Hi there…

I’m Katriona, and the Year 2 Leader on the BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts. I am new in post, starting Sept 2024). I have overall responsibility for around 160 students in 2nd Year. I have my own tutor group of 28 students and do one to one tutorials, teaching and assessments as part of this role. I run the Year meetings and have been experimenting with turning this into a context for students to showcase work in progress as well as where the week to week timetable and events are discussed. I oversee the 2nd Year lecture series, working with colleagues to align it to the 2nd Year and also deliver lectures. I also work with colleagues cross-year to oversee the Professional Futures programme shared with Year 3 on the BA. I am particularly interested in looking at practical tools to support students in developing a sustainable practice beyond their studies. I also oversee a staff team of 5 fractional staff and 6 associate lecturers. I coordinate the assessment process and also run parity meetings. A key part of my role is to oversee all the students to participate in a series of exhibition projects over the year: a collective exhibition in Nov, a group off-site project in March and an on-site solo presentation in May. I also run an Intersectional Feminisms reading group which is open to any 2nd Year to attend.

I’m an artist and I make digital artefacts, objects, moving image and installation as well as participatory projects. My work responds to the social implications of new technologies and affective experiences in post-digital culture, with a particular interest in mental health. My interdisciplinary project ‘Are We All Addicts Now?’ was supported by The Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England and was shown at Furtherfield in 2017. Recent work includes new commissions at the V&A and Science Gallery London (both 2018); a participatory green screen installation at Autograph (2020); a commission for Disrupt & Reflect, online at IMPAKT, Netherlands (2020-21) and a commission for Sotheby’s Institute of Art that premiered at the V&A (2023).

I started a trade union for artists in 2014, Artists’ Union England and I am currently on the National Executive Committee for AUE.

IP Unit: Faith (Prefer not to say?)

The UAL Dashboard shows that across at Chelsea specifically, 58.1% of students stated they had no religion. Of those who identified as having a religion, the three largest categories where Christian (11.7%), Prefer not to say (9.6%) and Muslim (6.1%).

The shortcomings of the data collection that UAL does around protected characteristics prevent any engagement with an intersectional analysis of these figures as each characteristic is treated as a standalone category. No analysis is possible about how much those who identify as having a religion overlap with other protected characteristics such as race and ethnicity. This creates a lack of comprehension, even institutional blindness, of where there may be layers of systematic discrimination e.g. for the black female Muslim Curating student I met at a recent opening.  

I am personally interested in the ‘prefer not to say’ category. Building from my Disability blog I wonder again about non-disclosure in these contexts. The students selecting this option have chosen to identify themselves as having a religion but would ‘prefer not to say’. Why is this? Is it personal preference or the fear of institutional or peer bias? As Nicole Brown (2022) has pointed out in relation to disclosing Disability status, there is a cost-benefit analysis that is happening in these hidden moments of decision-making. There are questions to be asked here about why the cost is too high to disclose, and what the institution can do to be a space that is inclusive of faith as a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act.  

Some of this hesitancy is likely driven by what is happening in the wider socio-political sphere, what Simran Jeet Singh (2025) identifies as fearmongering about religious groups by politicians to accrue power. Whilst Singh is talking about his own context in the US, similar prejudice is very evident in the Islamophobia in political discourse in the UK. A most recent example is Keir Starmer’s ‘island of strangers’ speech that drew parallels with Enoch Powell (Syal 2025). This is complicated by high profile British Muslims publicly supporting Reform, such as the party’s Chair Zia Yusuf, and much of the last decade of anti-immigration rhetoric spearheaded by other prominent Muslim figures like Priti Patel and Suella Braverman.

I would speculate that another contributory factor in the ‘prefer not to say’ choice, is the paucity of attention given to religion in the wider fields of both arts academia and contemporary art practice. Whilst there is a contemporary trend (with strong art historical antecedents) towards pagan and occult expression in art practice (see Marciniak (2019), established religions as a serious area of contemporary practice and research are quite a non-sequitur. As Gilbert et al argue in an interesting study in the field of cultural geography “religion has been given little or no attention in academic discussions of vernacular creativity, while arts policy as it developed in the United Kingdom in the post-war period has had a strongly secular focus” [Gilbert et al (2018) p.1].

These observations aside, the historic oppressions, persecutions, genocides, corruptions and colonising done by established religions surely holds responsibility for the secular turn. I have my own, at times conflicted, positionality to consider here as a white person who does have a personal faith, yet is strongly LGBTQ+ inclusive and wants to actively play a part in decolonisation, and as an artist in the field of contemporary art practice.

UAL generally has a strongly secular feel, with religious holidays often the taking place without interrupting the academic calendar. An example of how this impacts students came to my attention recently, when one of my exchange students who comes from an Italian institution queried why Easter didn’t align with the UAL Spring Break, as it meant she was unable to go home to celebrate the most important holiday of her year with her Catholic family.

Another issue I have found at UAL is that the Quiet Space and Prayer Room facilities are one and the same. The designated space at Chelsea is in a small, dark and quite damp room in the basement of C-Block. It is supposed to be open but is often locked and needs a key code to access it. This one room is the place that students of faith are supposed to pray in, and the one that Disabled and Neurodivergent students are to use if they are feeling overwhelmed. I don’t think these uses are compatible and so neither group are adequately catered for.

As an action moving forwards, I am going to set up a meeting to start a dialogue with the multi-faith chaplaincy team to understand their role more, and how we can work together to support an inclusive environment for people of faith or none on the 2Y of the BA Fine Art.

792 words

Bibliography

Akhtar, P. (2025) Zia Yusuf: The British Muslim Driving Reform’s transformation into an election winner, The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/zia-yusuf-the-british-muslim-driving-reforms-transformation-into-an-election-winner-256003 (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Brown, N. (2022) Wellbeing in higher education podcast: Ableism, Dr Nicole Brown. Available at: https://www.nicole-brown.co.uk/wellbeing-podcast/ (Accessed: 23 May 2025).

Gilbert, D. et al. (2018) ‘The hidden geographies of religious creativity: Place-making and material culture in west london faith communities’, cultural geographies, 26(1), pp. 23–41. doi:10.1177/1474474018787278.

