Contextual Background:
This role play session was developed to encourage professional practice awareness and increase employability for final year students. As Reid, A., Rowley, J., & Bennett, D. (2019, P. 1) state “the employability of graduates is of concern across further and higher education, but is particularly problematic in the creative and performing arts disciplines”. (Reid, A., Rowley, J., & Bennett, D. 2019, P. 1)
My values inform who I am as a practitioner, I plan sessions where students are encouraged to speak openly.
Evaluation:
The concept behind this was that members of the teaching team replicated a fashion shoot that students could expect to encounter in an industry setting, performing roles that were familiar to them, while incorporating ‘bad practice’. The session was designed to develop student confidence, culminating in audience members suggesting ways in which the scenario could have been better navigated in the future, based on their observations and perspectives.
Before the role play, the audience were asked to:
‘Observe the role play and make notes about any behaviour that you see as being professionally problematic’.
Once the role play had finished, we offered the audience the space to provide their observations on the role paly session, based on the behaviour of the players – photographer, stylist, producer, designer.
This was followed by the prompt:
‘Can you think of any measures to prevent this in the future?’
The session was highly successful from a teaching perspective, the students/audience had many observations, they also had thoughtful suggestions on how the scenario could have gone better, in terms of professional practice, collaboration, and respectful behaviour.
On a pedagogical level, I wanted to explore the notion of shared vulnerability, so as a member of staff, I could make myself vulnerable, in performing a familiar and stereotypical persona; to use humour, to temporarily disrupt the hierarchy of the classroom. As Watkins states “attempts at breaking the petrified and institutional standards seem even more precious; they not only excite interest in students, but also personally empower them and lead to formation of certain intellectual maturity.” (Watkins, 2019, p. 13)
To achieve vulnerability, the classroom was re-designed, from teacher at the front, the chairs were reset around the performers, in the centre of the room. I observed that student engagement was instantly activated. The following text resonates, “This means that it is necessary to “[make] the classroom a democratic setting where everyone feels a responsibility to contribute,” and this “is a central goal of transformative pedagogy”. (hooks, 1994, p. 39).
The session had a ‘conclusion’ in which the teaching team had listed best practice solutions for avoiding the problems that occurred in the role play session. This was to provide a document, for any student who was not present or has diverse learning requirements.
Moving forwards:
When I teach this again, I plan to record the role play, so that it is available for those students who were not able to participate/attend.
I will also consider the ways in which the students can be active participants, perhaps by offering resolutions while the role play is taking place.
References:
Reid, A., Rowley, J., & Bennett, D. (2019). Higher education and sense of self in the creative and performing arts. Music Education Research, 21(4), 399-413. doi: 10.1080/14613808.2019.1632279.
Watkins, G J. (2019) Teaching to Transgress: Subjective Educational Experience in the Model of Engaged Pedagogy of Bell Hooks. CULTURE – SOCIETY – EDUCATION NO. 1 (15) POZNAN.
Hooks, B. (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. London: Routledge.