TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Jabu Absalom Makhubu

Barch Y2 Coordinator

Hello, are you there?

Feminist scholar, Pagano argues that “When we teach, we tell stories. We tell stories about our disciplines, about the place of these disciplines in the structure of human knowledge. We tell stories about what it is to be a human knower, and about how knowledge is made, claimed and legitimated” -(Pagano, 1994: 252)

Much like Pagano above, we view our teaching and learning praxis as a form of storytelling. It draws from indigenous forms of knowledge building, passing and translation. Similar to how our ancestors passed down knowledge and wisdom. But unlike the hierarchical banking system, we are of the belief that students bring into the classroom embodied knowledges and thus we too as tutors are learners in this context. Stories allow us to suspend reality temporarily so we can look closely at who we are, our individual and collective values. And, how we tell those stories, (that is the language, tools and forms of representation that we use to tell those stories), depends on the audience. In other words, who is the story directed at will influence how the story is told and interpreted. We are interested in the full version of events, not just the parts that make us feel good. What kind of story does your architecture tell? And what does that story mean to you, to them and to us?

References:

Freire, P. (1993). The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th Edition. New York, London: Continuum International Press.

Koo Hok-chun, D. (2002). Quality Education through a Post-modern Curriculum. Hong Kong Teacher’s Centre Journal, Vol. 1, pp. 56-73.

Mbembé, J.-A., & Nuttall, S. (2004). Writing the World from an African Metropolis. Public Culture, 16(3), 347–372.

Pagano, J.A., 1988. Teaching Women. Educ. Theory 38, 321–39.

Sennett, Richard. 2009. The Craftsman. London: Penguin Books.

Shareef, Sardar S. and Farivarsadri, Guita, (2020), An Innovative Framework for Teaching/Learning Technical Courses in Architectural Education, Sustainability, 12, issue 22, p. 1-17.

Stone, S., & Sanderson, L. (2021). Introduction. In Emerging Practices in Architectural Pedagogy. Routledge

Wan, G. (2001). The Educational Reforms in the Cultural Revolution in China: A Postmodern Critique. Education, Vol. 122, No. 1, pp. 21-32.

“To write is the same thing as to form. To a large extent, to write is to bring to the surface something that is not yet there or that is there only as latent, as potential”. - (Mbembé & Nuttall, 2004, 348) quoting Maurice Blanchot)

Lines on a page, like words, possess the power to create worlds. Through the lines on the page we demarcate, separate, and divide what is in from out, what is the centre from the periphery, formal from informal, private from public. Lines can also make connections, between points, planes and volumes, between concepts and realities, between future, present and past. As cartographers and spatial practitioners, we shape societies and the lands they inhabit. As educators in the spatial disciplines, which are in large concerned with shaping and giving form to societal interactions, we have agency. Richard Sennet challenges us to become probing craftspeople (Sennett, 2009). In other words, to create conditions that will help us confront our divides so we can understand them better.

Architecture is a discipline that borrows from many other established disciplines such as art, science, anthropology, politics and mathematics to name a few. Thus, a variety of teaching and learning methods are employed (drawing, writing, image making, map making, model building, group work, visual and oral (re)presentation). Most of the teaching and learning occurs in the design studio. In design-based studios, students undergo a specific learning process that involves dialogue and collaboration with each other and their lecturers (Shareef and Farivarsadri, 2020). This approach aligns strongly with constructivist epistemology which centres on the student’s own construction of knowledge. Constructivism has many branches such as radical, cultural, feminist, critical, social and trivial constructivism (Stone and Sanderson, 2021).

Architecture has a long pedagogic tradition which centres around problem-based learning (PBL) and project-based learning (PjBL) (Shareef and Farivarsadri, 2020). Unlike engineering and pure sciences disciplines which deals largely with identifiable problems and definite singular solutions (tame problems), the built environment deals more with complex, layered, wicked problems (Stone and Sanderson, 2021) with multiple possible solutions that revolve around a reflective cyclic process of design. The recent student calls for decolonisation and transformation have had an impact on our teaching approaches which now include the use of (personal) narratives as valid forms of knowledge construction.

In light of the above, our teaching philosophy follows a postmodern teaching approach, particularly constructivist learning theory specifically critical and radical pedagogic branches in the process of design narration that is seen as a valid research and knowledge making process. Unlike the banking system of education which views students as empty vessels only capable of receiving and regurgitating

‘knowledge’ from their teachers/professors (Freire, 1993), constructivism as a theory is of the view that students construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through reflecting on their experiences. Issues of race, gender, culture, identity and politics are not separated from the empirical/ scientific explorations of space and architecture.

This approach is not followed blindly. Health Sciences educator, Guofang Wan (2001), warns that in applying postmodern methods such as constructivism, one also needs to be cognisant of their challenges to avoid “disastrous results”. Some of the challenges to bear in mind include the vagueness of the approaches due to the fluid and changing nature of the context, chaos often associated with the methodologies and the challenges in assessment due to its process-driven approach (Wan 2001). However, compared to the current dominant modern curriculum, this approach is forwardlooking and responsive to change. In terms of the power relations, a postmodern curriculum allows the academics and student to develop learning processes through continuous interaction and dialogue (Wan 2001). We have put in place multiple frameworks and assessment criteria to evaluate and give structure to the programme in order to overcome the short falls of constructivism. These include a clear semester schedule, peer assessments, detailed project feedback mechanisms, student teaching and learning assessment and clear rules of engagements which we all agree to operate under in order to minimise conflict while providing spaces for brave engagements.

In architecture and urban design we also learn by doing, preforming and drawing through the iterative and cyclic process of design (research, analysis, MAKING, synthesis and review). Mastery thereof lies in an intimate and detailed understanding of the complex layers that form the narrative. Its characters, the place on which the story takes place and the issues that influence the stories. This understanding allows us to articulate a refined response to the narratives. Finally, to tell stories, one must also be a good listener, not only of the sound of one’s own voice but more so of a multitude of other voices and narratives.

Thanks for listening!