career in teaching. As such it will situate participants’ teaching as a purposeful context of practice and pedagogic theory, which aligns with the Teaching Within programme aims.

The course will offer a blend of theoretical input and practical activity supported by case study reviews. You will:

• Reflect on your own experiences of being a learner and navigating educational environments

• Gain an understanding of key pedagogic ideas around social justice and anti-racism

• Develop essential anti racism and critical techniques in reflection

• Advance relationships with your peers, TW graduates and the Shades of Noir team

• Explore relevant techniques for designing social justice teaching sessions

• Consider student centred teaching

• Explore potential barriers to learning

This course is a great way to begin your academic journey in preparation for post-graduate certificate in academic practice and entering the teaching practice as a Teaching Within participant.

This year’s workshop will take place on DD & DD December 2022.

About Course Shadowing

"I feel very privileged that we have been able to host Teaching Within participants from year to year in the Branding and Design Innovation programme. The TW participants bring to our courses wide range of expertise and with their input the course teams are better equipped to reflect on their teaching methods and relevance to student learning. As a Programme Director I am always grateful for such generosity on the part of the participants, while in return I am committed that we provide them with a sense of belonging to our teaching community and opportunities to learn from our teaching expertise." - UAL Programme Director

"As a multidisciplinary subject area, we (staff and students) really value the range of experiences that Teaching Within students come to our course with. We look forward to meeting and working with the TW academic every year and hope to build relationships that last beyond the time-frame of their course." - UAL Course Leader

About Workshops & Digital Learning

Throughout Teaching Within, the Shades of Noir team delivers a series of workshops and independent modules which are an essential part of the programme.

The aim of these workshops and modules is to support the academics in both their PgCert studies and their professional practice. These sessions will serve as an introduction to the institution, a way to understand digital learning environments and offer further pedagogical resources for a teaching and learning environment.

The delivery will offer a blend of theoretical input and practical activity in a combination of physical and virtual learning spaces.

Shades of Noir also deliver tutorial sessions to directly support the practical elements of the PgCert. These 1-2-1 sessions offer an opportunity for academics to discuss their research, statements and artefact development.

Our Virtual Learning Netiquette:

A netiquette (network + etiquette) is a set of rules for acceptable online behaviour and the acceptable use of resources in a digital environment. We aim to create a safe online space for all participants.

• We encourage participants to turn off mics and cameras as and when they feel it’s appropriate. You don’t need permission to do this and we appreciate that you may need to leave and or mute the session for all sorts of reasons such as parental/carer responsibilities, family commitments, needing the bathroom etc.

• All virtual sessions are dialogic spaces, supported by pre and post tasks and it is essential that everyone engages with these resources to benefit from the discussion.

• We schedule a long comfort break during the session to allow attendees time to process information and to reduce the impact of lengthy screen times.

• What is discussed and or shared within a session we treat as private and confidential and we expect all participants to adhere to our policy of not recording the sessions. We will provide notes post-session to support further learning and reflection.

• We also ask that sessions are not recorded to protect vulnerable people and those with caring responsibilities.

• We encourage participants not to talk over one another, interrupt or shout in order to allow others to contribute safely.

• We do not tolerate any form of discrimination in the sessions. If this takes place we will ask the perpetrator to leave the space.

• We recognise that in our current climate there may be participants who are suffering from bereavement, illness and loss. We ask those that may wish to speak with one of the facilitators, to do this privately during or after the session.

• We treat the virtual space with respect and compassion for all participants. If any of the discussions or content trigger a participant, please feel free to leave and rejoin the space if / when you are ready to do so. A discussion with the facilitators after the session may be required.

• We expect everyone to treat the space as a professional environment. Through their participation, each attendee is agreeing to this Netiquette.

About Teaching Hours

“Having the opportunity to participate in a variety of teaching methods has allowed me to understand and tailor the methods to the students. Through this engagement, I have been able to analyse, critique and understand why we as academics teach the way we do. I have been able to adapt what I have learned to benefit the diverse student cohort. Being able to bring my cultural capital into the teaching environment has definitely benefited the students.”

As a programme, we centre social justice and anti-racism at the forefront of everything we do, which means that we have very specific ways of doing things.

As part of the programme, each academic is given 36 paid hours of teaching to engage in various types of teaching and through this participation, we make clear our expectations and mutual benefits as part of engaging in this programme. We invest and believe heavily in transferable skills meaning that course allocations are not based solely on the applicant's specialism, for example, as a fine artist you might be placed in a fashion course, as a psychologist you may do fine art or as a games designer you may be placed in fashion etc.

This has worked incredibly well throughout the evolution of TW and has helped to build long-standing relationships and continues to evolve the programme to a place that has led to a very successful partnership and changes to the landscape of the university. No course is selected based on preferences made by the TW academics and it is important that each academic understands why we make these decisions to further support social justice and anti-racism.

This approach allows academics the opportunity to work with courses in which you may not have had the opportunity to consider your interdisciplinary skills and continue to challenge the expectations of what academic practice looks like.

About the PgCert

The course has been designed for flexible study by practising professionals.

• You will learn through a blend of working with peers and working individually.

• You will also combine face-to-face interaction with online and work-based

• learning activity.

• You will be encouraged to focus on developing one of 3 areas of academic practice - education, academic leadership or researcher development - depending on your job role, stage of career and career trajectory.

All participants take 3 mandatory units. Every 20 credits is equal to 200 notional learning hours. This includes between 15 and 30 hours of taught time per unit, alongside independent, collaborative or work-based study. You will choose a regular day of your choice from Monday, Wednesday or Fridays to attend the PgCert workshops.

We require you to complete the PgCert (60 credits) within one year unless you are a GEMS member where we can discuss the option of a 2-year programme.

The PgCert includes the following units:

Unit 1: Theory, Practices and Policies - Jan to April 2023

Unit 2: Inclusive Practices - April to July 2023

Unit 3: Action Research Project - Sept 2023 to Jan 2024

More information about the PgCert can be found on UAL's Website.