Academic Practice with Focus on BA Fashion Design

I asked students for permission before taking pictures and made them aware of the fact that I would solely utilise the photos as supplementary documents for my reflective report on my blog.

The following photos stem from the student groups documentations when they independently continued working with the toiles in their own time and linked them to the LVMH sustainability project which was running simultaneously as my workshop.

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION & CULTURAL CAPITAL

A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment

Aaron J. Hahn Tapper

This text ‘A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment’ by Aaron J. Hahn Tapper explores the theoretical and practical aspects of social justice education through a case example of a US-based intergroup educational organisation. The article discusses the organisation’s pedagogy, which integrates Freirean thought, social identity theory, intersectionality, and experiential education to empower participants to engage in social justice activism.

One of the main aims of the intergroup educational organisation discussed in the article is to promote social justice education through intergroup dialogue, which can also be referred to as ‘intercommunal’ dialogue, and experiential, active learning. The vital point is that the students are meant to teach each other as opposed to the teachers passing a set of information onto the students which would be a more passive learning process. Therefore, the teachers take on the role of the facilitator and are there to guide rather than lead the dialogue.

Through a variety of programs and activities, the organisation intends to help students develop a deeper understanding of their own identities and the ways in which they intersect with larger social structures and how these intersections can lead to experiences of privilege or oppression. Next to the importance of active participation and reflection the organisation encourages students to apply the theories they have learned to real-world situations.

Overall, the organisation’s intention is to empower students to become agents of social change, by providing them with the tools and skills they need to engage in social justice activism and influence positive change in the world.

How could I apply the resources to my own teaching practice?

In my role as a BA Fashion Womenswear pathway leader, I develop projects, briefs, and the timetables; I am directly involved with the admissions looking through all applications and conducting interviews; and I teach 2^nd and final year students. This means I have analysed how to advance actively students’ diversity and experience and reduce the gap between privileged and underprivileged students for many years.

As a result of the new UAL strategy, the BA fashion department employed new specialists including a tutor for race & transcultural studies one year ago. This created a noticeable shift in that race has become one of our priorities including decolonising our curriculum. It is apparent that I have explored some of the techniques described in the texts in my teaching practice. 

The above text describes 3 key notions – the teacher as a facilitator, creating a meaningful experience for the students and helping students to become change makers for a better future – which represent my 3 main aims in my own teaching practice.

I intend to focus on some of the key words and methods originating from the text above and from the text ‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ by Terry Finnigan and Aisha Richards and explore possibilities of applying them further to my own teaching practice.By implementing these references, I am hoping to create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for my students, which could in turn improve their retention and attainment.

Experiential education

Fashion in Motion at the V&A 2017

Free Lesage Workshop (company who does all the hand-embroidery for CHANEL) 2015

The text emphasises the importance of experiential education, which involves active participation and reflection. This is at the core of my teaching in that I continue taking on the role of a facilitator, highlighting to students the significance of learning from each other in our open-plan studio and initiating student-led discussions.

At this point I would like to draw a parallel between the notion of ‘experiential education’ and the idea of having or gaining ‘cultural capital’ stemming from the second text ‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’. ‘Cultural capital’ refers to the knowledge, skills, and experiences that students bring with them when starting at university.

As the BA Fashion at CSM is one of the best fashion design courses in the world we do get many privileged students with a lot of ‘cultural capital’ joining our course. Being directly involved in the admission process I am aware of the disproportional distribution of ‘cultural capital’ among our applicants due to different backgrounds which can be race, socioeconomic status etc. Consequently, I attempt to create experiences on the course ensuring that students gain more ‘cultural capital’ and this is part of my experiential education.

Vitally, ‘cultural capital’ does not only mean having been exposed to cultural life from early years onwards because we can have students from very isolated places in Iceland or Norway, but they own the confidence created and nurtured by their families to utilise independently museums, archives, libraries, theatres etc. Families with different backgrounds such as race or low socioeconomic status often lack confidence and the sense of belonging and ownership. The result is that many would not enter a museum and other free available resources independently.

For instance, to create more ‘cultural capital’ in students I organise trips to the V&A Clothworkers (archive of the V&A, now moving to Stratford) and Print and Drawing Rooms (unfortunately, I couldn’t find any photos of those archive trips). Usually, I choose a few leaders from the student year group who take some of the groups to the archive independently because I am unable to be part of each group. At the archive students present in small groups what they had researched together about the chosen garments followed by student-led discussion about the meaning and relationships of the garments. By doing this the students engage with the material in a more meaningful way. This form of workshop also links back to the idea of exploring wellbeing through interacting with objects (in this case garments) which is explored in Kador and Chattergee’s work ‘Object-Based Learning and Well-Being: Exploring Material Connections’, (2020).      

