Sean-Henry Fitzsimons

The Context

Technical pedagogy is a movement considering the evolution of technical positions in Higher Education, building upon pedagogy theories like rhizomatic practice between students, academic and technical dynamics as well as structures scaffolding to core student learning. With this, I am building a technical career pathway, like that of the academic pathway in a way to lead technical practice that is currently stifled in comparison. This will be a focus on senior technical roles, research opportunities as well as knowledge exchange and staff development.

The rationale

The reasoning behind this project is due to the barriers that are in place with technical positions and opportunities, even with the PgCert course, the focus is clearly on setting the Academic perspective and with lived experiences from staff and myself we are democratically trying to change the system to gain respect and equal opportunity in the workplace.

The Methods

My research methods are a combination of auto-ethnographic beginnings, then building towards a narrative discussion which came through a focus group around the topics of technical staff and pedagogy. The concluding research method is being discussed as an activist platform in challenging the purpose of our career longevity, staff retention and technical opportunities.

The findings

My findings have been clear, in the arguments, that technical staff are treated differently and within localised departments, I have referenced similar feedback that was received by Tim Savage in 2018 and if our focus group participation still felt the same in 2023. This data was then retained in the form of empathic acknowledgement and there is positive engagement on similar feelings, but also the necessaries of what needs to be done.

Clear areas of interest are Community lead engagement within the technical department, peer progression and learning opportunities, the security of feeling welcomed and connected with the wider UAL technical schools and departments as well as overwhelming feedback that we need technical leadership in departments with Senior and lead roles that are separate from management.

References:

Pick and mix different research findings.
gap within research and the importance of doing this research.
Demonstration pedagogy – need to research.

22/11/2023 WORKSHOP 3

This challenge was slightly difficult, I have never extracted data like this before, more on numbers than anything else really, or in the collection of waste volumes. Overall I think the beauty behind his was the creativity, which was unique to the participants in the classroom.

Reading the transcript: Textual Data Analysis: Possibilities, we read a dialogue between management and teachers on the purpose of universities.

My initial thoughts were slim and jarring at best, as it came across as a very informal and passing conversation on the topic at hand. but it was interesting how the transcript picked up on the vocalised pauses really well. That allowed me to rethink this piece as a creative illustration of where the mind goes to find the right words to carry a conversation.

The purpose was to construct a word poem around the transcript, which I believe allowed more creativity into the workshop as we connect poems to things of beauty, works of art and literature masterpieces.

To whoever is reading, below contains personal information about my history as a technician within UAL, which I am using as part of my research evidence. To allow you a moment to understand, this information has fueled my ambitions more so, rather than deflecting my passion for my job or workplace.

Exploring my young lived experience being a grade 4 teaching and learning technician using a narrative analysis approach, in how my journey has been halted at key points that have effectively been career questioning. I have brought forward in a short format these key points to help illustrate and build a topical approach to narrative analysis within this short time frame.

*Being told that the academics have control over ‘HOW’ I teach industry skills, as we are course-related technical resources.

*Overshadowed in creating educational content, that is selected in a review format to question whether the teaching content is overly technical.

*Short-handed informed that crucial skill-building teaching e.g. hand knitting teaching classes, are being transformed from 7-hour workshops to 20-minute demonstrations.

*Being questioned on industry standards that are too technical and are then overlooked to become technical theory over practical teaching. A garment calculation class is axed and turned into a ‘self-investigative’ handout, which then becomes a technical issue to resolve in 1-2-1 needs.

*Being belittled, over-spoken and made to feel inadequate due to not aligning with the course creative pathway over basic industry requirements.

*Being devalued as a creative, business owner, freelancer, or designer due to being in a ‘technical position’.

*Witnessing the neglect in industry comparison, reality and job possibilities, for more ‘creative’ style teaching practices.

While the examples are my personal experiences working as a grade 4 technician, there have been many more occasions, that fuel my ambition to be recognised in equal measures to that of academics. What I do on a day-to-day basis, is student-facing for the whole of my contracted hours. I experience the turbulence of student behaviours, attitudes and daily struggles. I am not just a technician, I am a mentor, a solid figure within their short educational time frames, I am their teacher in more ways than one. I have comforted young LGBTQ students, who have suffered life-changing ordeals, and I have stayed later than my hours to make sure students well beings cared for and understood. I have listened to troubling fears, and insecurities and been there as a father figure for international students who couldn’t see their families during the pandemic.