Marciniak, C. (2019) Wicked! modern art’s interest in the occult, Frieze. Available at: https://www.frieze.com/article/wicked-modern-arts-interest-occult (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Singh, S. (2025) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom, Trinity University, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Syal, R. (2025) Starmer accused of echoing far right with ‘island of strangers’ speech, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/12/keir-starmer-defends-plans-to-curb-net-migration (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

UAL Dashboard Data 24-25 (Accessed 26 May 2025)

The UAL Dashboard shows that across at Chelsea specifically, 58.1% of students stated they had no religion. Of those who identified as having a religion, the three largest categories where Christian (11.7%), Prefer not to say (9.6%) and Muslim (6.1%).

The shortcomings of the data collection that UAL does around protected characteristics prevent any engagement with an intersectional analysis of these figures as each characteristic is treated as a standalone category. No analysis is possible about how much those who identify as having a religion overlap with other protected characteristics such as race and ethnicity. This creates a lack of comprehension, even institutional blindness, of where there may be layers of systematic discrimination e.g. for the black female Muslim Curating student I met at a recent opening.  

I am personally interested in the ‘prefer not to say’ category. Building from my Disability blog I wonder again about non-disclosure in these contexts. The students selecting this option have chosen to identify themselves as having a religion but would ‘prefer not to say’. Why is this? Is it personal preference or the fear of institutional or peer bias? As Nicole Brown (2022) has pointed out in relation to disclosing Disability status, there is a cost-benefit analysis that is happening in these hidden moments of decision-making. There are questions to be asked here about why the cost is too high to disclose, and what the institution can do to be a space that is inclusive of faith as a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act.  

Some of this hesitancy is likely driven by what is happening in the wider socio-political sphere, what Simran Jeet Singh (2025) identifies as fearmongering about religious groups by politicians to accrue power. Whilst Singh is talking about his own context in the US, similar prejudice is very evident in the Islamophobia in political discourse in the UK. A most recent example is Keir Starmer’s ‘island of strangers’ speech that drew parallels with Enoch Powell (Syal 2025). This is complicated by high profile British Muslims publicly supporting Reform, such as the party’s Chair Zia Yusuf, and much of the last decade of anti-immigration rhetoric spearheaded by other prominent Muslim figures like Priti Patel and Suella Braverman.

I would speculate that another contributory factor in the ‘prefer not to say’ choice, is the paucity of attention given to religion in the wider fields of both arts academia and contemporary art practice. Whilst there is a contemporary trend (with strong art historical antecedents) towards pagan and occult expression in art practice (see Marciniak (2019), established religions as a serious area of contemporary practice and research are quite a non-sequitur. As Gilbert et al argue in an interesting study in the field of cultural geography “religion has been given little or no attention in academic discussions of vernacular creativity, while arts policy as it developed in the United Kingdom in the post-war period has had a strongly secular focus” [Gilbert et al (2018) p.1].

These observations aside, the historic oppressions, persecutions, genocides, corruptions and colonising done by established religions surely holds responsibility for the secular turn. I have my own, at times conflicted, positionality to consider here as a white person who does have a personal faith, yet is strongly LGBTQ+ inclusive and wants to actively play a part in decolonisation, and as an artist in the field of contemporary art practice.

UAL generally has a strongly secular feel, with religious holidays often the taking place without interrupting the academic calendar. An example of how this impacts students came to my attention recently, when one of my exchange students who comes from an Italian institution queried why Easter didn’t align with the UAL Spring Break, as it meant she was unable to go home to celebrate the most important holiday of her year with her Catholic family.

Another issue I have found at UAL is that the Quiet Space and Prayer Room facilities are one and the same. The designated space at Chelsea is in a small, dark and quite damp room in the basement of C-Block. It is supposed to be open but is often locked and needs a key code to access it. This one room is the place that students of faith are supposed to pray in, and the one that Disabled and Neurodivergent students are to use if they are feeling overwhelmed. I don’t think these uses are compatible and so neither group are adequately catered for.

As an action moving forwards, I am going to set up a meeting to start a dialogue with the multi-faith chaplaincy team to understand their role more, and how we can work together to support an inclusive environment for people of faith or none on the 2Y of the BA Fine Art.

792 words

Bibliography

Akhtar, P. (2025) Zia Yusuf: The British Muslim Driving Reform’s transformation into an election winner, The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/zia-yusuf-the-british-muslim-driving-reforms-transformation-into-an-election-winner-256003 (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Brown, N. (2022) Wellbeing in higher education podcast: Ableism, Dr Nicole Brown. Available at: https://www.nicole-brown.co.uk/wellbeing-podcast/ (Accessed: 23 May 2025).

Gilbert, D. et al. (2018) ‘The hidden geographies of religious creativity: Place-making and material culture in west london faith communities’, cultural geographies, 26(1), pp. 23–41. doi:10.1177/1474474018787278.

Marciniak, C. (2019) Wicked! modern art’s interest in the occult, Frieze. Available at: https://www.frieze.com/article/wicked-modern-arts-interest-occult (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Singh, S. (2025) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom, Trinity University, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Syal, R. (2025) Starmer accused of echoing far right with ‘island of strangers’ speech, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/12/keir-starmer-defends-plans-to-curb-net-migration (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

UAL Dashboard Data 24-25 (Accessed 26 May 2025)

IP Unit: Intervention

Mobile-free studios: developing positive studio cultures on 2Y BA Fine Art

The intervention I propose is that certain studios in the 2Y BA Fine Art footprint become mobile phone free ones as part of a pilot aimed at addressing poor mental health and a demise in productive studio culture post-pandemic.

We have approximately 12 different studio rooms across 3 different floors of B-Block at Chelsea, currently with 162 students in the year. Take up across the studios can be limited and the most successful studios are ones which have actively engaged student community. The 25-26 cohort is looking to be 180-200 students with a slightly expanded studio footprint.

Students are to collectively select which studios are to trial this pilot, which will work on an opt-in basis. The aim is to create studio spaces where students:

  • Feel safe and want to spend time
  • Can work productively without distractive and extractive apps
  • Can develop a discursive culture with their peers, and consequently feel less isolated

A colleague in product design has a contact for a charity that supplies ex-office furniture for free to educational establishments. As part of this intervention, I would get some sofas (meeting latest fire safety regulations) for studio spaces in the pilot to help create environments that encourage students to spend time there.