Up to now I always had made a selection of garments designed and cut according to a Western, white ideal and designed by Western, white couturiers such as Dior, Schiaparelli, Alexander McQueen etc.. and consequently, we had discussed gender, socioeconomic status and sexual orientation but never race. For the next visits I will focus on a variety of different cultures when selecting the garments and designers and encourage a discussion with emphasis on race especially looking at the different construction of the garment.

Through my own connection with the V&A I was able to establish the students’ participation in the renowned, live fashion in motion event several times. This is an absolute unique and transformative opportunity for any 2^nd year BA fashion student as usually only well-known designers present their work at such high-profile event. Often the show happens in conjunction with a current main exhibition at the V&A. For the first time we will actively initiate anti-racism thinking and action for the next fashion in motion event in that our new member of staff who focuses on race and transcultural studies wrote the brief together with us inviting students to think about what is happening now giving the example of the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.

Intersectionality

Further the text highlights the importance of intersectionality, which recognizes the interconnectedness of different forms of oppression and privilege. In the context of fashion design, this could mean encouraging students to consider how their designs might impact different groups of people, and to think critically about issues such as cultural appropriation and body diversity.

Having attempted to decolonise our curriculum for one year now we continuously have focussed on encouraging students to incorporate cultural elements into their designs in a respectful and appropriate way. Our efforts begin to show positive results in that especially students from different backgrounds have begun integrating their cultural identities into their designs and garment constructions independently.

For instance, our last sustainability project was a client group project consisting of menswear and womenswear students collaborating with LVMH which is the largest luxury goods company in the world owned by the wealthiest person in the world. One group had a menswear student of Nigerian origin exploring Nigerian pattern cutting and a womenswear student of Indian origin exploring the Indian saree. Significantly, juxtaposing those students’ culturally diverse designs with recognisable Louis Vuitton bags designed by a Korean student from the same group meant investigating the relationship and opening up a dialogue of white privilege and inclusive design, aesthetic, and construction.

LVMH decided to select the group of students next to other diverse groups. The students’ designs will now be shipped to Paris and exhibited in LVMH’s acclaimed exhibition space promoting and celebrating diversity and sustainability.

Empowerment

Additionally, the text emphasises the importance of empowerment and responsibility in education, which involves giving students the tools and skills they need to create positive change in the world.

As we have run sustainability and group projects for many years, we have encouraged students to engage with activism in the past however, this tended to remain quite individual, sporadic journeys. My most recent aim is to tackle empowerment through designing community-based projects in collaboration with a member of staff who currently, has been establishing suitable community groups.

The text ‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ talked about peer mentoring which again we have explored in the past mainly because we used to have only one student of colour per year group and those students would talk to me about their great discomfort of having to work in a studio where nobody looked like them. Therefore, I had introduced peer mentoring and paired up the students of colour if they were happy to explore this option. As this worked well, we could re-engage with this technique again.

For around 40 years we have exercised a similar method where the first- and second-year fashion students help the final year fashion students with their final year project. This constitutes a successful technique because it does not just mean that the 1^st and 2^nd year fashion students work for the final year fashion students but that the final year fashion students do act like mentors in that they train the 1^st and 2^nd year students in certain skills, show them their portfolios, explain their concepts and ideas, share their industry experience, and help with industry contacts etc. Further the 1^st and 2^nd year students can have real influence on the final year students’ work resulting in a proper student-led collaboration.

Religion – Religious Identities – Equality

Being part of a religious identity conveys a complex notion. I grew up in north of Germany which was traditionally protestant and from the age of 9 I had weekly protestant bible lessons taught by my neighbour of Jewish origin while the rest of my family was not religious. I now live with my partner of Muslim origin and 2 daughters in East London. We celebrate Christmas, Easter and Eid and all 4 of us are atheists.

