A quick snapshot on myself, my teaching practice, my pedagogic approach, and some open questions.
The introductory workshop in the PgCert provided me with an opportunity to meet other UAL colleagues who are undertaking the course with me. I really enjoyed the introductory presentations, as I learned about diverse pedagogic practices across the Arts and Design. We discussed the need to customise the learning experience for students, the importance of the layout of the classroom, and a compassionate approach to pedagogy, especially towards students with disabilities. My presentation focused on fashion design education and social justice. I referred to a paper from 2019 in which Tanveer Ahmed presents the concept of anti-fashion (i.e. all forms of fashion outside of the hegemonic capitalistic system) and highlights the need to integrate multiple perspectives and knowledges in the fashion system, going beyond the practice of ‘othering’ marginalised groups, and overcoming the binary between modern Western and traditional non-Western fashion design practices. The questions I posed to the group were amongst the most popular, and I was invited to chair one of the three breakout room discussions. We questioned how design students can evolve traditional clothing practices without engaging in cultural appropriation practices. We discussed the tension faced by designers being ‘parachuted’ into communities and argued for the need to facilitate co-creation processes. We highlighted the challenge of engaging all students equally and in meaningful ways, encouraging them to bring their lived experiences into the learning process, by setting up briefs that are localised, and allowing for diversity within them. Overall, my question ‘how could fashion design education address European colonialism, economic and environmental exploitation, and social injustices’ is still open for exploration, and I will continue to reflect on it throughout my PgCert and teaching practice.