Tuesday, 16 February 2010 13:57

The challenge

The population of overseas students choosing to study in the UK is rising. This is mainly down to the effort made by individual institutions in both Higher and Further Education to develop international links through which they can attract students. This change has many positive benefits to the education community, but it also presents a challenge.

Overseas students bring their own set of expectations and cultural practices with regards the learning process. These may conflict with those practices operating within the institution giving rise to misunderstandings between students and their teachers. The challenge to institutions then, is how they can respond proactively and creatively to differences in learning and teaching.

At the Glasgow School of Art (GSA), senior managers have met this challenge through a programme designed to raise awareness and understanding among teaching staff. They set out a number of clear goals they wanted to achieve:

• To demonstrate how cultural difference and conflict impacts on the learning process;
• To explore staff attitudes to cultural difference and how our own culture effects our attitudes and behaviour;
• To explore best practice in dealing with cultural difference and resolving conflict.

Interactive ‘Live Action Scenarios’

The GSA was looking for a training method that would create a lasting impact on their staff. It needed to engage the audience and provide a platform to raise awareness while at the same time providing practical training on how to handle conflict.

In collaboration with them, we devised a workshop using an interactive ‘live action scenario’. This flexible process – always managed by a facilitator – provides a vehicle through which the workshop theme can be explored and the learning objectives realised.  As the name implies, the process involves actors presenting a story (or case study) with which the participants interact.

The scenario depicted an education environment in which the situations, behaviours and attitudes portrayed reflected the experience of GSA staff.  In the story, Sarah (our teacher character) has to deal with a conflict which arises between two film students. The group works with Sarah, challenging and advising her on strategies she might use to reach a resolution. The actors then improvise in response, showing the consequences of different courses of action.

In this way, participants gain a unique insight into complex issues that traditional training methods cannot reach. It is enables them to identify effective strategies which they can use themselves in conflict situations.

Methodology

Over a period of two weeks, 150 lecturers, tutors, HR, technical and administration staff attended workshops. Each workshop was broken down into four key stages:

1. Explore issue of cultural diversity: Through initial discussions, the group was encouraged to consider how their own culture affects their beliefs, attitudes and behaviour and, in turn, their approach to teaching.
2. The ‘live action scenario’: a case study was presented to the audience focusing on a fictional conflict between two first year film students.
3. Post review: Participants reflect on the issues raised, identify learning and share their own experience of cultural difference within GSA. The review encourages staff to consider how their learning can be applied to their work practice.
4. Handouts: This summarises the main points raised to serve as a reminder when staff return to work.

The scenario

The scenario we devised concerned a conflict between two film studies students. One of the students is a 40 year old Iranian from Tehran called Ramin Madani who has signed up to do a course in filmmaking. The first year of the course is an introduction to all the creative and technical aspects of content creation over a diverse number of platforms. The collaborative nature of the work is emphasised at the outset and Sarah is course tutor for this module.

During one of the practical exercises, a conflict breaks out between Ramin and one of the other students, a plucky 18 year old filmmaker from Glasgow called Roz. The two are working together on filming a scene from one of their favourite films. Due to his cultural background, Ramin’s artistic direction is very different from western approaches, and this causes tension between him and Roz. In addition, in Tehran, the dominant voice is traditionally male, and Ramin is finding it hard to collaborate with his female colleague.

Following a disagreement, Roz complains to her tutor Sarah, who rings Ramin and asks for a meeting to discuss what went on and the future of the project. The first scene witnessed by the group is based on the conversation between Ramin and Sarah.

The interactive process encourages the group to sympathise with Ramin’s views by allowing them to understand why he behaves in the way that he does. It also encourages them to see how Sarah’s attitudes and behaviours are based on assumptions that are rightly challenged by Ramin. Empathy is critical in resolving cases of cultural conflict, because in most cases it is a product of misunderstanding based on an ignorance of the other’s cultural backgrounds.

Outcomes

Jill Hammond, from GSA, says: "Our aim in these workshops was to encourage staff to think about the complex dynamics involved in teaching and learning relationships. It is always difficult to evaluate the impact of short interventions like this because the responsibility to apply learning to practice belongs to the individuals participating.

"However, immediate feedback shows that the experience was successful in drawing staff attention to the routine assumptions they make that can generate misunderstanding. This awareness will be reinforced by a range of related activities ."

The workshop on cultural differences in teaching and learning will continue to form part of GSA’s ongoing commitment to equality and diversity. It also continues their long term collaboration with Forum Interactive.

Graham Sharrock is director of Forum Interactive, the learning and development consultancy


For more information, visit: www.foruminteractive.co.uk