Culture, race, tradition and religion are all interrelated. Looking at what religion means Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith describes in his lecture ‘Creed’ that ‘religion is not just a matter of belief’ but that it vitally must consist of the three following components: ‘practice, community or fellowship of faith and a body of beliefs.’ The second notion about ‘community or fellowship of faith’ bears a strong significance in that people of any background like to be part of and identify with a community. As Professor Tariq Modood elucidates: “Religious identities are only partly about religion. They are labels for groups that may be distinct in various ways and have a range of concerns that are not strictly religious.”

The above represents a complicated impediment to inclusivity and anti-racism. Going back to my own experience I was born into a non-religious family, chose to be religious and then chose not to be religious any longer. The religion I had chosen did not have any effect on how I lived my life except choosing to pray, choosing how to interpret the bible and choosing to go to church when I wanted to. It further did not affect my dress code. People do not choose to be or not to be born into a Muslim family. Professor Tariq Modood elaborates: ‘Similarly, no one chooses to be born into a society where to look like a Muslim or to be a Muslim creates suspicion, hostility or failure to get the job you applied for.’

Additionally, Professor Tariq Modood states that some supporters of diversity hesitate to include religious groups when talking about multiculturalism and instead express that ‘a Muslim is about chosen beliefs, and that Muslims therefore need or ought to have less legal protection than the other kinds of identities.’ This existing reluctance to be absolute inclusive of everyone not only race, disability, gender, sexuality and age but also religious groups and the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK is a pressing issue. In a Western society terrorism and women’s oppression represent prevailing associations with the Muslim community as a female student of Iranian origin described in the case study ‘Scenario’ p.2 – 4 from SoN ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’. In this context it is vital to refer to the 2010 Equality Act which made religion or belief a protected characteristic and prohibits discrimination.

As the Muslim community follows a particular dress code and the Islamic headscarf constitutes a distinct feature in a Western society like Britain, Muslim women can be distinguished from other communities based on their physical appearance. Further in a Western society the headscarf can be perceived as a public expression and even physical object representing women’s oppression.Humans react to and judge physical appearances immediately and intuitively and therefore; the Western viewer can have an immediate misconception of a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf.Being a woman and having listened to my female peers during a recent lesson it is apparent that including and supporting a religion that oppresses women constitutes a challenge however, it is absolute vital to understand that just because somebody wears a headscarf does not mean we, the viewer, know and understand the person and their believes. More importantly, even if the person has different principles in life, we still must not discriminate them as we cannot be partly inclusive.

Regarding applying the above to my teaching practice, I would guide and support my students on an individual basis in one-to-one tutorials as we only have few students examining religion on our BA Fashion course. Moreover, we organise weekly group meetings with each individual year group of students where we discuss the upcoming week, try to resolve any issues and share any other points raised by the students which have been thoughts around sustainability or race in the past. Depending on the group of students we could lead a session around religion which could initially evolve around quite basic but essential information such as informing the students about the Chaplain and Interfaith advisor; the quiet spaces for prayer, reflection and health; UAL as public institution complying with the 2010 Equality Act; mentioning the SoN publication around religion etc. If we notice more interest among the students, then we could for instance initiate a further group discussion looking specifically at inclusivity and equality regarding religion at UAL. We could examine to what extent ‘the tentative sense of the British being Christians’ is present at UAL and to what extent UAL remains being the product of a dominating Christian society which is apparent for instance in the term dates and academic calendar.  

References:

• Modood, Tariq ‘” We don’t do God”? the changing nature of public religion’, Stimulus paper ‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ (Modood & Calhoun, 2015), pp 7-16
• The Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith lecture ‘Creed – Mistaken Identities’ on BBC Radio 4
• Case study ‘Scenario’ p.2 – 4 from SoN ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’

Looking at following article: The Erasure of Blacks From Histories of Autism.

Disabled Black activist and mother to an autistic son, Kerima Cevik studies Intersectionality, Special Education, Disability, Special Education, and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

An article from Shades of Noir around Disability p195-199

In her article Kerima Cevik talks about the lack of recognising and documenting autism in black communities throughout history. Additionally, autism itself is an invisible disability and has got ‘masking’ as its trait (please, see my previous blog) which makes me consider how the combination affects both disabled and abled people from black and white communities in terms of ableism and inclusivity.

Cevik explains the importance of detecting and making widely known Black autistic ‘savants’ throughout history. She talks of the unintentional documentation of autistic Black ‘savants’ constituting the only proof of autism in black communities from early history onwards. Apart from that, autism in black people was not formally recorded because of their oppressed status during African American slavery and following ongoing discrimination. Revealing Black autistic ‘savants’ throughout history means establishing key indicators and enabling the construct of a timeline in the history of race and autism which otherwise would remain non-existent on any timeline in autism history.

