In this document, where appropriate, we will refer to those communities associated with the terms and acronyms Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) or Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) as ‘people of colour’.

Resmaa Menakem uses the term ‘bodies of culture’ rather than ‘people of colour’ in order to reclaim that which was stripped from black-bodied people. He sees culture as a human expression (Menakem, 2017)

Cultural Capital

For Bourdieu, it is an ‘obvious truth’ (Bourdieu, 1991) that art is implicated in the reproduction of inequalities, and that the relationship between culture and power is such that taste creates social differences. Certain kinds of art can only be decoded, and appreciated by those who have been taught how to decode them (Bourdieu, 1984). The cultural capital of the working classes, and certain ethnic groups, is devalued and delegitimised (Bourdieu, 1984). (Burke and Mcmanus 2012, p. 21) (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.6)

Bhagat and O’Neill (2011a) discuss how the concept of cultural capital is pervasive in art education within widening participation ‘where the disciplines of Art and Design as ‘creative subjects’ see themselves focusing on ‘talent’ rather than privilege’ (Bhagat and O’Neil 2011a, p.20). (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.6)

Art and Design Pedagogy

Through project-centred learning there is the opportunity for discovery based and experiential learning which, it could be argued, is linked to encouraging individual responses within the work created around personal identities. Students see the studio as being concerned with divergent learning and self-direction and the opening up of possibilities. Therefore, it could be said that Art and Design already caters for difference and focuses on identity work.  The students’ conception of the Art and Design pedagogy is one of co-production and co-construction. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.6)

Students see themselves as the experts in their practice and look to lecturers for feedback to extend or strengthen their work. However, with increasing group sizes, and the increase in diversity within Art and Design studio spaces, providing feedback at an individual level for learning becomes increasingly challenging. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.6)

So true

Even with the larger groups this method of one-to-one feedback within the studio is still used today. This leads to students feeling there is very little teaching on the course (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.6)

So true

the implicit ‘pedagogy of ambiguity’ present in Art and Design education, which involves practice-based learning with open briefs (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.7)

The implicit value of ambiguity, Austerlitz et al. (2008) argue, ‘creates vagueness and insecurity for many of our first year students who have expectations based on the concrete and the certain’ (p. 127), and ‘The activity in such disciplines … has neither one correct end-result nor one way to get there … Engaging with these open-ended tasks is accompanied by an associated intensified emotional component.’ (Austerlitz et al. 2008, p. 21). (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.7)

I remember this feeling of uncertainty when studying Fashion Design, which continued when I worked as a fashion designer.

So, students in their first year of study are constantly looking for certainty and reassurance, while staff are encouraging ambiguity and risk taking and expecting a tacit knowledge of how the subject is delivered. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.7)

The piece of work is inevitably how the artist sees the world and their place within it. (Tangney 2013, p. 270) (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.7)

Therefore, it is important to build trust with the student group to ensure that the students will find their voice. The tutor’s role here is key. If conceiving and making work is a key role for students, and the work itself produced is emotional, then the relationships with tutors are intrinsic to its development. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.7)

Inclusive Curriculum and Identity Work

students identified a key strategy for success was having the possibility to explore personal identity in the creative process on their course. This could make a difference in creating work that is more risk-taking and experimental. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.8)

Art and Design educators need to be aware of the power they have in encouraging or discouraging students to develop their own practice. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.8)

Assessment in Art and Design

A core assessment practice that exists within Art and Design is the ‘group crit’ (group critique). In this situation, the feedback will often take place in an emotionally charged face-to-face meeting where verbal criticism, both negative and positive, takes place in front of an audience (Day 2013).  (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.8)

Art and Design Teachers

They teach from and through professional experience through a pedagogy of shared enquiry. They also relate the knowledge on course to professional and vocational practice. This encourages a practitioner-led and practice-informed pedagogic approach. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.9)

Student-centred Learning and Teaching

The pedagogy of student-centred learning creates opportunity for a “kind of exchange” between tutors and their students (Shreeve et al. 2010), and also exchanges of peer-to-peer learning. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.13)

Many have thought of cultural competence simply as the skills needed to address language barriers or knowledge about specific cultures. … Cultural competence has thus evolved from the making of assumptions about patients on the basis of their background to the implementation of the principles of patient-centred care, including exploration, empathy, and responsiveness to patients’ needs, values, and preferences. (Betancourt 2004, p. 953) (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.13)

This means seeing students as contributors to their own learning is vital. Additionally, this style of teaching and learning must be supported through the creation of processes (space and time) in the curriculum to share perspectives, research and ideas. This encourages the evolution of all students through supporting understanding and permits development of critical thinking. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.13)

Our work is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. (hooks 1994, p. 13). (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.13)

It is only the oppressed who, by freeing themselves, can free their oppressor.  The latter, as an oppressive class, can free neither others nor themselves. It is therefore essential that the oppressed wage the struggle to resolve the contradiction in which they are caught; and the contradiction will be resolved by the appearance of the new man: neither oppressor nor oppressed, but man in the process of liberation. (Freire 1968, p. 30) (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.16)

Recommendations

take a more inclusive approach to the curriculum by identifying more diverse reading lists and key visual references and more inclusive pedagogies, review and/or audit the inclusion of embedded diversity and student-centred learning in the curriculum and create greater opportunities for students to have a sense of ownership over their environment. (Finnigan & Richards, 2016, p.19)

Bibliography

Menakem, R. (2017) My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. London: Penguin Books.