We a technical body, are just not technicians, we are everything and more to the student learning experience and we deserve the respect and acknowledgement in equality when it comes to our roles, opportunities and futures.

Using my topical narrative approach, I hope to develop a series of questions that will lead me to develop my presentation and survey in a small focus group of my peers. Considering the most important questions as a starting point to carry this research into my future as a creative technician at UAL and beyond.
The other side of this research project is breaking down the inequality of opportunities that stifle career progression or force technicians to transition over into academia. I have been inspired by the work of Tim Savage, the connection that transcribes his literature into my lived experiences was too relatable to ignore, while Savage’s work has ignited my quest to understand and shape my role as a technician, it has provided me with data and evidence that other universities are experiences similar treatment in working environments as well as transitioning to academic roles or management roles and leaving the technical positions due to non-progression routes in those fields.

Using the series of questions below, I hope to see similar evidence that correlates to my lived experience as well as connecting to Savage’s paper: Creative Arts Technicians in Academia: To Transition or Not to Transition? 2018.

1. Do technical staff members understand and know what a pedagogy is?
2. Have they considered that their own practice might be a pedagogy?
3. Would they consider the technicians to teach practice and process?
4. Do you critically reflect on your teaching practice as a technician?
5. Have you heard of active learning teaching practice/pedagogy?

The second portion of the investigation is to see how we can democratically build a technical career map and plan. Comparing the level 4 technical contract roles and responsibilities and aligning those with the current academic career plan. This portion is to allow participants to see the value in our current responsibilities, what they mean to our roles and how we could move into level 5 or higher positions and expand on the technical responsibilities and department commitments.

1. Where is the technical career pathway like that of the academic career pathway?
2. What are the pros and cons of technical positions within creative education?
3. Considering the academic career pathway, what do you feel is important to consider in a technical career pathway?
4. Do technicians have job Satisfaction?
5. Have you considered transitioning to academia?

As a series of additional questions to help the investigation, working out who has attended from which schools, (SDT, SMC, BFS). Another anchor in this research would be to get a range of staffing on different grade levels. This information is about making sure at this stage of my research and providing a space and voice to each part of the LCF technical family.

With all this information, I am navigating towards a thematic analysis gathering my research evidence through a deductive codex, this will allow a position of reliability in finding similarities in working conditions, frustrations and hardships within the roles of the technical teaching and learning teams. An optimistic approach to carrying this research, the findings I believe will also allow me to adapt my codex into an abductive codex, which will refine my questioning and broaden the audience whom I am targeting.

Reflectively, I want to carry this forward into developing my technical career within UAL and LCF, I have decided while I consider applying for the Master’s program or a Ph.D. program, I will use this time to reshape how we as a technical community the space to heighten our skills as well as developing an educational approach to staff longevity.

References:

McLain, M. (2017). Emerging perspectives on the demonstration as a signature pedagogy in design and technology education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 28(4), pp.985–1000. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-017-9425-0.

Sams, C. (2016). Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal How do art and design technicians conceive of their role in higher education? Artist (formerly a Technician at Central St Martins). Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, 1(2), pp.62–69.

Savage, T. (2018). Creative arts technicians in academia: To transition or not to transition? Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 17(2), pp.237–253. doi:https://doi.org/10.1386/adch.17.2.237_1.

Savage, T. (2019). Challenging HEA Fellowship: Why should technicians in creative arts HE be drawn into teaching? Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 18(2), pp.201–218. doi:https://doi.org/10.1386/adch_00007_1.

Trying to figure out research methods has been really troubling, maybe I need to spend some time studying this, as I have never really explored research methods and it would be good to get a better understanding of what is out there in the world of research.

I know I want to explore an autoethnographic approach, as a starting point, relating to my young teaching and learning experience as a technician and the troubles or experiences I have lived through. As this is a short but hopefully continuous action research project, I feel a small yet narrative and effective topical method to the approach would allow me to briefly transcribe key moments of self-reflection, hardship and questionable conversations that lead me to revisit my role as a technician, let alone staying in the job working in a toxic environment. I believe the other side of this approach might fall under ethnographic sensibility, where a piece of literature has led me to focus and regain my vision of why I am a technician.
That is the work of Tim Savage and his paper: “Creative Arts Technicians in Academia: To Transition or Not to Transition?”. In this text, Savage set a series of questions asking current and former technicians to understand why those who did transition and those who wish or do not wish to transition into academia.