Kerima Cevik explains further how racism continues to be deeply embedded within the research of autism objectifying black people instead of representing them as vital role models and historic figures. She writes the following: “No mainstream history of autism to date has bothered to discuss these individuals as people rather than scenery for those who documented their existence or used them as money-making curiosities or experimental subjects.” She takes as an example the prize-winning book “NeuroTribes: The Legacy Of Autism And the Future Of Neurodiversity” by Steve Silberman published in 2015 in which the author writes about a Black autistic savant as someone adding to the theories of autism rather than recognising and honouring him as an individual and the famous English artist he is. The artist is called Stephen Wiltshire: ‘MBE, Hon.FSAI, Hon.FSSAA is a British architectural artist and autistic savant. He is known for his ability to draw a landscape from memory after seeing it just once.’ (Wikipedia entry)

As mentioned at the beginning autism is an invisible disability and one characteristic of autism can be that people hide or camouflage parts of themselves with the intention to fit in better. In this context we are dealing with lack of representation of autism in black communities, invisible disability and masking and therefore, I suggest that we call this ‘triple-invisibility’, a seemingly unmeasurable challenge to integrate beneficially into teaching. One of my graduates with autism (mentioned in my previous blog) called people with Autism ‘Oil People or Soldiers of fluidity’ and wrote the following: “With this collection, I will dress the Oil People, soldiers of fluidity embracing and incarnating contrast and opposites. They are those who can behave like water people but never fully blend. They move beautifully, shine with the light but mostly, they are initiators. We need oil to heat and to launch motors.”

As with everything one talk and perhaps one workshop is not going to convey the complexity of the existence of ‘Oil People’ of colour to students well. My way of incorporating this into my teaching practice is to make a space usually in my tutorials where students can bring multiple elements of themselves to share with me (as with the Oil people example in my previous blog) which I respect. I can then ask some of the students if they are willing to translate together with me some of the gathered knowledge into anonymous information and learning material to share with future students and colleagues. This then starts to open up the space to visibility.

One further approach could be doing a general talk about ‘ableism and inclusivity’ in the first year and a talk including student-centred workshop ideally by a person with autism stemming from the black community in the second year. The workshop should explore visibility and invisibility through shape, colour and body movement and importantly photography as for instance the colour black is difficult to make visible in photography.

Then I could attempt to integrate the notion around disabilities, ableism, and inclusivity in the final year brief. This would be beneficial to students who find that they only disclose their autism in their final year, such as my students who I mentioned in my previous blog. It might also help the many undiagnosed students or those who feel they cannot reveal their autism.

Having an invisible disability and being invisible because of the disability in an environment filled with very visible people.

– Being a BA Fashion Design Womenswear student with Asperger’s Syndrome at CSM

This blog examines the challenge of having Asperger’s Syndrome which is an invisible disability and significantly makes you feel and be invisible, and at the same time studying on the BA Fashion Design Womenswear Course at Central Saint Martins, the largest and most competitive pathway filled with students making very visible, individual appearances.

In my position as a Pathway Leader for BA Fashion Design Womenswear I have 3 roles: pathway leader, teacher, and personal tutor. My teaching primarily consists of one-to-one tutorials which is uniquely beneficial because it allows a certain form of flexibility, and I can support each student according to their individual personality and ability with the aim that they fulfil their potential and thrive profoundly while always prioritising the student’s well-being. This method reflects the 4 values of the Disability Service at UAL of which the first value reads ‘Respect the individual’ and also promotes the Social Model of Disability ‘People are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference.’

At CSM ‘individuality’ is being championed on every level, not only in terms of support but also students are encouraged to represent themselves as strong individuals believing in themselves and producing individual work. However, this can potentially represent an inner conflict for people with Asperger’s Syndrome’ because exercising to ‘fit in’ constitutes an ingrained trait of having ‘Asperger’s Syndrome’ called ‘to mask’ or ‘to camouflage’ which ‘means to hide or disguise parts of oneself in order to better fit in with those around you.’ This constitutes the opposite of being ‘individual’.

Being the personal tutor and doing one-to-one tutorials leads sometimes to students disclosing their disabilities to me. I know about 3 former BA womenswear students with Asperger’s Syndrome. The second and third student decided both to explore their disability in their final project and therefore, unmask, make visible and highlight who they were. This may have been partly a consequence of the rapidly growing awareness of neurodiversity in science, literature, social media etc.

