Improving teaching: Enhancing ways of being university teachers
Gloria Dall’Alba
Race and the Neoliberal University: Lessons from the Public University
John Holmwood
How does Gloria Dall’Alba’s account of teaching development in universities correspond with your own thoughts and experience?
Her account corresponds with my own when it talks about teaching going beyond knowledge and skills and instead involving a more complex interaction of thinking, approaches and behaviour – being. Also, when it talks about the role and value to learning of community and literature.
In terms of community, other people:
- Give me ideas of fresh and unexpected directions and avenues of development.
- Allow me to see familiar ideas and elements from a new perspective.
- Help me build a richer understanding of higher education through sharing our knowledge of different areas.
- Form part of an exchange which boosts morale and creates a supportive community.
In terms of literature, material allows me to
- Evaluate and understand my current teaching practice
- ‘Supports and encourages change’ in the future
It perhaps deviates from my experience, by not acknowledging potential issues surrounding a community of professionals, for example, the way status quos can be maintained and implicit values and behaviours remain unseen and unchallenged.
Reflecting on John Holmwood’s chapter:
To what extent are individuals personally responsible for their success?
This chapter demonstrates the extent to which personal responsibility for success is limited. The ways in which a person’s success can be curtailed and shaped by larger structures and contexts. In terms, of higher education, ‘social structures that derive from histories of colonialism and Empire (internal in the case of the US and external in the case of the UK)’ and economic and class structures whose reach extends and continues from Secondary School. (page 12)
This state of affairs is in opposition to Neoliberal policy which presents education as a neutral space in which students have an equal opportunity to succeed, they act as if the university operates under ‘the seemingly impersonal processes of the market and achievement based on merit, rather than a consequence of ascribed characteristics, of ‘status’’
Holmwood says The ‘neutrality’ of neoliberal higher education…is a mirage.’
In my experience, people from more privileged groups can sometimes be resistant and uncomfortable to this idea, feeling that it devalues their individual hard work and saying things like ‘I’ve worked hard to get where I am!’ This text touches on that sentiment when it talks about proposals to remedy ‘structural disadvantages’ being ‘held to undermine the meritocratic achievement of those who themselves benefit from the absence of a level playing field.’ Acknowledgement of other factors which contribute to success, does not need to diminish individual effort and achievement. It is just a question of seeing more accurately the larger picture that, your success fits into.
Perhaps, some of this discomfort is also concerned with control. It can be frightening to acknowledge the extent to which life events are not under our control whether that be due to social and economic forces or just luck.
For individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups, it could also be frightening because it might seem like a lack of success is inevitable in a game that is rigged against them.
What is the justification for some people earning more than others?
The justifications touched on here are:
- Having a degree – having been to university
- Where you got that degree – which university
Holmwood says ‘The paradox of neoliberal ‘credentialism’ is that it makes participation in higher education necessary for any job beyond those paying the minimum wage, while, at the same time, the increased stratification of higher education makes place of study as important as a degree as such.’
Then access and success at university is impacted by:
- ‘Merit’ or ability
Holmwood says ‘the more stratified the system the more it approaches a form of ‘sponsored’ mobility while reproducing an ideology of merit-based selection.’
The text raises questions over the validity of these justifications and the way in which they serve a political purpose. The text highlights how Neoliberal ideology ‘maintains the status quo,’ and works to ‘reinforce existing socioeconomic inequalities.’
What does ‘social solidarity’ mean to you?
Holmwood references ‘writers such as Goodhart’ who ‘suggest that the problem of maintaining social rights is that they depend on social solidarity and mutual recognition’
For me, social solidarity means looking to understand and empathise with other people’s experience and seeing them and yourself in social, cultural and political context. It means being committed to mutual support in terms of feeling and more importantly action. Taking action to make the playing field equal for everyone – working for social justice. See below for application to teaching practice.
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What else was interesting and why?
- ‘According to him (Goodhart), social solidarity is easier to establish and maintain in ethnically homogeneous societies and is undermined by immigration, especially where that immigration is represented as comprising ‘postcolonial others’.’
I think this section also illuminates dynamics in the classroom.
The idea of social solidarity being easier to maintain within homogenous societies and on the reverse side that diverse societies are challenging to maintain reminds me of Bell Hooks Teaching to Transgress when she talks of the necessity of ‘dissent’ and the increased difficulties of a multicultural classroom. She talks of ‘professors and students have to learn to accept different ways of knowing, new epistemologies, in the multicultural settings’ and the increased ‘tension – and at times even conflict’ that was the result.
She gives important pointers regarding how to manage this, for example, an increased explanation of ‘philosophy, strategy, intent’ than in the ‘norm’ setting and compassion and acknowledgement of the ‘discomfort’ and ‘pain’ that can arise for students.
The negative impact of immigrants being presented as ‘postcolonial others’ reminds me of the ‘Reimagining Conversations’ Lecture when Victoria said that sometimes ‘Diversity is presented as a problem.’
Both references to the damage that can be caused by this approach make it clear how important it is to consider ways to celebrate diversity in every single activity or project.
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How can I apply what I’ve learnt?
Improving teaching: Enhancing ways of being university teachers
Gloria Dall’Alba
This reading reminds me to make sure my approach to teaching learning encompasses more than just skills and embraces complexity.
It also highlights the value of community and literature. In response I have altered how I am recording my reflection, adding in a ‘peers’ section to make sure I explicitly ask myself every session what I have learnt from my peers.
Race and the Neoliberal University: Lessons from the Public University
John Holmwood
This reading highlights the importance and need for teaching practice to work for social justice. It contextualises existing collective and individual action like:
- Participating in the UAL Contextual Admission procedure
- ‘Fairness in Selecting Students’ Training and application
- Eliminating the awarding differential between different student groups
- Creating an inclusive learning activities and curriculum
- Building inclusive course culture – Course Community and Inclusion Working Group
- Lobby for the UAL Diversity Report to be broken down into specific groups, so the true attainment of Home BAME and International students can be seen
- Devising and implementing Racial Justice Pedagogy Plan – Mine is here https://artslondon-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/m_elgon_arts_ac_uk/EXcHfbavP_JElPRHHJ0_JV8B849BRECLFOuysWRtKtYkDw?e=EnbJa2
and powers the need to continue to find and create new methods.