From this, I am hoping to create a thematic analysis starting with a qualitative research method where I use my lived experience to deduce a codex in shaping my findings from investigating my questions with my colleagues and peers. The method I want to use is a focus group with a digestible forum/survey, allowing my colleagues to contribute to the debate and understand that my approach is democratic and it is to encourage a common ground/language/standard in what we as technicians contribute to the world of academia and pedagogy.

The other side of this ‘sensibility’ is the neglect of technical career pathways, of which there are none, but there is an academic career pathway and 2 of these pathways are restricted from technical teams, or have been in the past! The 3 pathways are Teaching, Knowledge Exchange and Research. The UAL Canvas website page for academic pathways states the following:

“UAL needs an academic workforce with the different skills to deliver teaching, research and knowledge exchange. The Academic Career Pathways project is designed to recognise, develop and reward careers in these mission areas.”

Personally, I believe UAL needs a balanced workforce of both academic and technical skill sets that showcase a variety of teaching approaches that encourage staff to engage with a range of pathways to innovate, challenge and develop teaching environments.
Below is an image taken from the canvas database from ‘The Exchange” outlining the career progression for academic staff. There is no documentation like this for the UAL technical staff, on a personal note, this does not sit well and makes me as a technical staff member feel uncomfortable and not respected within my role or my position within UAL.

As I believe this is the start of my project/ research investigation, I hope to secure findings that will guide me towards a more abductive codex to establish a stronger argument to continue searching and building this democratic/activist research approach.

Reference:

Savage, T. (2018). Creative arts technicians in academia: To transition or not to transition? Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 17(2), pp.237–253. doi:https://doi.org/10.1386/adch.17.2.237_1.

https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/sites/explore/SitePage/45792/academic-career-pathways

Considering Indigenous Research Methodologies: Critical Reflections by an Indigenous Knower
Joseph P. Gone, PHD.

Before I dive into this article when discussing IRMs with John and Malika. I considered the format of place and purpose of how IRMs came into action.
Placing job roles inside of an IRM framework made me reconsider the methodology I could be developing while doing my action research project. The following prompts, I am hoping to answer;

1. Is a technician an indigenous staff member of the building?
2. What are indigenous practices within the university?
3. How do IRMs develop and innovate academia?

Upon reflection on this paper, it has provided me with a more guided understanding of indigenous practice and research methods. The theory I was looking for, has more to do with place and the everyday inhabitants who occupy these spaces on a daily basis.

The journey continues, but the value of this learning moment was necessary to build upon, my research method research.

However I do think these series of questions can be the foundation of asking the same questions;

Three Sets of Key Questions About IRMs:

1. What is an IE in specific and concrete terms?
   • How comprehensive, coherent, constructive, and consensual must these knowledge practices be?
   • What are the differences between and among various basic terms within this discussion?
   • How distinctive must IEs be from “Western” approaches?
   • How could precontact IEs survive until today?
2. Who is an Indigenous “knower”?
   • What are attributes of Indigenous knowers?
   • What is the relationship between identities and practices relative to IEs?
   • How can academic knowers access IEs?
   • Can non-Natives become indigenous knowers?
3. How should we study, describe, and represent IEs?
   • What qualifies particular Indigenous scholars to access IEs for academic purposes?
   • What is the methodology by which Indigenous scholars should recover IEs?
   • How could IEs be so ready-made for university-based knowledge production?
   • What are the sociopolitical, ethical, and economic implications of studying and writing about IEs?

What are the differences between and among various basic terms within this discussion?

This is a foundational question in separating the construction of my research questions, what is the difference between Academic and Technical teaching and is there a vocabulary of basics that needs to be determined.

reflecting on these questions and papers, was the right choice, but the not the correct method, finding something more in the lines of place and the foundational people who run the building. Maybe contacting John would be good.

Guide by Citizens’ advice.

• 
  Working out some thoughts on Focus groups
  
  
• Used to explore ideas and also confirm them, or achieve a combination of the two.
• Understand how a group perceives a problem.
• Identify areas where there is a need for action (if immediate or not).
• Gather feedback and opinions on a new idea for the job.
  
