- Ethical Action Plan
- Pre-workshop presentation
- ARP Consent form
1. Ethical Action Plan
2. Pre-workshop presentation
In recognising the psychological and emotional impacts of teaching such sensitive topics, as well as my commitment to Engaged Pedagogy, it felt impersonal to present an information sheet as the takeaway document for students.
I discussed with the Year Leader to present my ARP a week before the workshops to introduce the entire project, explain my work as a teacher-researcher, and prepare students for the workshop approaches. He also advised introducing the PgCert because many students are unaware that their tutors study education.
Giving the talk felt more in line with my social practice ethos of sharing project information at an early stage to promote transparency, democratise the creative process, mitigate extractive dynamics and involve participants in the research journey. This reflects scholarly assertions that action research must be dialogic and accountable to all involved (McNiff, 2002; Lenette, 2022).
Additionally, the talk allowed me to set clear expectations for the week, communicate the project’s rationale and its importance to students’ learning, even beyond the curriculum. Below are some key points I aimed to emphasise:
- The learning environment and process would be designed with care. This is firstly my responsibility as a tutor and is then extended to students as a social contract through the introduction of Brave Spaces and the co-creation of ground rules, with reference to the value of respect highlighted in their studio manifesto.
- Students would be encouraged to share only what they feel comfortable sharing. To encourage agency and reduce pressure, I used phrases like “this is not about indoctrinating you into particular ideologies”, “be aware of your capacity to manage your emotions and discomfort”, “be conscious of how much you share”, and “feel free to take a break outside the studio and return when you are ready”.
- Students would be positioned as ‘already knowers’ whose lived experiences mattered in learning about justice. I explained that peer learning was encouraged and that my role would oscillate across teacher-facilitator-researcher-co-learner.
- Their enquiry should be framed not only in relation to justice and freedom but also artistically, recognising how their creative skillsets could be deployed in the process.
- Access to UAL’s Wellbeing and Mental Health services for students who would like to seek professional help in dealing with personal experiences that may arise from the workshops.
We shared my presentation slides in the weekly email along with Shades of Noir’s glossary of key terms to support any students who were absent or who were unfamiliar with justice-related terminologies ahead of the workshops.
Presentation slides
3. ARP Consent form
As outlined in my EAP, Practising Freedoms is categorised as ‘Scheduled Teaching and Learning’ where attendance and participation is required. In agreement with my tutor, I sought verbal consent from the year group on the use of photography but created a consent form specifically for the focus group participants.
Bibliography
McNiff, J. (2002). Action Research for Professional Development.
Lenette, C. (2022). Participatory Action Research: Ethics and Decolonization. Oxford University Press.
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My approach to ethics has also been informed by my research into methods. See bibliography on Blog 2. ↩︎