Bradbury (2020) engages with the obstacles bilingual students face by applying Critical Race Theory (CRT) to education policy. Bradbury states that ‘policy is a tool for the continuation of white dominance, not a neutral bystander’ (2020, p 244). Bradbury emphasises this privileging of whiteness by referencing Leonardo (2004): ‘whitedominated field of education’ (cited in Bradbury 2020, p 245). This harkens to Lukkien et al 2024 resource for Blog Task 1 [‘institutional whiteness’ of British academia (Ahmed 2012, p 33, cited in Lukkien et al 2024, p 5)]. Garrett (2024) also engages with CRT and intersectionality while discussing Awarding Gaps, colonial structures of HE, and the differing intersectional identities highlighted on page 7. The obstacles that racialised people face are portrayed in Channel 4 Entertainment video (2020). Even young schoolchildren are aware of systemic oppression. It’s heartbreaking to see that they’ve had a ‘talk’ from their parents about the racism the kids might face. And so must our UAL POC students must think and feel. The way I wish to improve my teaching is by considering how I can democratise my classroom and invite students into these conversations about our harsh reality, without burdening the POC students to expose their trauma to be seen as ‘legitimate’, like the students in Garrett’s study (2024) felt they had to in academia. As a POC researcher and academic myself, I could have easily been one of Garrett’s interviewees.
Thus, it was frustrating to watch The Telegraph video (2022) about rising ‘woke’ culture at British HEs. The white Philosophy professor – and the two other POC researchers – in the video conduct bad research to come to a ‘gotcha’ moment about the apparent lack of freedom of speech and inefficacy of anti-racism trainings. They employ the age-old refrain from people who benefit from the status quo: let things remain, we should be ‘neutral’, our free speech is being infringed. Freedom of speech comes with responsibility. And how can academia be ‘neutral’? If one is ‘apolitical’ then the status quo benefits them – which is a political stance in itself (Sorila nd; The Beacon 2020). The video is ironic because the presenter’s hypothesis is disproven by the interview data they share – yet they don’t realise this. The students interviewed don’t feel their speech is restricted, they say they respect free speech and are fine to amend their language to be inclusive in the classroom. The so-called ‘evidence’ the last researcher shares about Cambridge not being institutionally racist is the lack of HR reports, which is frankly bad research with logical holes and missing nuance. Microaggressions exist. If the system and policies are biased – as discussed above – then people won’t feel comfortable reporting against racism, thus (the lack of) formal HR reports cannot be the sole evidence.
The Telegraph video reminds me of interviewing for a job at another HE. Their job pack repeatedly asked us to demonstrate our dedication to EDI, which I did. Yet, when I asked my interviewers what they were doing to further EDI at an institution level, I got stumped or aggressive responses. I was not offered the job – and I am not sorry about it. Performative EDI is another form of oppression, as examined by Sadiq (2023). While Sadiq examines identity factors as distinct and does not consider that his son’s negative experiences at school were due to his intersectional identity of being a POC child with ADHD, I do agree with most of Sadiq’s points. Sadiq discusses how minoritised people face the burden of representing their entire communities (also discussed in Blog Task 2). Sadiq points out the biases within diversity trainings being centred around UK and US contexts, thus missing international and even local nuances. This is key at UAL, with its multicultural and international student population. I agree with Sadiq that EDI must be embedded in lifelong learning and ‘diversity’ cannot be a short lecture or module that can be ticked off the agenda as something ‘nice to do’. This is something I consider in my Intervention Plan’s future scope.
References
Ahmed, S (2012) On Being Included. Duke University Press.
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. DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2019.1599338 (Accessed 17 July 2025).
Channel 4 Entertainment (2020) ‘Heartbreaking Moment When Kids Learn About White Privilege | The School That Tried to End Racism’ [Online]. YouTube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed 20 July 2025).
Garrett, R (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp 1-15. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886 (Accessed 17 July 2025).
Leonardo, Z (2004) ‘The Color of Supremacy: Beyond the Discourse of “White Privilege”‘, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36(2), pp 137–152. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2004.00057.x (Accessed 22 July 2025).
Lukkien, T et al (2024) ‘Addressing the diversity principle–practice gap in Western higher education institutions: A systematic review on intersectionality’, British Educational Research Journal, pp 1-9.
Sadiq, A (2023) ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right | Asif Sadiq | TEDxCroydon’, TEDx Talks [Online]. YouTube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (Accessed 20 July 2025).
The Beacon (2020) ‘EDITORIAL: “Apolitical” is political’. Available at: https://www.upbeacon.com/article/2020/02/opinion-editorial-apoliticalispolitical (Accessed 20 July 2025).
The Telegraph (2022) ‘Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke’ [Online]. YouTube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (Accessed 20 July 2025).
Sorila, H (nd) ‘A Point of View: Being Apolitical Is a Political Stance’, The Inclusion Solution. Available at: https://theinclusionsolution.me/a-point-of-view-being-apolitical-is-a-political-stance/ (Accessed 20 July 2020).
You raised some excellent point through your analysis of the given materials particularly around the need for student not to feel they need to legitimise there experience in regulars to Garrets paper and of course the numerous problems in the Telegraph video. I wonder if the staff represented in the videos took time to consider their own basis or if they felt pressured by their institution to speak to the subject, either explicitly or through micro aggressions. The examples does do a good job at highlighting how “research and data” can be skewed and given different meaning through different lens, intention and wording, which we also have to be wary of as lectures and students. The fallibility of information particularly within a written context, and the idea that some things are not adequately fact checked in the news or in research is important to remember.
It would also be interesting to discuss further together how we could include more local EDI training into UAL maybe next term, perhaps through cross course teaching or inviting local groups or individuals to run screenings or talks.
Thanks for your kind words and sharing your thoughts, Laura-Beth. Yes, I did wonder if the staff in the Telegraph video felt compelled to make those statements due to external pressure. I also found it interesting that the white Philosophy professor who starts/hosts the video almost exclusively speaks to POC students and staff. As if to try ‘future proof’ himself by saying – see other POC agree with me. Which – as I’ve mentioned in my post – doesn’t work because the POC students don’t prove his hypothesis and the other two staff share bad research.
LCC, for instance, is in a diverse area. Our Journalism & Publishing programme has done some fantastic projects to engage with the locals, especially the small business owners and eateries. I wonder if closer engagement with the different areas the UAL colleges are in would help with this local EDI training. I wish we had more space in our posts to also talk about international students and their experiences. One-fifth of UK academia revenue is generated by international students (https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jul/14/overseas-students-uk-universities-income) and the moves the government is making is making UK a less favourable educational destination. I think a lot more can be done to support international students, even in smaller ways of opening up reading lists and our Library collection to have students include works from their countries and communities. I address these points in my Reflective Report and will engage with further in the ARP.