This intervention is informed by:

  • My own research particularly 2015-17 into online behavioural addictions and the way that the meshing of telecommunications devices with network culture, helped create a context for the use of behavioural psychology to channel user attention, creating ‘sticky’ environments that people find very difficult to negotiate. [See https://www.katrionabeales.com/arewealladdictsnow & the accompanying book edited by Bartlett and Bowden-Jones (2017)].
  • Two significant interpersonal ruptures within the student body 23-25. Both involved messages shared on social media negatively overspilling into the physical space of the college and studio, which had serious and longlasting impacts on studio culture and usage by students.
  • Conversations with Sarah Campbell, the Mental Health Advice Manager at UAL, whom I have worked with closely regarding some of my 24-25 students who have experienced severe mental ill health.
  • Various campaigns within different parts of the education sector. A network in secondary schools in the London borough I live in (Southwark) have recently banned smartphones [Hill (2024)].

I am aware this could be seen as overbearing and carefully need to position this, as I am not trying to encourage a Luddite position but one of having a critical engagement with technology. I am perhaps confusingly, very interested in digital artworks and am not suggesting it would be a laptop-free space. It is the dynamics around social media apps (reliant on smartphones) that evidence suggests are the most problematic for mental health [Girela-Serrano, B.M. et al. (2022) p.1646]. I am also aware of that many of our international students use translation software in tutorials and need to be careful that this isn’t discriminatory by encouraging the use of laptop or tablet devices as opposed to phones. The transition to using SEATs to mark attendance through student’s mobile phones is also potentially an issue. We can work around this by these studios having an agreement that once they have logged their attendance their phone is stored is off. 

I would like to run this as a longitudinal trial over the autumn term 2025, with questionnaires exploring students’ perceptions on studio culture and their mental health in both the mobile-free studios and the ones that hadn’t participated in the pilot. I am aware I might need ethical clearance to undertake some of this research.

586 words

Bibliography

Beales, K. et al. (2017) Are we all addicts now? Digital Dependence edited by Bartlett, V and Bowden-Jones, H. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press.

Hill , A. (2024) Group of 17 London Secondary Schools join up to go smartphone-free, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/group-of-17-london-secondary-schools-join-up-to-go-smartphone-free (Accessed: 23 May 2025).

Girela-Serrano, B.M. et al. (2022) ‘Impact of mobile phones and wireless devices use on children and adolescents’ mental health: A systematic review’, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 33(6), pp. 1621–1651. doi:10.1007/s00787-022-02012-8.

Lopez-Fernandez, O. et al. (2017) ‘Self-reported dependence on mobile phones in young adults: A European cross-cultural empirical survey’, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(2), pp. 168–177. doi:10.1556/2006.6.2017.020.

IP Unit: Hidden Disability and Mental Health

According to the UAL Dashboard, across CCW 18% of our students have declared a Disability. Chelsea specifically has a slightly higher rate with 18.5% of our students having declared a Disability, of whom 3.4% declared a Mental Health condition. These statistics are at odds to the general populace. In terms of Mental Health alone, a 2023 survey [see Baker and Kirk-Wade (2024)] found that among those aged 17 to 19, 10% had a probable mental disorder in 2017, rising to 23% in 2023 (emphasis mine). In 2025, these are the 19-21 year olds on the 2nd Year (2Y) of the BA Fine Art.

I don’t have space here to unpack all the reasons behind the sharp rise in mental ill health amongst young people, but research shows that COVID and the climate crisis are contributory factors [Lawrance et all (2022)]. In terms of mental health alone, there is a disconnect of around 20% between the national statistics (23%) and the student disclosed statistics at Chelsea (3.4%). From my experience as Year leader for 2Y, I would say the national picture is a much more accurate reflection of my students’ mental health.

As educators the mental health of our students has a direct impact on how students engage with us and learn, and should impact our pedagogy. Hence, the non-disclosure of students’ mental health conditions raises particular challenges. Whilst visible Disabilities have their own distinct concerns, particularly in a building as inaccessible as Chelsea’s, I am concerned that invisible Disabilities are remaining hidden in a context where students must disclose in order to be seen. Why, as these statistics suggest, are students unwilling to disclosure? There is support (albeit limited) via the Disability service, and students with an ISA (Individual Support Agreement) can get two-week extensions on deadlines.

A starting point to truly trying to address students’ reluctance to disclose would be to understand more fully, the personal and external barriers students face that prevent them from doing so. As Moriña summarises the most common external factor students’ identity is faculty themselves. “Many students with invisible disabilities find that faculty members are neither informed nor trained to support them and contribute to their inclusion.” [Moriña (2022) p.919]

Dr Nicole Brown has raised this as a critical issue, asking how visible people with Disabilities in teaching or academia are [see Brown (2018)]. If students can’t see themselves represented in staff, how can we say we are truly creating inclusive environments for teaching? This creates a self-fulfilling cycle where ableism is not tackled. Are students choosing not to disclosure their Disability due to the perceived cost of being stigmatised, marginalised and categorised in a context where they are not represented? This might be particularly true in the case of mental health where there are strong social stigmas at play, particularly when we take into consideration different intersectional cultural, class and gender-based factors.

What is clear to me, is that in my role at UAL I have the opportunity and responsibility to visibilise my own invisible Disabilities. By doing so, I can contribute to a more inclusive working and learning culture at UAL, for both staff and students.

521 words

Bibiliography

Baker, C. and Kirk-Wade, E. (2024) Mental health statistics: Prevalence, services and funding in England – House of Commons Library, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06988/ (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Brown, N. (2022) Wellbeing in higher education podcast: Ableism, Dr Nicole Brown. Available at: https://www.nicole-brown.co.uk/wellbeing-podcast/ (Accessed: 23 May 2025).

Brown, N. and Leigh, J. (2018) ‘Ableism in academia: Where are the disabled and ill academics?’, Disability & Society, 33(6), pp. 985–989. doi:10.1080/09687599.2018.1455627.

Lawrance, E.L. et al. (2022) ‘Psychological responses, mental health, and sense of agency for the dual challenges of climate change and the covid-19 pandemic in young people in the UK: An online survey study’, The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(9), pp. 726–738. doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00172-3.

Moriña, A. (2022). When what is unseen does not exist: disclosure, barriers and supports for students with invisible disabilities in higher education. Disability & Society, 39(4), 914–932. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2022.2113038

UAL Dashboard (Accessed 26 May 2025)

Case Study 3 : Assessing learning and exchanging feedback

Assessments in an age of Generative AI

Contextual Background 

We are currently revalidating the BA Fine Art course at Chelsea, a process where we rewrite the course for the next 10 years. With the rapid development of Generative AI (GenAI) tools, such as Chat GPT, I wonder what assessment models will still be relevant in a decade?