  
  Understanding the different types of focus groups;
  1. Constructed focus group – time: 1-2 hours, min 8 participants.
  2. Ready-made groups – Groups of friends, commonalities and interests.
  3. Structured workshops: solve problems, generate ideas, explore detailed ideas, 15-20 people.
  
  Planning your focus group!
  
• The purpose of your data: The questions you ask during the focus group.
• Subject matter and Sensitive issues: Critical issues affecting the community.
• Selecting the participants: Share an identifiable key criteria (TECHNICIANS).
• Group size and focus group size and location: manageable, convenient and responsive.
  
  TEAM
  1. Researcher
  2. Moderator
  3. Note Taker

Research job role:

• build trust amongst the group and secure their buy-in
• keep participants focused, engaged and attentive
• obtain the participants’ consent
• ensure the participants feel safe and comfortable in sharing their views and experiences
• set out some ground rules at the start of the session
• set the scene and explain the purpose of the session
• be willing to listen and encourage participation from all the group members
• be flexible, but ensure that the group is generally on time and focused on the topics
• challenge and support participants (for example in the event of breakaway conversations)
• use prompts and probes to identify underlying beliefs, reasoning and experience

Why Citation matters: Ideas on a feminist approach to research.
Christina Templin (SoSe 2021) – Freie Universitat Berlin

Reading the introduction and understanding Templin’s positionality on the hows and difficulties of citations and where that affects their research and academic career. Understanding the realism that hierarchies are everywhere in academia and being a queer individual, this introduced provided a sense of liberation and risk to Templin’s career and research.

The idea that citation has a background in ‘gameplay’ and ‘favouritism’ is supported by the following quote;

‘Carrie Mott & Daniel Cockayne even point to “citation cartels”, where authors agree to only cite each other’s work to boost their impact in academia, leading to the overall exclusion of particular voices and bodies from what Bell Hooks calls a “white heteromasculine hegemony” (Mott/Cokayne 2017, p. 955).’

It begs the question of the authority behind research and enquiries, can tools like ‘Turnitin’ not pinpoint favouritism or tunnel vision when it comes to repetitive citation acknowledgement, thus creating a bias towards career progression/ research advancement.

I particularly like the end of this introduction on Templin’s evidence and acknowledgement towards her argument using Sarah Admed’s book: ‘Living as a Feminist’ (2017) as a core structural platform to question the ideas of other’s work and how Admed’s argument shows the effects on academic politics and hierarchies of knowledge.
The other insight to this introduction is the finishing touch to positionality and how Templin’s own journey in research/academia also undergoes a rigorous form of questions.

“I will use this also to reflect on some of my own work, asking myself, who am I citing and why? Lastly, I will try to elaborate some conclusions on how these questions impact the research that is done today and how we can improve on the challenges that were mentioned, moving towards a more inclusive citation practice that takes into account various forms of knowledge that have previously been excluded.”

Using this approach in my own enquiry could bring a more personal tone to why I am pursuing the research, as this year during my pgcert I have been asking myself similar questions.

Sara Admed’s blurb is world-building in the sense of how this paper was presented and acknowledged, it set the mood, and provided the core details of “feminist theory as “world-making” (Ahmed 2017, p. 14)”. I feel that this is the most realistic way to set the tone of the article and how the enquiry was set to move forward, the area that I need to consider is the who and the why of my citations. The only viable concern I can bring to the table is my lack of experience and being ‘blindly trapped’ by the male white voices of epistemological citations.

The answer is to walk with the concern and the approach to the question, who is this person, who do they quote and see if I can see any sort of pattern in their own citations.

The invisibility of alternative epistemologies was an interesting middle section of this article, it established the hierarchy of whiteness towards people of colour in academia. Bringing awareness towards citation cartels and this area of subjugated knowledge which is labelled as the contrast to traditional epistemologies, this body of research announces that black feminist scholars have turned to alternative ways of producing and validating knowledge.

The middle part also acknowledges the community behind black voices and how sole research is built upon a body of work or voices to solidify the richness and validation of their work. The emphasis on lived experiences and using the connected intersections of dialogue, which ‘Hooks’ describes as the resistance to domination is through the humanizing act of speech rather than the just subject or object.

