Learning, Teaching, Assessment Strategy

Goldsmiths has a rich heritage of challenging inequality in all its forms. Equality, inclusion and social justice are values which are very important to Goldsmiths. We work to ensure our pedagogical approach is inclusive and pioneering, engaging with our students to ensure our curriculum and delivery methodologies continue to evolve.

The aim to ‘liberate our degrees’ means to proactively challenge the white, middle class, ableist, male-dominated curricula that are prevalent across the Higher Education sector, and to centre the work of marginalised scholars on race, sexuality, gender and disability within academia.

We will do this through:

• Ensuring student involvement at every level of decision making concerning their education; from curriculum and programme design, to pedagogical developments, to being on interview panels for new academic staff members;
• Committing to centring marginalised voices through inclusion in the curriculum, and actively working to improve Black and Minority Ethnic (BME), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer / Questioning + (LGBTQ+), disabled and female staff representation within HE;
• Developing and extending collaborative and critical pedagogical approaches and accessible and relevant assessments;
• Delivering relevant learning and development opportunities to equip staff and student representatives with the skills and knowledge they need to support a diverse student and staff body (such as workshops for unconscious bias, mental health first aid and disability awareness training).​

Case Study: Liberate our degrees

In this case study, Anamik Saha, who co-leads Goldsmiths’ MA Race, Media and Social Justice, speaks with Taylor McGraa, a former student and current Education Officer at Goldsmiths Students’ Union, about why a liberated degree is so important. In 2017, Anamik won the Student Led Teaching Award for ‘Compelling or Diverse Curriculum Content’ for his work on the module Music as Communication and Creative Practice.

Successive sabbatical Officers Sarah El-Alfy, Daniel Nasr, Tara Mariwany, Mollie Kneath, and Goldsmiths Students' Union liberation groups were instrumental in making and keeping the act of liberating our degrees a core part of Goldsmiths’ LTAS.

If you would like to suggest a future case study for any of the strategic aims of the LTAS, please contact executiveoffice@gold.ac.uk.

Our strong link between research and teaching sustains knowledge production in both areas of activity, and contributes strongly to the radical and innovative thinking strand in the Goldsmiths’ Strategy. This bidirectional research-teaching synergy ensures that knowledge production will exceed what can be achieved by the sum of research and teaching activities conducted separately.

We aim to challenge the concept of research-led teaching by developing our research-teaching synergies.

We will do this through:

• Further developing the democratic research, practice and scholarship culture within our staff and student body, in that the ideas, work and findings of students and academics of all levels are treated with equal intellectual respect and contribute to research outputs;​
• Engaging students, at all levels of study, in research, practice and scholarship as part of their learning experience at Goldsmiths, taught by staff of all levels of seniority;
• Developing a curriculum that is informed by contemporary research, particularly that undertaken by our staff;
• Ensuring that through this research-teaching synergy students can understand and demonstrate the ways in which the knowledge and experience gained is of relevance to their future career paths.​

Case Study: Research-Teaching synergies

In 2017, John Price, Head of the Department of History, won the Student Led Teaching Award for ‘Outstanding Use of Research in Teaching.’  John attributes this award to his module, ‘Walking Through London’s History,’ in which students, quite literally, followed in the footsteps of those who walked London throughout modern history.  

The module explored how walking through modern-day London might serve as a methodology for studying and understanding the past. Students did this by walking through the city and were asked to produce research outputs in the form of blog posts. In this case study John and two students discuss how research-teaching synergies were incorporated into the module.

If you would like to suggest a future case study for any of the strategic aims of the LTAS, please contact executiveoffice@gold.ac.uk.

Our commitment to promoting access and diversity is clearly outlined in Goldsmiths’ Strategy, as well as in our Equality and Diversity Objectives 2017-2021 and associated action plan. It is also reflected in the diversity of our student population.

We aim to ensure that all students are supported to engage in every aspect of Goldsmiths’ learning, teaching and assessment.

We will do this by:

• Providing a flexible learning environment both in terms of physical space and in the application of innovations in technology
• Devising and refining inclusive teaching and assessment practices for all programmes
• Ensuring our staff are supported to deliver an inclusive and innovative curriculum across all disciplines
• Working in partnership with students to bring about enhancements in Goldsmiths’ learning practices
• Resourcing these developments to ensure that they are effective

Goldsmiths has a unique learning and teaching experience of which we are proud. We recognise that access to this curriculum and pedagogical approach is limited to those who are able to access our physical campus.

We aim to use technology to extend our reach to learners – nationally and internationally – who wish to experience the distinctive Goldsmiths offer beyond the confines of our physical campus or within alternative forms of education, such as apprenticeships.

We will do this by:

• Expanding our provision of distance learning courses to reach learners globally through online technology
• Providing courses for learners in full time employment or with caring responsibilities through block and blended learning
• Developing teaching partnerships with universities and educational institutions worldwide;
• Reaching out to the broader public with short courses, MOOCs and engagement with the media
• Working with the Students' Union and our student ambassadors to enable student mentoring and student-led workshops to support communities of learners outside of our physical campus.

We believe that our students should graduate with the capability to make and execute well-informed plans for the future to navigate and influence a changing world.

We aim to develop resourceful, creative and entrepreneurial graduates, ready to pursue and create range of careers and make a difference to the world.

We will do this by:

• Ensuring that all students have clear opportunities to develop within, and beyond, their curriculum through, for example, work placements and overseas study
• Providing students with mechanisms for articulating the full breadth of their skills and experiences
• Recognising the importance of different career trajectories for individuals, society and the economy
• Challenging restricted views of graduate employment success.