GenAI is increasingly used by the students on the BA FA course to generate their work, which isn’t in and of itself a problem, notwithstanding the huge environmental impact [Bashir et al (2024)]. In the context of climate crisis, the environmental impact does demand an ethical and critical engagement with these tools.

Evaluation 

I try to make these hidden environmental impacts visible by discussing this research in Year meetings. The aim is to support students in making ethical and sustainable decisions in relation to their interactions with GenAI.  I also draw attention to UAL’s clear policy (UAL 2024), which states “You may not use AI to generate your work unaltered that you submit for assessment as if it was your own work” and any use of AI must be cited and labelled as AI generated.

Despite this policy, my team and I regularly have students, especially in the case of essays, claim what we suspect are GenAI authored texts as their own. Tools like TurnItIIn have much more limited effectiveness than they claim [see AlAfnan (2023)].

GenAI content is produced by myriad machine-led decision-making processes that are entirely unknowable on part of the student (or indeed the technologists who created them) [see Beales (2018)]. If the purpose of assessments is to help students to develop an understanding of quality [Sadler (1989)], then the circumventing of the assessment process through the submission of work by GenAI completely defeats the point.

Moving forwards 

I am interested in exploring two avenues in response:

  1.  Integrating self-assessment

Race (2001) proposes a series of questions to support self-assessment which I have included here:

• What do you think is a fair score or grade for the work you have handed in?

• What was the thing you think you did best in this assignment?

• What was the thing that you think you did least well in this assignment?

• What did you find the hardest part of this assignment?

• What was the most important thing you learned in doing this assignment? [Ibid p.15]

These questions elicit higher-level thinking and reflection skills that are situated in the subjective experience of individual students and might help illuminate any academic malpractice in terms of GenAI usage. I am intending to experiment with these as part of our Unit 7 assessments in May 2025.

  • In-person assessment

There has been some discussion of the potential of using more Vivas as assessment points in response to GenAI [Dobson (2023)] but there are complications in the context of widespread social anxiety. In Y2, we are proposing informal in-person assessments and terming these ‘Studio Visits’. Within a ‘Studio Visit’, tutors would visit the student’s studio space to reflect on work in progress as well as finished pieces. This parallels real-world experiences of interested curators or collectors coming to visit an artist in their studio. During the Studio Visit, a conversation would take place between tutor and student which would seek to draw out the 5 areas of the Level 5 UAL marking matrix.

547 words

References 

AlAfnan, M.A. and MohdZuki, S.F. (2023). Do Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Have a Writing Style? An Investigation into the Stylistic Features of ChatGPT-4. Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Technology, 3(3). doi.org/10.37965/jait.2023.0267.

Bashir, N. et al. (2024) ‘The Climate and Sustainability Implications of Generative AI’, An MIT Exploration of Generative AI [Preprint]. doi:10.21428/e4baedd9.9070dfe7.

Beales, Katriona in conversation with William Tunstall-Pedoe (2019), Unintended Consequences? In: Interface Critique Journal 2. Eds. Florian Hadler, Alice Soiné, Daniel Irrgang. DOI: 10.11588/ic.2019.2.66989

Beckingham, S, Lawrence, J, Powell, S, & Hartley, P (eds) 2024, Using Generative AI Effectively in Higher Education : Sustainable and Ethical Practices for Learning, Teaching and Assessment, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [Accessed 14 March 2025]

Dobson, S. (2023). Why universities should return to oral exams in the AI and ChatGPT era. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/why-universities-should-return-to-oral-exams-in-the-ai-and-chatgpt-era-203429. [Accessed 15 March 2025]

Race, Phil (2001) LTSN Generic Centre A Briefing on Self, Peer and Group Assessment

Sadler, D.R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science, [online] 18(2), pp.119–144. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00117714.

UAL (2024). Student guide to generative AI. [online] UAL. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/digital-learning/ai-and-education/student-guide-to-generative-ai.[Accessed 15 March 2025]

Case Study 2 : Planning and teaching for effective learning

Teaching in an Age of Anxiety

Contextual Background 

Part of the landscape of teaching practice with my cohort of nearly 160 BA Fine Art 2nd Year (2Y) students is anxiety. This impacts on students’ attendance, learning and well-being. As a necessity, strategies for alleviating anxiety need to be integrated into any planning for teaching to be effective.

Evaluation 

Anxiety is of particular concern within H.E. Davies (2025) summarises, “Universities appear to have become especially conducive to anxiety disorders, with full-time students more likely to report them” [ibid p.13]. This is compounded by the fine art context in which teaching is characterized as “a pedagogy of ambiguity where skills are not simply competencies, but the ability to operate in the complexities of uncertainty” [Austerlitz et al (2008) p.125].

There are systemic drivers behind this epidemic of anxiety, but within my role as 2nd Year Leader I need to focus on changes I can affect on a local level. I have focused on my own training and undertaken a Mental Health First Aider course. Whilst useful, the course isn’t H.E. specific and doesn’t take into consideration in-balances of power and the way mechanisms of assessment add stress to student-staff interactions.

One strategy I have tried, is to make myself accessible to students outside of teaching to help alleviate anxiety. For example, I run an Open Office every week at the same time. I offer tea and coffee, snacks and a listening ear. The Open Office has become an effective mechanism for catching a wide range of students’ anxieties before they become overwhelming, enabling me to signpost students to relevant support.

Moving forwards 

3 areas to develop in terms of the culture and ethos of 2Y:

Staying with the Trouble

I need to build a community on 2nd Year that is trying to find ways of locating ourselves within complexity, rather than trying to climb out of it. There is no outside from the complex and multi-layer crises that face these students. As such rather than offer simplistic non-solutions, “…Staying with the trouble requires learning to be truly present, not as a vanishing pivot between awful or edenic pasts and apocalyptic or salvific futures but as mortal critters entwined in myriad unfinished configurations of places, times, matters, meanings.” [Harraway (2016) p.1]

Making Kin

I believe peer support networks are one of the strongest protective factors I can offer my students, and we encourage the students to work collectively e.g. developing collective exhibitions. I can be more intentional about creating social opportunities where the cohort mixes and gets to know each other. This is about embedding small gestures e.g. making sure that every tutor integrate into all their sessions ice-breaker activities. “The task is to make kin in lines of inventive connection.” [Harraway (2016) p.1]

Cultures of Celebration

I want to develop a culture of celebration amongst staff and students, and an obvious opportunity is around the Y2 Exhibitions, particularly the Private View events. Supporting student programmes of performances during these events can add vitality. As Solnit (2016) writes in relation to finding energy to continue climate activism; “Much has changed; much needs to change; being able to celebrate or at least recognize milestones and victories and keep working is what the times require of us.” [ibid p.140]

538 words

References 

Austerlitz, Noam, Blythman, Margo, Grove-White, Annie, Jones, Barbara Anne, Jones, Carol An, Morgan, Sally, Orr, Susan, Shreeve, Alison and Vaughn, Suzi (2008) Mind the gap: expectations, ambiguity and pedagogy within art and design higher education. In: Drew, Linda, (ed.) The Student Experience in Art and Design Higher Education: Drivers for Change. Cambridge, Jill Rogers Associates Limited, pp. 124-148

Davies, W. (2025). Another Age of Anxiety: Psychological Distress and the ‘Asset Economy’. Theory, Culture & Society. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764251316403.

