Charlie Lewis PG Cert

Contextual Background: 

During the tailoring skills sessions, some students have never sewn before whilst others are very experienced or believe themselves to be. We struggle with engagement and pace, which feels pressured as this is the only timetabled technical teaching some students receive during their four years on the course.  

Evaluation:

This year H&S inductions were shorter and held earlier in the term, giving additional time during workshops and sole focus on sewing skills. As the induction was held on a different day to the tailoring skills sessions, this separation improved engagement by reducing the perceived length of the mandatory health and safety inductions to two hours. It gave clarity and focus to the students when attending the tailoring skills workshops as it focused solely on sewing technique and increased the sewing time. This also meant that students who attended had ‘opted in’ to those classes, unlike the compulsory health and safety induction. 

Moving forwards:

By planning a clear timeframe for students to complete tasks in, along with a checklist, I think this will create more motivation for students to actively participate and focus on the task at hand. It will create pace to the class and the students will be accountable for their use of time and focus. 

Encouraging more peer-to-peer learning by verbally directing students to help one another  could also ease the pressure on myself as a teacher and give students more confidence in their skill. This would also allow me to focus on students who may be struggling to grasp the task at hand. Adding in time to review work as a collective at the end of each day and encouraging peer-to-peer feedback would also give more weight to, and reflection on, the skills the students have acquired. Both tutor and students could give pointers of how they would like to take these skills forward and build upon them. 

I would also like to push for more time to be given to the tailoring workshop, perhaps spreading the skills over a few weeks which would give students more time to reflect, digest and implement the skills they have learnt each day. It would also give us more time to complete the jacket as usually this does not happen due to the time constraints. 

I believe the technicians should have involvement in design tutorials, where students will be implementing these classic tailoring skills into creating their own designs and garments. I feel the role of the technician should be elevated to be on a par with other academics and tutors. This would be a massive culture shift within the department and is something that needs to be implemented from the top.

As this workshop will not take place until later on in the summer term I have not yet been able to implement or reflect on these changes.

References:

Impact Teachers and Impact Teachers (2024) Effective lesson pacing strategies, Impact Teachers. Available at: https://impactteachers.com/blog/pace-2/ (Accessed: 12 March 2025). Nicholls, G. (2007) Developing teaching and learning in higher education: New dimensions and directions. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Contextual Background: 

Currently the students are not marked on the technical aspects of their projects. This means we have very limited time (7 days of technical workshops in the 4 years of the degree) to teach technical skills and they are not as valued as assessed skills.

Evaluation:

Technical skills are not assessed and tutorials and briefings are often timetabled during these workshops, so we have issues with attendance of workshops and the quality of the garments produced by students. We have been building more dialogue with academics around the timetabling and the impact this has on vital workshops. 

Currently we give informal, verbal feedback to students in workshops and when asked for help. This is also given to students when they are allocated technician sewing time, which is often too late in the process, as the garments are cut out and partially sewn. This can be frustrating as sometimes the order of construction is incorrect, or the pieces are cut incorrectly. 

Moving forwards: 

When considering assessment and the valuing of learning I read Developing Teaching and Learning in Higher Education by Gill Nicholls.  Nicholls states “the implication of selecting learning outcomes from Biggs’ and Ramsden’s arguments is that the type of learning students will engage in depends on the level of meaning students place on the knowledge that they are expected to acquire’’(2007:64). This led me to consider how I can increase the understanding of the value and meaning of sewing skills. The team could increase the expectation of students through a unified voice and by requiring students to produce a technical folder to refer back to skills, which is handed to their tutor for consideration.

I feel it is important to relate and frame the skills as advantageous to their assessed work and create healthy competition, by framing workshops as providing relevant and vital skills directly correlating to their current assessed project. To improve engagement I will teach exercises which are sampled using the ‘Reset Show’ sponsored fabric, which requires very specific handling and methods due to the nature of the fabric. I will also teach fabric manipulation techniques in the final session, asking students to bring in inspirational imagery which we can link to different methods and encourage them to sample, explore and experiment. By emphasising that these samples can be used as development for their final garments, and used in assessed work such as sketchbook research and development, I hope to increase engagement with the workshops and encourage the students to understand the relevance and innate value of sewing skills. 