I remember very clearly the interview of my second student with Asperger’s Syndrome when they applied to our course. At the time we did not know that the student had Asperger’s Syndrome neither did the student know. Their portfolio conveyed an odd aesthetic slightly old fashioned not necessarily an aesthetic we were searching for or would support on the course very much. They had started studying medicine previously but now wanted to do fashion. My boss and I decided to give them a place because of their uniquely passionate personality.

Getting to know my student and recognising certain patterns such as regular morning vomiting before coming to college, I suggested to the student to apply for a screening at UAL. As they followed my advice, they found out then that they had Asperger’s Syndrome. Opinions tend to differ about how beneficial early or late diagnoses of Asperger’s Syndrome is and people need to be given individual length of time to process who they are and when to talk about who they are. At first the new information seemed not have much visible effect on my student.

During the final year the student decided it was time not to be ‘invisible’ any longer they created a powerful final year project consisting not only of a distinctive, physical collection but also of an entire, ever growing digital world which they had imagined already as a child. They developed 3 key words: disappearance, metamorphosis, and revelation. Similar as ‘masking’ or ‘camouflage’ those 3 words lend themselves well to fashion.

It was also during the final year that the effect of having discovered that they had Asperger’s Syndrome less than a year ago became much more apparent. The ‘mask’ had been lifted not only from my student but also for me and somehow, we both had to deal with the consequences. One of my student’s closest friends accused my student of being ‘cold, without any emotions and nobody liked them in the fashion studio because of that’. Knowing that one characteristic of Asperger’s Syndrome is having difficulty understanding empathy my student was possibly shaken by their friend’s comment much more than if they would have been prior their diagnoses.

My student’s mask had been lifted, they had been exposed and had decided to reveal who they were within their final year project. This meant they went from masking and fitting in to wearing a label which people read well or less well according to the person’s knowledge of what that label meant. Significantly, my student was not perceived as an individual.

I found myself having lengthy internal dialogues about how to support my student best, how to approach their friend or the class as a whole and I developed all sorts of speeches in my head. I just did not know how to approach this. In the end I did a brief speech to the whole class in the fashion studio space encouraging them to be kind to each other, demonstrate understanding for each other and reminding them that we all had different needs which we must respect.

Having observed my 3 students with Asperger’s Syndrome and another one currently, I can state that the final year on the CSM BA Fashion Design constitutes very difficult hurdles for those students. In addition, their behaviour can affect the class and the tutors substantially. Aiming to advance the awareness of Asperger’s Syndrome and integrate my student’s research into my teaching practice I would like to invite my ex-student back to CSM to give a talk to my students followed by a workshop which would encourage the students to translate key words such as ‘masking’ and ‘invisibility’ etc. into physical forms or performances, relating to body and mind. I intend to eventually create a saver space for ‘being visible with a disability’.

References:

Asperger’s Syndrome: One of my tutors advised me not to use the term ‘Asperger Syndrome’ because there are now different opinions about the term and instead use ‘autistic’. As my tutor further explained that there is not ‘correct’ terminology I decided to continue using it because this is what those students were diagnosed with at the time, so I feel this is correct within this context.  

UAL – Our Values – Disability Service

https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/28829/Disability-Service-Values-PDF-1080-KB.pdf

Social Model of Disability

https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/social-model-of-disability/

‘Historically it was thought that women and girls were less likely to be autistic, however recent research has highlighted the challenges in identifying autism in women and girls. It is now recognised from research, clinical practice and anecdotal reports that many autistic females or those who demonstrate the less traditionally obvious traits of autism are not recognised. This can result in misdiagnosis, late diagnosis, or women and girls not being diagnosed at all.’

https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/professional-development/training-and-conferences/online/women-and-girls

‘Even so, not all women who camouflage say they would have wanted to know about their autism earlier — and researchers acknowledge that the issue is fraught with complexities. Receiving a formal diagnosis often helps women understand themselves better and tap greater support, but some women say it comes with its own burdens, such as a stigmatizing label and lower expectations for achievement.’

Published on 21 February 2018

Author: Francine Russo

https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/costs-camouflaging-autism/ BY

‘More often than not, we have to spend our entire lives hiding our traits and trying to fit in, even though the odds of appearing ‘non-autistic’ are against us.’

