Charlie Lewis PG Cert

After my conversation with Linda and the initial workshop, I withdrew some books from the library which I intend to work my way through to aid my studies and exploration of gender within teaching.

In ‘The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory’ Entwistle, J. 2000, Entwistle refers to”Butler’s work on performativity (1990, 1993), influenced by Foucault, looks at the way in which gender is the product of styles and techniques such as dress rather than any essential qualities of the body” (2000:33). When teaching garment construction, we still implement rules of the direction of fastening buttons to determine the gender of a garment. The female garment fastens right over left, whereas the male garment fastens left over right. Explanations for this include ease of breastfeeding for women or drawing a sword for men.

We define mannequins as male and female due to their differing builds. Entwistle refers to Gaines (1990:1) analysis of Foucault and how his theory “argues that dress delivers ‘gender as self-evident or natural’ when… gender is a cultural construction that dress helps to reproduce” (2000:21). I would like to explore new ways of defining the mannequins which meet our less binary ideas of gender, to help create more inclusivity and equality within the studios. As teachers to the creators of garments and fashions or trends, I believe we have a responsibility to disrupt western ideas of gender norms and conformity.

It was also interesting to read about Edward Munby and his documentation (and fetishisation) of working class women in Victorian England, particularly the Wigan pit brow women. Due to their physical, laborious jobs, in a time when it was frowned upon for ‘respectable’ women to work, the pit brow women wore practical and traditionally ‘male’ garments such as trousers, shirts and waistcoats. After reading Munby’s less than flattering description of the women he photographed, it is interesting to consider the power imbalance and purpose of these images and the subjects’ consented, along with the effect social class has upon gendering people. “…A quite respectable woman… her dress was not noticed in the streets: in Wigan, a woman in trousers is not half as odd as a woman in a crinoline. Barbarous locality.” (Hudson 1974: 76)

ENTWISTLE, J. (2000) The fashioned body: Fashion, dress and modern social theory . Cambridge: Polity. 

Lewis, D. (2015) Men’s shirts button on the right. why do women’s button on the left?, Smithsonian Magazine. Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mens-shirts-button-on-the-right-why-do-womens-button-on-the-left-180957361/ (Accessed: 12 February 2025). 

Today we had our micro-teaching session. We had a great group, with a range of teaching styles and subjects. 

During Jade’s lesson about lace and embroidery placement, I found her referencing of techniques and production to industry to be inspiring and offered context to the technical concepts being explained. In the feedback we discussed ideas of boundaries in relation to teaching contour fashion. As we are working with the body, discussing anatomy, placement of fabric on the body and dressing or draping on models, it is important to establish boundaries with students around suitable topics of discussion and consent. We also explored ideas of gender and that the samples provided were quite gendered and conformed to particular body types. Disability, social class, environmental impact and race are all considerations I will be taking forward into my teaching practice.

During Matt’s microteach we explored the idea of transmission teaching and how feeling a need to provide as a teacher can lead us to overwhelm our students with information. Through further research I have found Paulo Freire’s “banking concept of education”. Freire believes that this practice of transmission teaching is oppressive and views teachers as ‘depositors’ of knowledge, filling the passive student’s mind or ‘receptacle’.

During the workshop we discussed the texts and the use of exclusionary academic language. We were encouraged to consider whether we would take a more open, clearer approach to writings.

It was interesting to explore the use of language implemented by academic texts. I found the language to be a little pretentious and exclusionary. The reliance upon academic terms and language made some of the texts almost impenetrable and it felt unnecessary to write in this style to get their points across. Many of the texts did not lay out their definitions of key words and concepts mentioned throughout the writings, which I feel is imperative to making the study coherent and accessible.

When looking at the example texts of the ‘Charismatic Lecturer’ from ‘Teaching with Integrity: The Ethics of Higher Education Practice’ (Macfarlane, B. 2004), we discussed biases within peer assessments.  The text narrates the experience of Stephanie and her views of Max, a fellow lecturer. The discussion helped me reflect upon my potential prejudices, experiences and pressures and their influence on my reception of colleagues and their teaching styles. The ‘Charismatic Lecturer’ was anecdotal and through group discussion we highlighted the possible prejudices and biases of both the writer and Stephanie’s perception, along with Max’s lack of objectivity. The author’s inclusion of Stephanie’s religious beliefs did not seem relevant to her perception of her peer assessment. The group’s response to Stephanie was varied but quite empathetic to her situation and considered factors that may be impacting her and her view of Max.

A group offered up their reflections on the text ‘Signature pedagogies in art and design’ (Sims, E. and Shreeve, A. 2011) which analysed tools used within education to impart knowledge. This prompted dialogue around how the limits of space and studios are causing teaching to shift online or into digital spaces, rather than physical. There was concern around how the removal from the physical could impact student outcomes. I was reminded of a conversation I had with a primary school teacher recently, who was reporting the steep decline in children’s fine motor skills, with some unable to use a pair of scissors. I felt this was an interesting point and would like to explore further how this may relate to my work as a technician.

We explored changes in laws, technological developments, economic and social shifts and climate change and their impact upon higher education, the student and academic experience and how we may use the wider context to inform our approaches to teaching. I was interested to hear discussions of equity and how we as educators within HE can contribute to creating a more equitable environment within universities. What is my voice within the university?

I am still struggling with what is expected of me from the PGCert and how I can make this relate to my work of teaching technical, objective skills. I am planning to read a fellow technician’s PG Cert submission to help gain an understanding of how these ideas can relate to my practice as a technician.

I have also been reflecting on a knowledge exchange I participated in with a fellow technician and how this helped me reconsider approaches to teaching and creating methods of working when a student is differently abled.

References:

Barlow, J. (2024) We used your insights to update our graphic on equity, RWJF. Available at: https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/blog/2022/11/we-used-your-insights-to-update-our-graphic-on-equity.html (Accessed: 19 January 2025).

I am a BA fashion technician at Central Saint Martins Kings Cross campus. I have worked at UAL  for 5 years. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of teaching and apply this to my practice and my interactions with our students.