When I started working at UAL I was 27 years old, the world was 6 months into a global pandemic and it was my first venture into teaching.
In the build up to term starting, like every new starter, I was required to do mandatory training through a series of e-modules. So there I was, a white cis male, sat in front of my computer in south west London clicking my way through modules called ‘fire safety’, ‘stepladder safety’ and ‘breaking bias’.
Breaking bias was a module looking at unconscious bias, and ultimately the end goal was for you to be aware of what it meant as a concept and how it can affect your decision making. I remember at the time thinking ‘oh this is good, the university is taking steps to make people aware they may have unconscious bias, challenging perceptions you may have towards race, gender, religion and disability etc.’ I hadn’t had anything else similar in any of my previous jobs.
After 30mins, several YouTube videos and multiple choice questions later I was done. Seemingly primed and ready for teaching, unconscious bias included.
At the time I was sat by myself completing this e-module, disconnected from anyone else. Unable to engage in conversation, just the thoughts in my head; no one to agree with them or challenge them. Something I haven’t really thought about until now on this PgCert, where I am engaging in challenging conversations around the same subjects.
And with that said, I move onto the video this blogpost is about…
Watching the video Kwhali rightly states that there is a lot of work happening within HE institutions in the UK and globally surrounding topics of anti-racism, decolonising the curriculum and EDI. So, if these bias ‘are still unconscious then there is something really worrying about what it will take for the unconscious to become conscious.’
It’s a strategic and misplaced use of the prefix ‘un’; how can we be so conscious of something and then claim to be simultaneously unaware of it? These e-modules and perpetuation of the phrase ‘unconscious bias’ are away of addressing the issue without actually solving it. Universities ‘have sought a means of addressing whiteliness that avoids an acknowledgement of structural and systemic racism.’(Tate & Page, 2018)
Kwhali notes that universities have taken conscious steps to make changes that have benefited white middle class women, but didn’t necessarily include black, minority or working-class women. You can’t tackle gender bias without tackling race bias, otherwise inequities will be rife; the intersectionality of gender, race and class all at play. For example at UAL there have been 5 director and dean positions filled in the past month, 4/5 were women and all of them white.
‘Asserting that racism stems from ‘unconscious bias’ diminishes white supremacy and maintains white innocence as a ‘will to forget’ institutional racism…..unconscious bias is the acceptable face of racism’ (Tate & Page, 2018)
3 years after I took that ‘breaking bias’ training e-module, what can I do to now as an academic to tackle this issue?
I need to stare my bias straight in the face, confronting them. Questioning why do I have this bias and how do I address these thoughts? Not hide behind the phrase ‘unconscious bias’ or be complicit in maintaining structural and systemic racism – which as a cis white male would be easy, the current system is built for me to succeed.
I need to sit in my discomfort and work hard. Using Ibram X. Kendi’s ‘Becoming anti racist model’ is a useful tool to understand where I am on that journey and what I need to do to progress on that journey. I’m currently sitting in the learning zone and feel like at times I’m dipping my toe into the growth zone, but know that this journey isn’t linear and I’ll have good and bad days. The growth zone is where I feel change in my practice will be implemented so I can’t be complacent.
Bibliography
Tate, S.A. and Page, D. (2018). Whiteliness and institutional racism: hiding behind (un)conscious bias. Ethics and Education, 13(1), pp.141–155.
Ibram X.Kendi. Becoming anti racist model. Image. [online] Available at: https://www.frontlineservice.org/what-is-anti-racism [Accessed 16.Jun.2023]