{"id":2967,"date":"2026-05-13T10:41:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/blog\/proposal\/holding-space\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:21:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:21:39","slug":"holding-space","status":"publish","type":"proposal","link":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/blog\/proposal\/holding-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding Space"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teaching is never neutral. Who we are, our identities, histories, values, cultural references,<br \/>\nprivileges, and lived experiences, all inevitably shapes the learning spaces we create. This<br \/>\nworkshop explores a reflective check-in space for core course staff, designed to support<br \/>\nwellbeing, reflective practice, and more inclusive approaches to teaching within studio-based<br \/>\ncreative education. Developed in response to insights from Hannah Ogahara&#8217;s &#8220;P4: Design for<br \/>\nHuman Equity, Social and Racial Justice in JTM&#8221; case study, the project responds to student<br \/>\nexperiences of structural barriers, representation, authenticity, and trust. The session offers a<br \/>\nconfidential, non-judgemental space for collective reflection on identity, positionality, and<br \/>\nteaching relationships.<br \/>\nSession and activities<br \/>\nThis facilitated reflective conversation creates a confidential, non-judgemental space for staff to<br \/>\npause and reflect on how identity, lived experience, positionality, and relational dynamics shape<br \/>\nteaching and learning within creative education.<br \/>\nTeaching is relational work. Who we are inevitably influences how we give feedback, interpret<br \/>\nstudent work, navigate challenges, and how students experience inclusion, belonging, and<br \/>\nequity within the classroom. Recognising the emotional and complex nature of studio-based<br \/>\nteaching, this pilot is designed for support and reflection rather than evaluation. The intention is<br \/>\nnot to measure or define &#8220;better&#8221; teaching,<br \/>\nbut to create space for more intentional engagement with social and racial justice<br \/>\nwithin educational practice.<br \/>\nThe session combines two reflective themes: Identity and Lived Experience and Perspective,<br \/>\nPositionality, and Relational Power. Beginning with a short grounding<br \/>\nexercise, participants are invited into a structured reflective process designed to<br \/>\nencourage openness, listening, and self-awareness.<br \/>\nParticipants will take part in guided check-in rounds where they respond to reflective prompts<br \/>\nthrough uninterrupted sharing, without discussion or problem-solving. Questions invite<br \/>\nconsideration of how personal histories, identities, assumptions, and experiences influence<br \/>\nparticipation, confidence and engagement within teaching and working environments.<br \/>\nParticipants are also encouraged to reflect on visibility, representation and power, and how they<br \/>\nmay be experienced by others within institutional spaces.<br \/>\nThe conversation will conclude with a collective noticing phase, where emerging themes and<br \/>\nshared reflections are acknowledged together without critique or resolution. This closing<br \/>\nmoment supports shared awareness, collective care, and ongoing reflective teaching practice,<br \/>\nwhile modelling a facilitation structure that could be adapted for wider staff wellbeing and<br \/>\ninclusive pedagogical development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"parallel-session":[65],"requires-changes":[],"room":[101],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/proposal\/2967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/proposal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/proposal"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"parallel-session","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parallel-session?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"requires-changes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/requires-changes?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"room","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationconference.arts.ac.uk\/festival2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/room?post=2967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}