‌Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press.

Solnit, R. (2016). Hope in the Dark : Untold histories, Wild Possibilities. Edinburgh: Canongate Books.

Case Study 1 : Know and Respond to Your Students’ Diverse Needs

Supporting Students with Autism Assistance dogs

Contextual Background

We have around 160 students in 2nd Year on the BA Fine Art at Chelsea. Many of these students are neurodiverse, as am I, and some have additional needs. I want to focus this case study on supporting students with Autism Assistance dogs.

Evaluation 

Autism Assistance dogs are specifically trained to support people with Autism. The type of support the dog offers varies according to the specific needs of the person they are trained to support, but can include things like medication reminders, interrupting self-harm, and deep pressure therapy to help emotional regulation (Short, ND). All Assistance dogs are welcomed on site at UAL as part of the university’s obligations under the Equalities Act 2010 (UAL 2023). Supporting students to attend college with their Assistance Dog is a reasonable adjustment and a key part of my role as Year Leader in providing an inclusive environment for Neurodiverse and Disabled students.

Moving forwards 

I have observed first-hand how Assistance Dogs can help students negotiate high levels of social anxiety [see Majka (2023)] and navigate challenges in engaging with social situations which would otherwise cause high levels of stress. This has made a profound difference to some students lives so I am committed to making it as easy as possible for students working with assistance dogs to be integrated into the course.

Specifically, within the context of the BA Fine Art I will make sure that any student with an assistance dog is in a centrally located part of the studios, close to lifts and on a lower floor for ease of access for both students and assistance dogs. I have prioritised finding students with Assistance Dogs quieter areas of the studios, for example in the corner, and together with the student agreed set working days when most other students are not in to ensure a quieter working environment.

Assistance dogs are not pets and when they are wearing their official ‘bib’ are in work mode – solely focused on supporting their individual. I will brief the rest of the student body in part of a Year meeting on how to interact with Assistance Dogs, to not pet them or distract them and to focus on communicating with the individual student. I will follow up this briefing with the same information in an email to the whole student cohort.

I am also aware of some of the cultural sensitivities around dogs. For example, dogs can be understood as ‘haram’ within Islam [Nia (2022)]. I will also introduce this as a concept to the students’ with Assistance Dogs so that they are also aware of potential different attitudes towards dogs within the student body. 

In a broader sense, I would like to work towards integrating a hybrid approach that understands engagement rather than in-person participation as attendance. As a student comments in ‘Three months to make a difference’ (2020), in support of hybrid models of engagement, any attendance online or in person should be understood as attendance. This is a different approach to the current UAL attendance policy which stress in-person attendance on-site, but this needs to change to be more fully inclusive.

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References

Note: there is limited published research about this within HE.  

‌‘Health and Safety Guidance: Assistance dogs on site’ UAL policy (2023) https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/414682/Assistance-Dogs-on-Site-H-and-S-Guidance-July-2023-v3.pdf [Accessed 28 Feb. 2025].

Short, Abigail ‘Dog’s special skills’ (ND) Autism Dogs CIC. [online] Available at: https://www.autismdogs.co.uk/our-service/special-skills [Accessed 28 Feb. 2025].

Majka, Georgia Jean, (2023)  “NEURODIVERGENT COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THERAPY DOGS IN HIGHER EDUCATION” (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 3127. https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/3127

Nia (2022). Are Dogs Really Haram in Islam? – Muslim Girl. [online] Muslim Girl. Available at: https://muslimgirl.com/are-dogs-really-haram-in-islam/ [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025].

‘Three Months To Make A Difference – Key areas of challenge for disabled students requiring urgent action from institutions and policy makers in HE’ (2020) Published by Advance HE on behalf of the Disabled Students’ Commission, an initiative funded by the Office for Students. (n.d.). Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/three-months-make-difference [Accessed 28 Feb. 2025].

Review of Teaching: Katriona Beales observed by Mike McShane

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed:

Seminar 26th February 2025.

Size of student group: 8

Observer: Mike McShane

Observee: Katriona Beales

Part One

Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

Katriona:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

This is a planned seminar for half of my existing tutor group, joined by some visiting students from NAFA, Singapore who are here on exchange. The (NAFA) students have been invited to give presentations to the group as an introduction with the hope that it encourages genuine exchange and interactions between the different student groups. The seminar also needs to give some direction for the Chelsea students who are engaged in planning for their OffSite Projects which are happening from the 10th March.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

These students have been in my tutor group since the beginning of the academic year in September 2024. I am their Tutor Group Leader and also Year Leader.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

  • To introduce the visiting NAFA students and facilitate some introductory conversations
  • To support the development of the Chelsea students OffSite Projects with key theoretical ideas around site and audience.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

  • NAFA students presentations x 3
  • Reflective and critical response to presentations
  • Theoretical discussion
  • Planned plasticene response

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

  • The NAFA and Chelsea students haven’t met before
  • Cross-cultural dynamic – lack of knowledge of Singaporean context and vice versa.
  • Context of Chelsea curriculum – there is some key work to do to support the OffSite Projects development and it is a bit out of context to have NAFA students present for this since they aren’t directly involved.
  • Balancing different needs of NAFA and Chelsea students

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

I will introduce Mike and his role at the beginning.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

I am keen to develop all aspects of my teaching practice.

How will feedback be exchanged?