Published on 07 July 2022

Author: Dr Hannah Belcher, https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/autistic-masking

The best solution to reducing the need for autistic people to mask is to spread awareness to non-autistic people of different neurodiverse behaviours and thinking patterns. When non-autistic people know someone is autistic, they seem to judge them less harshly. However, this strategy is not an easy one and will take years of effort before it is fully ingrained in our society.

Published on 07 July 2022

Author: Dr Hannah Belcher, https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/autistic-masking

– 3 STUDENTS WITH AUTISM

1. ‘Sharpening pencils while everyone else is finished’

NOT KNOWING STUDENTS’ DISABILITIES

– at the Mary Ward Adult Education Centre

With regards to my teaching practice, I was a teacher for Fashion Design, teacher on the Access Course and Professional Development Course and conducted class visits observing and assessing teachers’ performance at the Mary Ward Adult Education Centre, London from 2003-2008. Working at the Mary Ward Centre equipped me with the most crucial foundation for my academic practice in that I not only was introduced to such varied responsibilities including unit writing and observation but more significantly, had the benefit of meeting the most diverse students including social and ethnic backgrounds, disabilities and age.

One of the most memorable students was a tall young man with Asperger’s Syndrome who could at times create an intimidating atmosphere among the mostly female members of the group due to his height and loud voice. The concept of time was difficult for him to grasp and therefore, he was still sharpening his pencil when the other students had finished their task.

The Mary Ward Centre had a similar approach as CSM in that they did not disclose students’ different disabilities or trained the teachers prior meeting the students. However, I managed to develop a successful working method by creating copied templates from the student’s unfinished drawings so that he eventually accomplished numerous meticulously completed drawings and succeeded in creating a rich portfolio of various pieces of work.

Interestingly, as we have advanced a lot in neuroscience in recent years we are beginning to focus on and acknowledge neurodiversity much more which for instance is reflected in the various BBC TV programs about autism or features on social media and consequently, I have only been aware of 4 students with Asperger’s Syndrome on BA womenswear in recent years. One of the students I supported to get an assessment at UAL who was then diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

1. ‘Visible and invisible disabilities and rooms without windows and low ceilings’

SUPPORTING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES PROPERLY REQUIRES A LOT OF EXTRA TIME & MONEY

– at CSM

In 2016 I met my first student with Autistic Spectrum Disorder on the BA Fashion Design Womenswear at CSM. However, at first, I did not know that this student had a lifelong condition because at CSM teaching staff does not know whether any of their students have a lifelong condition unless the students decide to disclose it to the disability service and receive an ISA – individual support agreement form. Even if the member of staff knows that the student has an ISA, they still will not know what the condition is unless the student decides to disclose it to the member of staff.

During tutorials and especially during Crits I was unable to understand what the student was saying as their sentences simply did not make sense. At first, I blamed myself thinking it is because I am a foreigner despite usually not having any problems understanding students but since nobody said anything neither staff nor students, I thought it must be me. I got increasingly frustrated to the point that I simply explained to the student that I cannot understand them and asked them to prepare tutorials and crits through writing down their thoughts and reading them out loud. From then on communication improved immensely and it marked the beginning of a friendship (after graduation as I don’t become friends with students while they are on the course). 

Entering the final year of studies, the student faced many more issues when trying to fulfil the final year requirements than the student and I had anticipated. However, when we finally managed to set up a meeting between the student and the disability adviser, the actual meeting which took place in a small room with low ceiling and no windows due to lack of space in the college did not go according to plan.

The aim of the meeting had been to establish more physical support for the student. However, the student who felt immeasurably uncomfortable in the small room without windows had decided to not disclose any of her impactful issues and to declare that they were fine. Additionally, I only learned after the meeting that it was a difficult endeavour to secure physical support such as pattern cutting help since the student had a mental as opposed to a physical disability (and in addition Asperger’s Syndrome was not described as disability at that time). Consequently, I had a lengthy telephone conversation with the disability adviser on our day off questioning furiously the existing system.

Unfortunately, we never got the necessary support through the disability service. Eventually, the head of the BA Fashion utilised her own course budget to pay an extra pattern cutter to come in and help that student for a few hours because the student would have been unable to finish their graduate collection and therefore, would have not been part of the fashion show which constitutes the absolute highlight of any CSM Fashion student. The student graduated with an A and was selected for the prestigious press fashion show consisting of less than a third of all fashion students. 

