Teaching Not Teaching

Bradbury’s Critical Race Theory (CRT) Framework for education policy analysis (2020) is a prescient call to interrogate how policies in higher education reinforce racial inequalities. By asking, “How do white people gain?”, “How does this disadvantage minoritised groups?”, and “How does this maintain white dominance?” (p. 247), we are encouraged to examine who benefits and who is marginalised. Applying this framework, I analysed UAL’s new hiring policies implemented in 2025.

Effective from March 2025, UAL introduced a policy requiring all requests for hiring Visiting Lecturers to go through a newly established Staffing Committee. The committee comprises Karen Stanton (Vice Chancellor), Heather Francis (COO), and Roni Brown (Deputy Vice-Chancellor), with advisors Karen Gooday (Director of People and Culture/ HR) and Alex Peacock (Finance Director) (UAL, 2025a). All are white senior managers. This group now holds sole authority to approve or reject new hires across the university.

Requests are submitted via an online form requiring rationale, dates, budget code, and budget holder—but no information regarding race, gender, or disability. This directly contradicts UAL’s Anti-Racism Action Plan (2021), which pledged to “understand, review, and reform… processes to capture more comprehensive data on Visiting Lecturers” (p. 7).

The committee also oversees requests for salary increases, job evaluations, and changes in contracted hours. Without mechanisms to track or address race and intersectionality, it’s difficult to see how UAL will meet its pledge to audit and act on ethnicity pay gap data (UAL, 2021). Using Bradbury’s framework, we must ask: does this policy maintain white dominance and disadvantage minoritised Visiting Lecturers? Arguably yes—although this short blogpost does not allow a full exploration of how.

This impact extends to students: when they don’t see themselves reflected in those teaching them, it can reinforce feelings of exclusion and limit the diversity of perspectives shaping their education. This affects both representation and the richness of the learning environment.

Garrett’s essay (2024) on how racism shapes academic careers resonated deeply. I identify as mixed race—British and Colombian—with Colombian heritage that includes Indigenous, Afro-Latin, and European ancestry. I moved to the UK at 16 and was often mocked by peers who asked if I lived in huts or trafficked cocaine. Assimilating into a white, Eurocentric identity helped me progress academically through to PhD level. Garrett notes how mixed-race academics often feel compelled to give up parts of themselves to fit in (p. 6). Upon entering university, I felt pressured to emphasise my British identity to be read as a ‘home’ student and avoid international fees. Only later did I realise I had the right to claim both home fee status and dual heritage. This demonstrates how race intersects with fee status. 

Now, post-PhD and after five years at UAL, I still await placement on an Early Career Researcher (ECR) pathway—despite my contributions to research and teaching. UAL’s updated Race Equality Charter Action Plan (2025b, p. 11) acknowledges this systemic issue, noting the risk that BAME postdoctoral staff are overlooked for ECR pathways. This, combined with centralised hiring oversight lacking intersectional safeguards, suggests that well-meaning policy changes may inadvertently entrench inequality without anti-racist accountability.

In my role as a Course Leader with hiring responsibilities and as a line manager to academic staff, I plan to use the CRT framework to critically reflect on UAL’s new policies and to support BAME Visiting Lecturers and contractual staff in securing fair pay and career progression.

References

Bradbury, A., 2020. A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp.241-260.  

Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’. Globalisation, Societies and Education. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886.

Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. YouTube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (accessed on 19/06/25).

Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, equity & inclusion: Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online]. YouTube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (accessed on 19/06/25).

UAL (2021) UAL anti-racism action plan summary. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/296537/UAL-Anti-racism-action-plan-summary-2021.pdf (accessed on 19/06/25).

UAL (2025a) Financial controls 2025: Staffing Committee. Available at https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/sites/explore/SitePage/260545/staffing-committee-faqs (accessed on 21/06/25).

UAL (2025b) Race Equality Charter Action Plan. Available at https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/9bff08d7-69e0-4b1b-9e29-370b0eb01791 (accessed on 21/06/25).

In the previous blogpost, we looked at how Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality (2013) provides a framework for understanding how disability intersects with different forms of discrimination. This post reflects on how intersectionality can also help examine how religion or faith identity intersects with other social categories such as race, gender, and class. Again, it is important to state my positionality. I was raised in Colombia, a predominantly Catholic society. My partner and her family are Catholic, so my relationship with faith continues to be shaped through proximity and cultural familiarity.

An example of how religion intersects with other social structures is presented by Jawad (2022), who argues that barriers for Muslim women in sport are not rooted in Islam itself, but in the incompatibility between religious practices and existing sporting infrastructures, particularly in diasporic settings. This exclusion arises when religious needs are not recognised or accommodated in predominantly secular environments.

Appiah (2014) challenges simplistic critiques of religion, such as whether it is “good or bad.” He reframes religion not as mere belief in spirits or gods but as a set of lived moral and social frameworks. Drawing on Campagna (2018), we might understand these as “reality-systems” that deeply shape identity and everyday life. Crenshaw’s theory helps us locate where discrimination emerges when these frameworks intersect with dominant institutional norms.

UAL is arguably a predominantly secular, Western academic environment. In such a setting, students from different faith backgrounds may experience the institution differently—and conversely, the institution may overlook or misread the role of faith in students’ identities.