In conversation and via this form.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Mike:

Account

  • Very Friendly atmosphere, personable, helping students through stresses on the course
  • Getting each student to introduce themselves in a very friendly way.
  • Ask students to present their work and then for other students to make notes and share feedback.
  • Creation of a friendly atmosphere. Asks for feedback notes from peers. Offers Artists for students to look at.
  • Makes jokes and allows space for students to discuss ideas without a ‘teacher’ presence.
  • Phone doesn’t work to find reference, offers to send it on after session.
  • Tech is all set up and very helpful in helping students prepare their presentations
  • Asks for thoughts and reflections
  • Engages in a very interesting conversation with the NAFA students and offers great feedback e.g. ‘Critique by enacting fully’
  • Minority spaces vs gentrification,
  • Projection onto student to engage in queer scenes could be misconstrued but obviously intended kindly. [KB: this was in reference to them self-identifying as queer in their presentation]
  • Initiated very interesting conversation about differences between Singapore and UK encouraged dialogue between student groups
  • Really good at including and incorporating NAFA students into wider conversation

Site and audience in relation to offsite project

  • Give handouts of two quotes, one by Constant Dullart in relation to audience; one by Miwon Kwon in relation to site.  
  • Asks students to read out quotes
  • Asks students if they know what everything means, goes through the meaning of the quote.
  • Asks for a summary from students to be discussed
  • Discussion around “Activating ‘Art’ – what happens to an artwork when it is taken out of the whitecube?
  • Frames quote nicely in relation to the offsite projects that are coming up, and to consider the code and lexicon of the space that people occupy or show in. Asks how this might inform students offsite proposals/ frame their work/ and to discuss their proposal ideas with peers
  • Good at remembering student names.
  • Encouraging for NAFA students to include them.
  • Asks about engagement with the audience. Creates a discussion about art’s intention in relation to the audience. Framed within the context of social media and contemporary society.
  • Excellent description of Michael Fried, loved the other quote
  • Impressive amount of discussion generated from two quotes, very talented at teasing out connections between students without imposing onto them.

Summary

Considering how you had to incorporate NAFA exchange students at the last minute to your session and how ill you had been prior (and to an extent during) the session I don’t think you could have run it any better.

I was especially inspired by your attentiveness to students’ needs throughout the session and the level to which you made sure they had each individually understood an idea, this you then further supplemented by encouraging discussion and debate about ideas in an incredibly relaxed atmosphere that felt very safe to exchange knowledge and ideas.

Your use of humour throughout the session created an incredibly relaxed atmosphere. I would love to have seen how you would have incorporated this way of working into a more practical workshop using the plasticine.

It was particularly interesting to hear how you let go of the more making part of your workshop, in favour of giving the NAFA students more time to talk and discuss things with other Y2 students. I know from working with NAFA students over the last few years that they have often felt isolated and separate from the wider course, so it was amazing to see them so included.

I wonder if the Chelsea students had had to present to the NAFA students as well if more conversations and exchanges could have happened. I realise after the session this happened as students began chatting together, but it could have been interesting to have seen NAFA students feeding back to the Chelsea students in an act of reciprocation.

I would have really liked to have seen how the different students could have worked on an idea together in a physical way. From personal experience I know that some students struggle to retain ideas without having engaged in a material or creative process to encapsulate that idea: Some kind of tangible ephemera or enacted process as an embodied reminder or rehearsal of the concepts and ideas discussed to retain the new information. I realise that you ran out of time to do this in order to accommodate NAFA students. I just personally would have loved to have seen how you would have applied your humour, kindness and methodology to that type of teaching.

Finally, I was most impressed by the way you stepped back whilst they were most intensely discussing ideas, to set up the next step of the presentation to frame everything within their projects, and then to check in with how they are all doing on the offsite projects. The timing of when to be present leading and when to step back and allow students the space to engage with each other without a ‘teacher’ present is a real skill, especially in relation to the pacing of a session. I massively respected the way you used that space to prepare yourself for the next stage of the workshop so that by the time they finished discussing you were completely ready to take the lead again. Your pacing and ownership of the gaps in time was a true inspiration to me.

Observations

  • Amazing at leading students into discussing ideas together.
  • Fantastic for incorporating NAFA students so effortlessly into the group and dialogue.
  • Really good at framing discursive text on site specificity within the context of what they are doing and where they are at in the course.
  • Really good at creating a personable atmosphere where students are comfortable to share ideas your use of humour, to create a relaxed atmosphere proved very conducive to co-operation and sharing
  • Really good at checking in to see how they are all getting on with their individual projects

Difficult to answer these 2 as I feel like I am forcing things to fit the matrix and that how the session played out was the best way for it to naturally happen given the circumstances

Questions

  • What would you have done with the plasticine with them?
  • Are the NAFA students incorporated into offsite projects?
  • Do Chelsea student present to NAFA students at all?
  • Is there a way to improve attendance? – Also, aware how the students who don’t attend are the ones who are struggling most and that this is a much wider issues?

Suggestions

  • More cross over/ symmetry between exchange and home students in terms of cooperation – although I am also aware of how limited the time is – it was nevertheless exciting to listen to the students from both discussing ideas and work together after the session had finished- avenues of potential collaboration between students? It could have been interesting to see the home students
  • More humour! Humour seems to be central to how you create a relaxed atmosphere that is so conducive to students exchanging ideas. I wonder if there would be a session to incorporate that into a making session with them.
  • I would have really liked to have seen how you incorporated the plasticine into the session
  • Fleetingness of discussion

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Katriona:

It’s very useful to have Mike’s very detailed, attentive and encouraging account of my teaching in the context of this seminar. I really appreciate the elements that Mike has teased out here, particular around the challenges of integrating students from NAFA into the session.

I was balancing two different agendas in this session and was unsure how the need to host and welcome the NAFA students would balance with the need to prepare the Chelsea students for their OffSite Projects. I think Mike’s suggestion of the Chelsea students doing their own presentation would be excellent to take on. I would just need to take into consideration how many of my Chelsea students really dislike making presentations and would find them stressful, but there are ways to alleviate this. I wonder if I could make time for them to do informal ones, in which they could summarise their plans for the OffSite Projects in a more informal presentation style.

I also am struck by how much Mike commented on the element of humour in the session, and the way he understood this as contributing towards a relaxed environment. This is quite instinctual and not something I was actively aware of, more a kind of learnt behaviour in a teaching context where people are meeting for the first time. One thing I am conscious of is actively dethroning or at least problematising the hallowed status of the academic or professor, and I think being humorous has a serious role to play in allowing students to have a different type of engagement with their tutor that isn’t overly serious or heavy. I want to put some more conscious thought into this, aware too of the challenges it can pose in terms of sensitives around what is deigned humorous and how this can manifest in a nuanced way.

