How do we create belonging in creative educational spaces?

Fostering Belonging & Compassionate Pedagogy (launched August 2020) is one of three Academic Enhancement Model (AEM) strands of staff development at University of the Arts London (UAL) that support the elimination of the awarding differential between home Black Asian and Minority Ethnic and home white students. The staff development brings course teams together to collaboratively problem-solve ways to foster student belonging through a constructive approach (Lueddeke, 1999). The aim is to support course teams in developing teaching and learning strategies and compassionate pedagogies that nurture student belonging within their creative disciplinary context. Grounded in creating spaces for staff to interrogate their teaching interactions (both staff-to-student and student-to-student) in relation to bias, racism, oppression and silencing (NUS.UUK, 2019).

In our workshop, participants are invited to join us for a listening workshop and engage with our Podcasts to hear students, staff, researchers and practitioners speak about belonging in creative higher education. The podcasts explore the topics of Belonging in Higher Education and fostering belonging in online learning environments in response to COVID-19. They compile a collection of interviews with education professionals from across the globe as well as UAL staff and students. Including Professor Terrell Strayhorn, Professor Liz Thomas, Dr Gurnam Singh, and Jess Moody from Advance HE. The podcasts provide a polyvocal dialogue, which continues beyond the podcast itself. Grounded in Paulo Friere’s critical pedagogy (Friere, 1970), they explore the dialogic relationships between teaching and learning in constructing knowledge through partnership. Attempting to help staff challenge dominant beliefs and practices. Critical pedagogy cannot be defined by a single voice, but rather must gather a diversity of voices (Stommel, 2014). This decentres authority, to help staff find their own path / personal meaning to in turn achieve small social justice transformations (Tate, 2019).

We will follow the listening event with an open discussion to share our ideas, experiences and questions about fostering belonging in creative higher education.

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