What is Fashion @ CSM; & how do you navigate the course!
Having worked in Outreach/Widening Participation (WP) for over 10 years before stepping into my current role leading Knowledge Exchange in Fashion at CSM, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges WP students face—not just with access and progression, but also with retention. Fashion at CSM is a rigorous course, and traditionally the cohort often includes students from quite affluent backgrounds, with plenty of cultural capital, confidence, and often prior exposure to the creative industries. For students from marginalised backgrounds, this can be intimidating and isolating, and many face barriers like imposter syndrome and difficulty navigating the academic culture. We need to do more than just offer a place—we need to prepare them properly and support them once they’re here!
This intervention I’m developing is all about supporting WP students through both access and progression, Insights into the Fashion Courses and Pathways, but also making sure they are supported once on the course. My work will be focused in Further Education colleges, vocational BTEC courses ( not the perceived golden route of studying A Levels ). I intend to run a pilot in two Further Education colleges—New City College in London (in person) and Carmel College in the North East (online). Both colleges have strong Fashion BTEC programmes and we already have CSM students from both, so there’s a real connection, and I have spoken to them about the intervention.
The intervention includes an initial session where I introduce the Fashion course at CSM—giving insight into the curriculum, teaching style, and expectations. I’ll work with FE tutors to help tailor student project briefs, and they’ll help identify potential applicants (while I stay mindful of not missing others who show potential). From there, I’ll run three one-to-one tutorials with selected students to support their portfolio and project work.
Once these students are at CSM, I want to continue supporting them with check-ins at the beginning, middle, and end of their first year. I’ll gather reflections and data on how the intervention helped them adjust and thrive. Peers are also keen to try similar work in their own regions—so this could grow.
Hi Berni
I hope that you are well. Thank you for sharing your intervention design ideas. There is a lot to like about your intervention, particularly the fact that it’s rooted in years of hands-on experience in WP, it addresses a clear gap (the space between ‘getting in’ and actually thriving once inside, and the way it comes across as practical, purposeful and thoughtful. This relates well to LO4 because you’re looking at building a scaffolded, sustained model of support that bridges FE and HE.
You mention imposter syndrome, isolation, and confidence gaps, so it’s great that you’ve identified this, but I feel there’s room to go deeper into the systemic barriers that are being surfaced here (e.g. What are the structural or cultural conditions at CSM that allow these challenges to persist? Having identified the impact of practices of inequality, what are these practices?), so this may involve some more critical reflection on the curriculum, studio culture, or assessment methods students encounter once enrolled, which would provide a strong link to LO2. If you also look at UAL’s data/policies/guidelines/frameworks for access and participation and inclusive practices along with sector wide (e.g. Advance HE) and industry, this could also help demonstrate engagement with LO1.
You also touch briefly on your positionality as someone moving from WP into a different role, bringing in new perspectives but also influencing how see your students -and perhaps how they see you- and you approach that mentoring relationship during the first year. What are the boundaries, tensions, or opportunities there? This would be a link to LO3
In terms of the intervention itself, it’d be important to consider its sustainability, both in terms of ensuring it’s not a one off, and that it is manageable, so it’d be good to consider operational aspects (including workload and timelines), but it’s good you’re already thinking of scalability. In terms of the timeline of your intervention and the PgCert, you may want to consider creating a framework/route map to enact what you’re trying to achieve and just focus on the initial session. The framework could then be used for your pilot during the first year and when you scale this up. You mention that you there are CSM students who come from the two FE colleges you’ll be targeting, so the framework could also include a peer-mentoring scheme or coproduction with these students, structured reflection sessions with new students (e.g. journaling prompts or group debriefs) that allow them to surface what’s working -and what may not, case studies, to facilitate wider adoption.
There are some resources below you may find useful and I’ve included the learning outcomes too to provide a focus for the reflective report when you come to it.
Regards, Victor
Potentially useful resources
Banerjee, P. (2024) Connecting the dots: A systematic review… on how institutional culture and contextual factors influence degree outcomes
Wong et al. (2021) –Is race still relevant? Useful for thinking about how inclusion is felt (or not) across class, race, and prior educational experience.
Ahmed, S. (2012) – On Being Included…on how institutions ‘do’ diversity
Regards, Victor
Below, just a reminder of the learning outcomes.
LO1: Critically evaluate institutional, national and global perspectives of equality and diversity in relation to your academic practice context. [Enquiry]
LO2: Manifest your understanding of practices of inequity, their impact, and the implications for your professional context. [Knowledge]
LO3: Articulate the development of your positionality and identity through the lens of inclusive practices. [Communication]
LO4: Enact a sustainable transformation that applies intersectional social justice within your practice. [Realisation]