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Faith

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My low level  of understanding of this  topic led me to delay preparation of  this post. However, I have found that this piece of work has helped me both to understand and develop a clearer idea of the complexity of “Faith”.

It was useful to learn about religion in Britain, reading the paper ‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Modood & Calhoun, 2015. However, perhaps more up to date data could have increased the relevance,

The paragraph that relates to “A national church (or churches), as key organisers of this public good, belong to the people/country, not just its members and clergy” struck me as a critical concept., I was also intrigued to find how secular criticism has had an impact in some of Church’s decisions. Finally I would highlight that the concept of religion as a “public good” and “public bad” in relation to State intervention is something I hadn’t ever considered before.

Highlighted below are some concepts which I felt were important in my overall consideration of the impact of faith in my role:

  • Higher education institutions  need to ensure that members of minority faiths are treated with appropriate respect and accommodation by other students and staff. 
  • Because it is important to many students, but perhaps even more so in public life, both locally and globally , it is crucial for universities to recognise religion – and the place of religion in public life – as matters worthy of their intellectual attention. 
  • Some Muslims may define their Islam in terms of piety rather than politics, just as some women may see no politics in their gender, while for others their gender will be at the centre of their politics. 

I especially connect with the last point, I believe that these different perceptions depend on our personal experiences and views. We shouldn’t consider anything as a given and we should recognise the space religion takes in our students’ lives and respect it. Personally, I would like to increase my knowledge of different religions as an exercise of recognition, acknowledgement,and  respect. This might allow me to be able to approach different intellectual discussions as highlighted in the paper.

I have always seen the concept of multiculturalism as a positive , as contained in the introduction from Kwame Anthony  in the  Reith Lectures. I would have never thought that it would have created so much debate.  In  summary, I deeply resonate with the following sentence. “This multiculturalism or multiculturalist sensibility can manifest itself in listening to the demands of  religious groups, in encouraging dialogue between religious groups and society, and in treating religious discrimination and incitement to religious hatred seriously, and enforcing the law through an agency such as the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission”.

Having lived in the Middle East for over 6 years I can recognise the profiles described in the Shades of Noir article, Alia Youssef. – strong independent women with a clear view on faith and other aspects in life. This article reminds me of many of the muslim women I met in those years. For the ladies who were part of my team in Dubai and female colleagues working in Saudi Arabia. faith was part of their identity, and they felt proud and honoured. I worked with them very closely and we had a mutual relationship of respect and admiration. As a team we achieved big goals and our diversity as a team was part of our success. This is why my aim in all my academic roles (lecturer, tutor and mentor) is also to “be an inclusive ally for others and seek consent always”, as the article mentions. How to do that? I believe by creating a comfortable space based on trust and where we could have open respectful dialogues. Using SoN as a tool to start these meaningful conversations will definitely be a must.

Modood, T. and Calhoun, C. (2015) Religion in Britian: Challenges for Higher Education.

Appiah, K.A. (2016) ‘Creed’, Kwame Anthony Appiah . The Reith Lectures. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds (Accessed: 06 July 2023). 

Shades of Noir, “Alia Youssef”, pp. 50-51

Teaching Well

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During one of the PG Cert sessions we discussed the UK Professional Standards Framework 2011 and we were asked about what we need to know to teach well. 

As a group we brainstorm and defined what we should know to teach well:

  • Our students, their motivations, choices, their context, their values and beliefs. (K3)
  • We should have technical knowledge of the topic to be teached. (K1)
  • Being able to engage and communicate. (K2)
  • Coaching skills
  • Facilitating learning (K2)
  • To be capable to develop good structures: Brief and Learning Outcomes 
  • Language and Ecosystem of courses (K2)
  • Ourselves

Surprisingly we didn’t cover Core Knowledges like assessment (K2), innovation and technology (K4), evaluation (K5) and quality (K6), which we have discussed multiple times during the last few weeks.

Personally, I would add few more points to the concept of “teaching well”. From my experience, passion an interest about the topic to be delivered is key to create an immersive learning experience as well as inspiring during mentoring sessions or tutorials. I wonder also about the relevance of having industry experience and current market knowledge.

The exercise continued with the following question: What values inform the way we teach?

We connected the Core Knowledge with Professional Values and we were able to highlight V1 and V2, whilst we didn’t cover V3 and V4.

Overall, it was a good exercise to reflect in teaching and learn about the UKPSF11.

Microteaching Session & Object-Based Learning

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Object Based Learning Microteaching Session

I used the pedagogical approach object-based learning to develop and deliver my microteaching session. For that purpose, it has been very useful to read Dr. Kirsten Hardie’s case studies, as they helped me to understand all the approaches and benefits of object-based learning. I wish I had known about object-based learning before!

At the beginning of the session I was kind of nervous by being observed and analysed, however, the “objects” helped me to alleviate this feeling together with my colleagues genuine interest in the activity.

