Social Justice ‘explicitly recognizes the disparities in societal opportunities, resources, and long-term outcomes among marginalized groups’. ‘A pedagogy of social justice education: social identity, theory and intersectionality’, Hahn Tapper (2013). Freire posits education creates the opportunity for freedom, both intellectual and physical, insisting this is the primary pedagogical goal of all educational activities, stressing teachers should design content with students instead of for them, identity should not be assumed and that teachers and student have different identities so a curriculum designed exclusively by a teacher may not be relevant or relatable.
Many students who do not attend the studio are dealing with identity politics, social identities and intergroup dynamics. I would like to address these points fostering the ‘social catalyst’ identified in previous AAE studies.
“reducing negative behaviours like task avoidance and aggression in the classroom as well as encouraging prosocial behaviours and acting as a “social catalyst” to facilitate social interactions with others’. –Therapy Dogs in Educational Settings: Guidelines and Recommendations for Implementation. Christine Grové, Linda Henderson, Felicia Lee, Phoebe Wardlaw. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.655104/full
I have to be mindful that my white discomfort doesn’t get in the way of challenging conversations and be open to the needs of my wide ranging cohort.
MENTAL HEALTH
I recognise that many of the students who find the studio space intimidating may also be struggling with mental health concerns. Since the pandemic I’ve certainly noticed an increase in anxiety and depression amongst my cohort so I need to be clear that although my aim is to not work from a therapeutic position in these tutorials I should direct students to the information that they might need from student services if their questions become personal or need further specialist support et cetera.
I enjoyed reading through Aron Baileys experiences, in the posts ‘Over before it begun’ and ‘Fake it until you make?’ Aron speaks openly about his struggles with mental health, specifically anxiety and depression, and his challenges to balance this alongside his uni work. I thought these were levelling texts which took me back to my experience of uni and feeling quite overwhelmed by the culture shift. As a tutor its common to loose sight of struggles which may be happening on the ground for students so these texts helped me to reconnect with this.
‘AAE provides general comfort… to students at a university before an examination… through dog-assisted reading programs.…Therapy dogs have been found to reduce physiological symptoms of stress through lowering cortisol levels (8), increasing positive emotions (1, 9–13), promoting engagement in learning activities and positive attitudes toward learning (6, 11, 14, 15)’
Therapy Dogs in Educational Settings: Guidelines and Recommendations for Implementation. Christine Grové, Linda Henderson, Felicia Lee, Phoebe Wardlaw. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.655104/full
COMPASSION
In the margins of the Reichnenau Primer, a book written by Irish monks in Germany in 9th century there are poems written by monks in old Irish. Whilst one particular monk was alone transcribing his books he wrote a poem for his cat. Pangur Ban is a poem written in 840 for his white (Ban) cat ( Pangur – the name of his cat, like Felix).
I’m interested in this poem as research because the monk is comparing what the cat does to what he does. The monk recognises his vocation in his cats vocation, he recognises this purpose through compassionate identification with a non-human. I notice I do the same with Islay my Labrador, I observe her behaviour, this helps me to better understand my behaviour.
In belonging through compassion, Vikki Hill and Liz Bunting expand the role of relationships in education. https://belongingthroughcompassion.myblog.arts.ac.uk/relationships/
‘Relationships matter. We are interconnected and interdependent beings. It is by entering into a loving connection that we nurture compassionate cultures, and signal belongingness…For those of us who find human relationships difficult, relationships with the natural world (which never pass judgment) can provide an important source of belonging.’
Sometimes my teaching can take on a logical and linear trajectory, remembering there are a number of ways that we can learn by accessing and creating knowledge on different planes of experience is empowering and exciting.
BELONGING
I am from a white working class background and was the first person in my family to go to university. On my BA and MA considered steps to leave or transfer from the course because I felt so out of place in my year group. For example I couldn’t understand how everyone afforded to go to the pub after class but no-one had a job, afterwhile such micro anxieties began to translate into ‘You don’t belong here’. After reflecting in this unit I can see I felt out of place because of the class divide, dyslexia and low economic status. Back then I knew I wanted to make art but without family connections in the artworld I couldn’t figure out how to make work for me.
After watching ‘Navigating with the birds: Belonging – Vikki Hill with Dr Gurnam Singh’
I reflected on how important it is to form a sense of validation and comfort which can be built on to take risks, do things outside of your comfort zone or what you might expect from yourself. I was particularly interested in the phrase ‘Being is about becoming’ instilling the ideas that by having a strong sense of belonging you are able to be comfortable in the present in order to become better. Dr Gurnam Singh explained that his sense of identity is fairly fixed but everyday his is able to embrace ‘becoming-ness’ to explore something new.
Becoming is halted when individual identities are stereotyped and othered. When otherness is celebrated together it can be positive but when otherness is unequal. This is particularly important within teaching as dominance and subjection can be exploited between students and teacher. Consciously or not. It is vital to be aware of and work against such relationships for belonging to truly take place.