Where do you know from? Developing Critical Pedagogy in Fashion

On-going conversations between students and faculty at London College of Fashion, UAL, highlight adverse and distressing experiences within the learning environment. These qualitative experiences add context to quantitive data within the institution, which reveals a persistent awarding gap. Starkly racialised, this data reflects disproportionate outcomes in educational attainment and experience for students of colour.
This data, alongside student-centred conversations, becomes foundational to the development of ideas and actions to improve the learning environment, both in determining what is missing and identifying pedagogic principles to enact change. Using a research model developed by Eugenia Zuroski in 2018 entitled, Where Do You Know From? educators Carole Morrison and Teleica Kirkland initiated workshops to centre students’ identities and implicit knowledge to determine what is required of both student and institution to develop a sense of belonging. This paper will discuss research development and the first phase delivery of its implementation.