I will also provide a checklist to give more obvious objectives and goals, work on introduction of skills and provide worksheets that show the context of various seams, finishes and techniques on actual garments, for students to keep. 

Whilst attending Jade’s microteach, she highlighted the  context of industry standards and expectations. This gave an air of expertise, professionalism and aspiration which I believe our students would respond well to and lead them to consider how these are life long skills they will use throughout their careers. 

References:

Nicholls, G. (2007) Developing teaching and learning in higher education: New dimensions and directions. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Ikeorah Chisom Chi-Fada: The Tailor’s Corner, from ‘Udo Di’ a sub-series of Maktub (Copyright © Ikeorah Chisom Chi-Fada, 2021)

After the workshop about assessment, I felt very demotivated and disillusioned with the standing of technical skills within UAL and the lack of value placed on both skills and technicians. 

I went on to look for discussions around the roles of technicians and began to think about what I value as a technician and my teaching style. When reading Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence (Eraut, 1994) Eraut raises Schon’s concept of “knowing in action”. This refers to the ability to perform a skill or make decisions in a situation without needing to consciously access explicit knowledge, essentially “knowing how to do something” through experience and intuition, rather than just having theoretical knowledge about it. It’s a concept primarily associated with Donald Schön’s theory of reflective practice, where the “knowing” happens within the action itself, not just before or after. As a technician I am always contemplating the ways in which I translate this ‘tacit knowledge’ into articulate and relatable information for the students to acquire and apply to their construction of garments.

I also found this article published in January 2025 questioning the role of technicians as teachers. Savage and Vere (2025) state,

“institutions still commonly regard technical teaching as formulaic and didactic and described as demonstration or instruction. Yet, this linguistic slipperiness conceals a paradox: technicians teach in HE and do so within institutions that rely on their teaching while simultaneously sustaining systems, cultures and discourses that deny they teach”.

The hierarchies enforced within higher education are something I have found myself pushing up against throughout my time at UAL and have stifled progress and changes that the technical team have tried to implement due to our lack of power and authority. Without support from management and a cultural shift, it can sometimes be difficult to see how this will change.

References:

Eraut, M.R. (1994) Developing professional knowledge and competence . Abingdon: Routledge.

Hingley, O. (2022) In his paintings, Ikeorah Chisom Chi-Fada seeks to respect and ‘deify’ his fellow Nigerians, It’s Nice That. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/ikeorah-chisom-chi-fada-art-190122 (Accessed: 06 March 2025).

Savage, T. and Vere, K.A. (2025) ‘Why is it problematic for technicians to say they teach in higher education?’, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (33), pp. 2–7. doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1191.

Since the peer review I have been reflecting on how to build awareness of the specialist machinery and their uses amongst the student body. Currently we display posters by each machine type, showing samples and imagery of garments from previous graduates who have utilised the machines effectively in their work. 

I had a discussion today with one of the final year print students, as they had asked whether we had a machine that can attach denim buttons. After informing them about the machinery I asked if there was any way we could improve students’ consciousness of the different techniques and equipment they can access, as we already offer pointers to the machines and describe their functions to the students in their first week of university. 

The student felt that they only became aware of or asked for machinery as and when they needed it. As they have never made jeans or a denim jacket, they have never needed access to such equipment. They did suggest that there could be projects with more specific briefings that incorporate the use of specialist equipment, for example a denim project or a leather accessories brief to incorporate more

Nicholls explains “If (the) aim is not achieved, if teaching and learning experiences are not devised early in the course to provide the necessary experiences, students will not be able to demonstrate their assumed learning outcomes. ‘ g nicholls 65 “ I believe this highlights the importance of establishing student knowledge early in their university education, allowing them the experience of using specialist machinery and the plethora of applications.

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.