For this microteaching session, my aim was to create a student-centered session, where the object is the catalyst of learning together with my guided questions. I wanted to encourage the students to learn by doing. 

The learning outcome was for my colleagues to learn about the Fashion Pyramid, a framework commonly applied in any Fashion Buying Business which will offer knowledge of the principles of fashion buying and merchandising.

  • I brought to the session three jumpers from Zara that could represent each tier of the Fashion Pyramid. 
  • I started the session by showing the three products and allowing them to work in pairs to observe, analyse and touch them for 10 minutes. 
  • They had to individually reflect in different aspects: material, trimmings, details, colour, size range, price, made in, wearing occasion, store display and connection between them. 
  • My aim was to guide them to get the desirable outcome and afterwards, connect it with the Learning Objectives of the session.
  • Whilst they were discussing their observations, I took note of key words for the exercise that they were mentioning. 
  • Following this exercise, we discussed these key words. 
  • I connected the outcome with the theory of the Fashion Pyramid supported by few slides. 

The feedback given by my colleagues was very insightful and reinforced areas of strength: 

  • They believed the session was delivered with passion and confidence.
  • They felt the atmosphere was inclusive, eye contact between us was maintained and they appreciated me calling them by their names.
  • They felt engaged and they learnt something new. 

At the same time, I had some valuable comments about areas of improvement:

  • I can be quite intense at times and maybe some students could feel overwhelmed. 
  • If there is a “key question” I want them to consider, it would be better to write it down and show it in a slide, so it’s clear and avoids confusion or misunderstanding. 
  • It was suggested that it would be beneficial to finalise the session with some reflections about the learning experience. 
  • Personally, I also believe I could have kept on the screen a brief glossary of the areas I told them to focus on. Not everybody was clear about the meaning of, for example, size range or store display.
  • I also want to consider my approach to the introduction to the session, including Learning Outcomes and Context.

Going forward

With respect to the feedback about possibly overwhelming my students by being intense during my lectures. I will seek to make the content more easily understood and allow enough time for them to digest the new concepts and ideas.

The other suggestions are easier to implement. Indeed, I’ve already taken action and I’ve clarified some written concepts within my slides and I’ve invited my students to share their learnings/reflections/questions at the end of the session. Nevertheless, I believe I could improve the teaching experience by creating an even more interactive session. In this respect, the students could identify and write by themselves their final outcomes and afterwards compare them with the theory.

The overall experience has been very positive, and it was also good to observe my colleagues’ perspective to Object Base Learning, all of them valid and diverse as Dr. Kirsten Hardie’s three different case studies. 

To conclude, I believe the Object Base Learning approach creates a more dynamic and meaningful learning experience which hopefully helps the students to increase their knowledge and research skills.

PG Cert-Microteaching-SessionDownload

Teaching with Integrity

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I’ve been reading the case study from Bruce Macfarlane’s 2004 book Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice (Routledge), in which a fictional lecturer, ‘Stephanie Rae’, receives feedback on her teaching in the form of student evaluation forms and a peer observation.

How relevant is it to get feedback from our students and colleagues to elevate our lectures and ourselves as practitioners.

It’s always a vulnerable position being observed, specially by other colleagues, as it’s easy to get used to a regular way of working that allows us to operate in our comfort zone. However, what we fail to recognize is that we could be seen as being boring, lacking innovation, interaction and engagement with the students. We could also be guilty of being confusing or obsolete. Like Stephanie, who was being compared with other colleagues who were apparently more dynamic, charismatic and thought provoking.

I believe the Peer Observation Exercise will challenge me; however, I am looking forward to it. It’s a sweet and sour feeling which will help me to move forward.

Stephanie had a time constraint and her focus was her research work. That is the reason given by her not to rewrite her lectures as she didn’t have enough hours to do it due to her research workload. However, I wonder, does time really impact teaching quality?  Don’t we need the same time to be interactive than delivering a solo speech? Don’t we need the same time to be boring than charismatic? Of course, time matters as it is a resource that allows you to prepare more interesting sessions, but till which degree is it about preparation vs being skilled?

Hello world!

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Hello everyone! I am an experienced international fashion retail executive and coach from Barcelona with over 20 years’ experience. In December 2020 I relocated with my husband to Surrey from Dubai after 6 successful years as Head of Buying at Landmark in the Middle East. At the same time as moving to the UK I set up my Fashion Business Consultancy, Surrey Hills Coaching & Consulting Ltd. where I specialize in supporting Online Sustainable Brands and I started my journey as a Lecturer at LCF, UCA and LCCA.

At the LCF I am a lecturer on the Work Experience Alternative Project, I am also a supervisor for Buying & Merchandising and part of the MA Fashion Design Management.

I am looking forward to beginning the PG Cert journey and raising the bare as a lecturer.

On a personal note, I enjoy a healthy lifestyle, spending time with my family/friends, art, travelling, working in my allotment, playing with my Labrador Ella and enjoying a glass of good wine.

Guinau’s Introduction