My ARP Question: How can a weekly Year meeting with a large cohort develop a culture of inclusion, belonging and community on Year 2 of the BA Fine Art at Chelsea?
I[1] have a large cohort of 172 students on the 2nd Year of BA FA at Chelsea. Whilst most teaching takes place in tutor groups[2], the Year meeting is a 1 hour slot once a week, where we gather the whole cohort in the Lecture Theatre. I am specifically focusing on Year meetings as they pose complex challenges due the size of the cohort and the constraints of the architecture of the lecture theatre.
BA Fine Art students are a diverse cohort (see Fig. 1).
- 94% are under the age of 25
- 25% have a Declared Disability
- 32% are Overseas students
- 26% of our Home Students are from the Global Majority[3]
- 26% of our Home Students are the first generation studying at university
According to the UAL Dashboard 2025, only 4.6% of our students on the BA Fine Art declared a Mental Health condition. This is at odds with a national survey [see Baker and Kirk-Wade (2024)], which found that among those aged 17 to 19, the incidence was 23% post-pandemic. From experience, my students’ mental health is more in line with these national statistics.
Why does developing a culture of inclusion, belonging and community matter?
Allen et al’s 20 year literature review evidences the strong research base connecting belonging and positive mental health, and academic achievement in HE. “The sense of belonging in higher education is an important determinant of both psychological wellbeing and academic success. It influences key psychological constructs such as self-esteem, resilience, and the intrinsic enjoyment of learning.” [Allen, K. et al (2024) p.3 ].
I believe, despite or perhaps because of, the large size of the cohort, the Year meeting provides a key opportunity for building community. The scale of student numbers is not necessarily antithetical to belonging, as there are other contexts in which belonging can play out in a mass of people, for example, participating in a carnival procession.
The potential of the Year meeting as a space of belonging is, however, problematized by the context of neo-liberalism. “The ideal type neoliberal subject is… orientated toward survivalist competition… This produces a space of hierarchy, competition and individualism through the eradication of spaces of solidarity, care and community.” [Motta (2013) ibid p.27]
Instead, I want to co-create with students, spaces of solidarity, care and community within 2nd Year on the BA Fine Art.
A student response to the Questionnaire 1 summarises why this is so important:
“In all honesty if I wasn’t on the course, I may avoid some of the community activities. Not because I’m mean spirited or undervalue others contributions but I have shy tendencies with low self esteem and worry about being a burden. The ability to develop a community is important to me because as I do it, things become less intimidating, less stressful and to take this with me after my schooling is important…”
503 words
Figure 1: UAL Dashboard BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, CCW (Accessed 13 Jan 2026)
References:
Allen, K., Slaten, C., Hong, S., Lan, M., Craig, H., May, F., Counted, V. (2024). Belonging in Higher Education: A Twenty-Year Systematic Review. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(5).
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: 13 Jan 2026).
Elizabeth, O.P., Jacobsen, M., Nowell, L., Freeman, G., Lorenzetti, L., Clancy, T., Paolucci, A., Pethrick, H. and Lorenzetti, D.l. (2021) An exploration of graduate student peer mentorship, social connectedness and well-being across four disciplines of study. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 12(1), pp. 73-88.
Institute of Health Equity (2021). Structural Racism, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities in London – Institute of Health Equity. [online] Available at: https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/structural-racism-ethnicity-and-health-inequalities (Accessed 13 Jan 26)
Motta, S (2013) ‘Pedagogies of Possibility: In, against and beyond the Imperial Patriarchal Subjectivities of Higher Education’ in Cowden, S, & Singh, G 2013, Acts of Knowing : Critical Pedagogy in, Against and Beyond the University, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 March 2025].
Morris C (2021), ““Peering through the window looking in”: postgraduate experiences of non-belonging and belonging in relation to mental health and wellbeing”. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 12 No. 1 pp. 131–144, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-07-2020-0055
UAL Dashboard (Accessed 13 Jan 2026)
[1] I am a teacher-researcher-artist, operating from an intersectional feminist position. As an employee of UAL, I am an academic and insider, and as a Year Leader for the 2nd Year of the BA in Fine Art, I am in a position of authority and line manager. As an artist, I am often an outsider. As a student on the PGCert, I am a learner. Outside these various roles I am also: a mother; a trade unionist; a community organizer and someone who is Neuro-diverse (dyslexic). These different roles and perspectives that I hold within myself, affect the question I have chosen to research, and also the power dynamics at play.
[2] Seminars, workshops and tutorials take place within context of tutor groups which are around 30 students.
[3] UAL uses the term BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) in line with wider HE sector. I prefer to use Global Majority.
[4] All from the UAL Dashboard 2025 – see figure 1.