1. ‘Dancing on tables’

KNOWING STUDENTS IS VITAL

at CSM

In addition to being the BA pathway leader for womenswear I am the BA pathway leader of the final year fashion print students and I have been asked to do my PgCert this year, 2023. I met the final year fashion print students in the second week of Spring Term in January who had been neglected for quite a few weeks because the last BA fashion print pathway leader had unexpectedly left. Despite my 20 years of teaching experience this constituted still a challenging task because I had to quickly understand who the students were as people, what their projects were about and significantly gain their trust so that I could enable them to reach the required high standard within their work.

Only last week I realised that I had let my focus slip in that I had not registered to what extent one of the students struggled to get their work completed in time for their hand-in date. I had been trying to explain to the student what steps they needed to take in order to follow their time schedule on a weekly basis however, the student seems unable to follow a different order than the order they have decided in their head and in addition this order seemed to continuously change according to the student’s mood.  This means if they decided to create a gigantic paper mâché mask they will investigate this first disregarding how many times I had asked them to complete their prints and garments first.  

As I felt the urgency on the day of our tutorial, I attempted a slightly stricter tone and felt afterwards that this may have had a negative effect on the student. However, as I did not know anything about the student other than that they had an ISA and my own observations over the past few weeks I had to try a different strategy as nothing had worked so far. In the evening at home, I decided to write to the disability adviser asking for support.

Significantly, I received another email that evening from the student rep explaining how frightened the class was by the student’s frantic behaviour expressed among other things through dancing on the tables in the cramped studio. Not having much space in general and being a very messy student with lots of random stuff on and around the table the students were frightened that the student would hurt themselves or other students working nearby.

I tried to calm the student rep by confirming that I had already emailed the disability advisor for which I was criticised the next day as I was not permitted to disclose in any way to another student that this particular student may be disabled. Many emails followed and somebody called the student the next day concluding that the student was fine. I also had made time to speak to the student in person during my lunch break and witnessed the student’s rapid mood changes and various facial expressions which were clear signs that this student was very overwhelmed. However, those were signs somebody on the phone would not see. In addition, the student can speak calmly and tends to change their behaviour in certain situation or with certain people.  

The student didn’t get support and handed in unfinished garments for the final deadline. As the student’s behaviour worsened after the assessment fashion show two students cried and emailed me again as they did not have any other support. I was not able to help as it was my day off and I was not in college. The student had been rude, loud and sworn at them. The students had no energy left to bear the student’s behaviour any longer as they had done for four years. However, more importantly, the students felt the university was ignoring their need to feel save while their peer with a presumable disability was able to act out threatening behaviour without the university taking any action.  

I had started writing this blog a few weeks ago and now have arrived at the end of an even more challenging week. First thing Monday morning I was told that one of my fashion print students with mental health problems had taken an overdose Sunday evening. Luckily, the student had called my 85-year-old colleague who had then taken the student to the A&E. I then hurried to the hospital on Monday, took with my student’s permission their unfinished collection out of their accommodation and ensured completion of the collection by our technicians in college so that the garments could be in the fashion show on Tuesday. Meanwhile my other student’s behaviour escalated further during this week of 2 days of fashion shows resulting in more rude behaviour to their peers. As my colleagues and I tend to say ‘we did not sign up for this’ – our role as pathway leaders has changed drastically.  

Concluding, if I had known the students for longer this would have not happened but also if a new, unexperienced member of staff would have taught this group of students such as the pathway leader who unexpectedly quitted it would have most likely been an even more devastating result. The system of how to approach students with disability at UAL is not working and needs to be reconsidered. There should be a system put in place when a tutor takes over a new class, the disability team needs to speak to the tutor about certain more extreme cases or at least a general warning to prepare the tutor to watch out as there may be more challenging students in the group.  

BRIEF:
Could you please, bring an item from your own belongings which you consider as the most tasteless object that you own?

TODAY’S STRUCTURE:

FRAMEWORK

• First PgCert session – comment by peer: “How do I ignore my own aesthetic when teaching?”

• My boss: “This is not my taste, but it is good work…”

• Us (not that long ago): “Don’t make it too ‘ethnicky’ looking” – taste constitutes a judgement and can mean racial discrimination

• And then there was my interview when applying for the MA Fashion at CSM in 1998 – former head: Louise Wilson: “You look boring…”

• Text by Judith Clark 2013

• Barbican exhibition: The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined: Oct 2016 – Feb 2017 curated by Judith Clark and Adam Phillips

Book: Anna-Nicole Ziesche: Conditioned by Dress – The Relationship between Mind, Fashion, Film and Performance. Edited by Lucy Orta 2013

Remembered, Felt, Imagined Forever

Project Brief:

“Please describe your experience with a specific garment/s, which have stayed in your memory.

