Troubling knowledges and difficult pedagogical moments for students learning

ABSTRACT

As HE professional educators in Social Sciences, we teach a curriculum which foregrounds inequalities. This includes inequalities related to diverse social groups and differences of race, class, gender, disability and sexuality, underpinned by global approaches. Learners are asked to reconsider the social world through a critical lens with perhaps very different explanations of inequalities and the (re)production of power. This paper illuminates early considerations arising from primary research of those teaching moments described as ‘difficult’ by our participants. The difficulty created for the teacher/student partnership is often experienced by us through the resistance by students who often cannot imagine a world view beyond their own. They can believe their way of knowing themselves in the world is how the world is for everyone. The critical educator recognises that in any given moment they are required to consciously manage the pedagogical illuminations of structural inequalities and individual agency. These difficult moments produce struggle for the student who is learning and pedagogical challenges for the lecturer. This paper captures a snapshot of some of the experiences of educators teaching diversity across a range of subject areas. We also reflect on the potential for professional development and possibilities for embedding best practice in preparing academic staff to deal with difficult moments.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• troubling knowledge
• pedagogy
• in/equalities
• justice
• curriculum
• difference

Acknowledgements

This paper was based on primary research funded internally by the former Centre for Pedagogy which was within the authors’ university. We would like to express our thanks to Bridget Cooper Emeritus Professor of Education at University of Sunderland for her generous reading of an early draft and very helpful feedback. Thanks to Dr Angela Wilcock for her facilitation of most of the focus groups and for her contribution to thematic analysis. Much appreciation is also due to the original group of staff many years ago who met regularly and called ourselves ‘The Ideas Group’ – who were Dr Rick Bowler, Jeremy Kearney and Dr John Clayton. Particular thanks are due to Dr Rick Bowler who took time to draft the initial research proposal with me.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sheila Quaid

Dr Sheila Quaid is a former equalities diversity practitioner and Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Gender at University of Sunderland. She is a Senior Fellow and Advance HE National Teaching Fellow 2020. Her research and teaching include gender, racialisation, sexuality and family studies. She is currently researching critical pedagogies specifically experiential accounts of teaching diversity and difference. Her current focus is on researching the lives and experiences of women who are not mothers, intersectionality and emotionality in professional research practice.

Helen Williams

Dr Helen Williams is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Sunderland. Her specialisms include sexual violence, sex work and the gendered and classed inequalities in the criminal justice system. Her teaching on these sensitive topics has fostered an interest in pedagogies of discomfort and troubling knowledge.