Who?
Sherene Meir, Foundation Programme
What?
Seven weeks of interdisciplinary teaching on ‘Young people and contemporary social issues’ as part of the Concepts, Methods and Theories in the Social Sciences module on the Foundation Programme: this year the social issues covered were youth engagement in education, youth engagement in politics, eco-anxiety and youth violence. The topic is authentically assessed through a policy report, requiring students to bring together analysis of one of the social issues and potential solutions to that issue, to develop policy recommendations.
Why?
Over the years of teaching, I have had several comments from students about social sciences, in particular sociology, feeling ‘depressing’; there is too much focus on social problems and inequalities. Foundation Programme students are more likely to be disabled, ethnically minoritised and from areas with low participation in higher education (a proxy for socioeconomic marginalisation), which can make studying topics relating to social inequality and injustice particularly difficult on a personal level.
Whilst studying an MSc at LSE, Christiana Ajai-Thomas wrote a blog coining the term ‘Sociology of Doom’, about how studying sociology traumatises black students. The blog argues that although universities are aware of the additional pressures students from marginalised backgrounds may face in their studies, there is less attention given to how teaching content may impact students. Studying content which leads to a hyper-awareness of one’s own oppression can make it hard to have hope in things changing. Ajai-Thomas’ emphasis on the need to recognise and acknowledge the trauma that students may face within this context resonates with some of what students have told me.
In writing about moving towards a ‘Sociology of Repair’, Twahirwa grapples with what the concept of a ‘Sociology of Doom’ means as a teacher. One of the solutions Twahirwa proposes is to shift the focus to ‘life and resistance’, recognising and focusing on black people’s agency, and stories that have typically escaped the ‘sociologist gaze’ rather than ‘engaging with black lives as a problem’. A shift in the ways in which marginalised groups are studied could similarly be applied to other groups, for example disabled and working-class students, enabling social research and theory to provide hope and point to the ways in which things can change.
How?
The curriculum for this topic begins by considering different lenses for understanding young people, for example through legal, biological and psychological frameworks. This year there was also a workshop by colleagues from the Durham Psychology department who introduced students to the eHRAF database to explore anthropological sources looking at young people across cultures.
Following this, each week explores a different social issue (see above). The weekly classes focus on understanding the issue from a range of perspectives. In seminars students collectively analyse potential solutions to the issue and imagine alternatives. This aims to encourage students to move towards thinking about ‘repair’ and what the implications of academic research and theory may mean for what could be done differently, linking theory to action. Preparatory reading is designed to stimulate students to consider how young (marginalised) people might subvert existing narratives which position them as the problem and exert agency, for example an article on young people’s engagement with education considering how black young men resist stereotyped labelling, and a range of articles about youth climate activism as alternative forms of education that raise questions about formal schooling.
Following seminars, students submit a 200-word written task through PeerScholar. The task mirrors part of the summative report and requires them to find, summarise and analyse a solution to the week’s social issue in relation to their understanding of the issue. Possible solutions might be a law or proposed law, a policy or policy proposal, or a demand being made by a campaign group; there are examples available via the reading list. They then review and give feedback on two peers’ work, reading about solutions different students have found, as well as developing their metacognitive skills and understanding of the marking criteria.
The final class of the year is a workshop with someone working in policy who guides students through the process of analysing existing policies and developing policy solutions. This supports students to see the relevance of academic skills they are developing and being assessed on in a real-world, working environment; the workshop highlights, for example, the importance of recognising and responding to counterarguments to strengthen an argument (for a particular policy change in this context), and the need to provide relevant background to frame a discussion.
What’s next?
- Gather feedback on PeerScholar (this is the first year using this tool) and improve the peer feedback process.
- Find ways for students to share solutions to the social issues explored in a format which allows all students to view and comment, rather than limiting students to viewing the solutions discussed by whichever students’ work they offer peer feedback on.
- Perhaps gather ideas from students earlier in the year about key social issues that they believe affect young people and focus a week or two of teaching on these issues, rather than issues that I have selected, making the teaching more collaborative.