Abstract

This paper presents an innovative consciousness‑raising pedagogy designed to intervene early in patterns of isolation and disengagement within a first‑year BA Media Communications cohort marked by multiple deprivation and fragile institutional belonging. Drawing on four immersive workshops delivered at the start of the degree, it demonstrates how carefully sequenced collective reflection and creative pedagogic practices can rapidly reconfigure student participation and redistribute agency within the learning space. The paper positions consciousness‑raising as an effective pedagogical technology, with implications for engagement and retention in large, diverse cohorts.

Session and activities

”Even though there were so many fears about our future at UAL – it was quite comforting to know that so many of us had similar fears, so we can support each other.”

Student workshop attendee 1

”If we have all this in common, maybe we can support each other and ask UAL to support us.”

Student workshop attendee 2

 

Isolation and atomisation have been identified as a key factor in various challenges faced by BA Media Communications (MC) students at LCC, including key metrics like retention and overall outcome. This effect is particularly acute for home BAME students, who feel a ‘belonging gap’ experienced as detachment from the university community, and for students who score highly in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), who are disproportionately represented on the degree. These challenges manifest themselves in various ways: an abstract expressed desire for community in the most negative NSS and CSS responses; poor commitment to (and engagement with) support from professional services; weak knowledge sharing between peers; intense anxiety and disengagement. Rejecting silver bullet solutions, this embedded activity lays the groundwork for long-term interventions informed by its innovative pedagogy.   

This paper reports on a series of four three-hour workshops commissioned for BA Media Communications first-year students at LCC, designed in response to these challenges. Adapting consciousness-raising techniques into a pedagogical framework, the sessions moved students through a structured process of individual reflection, small-group exchange, and collective articulation using media and communications as a content frame. The methodology combined sentence completion exercises, creative metaphor, movement-based facilitation, and manifesto-building to scaffold participation and lower barriers to engagement. 

The workshops succeeded in shifting many students from tentative participation to active contribution over the three hours. Initial hesitation gave way to increased verbal participation, with tutors noting students contributing for the first time on the course. The progressive move from individual reflection to shared, creative work created conditions in which students could relate to one another without the pressure of immediate self-disclosure. The emergence of humour, play, and imaginative responses indicated that students were beginning to experience the space as safe and collaborative, enabling more expansive forms of expression. Creative metaphor in particular allowed students to articulate complex perceptions of the institution indirectly, often revealing interesting insights about how they were relating to UAL at that moment. 

The paper argues that consciousness-raising can function as a key pedagogical tool within higher education, supporting not only student wellbeing but also learning outcomes, engagement, and ownership of the educational experience. By presenting both the design principles and observed impacts of this intervention, it offers a scalable model for embedding participatory, student-centred practices in large, diverse cohorts.