Things I am going to consider moving forwards:

Humour as a deliberate strategy to disrupt hierarchies, create community, alleviate stress and increase enjoyment.

Review of Teaching : Mike McShane observed by Katriona Beales

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Interactive Art workshop with 1st Year BA Fine Art students led by Mike McShane, 27 Feb 2025.

Size of student group: 10

Observer: Katriona Beales

Observee: Mike McShane

Part One

Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

  • Workshop for students to explore interactive art.
  • Context exploration of the site – non site on site off site etc in curriculum
  • Helping students think through ideas before doing their offsite show in Easter

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

  • First time working with this group, some of the students have attended my workshops from other sessions

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

  • Discussion of what interactive art can be
  • Discussion of structural material types of interactive art
  • Discussion what an audience/viewer is?
  • Development of ways to make interactive art
  • Development of situations of interaction
  • Emphasis on play

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

  • Creation of situations
  • Creation of obstructions
  • Creation of different interactive ‘sketches’

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

  • The necessity of improv

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

  • Introduce for the session

What would you particularly like feedback on?

  • Pacing,
  • information bias
  • information depth
  • Structure

How will feedback be exchanged?

  • In conversation and via this form.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Katriona’s observations:

The workshop is taking place in a cramped room which has obvious limitations, but you negotiate this well by having a flexible plan which can expand into the studios.

The introduction is well-designed with examples of artists’ practices that engage with interactivity, laid out for the students to engage with. Students are asked to write down their own understanding of interactive art practices in response. This straightaway introduces a contextual framework for the workshop, rooted in relation to established artists’ practices. The introduction is staggered because of late arrivals, but late comers are carefully integrated into the activity as appropriate when they arrive. I think you handled this dynamic expertly.

Care is taken to give time for the initial discussion in response to the examples of artist practices, with each student given space to articulate their response. This feels especially appropriate because the students are 1st Years and are still getting to know each other.

This initial conversation is facilitated well to open a series of relevant questions to do with agency, consent, rules, play, permissiveness, subjectivity and objectivity. I felt some of these ideas could have been captured in some way (a drawing or diagram perhaps) to return to a later date perhaps.

I enjoy how you use a lot of gestures when you talk, which animate your spoken contributions. This makes you an engaging person to listen to.

I wonder how subconscious or instinctive this relationship to movement is?

Given how much communication is non-verbal I’d encourage some reflection on this. How can an intentional engagement with body language and gesture open more possibilities in terms of holding attention, speaking and being heard? I also wonder about the relationship of this to your own art practice. Interesting!

You evidence a real expertise and an impressive breadth of knowledge. This is a real strength of your teaching approach. However, I wonder how at points this could be broken down a bit more into stages, to support students to make the conceptual leap from other peoples’ works to the implications for their own?

I felt like taking a bit longer at the conceptual stage before moving into their own ideas for their own practices, could have allowed some more imaginative responses from students, rather than them reiterating existing ideas.

Similarly, I would double-check that students understand what is meant by some of the higher-level vocabulary you are using. For example, I wasn’t sure that everyone understood the use of the word ‘iterative’ to describe the progressive development of an idea. It is difficult for students to vocalise if they don’t understand something when some of their peers do, so integrating definitions of specific terminology when you first use it is something to consider in terms of an inclusive approach to different educational backgrounds and neurodiversity etc.

I would also encourage at points variations in the way people share e.g. sharing in pairs their initial ideas and then reporting back to the wider group. This could help with the pacing the discursive aspects of the workshop rather than only one person speaking at a time over the course of the morning which can feel quite slow.

I really enjoy the enthusiastic way you engage with each students’ ideas. I appreciate how you give time and space to each student and practice deep and attentive listening. This is evident in the careful follow up questions and responses you give. This is really impressive and a real strength of your approach to teaching.

You support the session with a carefully constructed padlet which has lots of resources for them to refer to, to extend and widen their learning.

All in all, an impressively well-organised and effective introduction to the workshop. You set the students up well for the afternoon of developing their ideas, and the effectiveness of your approach is evident in how productive the students were in the afternoon session.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Mike’s response:

I really appreciate the attentiveness Katriona gave to the session and especially her suggestions in relation to pacing, introducing diagrams and the introduction of an intermediate stage between conceptual dialogue and making that incorporates explanations of terminology and slows down that bit between thinking and making for students.

I think one of the areas that I need to work on most in my teaching practice is the pacing of and gap between, the transition from conceptual thinking to making.

I know that in some ways I get too excited about the making part of a workshop and like a child waiting for desert: I speed eat my vegetables towards the end of a discursive period and just rush toward the practical part, as this is the part I enjoy the most and feel most comfortable in doing:

I think this is mainly because in my own practice I learn through making and doing.

Moreover, when I was a student, I really struggled with long discursive periods and would only properly retain or engage with ideas by writing, performing or making to explore them creatively.  This led me to either skive discursive sessions, bluff engagement or forget what had been discussed. So, now as an Educator I overcompensate to engage students who I project being like my past self.

I also think this is partially because as an HPL I have very limited contact time with students to develop ideas and I get too excited from showing, discussing ideas and  knowing that the practical part is coming, and that the session will end and I may not see them again to develop an idea, I rush straight to the enacted part as it feels like this is the part I can most successfully engage with students.

I also had never thought about my excessive gesticulating in a pedagogical sense and nonverbal gesture and communication is at the core of my practice.

I had not really thought about the physicality of my teaching practice in any great depth but now will most definitely do so.

Planned Changes

  1. Slow the pace of a workshop using an intermediate exercise to get students to work through conceptual ideas in less rushed fashion, making sure that everyone understands and doesn’t feel left out
  2.  Use different patterns of group and individual working, discussing and creating diagrams to explore an idea
  3. Slow down in general, allow the students time to digest, discuss and ask questions, provide a calm atmosphere of clarity

Review of Teaching : Katriona Beales observed by Kwame Bah

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed:

2nd Year BA Fine Art Year meeting – Mon 12noon 24th Feb 2025

Access recording: https://ual.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=f32aedf6-aeb1-49a1-a2f7-b26100a071d6&start=126.367567

Size of student group: around 80 (though open to the whole year group of 150)

Observer: Kwame Baah

Observee: Katriona Beales

Part One

Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

The Year meetings are a weekly slot, taking place most Mondays at 12noon in the Lecture Theatre. They provide a way of unpacking what can be a complex timetable, as well as going through Unit briefs, assessments and the particular aspects of quite complex elements of the course – in this instance the supporting the students’ self-organisation of their OffSite Projects.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