It may be an imaginary garment, such as a garment you envisioned yourself to be dressed in but never dared, or were even permitted to wear.

Please depict the garment in great detail and elaborate on how it affected you psychologically and physically.

The length and style of the text is open.

Thank you”

Anna-Nicole Ziesche, 2012

Response to brief by Judith Clark 2013

For the project ‘Remembered, Felt, Imagined Forever’

“Short-suit

It was almost exactly 30 years ago in Rome.

It was yellow all-in-one cotton short-suit. A kind of romper suit that was neither childlike nor adult like, but hovered somewhere in between. It was what one would call if they used that kind of language, distasteful.

It had an impractical and unflattering white collar. I cannot remember whether it had coy flowers printed on it – but it had some kind of small decorative print all over it.

I was bought clothes relatively rarely by my mother so I was used to the experience of being refused something I desired. The thing that stays in my mind about this was my dismay at not being able to convince my mother to buy this for me, and the unusual ferocity of my momentary desire for it. Desire that I was well trained to repress.

I remember the feeling vividly and I remember it becoming a family joke that I could have been so momentarily attached to something so inconsistent with other things I loved, with things that were considered tasteful. So it was like a breach of that taste. It was easy to justify why I was not bought this object, but that only made the experience worse. “

Judith Clark 2013

WHAT LEARNING IS INVOLVED WHEN LOOKING AT OBJECTS (objects in a wide sense)?

This list is extracted from the book Object-Based Learning and Well-Being: Exploring Material Connections, edited by Thomas Kador, and Helen Chatterjee, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020 and translated into my own words:

• Learners learn and reflect actively: we are looking actively at a physical object which we sourced actively.

• Learners learn somatically: we are exploring the object physically and psychologically because it is a physical object as opposed to a digital image or text so many more senses are involved.

• Learners learn emotionally/through emotions: touching the object can create an emotion; memories prompted by the object can create an emotion and importantly exploring one’s own taste can be revealing and therefore, emotional, too.

• Learners construct their knowledge based on their own experience: we are looking at our own objects and therefore, own experiences and memories with those objects.

WHAT IS THE AIM OF ALL THIS?

Coming back to my peer’s question: “how do we ignore our own aesthetic when teaching?”

I intend to demonstrate with this exercise that understanding our own taste and its origin better and being more aware of those internal processes is vital to understand other people’s taste better and significantly be able to ‘park our own taste’ when teaching.

In fact, only by being aware of the social, cultural and physi­cal relationships existing in one’s own environment, can people aim to become aware of their own choices and ideas in the future (De Vecchis, 2011). Book Object-Based Learning and Well-Being: Exploring Material Connections, edited by Thomas Kador, and Helen Chatterjee, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020

• LO1: Critically evaluate your approach to assessing your own aesthetic/taste using object-based learning and self-reflective frameworks. [Process]

YOUR TASTELESS OBJECTS

1. Why do you think the object is tasteless?

2. Why did you keep the object?

3.What would you change about the object to make it tasteful? 

4. Do you remember a particular point in your life when you developed a particular awareness of taste?

MY TASTELESS OBJECTS

When reading the information about the course designer, all points seem very refined. However, I would argue that it is easier to work in a different order would propose to start with the ‘aim of the course’ because that seems a much more tangible list and more importantly establishing the context of the course would make it easier to describe what is good about the course and what is less strong

An aim should:

• Clearly state the course purpose
• Name what skills, knowledge or attributes students might gain
• Refer to teaching, learning experiences, assessment or resources if distinctive
• Create a context, environment or value system within which the course is situated
• State what students might expect on completion in terms of outputs, employment or professional pathways

Learning, not teaching, is the central concern of the teacher

Good list:

In summary, aims are derived from the following aspects of a course:

• The subject area in relation to a wider context or contexts
• The balance, and relationship, between theory and practices
• The nature and combination of the learning environments e.g. digital and physical
• The key knowledges skills and attributes (knowing, doing, being) that are developed through the course
• The key teaching, learning and assessment approaches that reflect your collective values