Moving towards a more inclusive system of citation brings the note from ‘Mock/Cockayene’ to advocate a ‘conscientious practice of citation’. Following up on the quote below that engaged my train of thought on this topic altogether;

“how do we rethink citation as a progressive technology rather than one that serves to make invisible particular bodies and voices?” (p. 965)

How do I use citation as a progressive technology, do I need to research progressive technology?

In this part, they also mention the engagement of other voices, who are these other voices and how we consider these in our work. The value of citation in my mind is normally from the standpoint of published material or research. But I would then have to ask the question of what is published work and what can I use in an ‘other’ acknowledgement.

Considering my blog as a sense of ‘self-publishing’ can I be a voice of otherness in this scenario and that which I find across my cohort or further?

“Instead of understanding citation as a metric of influence and impact, we outline practical and conceptual ways to resist these neoliberal leanings by thinking conscientiously about citation as a form of engagement.” – Mock/Cockayene 2017, p964

Templin furthered this investigation with a series of ‘found’ questions; could I also use these questions in my own research to build a more inclusive citation.

• How does this list of references situate my work in the field? With what kind of scholarship am I aligning my work?
  
• From what nations, cultures and classes do my references come? To what extent do they represent Euro- or Anglo- centric ways of knowing and being?
  
• What is the gender mix of my reference list?
  
• Whose voices are silent? Whose scholarship have I ignored or excluded?

To take anything from this research paper is to spend enough time analysing who and what you are reading, the context of where they are from and how this is placed in academia. I have to build a series of questions or hybrids from the ones above to challenge my concepts or further in research.

Did you know the BCC – hides all email recipients…

I like to document this, as its learning curve, and I am in my growth phase of this pgcert!

Hello, 

Thank you for your interest in my research and for taking part in the technical focus group or the others who are also in this chain that will be interviewed. 

The participant form will inform you of an insight into the theory behind gathering this research, it falls in line with my perspective future and my hybrid job role of working in a 3^rd space (Whitchurch) we are not fully considered as academics yet on the other side of that we are also not indulging in purely service base supervision. As technical staff who are grade 3 transitioning to grade 4, and grade 4, teaching and learning specialists, we are in a unique position that reflects the balance of industry standards and creative teaching practices. What I prefer to refer to is the process and practice of teaching and learning, we are the ones who lead in this area.

Aims: 

1. Understand the technical staff’s goals and ambitions within their job roles.
2. Determine and build a ‘technical career path’ that reflects staff engagement and development.
3. Strategically develop an assistance program to encourage technical staff into, teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange.
4. Build an ambassador program that engages technical community development in skill-building levels 2/3 to 4.
5. Align the technical career path with the UAL 2030 goals. 

An ambitious adventure ahead of me (not like myself to encourage a challenge), this project is 10 weeks, but this is a passion project I have been working on this whole year during my PgCert. I have found misplacement in my job role with challenges of how technical teaching is not referred to or respected in the same world as academia, or that academics have full control over technical teaching and less and less is actually being taught of industry practice/standards. 

The PgCert has allowed me as a technician (even though the academics there keep telling me, I’m not just a technician). The time to look into my job role and fully analyse the why and how of what I do. This has been reflectively rewarding and the peer-to-peer conversations have been empowering for me to challenge and put risk into my research. To allow you into my mind for 5 minutes; 

Q1. What is a technician?
Q2. Do you teach more than 10 hours a week? (1-2-1 student engagement, large class formats or group-based).
Q3. What is a workshop, seminar and lecture and how do technicians fit into this?
Q4. Do technicians know what pedagogy is? (honestly, I didn’t). 
Q5. Do I want to be a technician for the rest of my career?
Q6. Why do I have to give up my creativity to go into management or academia? 

Now back to the focus group, (this is my longest email ever). There will be a series of engagement questions, by that I mean, resolution-based opportunities for open honest hypotheses around futures, jobs and building a technical community that is not management or academic that has a leadership, research and pedagogic future in creative institutions. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and consider being a part of my research. The prospective date will be the week of the 13^th of November. Hopefully the 14^th and the time will be roughly 60-90 minutes. If you still want to participate but can’t attend, I can send you the questions to answer, although true democracy is engaged in person if discussing the future of our careers. 

If you have any questions, please get in touch! 

All the best,