I have been in post since September as the Year Leader for 2nd Year.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

The purpose of the Year meetings is to support clear communication, that the students understand what is expected of them and where to find resources and information to support their engagement with the course.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

There aren’t specific outputs expected from the Year meetings, but I often measure engagement in terms of % attendance and also participation in the more discursive aspects of the meeting. I always make time for student voices as part of these meetings.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

I have been off ill and missed the first unit briefing for this new unit, so I am playing catch-up here and also trying to adjust to the returning and new Exchange students so there are unfamiliar faces present in the lecture for the first time.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

Due to Kwame being off ill, the observation didn’t happen in-person. If he had attended I would have introduced him at the beginning and explained why he was present.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

I would really appreciate any feedback on any aspect that stands out to Kwame. I have been working quite hard to make these Year meeting engaging and a safe space for student participation so any feedback or ideas in these particular aspects would be welcomed.

How will feedback be exchanged?

Written feedback below or via our tutorial would be appreciated.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Kwame Baah

As part of your session you tapped into the notion of belonging when you told to the students that you missed them the previous week. The impact of such affirmation creates collective association and cohesion in the group. My perception is that you are a seasoned teacher/ educator because you set the tone and schedule for the duration of the session with much detail. Every attending student was given context for how to engage in the project space, including with little to no familiarity.

I think the mention of the ‘happy cat’ was something useful for continuity of welcoming students to the session at different points and it would be interesting to understand how visiting students respond to it, especially because you are keen to build international networks. This could be a useful visual representation of embracing others. Stepping through possible activities and subsequent translations of end-products you supported student thinking for each requirement mentioned e.g. ‘traditional publication …but you can also interpret it much more widely’. A very useful way to get students to focus on their own decision pathways within a project.

I was particularly impressed by your catch-up resilience when let down by your tech during the session, but you were as calm as ever.  When you offered uncertain students extra support to get them on track it was a very engaging to see that for each 1-to-1 dialogue you comforted them. Lucky students!

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Thank you to Kwame for this encouraging feedback. Whilst my intention in these meeting is always to be calm; my internal dialogue is often anything but, and it is really encouraging that Kwame reflected that I seemed calm outwardly when the AV set up started causing problems. AV issues are commonplace, and I often feel quite thrown by them, so I really value this element of Kwame’s feedback.

I am curious about the feedback around the “happy cat” and I’m interested to further explore the way this could come to represent embracing others and valuing difference. I am going to put some more thought into this, and the potential of building a lexicon of different images that act as reoccurring motifs, fulfilling a symbolic function within the Year meetings.

Happy NYan Cat by Cat Dark-Lak

Blog post 4 : Ambiguous Pedagogies, Uncertain Territories

Annie Davey’s (2016) article ‘International Students and Ambiguous Pedagogies within the UK Art School’ raises all sorts of questions about the assumptions at play underneath the fine art pedagogy prevalent in Chelsea and most art schools. I am not only involved in teaching some of these assumptions but also have been taught them myself, through my foundation (2000-01) undergraduate studies at Liverpool School of Art (2001-05) and then at Chelsea where I did a PGDip and MA in Fine Art (2010-11).

Actively not knowing is a central part of the way contemporary artistic practice is configured, drawing heavily on the legacy of conceptualism. My own approach has been influenced by contributing to a research group set up by Jacob Jacobsen to explore John Latham’s idea of AntiKnow (Jacobsen 2006), see images below.

Davey’s article draws on Austerlitz and I followed the research trail to read ‘Mind the Gap’ Austerlitz et al’s (2008) article. “Students entering higher education often seek ‘clarity’ but a central, although largely unspoken tenet of art and design pedagogy would appear to be the centrality of ‘ambiguity’ to the creative process.” [p.127 Austerlitz et al (2008)].

This quote echoed two conversations I recently had with students following their Unit 6 feedback. Both are engaged international students with English as their first language. Both had received B (very good under the UAL Level 5 Marking Matrix). Both were unhappy with this, and wanted to know exactly how to get an A. They wanted clarity and whilst at least one of them was dissatisfied with the ambiguity I was offering in return. “…For those students unfamiliar with the benefits of risk and for whom uncertainty feels far from necessary, productive state these implicit values can be met with confusion and diminished confidence” [Davey (2016) p.380].

There are invisible barriers at play. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback about the course from students, but I recently received some that evidenced that some students felt very much at sea in this ambiguity. I hosted an open meeting welcoming anyone who wanted to voice any frustrations or concerns, and it was illuminating. What became clear was that some students who have not benefited from an arts-based education prior to starting their BA, feel really lost by the ambiguous nature of what we are asking them to do.  

Perhaps one of the tasks is to fully conceptualise what our ambiguous pedagogy is, and to do this we must clearly define what we mean by ambiguity. “Rowland argues that there are two different kinds of ambiguity and makes the distinction between vagueness and uncertainty (Rowland 2003). This allows us to differentiate between not taking the process far enough to identify issues and possibilities (vagueness) and the recognition of multiplicity of routes and interpretations with porous boundaries (uncertainty)… There is also a danger of inauthentic ambiguity where there is a discourse of acceptance of diverse outcomes but beneath is a hidden curriculum open only to the privileged few.” [p.142 Austerlitz et al (2008)]. This is a very helpful distinction between vagueness and uncertainty, and one I will be taking forward as I develop the pedagogical frame for Year 2.

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References:

Austerlitz, Noam, Blythman, Margo, Grove-White, Annie, Jones, Barbara Anne, Jones, Carol An, Morgan, Sally, Orr, Susan, Shreeve, Alison and Vaughn, Suzi (2008) Mind the gap: expectations, ambiguity and pedagogy within art and design higher education. In: Drew, Linda, (ed.) The Student Experience in Art and Design Higher Education: Drivers for Change. Cambridge, Jill Rogers Associates Limited, pp. 124-148

Davey, A. (2016). International Students and Ambiguous Pedagogies within the UK Art School. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 35(3), pp.377–383. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12124.

Flattimeho.org.uk. (2025). ANTIKNOW RESEARCH REPORT | Projects | Flat Time House. [online] Available at: https://flattimeho.org.uk/projects/publications/anti-know-research-report/ [Accessed 18 Mar. 2025].

Jakobsen, J. ed. (2006) ‘ANTIKNOW RESEARCH REPORT’ published by FlatTime Ho