A recurring theme across the resources is the tension between secular institutional norms and lived faith-based values. Both Appiah and Jawad highlight how misunderstandings often stem from essentialist or reductive views of religion. In the classroom, secularism is often assumed to be neutral, yet it can marginalise students for whom faith is central to their worldview. Appiah calls for more nuanced understandings of religion as embedded in culture and daily life.

In my own teaching practice at UAL, I’m interested in how a plurality of faiths and cultural frameworks can inform more inclusive approaches. This is particularly relevant in the field of Computational Arts. My team draws from Campagna’s Technic and Magic (2018), which critiques the Enlightenment-era shift toward rationalism and abstraction—what Campagna calls the “Technic” worldview. Many digital technologies—VR, CGI, generative systems—are built on this immaterial, rule-based logic. Campagna’s concept of “Magic” offers a counterpoint: a reality-system that embraces symbolism, mystery, and the ineffable—qualities long present in artistic traditions shaped by faith. Campagna’s philosophy is informed by Muslim scholars such as Mulla Sadra, 17th AD Twelver Shia philosopher and mystic. Acknowledging these perspectives may help students situate computational practice within broader cultural and spiritual traditions. By doing so, we can create space for new generations of artists to embrace the symbolic and the ineffable through a plurality of faith-informed approaches to art and education. Already, this approach has encouraged students to create work that thoughtfully engages with their faith. In the graduate show, this was evident in a sculptural piece inspired by Buddhist philosophy, and a multimedia installation shaped by Islamic traditions and aesthetics.

References 

Appiah, K.A., (2014). Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question), YouTube, 16 June. Available at https://youtu.be/X2et2KO8gcY?si=Tn3GYdMkfqfXc2GD (Accessed: 19/06/2025). 

Campagna, F., 2018. Technic and magic: The reconstruction of reality. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Crenshaw, K.W., 2013. Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. In The public nature of private violence (pp. 93-118). Routledge.

Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/. (Accessed on 19/06/2025.)

Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality (2013) is a framework for understanding how forms of discrimination and oppression—such as racism, sexism, and ableism—intersect and cannot be understood in isolation. Stating my positionality first is important because it shapes how I interpret issues of intersectionality and social justice in my teaching practice as a course leader in Fine Art: Computational Arts.

As someone of mixed Latin American and European heritage who is often perceived as a white European man, my positionality is complex and difficult to speak about. While I benefit from white-passing privilege in life and work, this can silence aspects of my identity and cause discomfort around when and how I speak about marginalisation. I find it awkward to assert my dual heritage around those who may perceive me solely as white. This has shaped my awareness of how identity is often misread or flattened in institutional contexts. I am also sympathetic to international students facing language barriers, having moved country twice—first as a UK-born child enrolling in a Spanish-speaking school in Colombia. I additionally bring the perspective of a recent bowel cancer survivor living with an invisible disability following surgery and having disclosed my needs when joining the PGCert. There are parallels between being white-passing and having an invisible disability; these characteristics could simultaneously privilege and invisibilise a person.

Crenshaw’s theory is helpful in critiquing how institutional data—such as UAL’s dashboards—separates gender, race, and disability, making it difficult to analyse overlapping inequalities. As far as I understand, we cannot explore intersecting categories (e.g. disabled and BAME students), only general trends in each. My own course is new with limited attainment data (11 graduates so far), but more broadly in Fine Art at Camberwell, disabled students achieved 47% firsts compared to 40% overall. This is intriguing but inconclusive without further intersectional breakdown. The BAME awarding gap however, has significantly widened every year over the last three years, demonstrating a worrisome pattern that suggests that intersectional characteristics may unfavourably be impacting on BAME disabled students. The implications for my teaching practice are a need to move beyond broad categories, be attentive to the limitations of UAL’s metrics, and recognise the complexity of students’ intersecting identities. I also need to acknowledge that not all students disclose disabilities at enrolment, leading to incomplete data.

Adepitan’s ParalympicsGB interview (2020) argues that inclusive spaces and support should enable individuals to ‘shine’. He highlights the overlapping issues of disability and race in sport while making a broader case for social justice. Intersectionality has encouraged me to go further as Course Leader in designing inclusive learning environments. At UAL, disability, health, language, and academic support are often communicated separately. It’s important to identify how support needs intersect, and how one issue can exacerbate another. For example, many international students face both cultural barriers and mental health struggles. Rather than framing students as arriving with problems, we should consider how the learning environment creates those barriers—aligned with the social model of disability (UAL, 2020). Christine Sun Kim (2023) similarly reflects on how moving to Berlin enabled her art practice due to in-built state support, free daycare, and affordable studios—conveying a sense of relief after previously living in the US. On that note, our course should strive to create conditions of intersectional support, enabling all students to thrive without structural barriers.

References

Adepitan, A. (2020). ‘Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism’. Interview with Ade Adepitan. Interviewed by Nick Webborn for ParalympicsGB Legends, YouTube, 16 October. Youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRjdol_j0c  (Accessed: 19/06/2025). 

Crenshaw, K.W., 2013. Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. In The public nature of private violence (pp. 93-118). Routledge.

Sun, C. (2023). Christine Sun Kim in ‘Friends & Strangers’ – Season 11 | Art21, YouTube, 01 November. Available at: https://youtu.be/2NpRaEDlLsI (accessed: 19/06/2025). 

UAL (2020). The Social Model of Disability at UAL, YouTube, 12 March. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdnjmcrzgw (Accessed: 19/06/2025).