Unit 2 – Inclusive Practices

Blog Post 3: Race

Witness Unconscious Bias by Vernā Myers:

The TED Talk Witness Unconscious Bias by Vernā Myers is a powerful and eye-opening look at the ways in which unconscious bias can affect our lives. Myers, the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Netflix, uses a series of thought-provoking experiments to demonstrate how our unconscious biases can lead us to make unfair and discriminatory decisions.

One of the most impactful experiments in the video involves a group of people being asked to rate the CVs of two equally qualified candidates. The only difference between the two candidates is that one has a white-sounding name and the other has a black-sounding name. The results of the experiment show that the white-sounding candidate is rated significantly higher than the black-sounding candidate, despite the two candidates have the same qualifications.

Myers argues that these results are not simply a reflection of individual prejudice, but rather of a broader pattern of unconscious bias that exists in our society. She points out that unconscious bias can affect our decisions in a variety of ways, including how we hire, promote, and evaluate employees, how we interact with customers, and how we make decisions about who to trust.

It concludes with Myers offering advice on how to overcome unconscious bias. She suggests that we need to be more aware of our own biases, and challenge ourselves to be more open-minded and inclusive. She also suggests that we need to create more opportunities for people from different backgrounds to interact with each other, so that we can learn to see the world from different perspectives.

I found the TED Talk to be very informative and thought-provoking. The experiments are a powerful way to demonstrate the ways in which unconscious bias can affect our daily decisions. I also found her advice on how to overcome unconscious bias to be helpful and practical.

However, I do think that the video could have been more balanced. Myers does a good job of explaining the negative effects of unconscious bias, but she does not spend as much time discussing the positive effects of diversity and inclusion. I think that a more balanced discussion of these issues would have been helpful with some suggestions of potential practices to implement/ trial within different contexts/ settings. Especially since UAL’s goal is for 30% of staff to be Black, Asian and minority ethnic by 2024, (UAL Anti-racism strategy).

I researched further into biases and found there are several kinds of biases. This was an eyeopener as it is rarely delved into deeply as a topic within the university and is something that should be a part of our employee training.

Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design by Finnigan and Richards (2016):

Two things I learnt from the text:

  • The authors highlight the importance of considering the specific context of art and design when discussing retention and attainment. They argue that the nature of art and design education is different from other disciplines, and that this needs to be taken into account when developing policies and practices.
    • This is quite close to home since LCF is primarily an Arts College and often times it is clear some practices though decided university wide, do not wholly apply to our Fashion Business School (FBS).
  • The authors also discuss the challenges that students from disadvantaged backgrounds face in accessing and succeeding in art and design education. They argue that these challenges are often overlooked, and that more needs to be done to support these students.
    • This is evident in our FBS BAME attainment gaps and one of the core goals we are focussed on reducing in the next few years as a department.

I did find however, that though authors argue that the nature of art and design education is different from other disciplines, they do not go into detail about what these differences are. I would be interested to know more about the specific challenges and opportunities that art and design education presents, and how these can be addressed.

Interestingly in the article A Place for Art and Design Education in the STEM Conversation by Bequette and Bequette (2012), they state, Art and design education can provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in STEM fields. These skills include problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking, visual-spatial reasoning, and communication. Art and design education can help students develop these skills by teaching them to think creatively and solve problems in new and innovative ways. It can also help them develop their visual-spatial reasoning and communication skills, which are important for working in teams and presenting their ideas to others. This shows the wider impact Arts and Design can have within various industries and thus highlighting its importance.

References:

Bequette, J. & Bequette, M. (2012) A Place for Art and Design Education in the STEM Conversation, Art Education

Finnigan, T. & Richards, A. (2016) Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/retention-and-attainment-disciplines-art-and-design (Accessed: 13 July 2023)

Together team (2021). How to consciously identify your unconscious biases in the workplace. [Online]. Together. Last Updated: August 27, 2021. Available at: https://www.togetherplatform.com/blog/unconscious-bias-in-the-workplace [Accessed 20 July 2023]

Higher Education Statistics Agency. (2023). Higher education in facts and figures: 2021. [Online]. Universities UK. Last Updated: 14 Jun 2023. Available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/higher-education-facts– [Accessed 22 July 2023]