From research to practice
Creating the conditions for psychological safety to emerge for students and tutors requires action at the institutional level. It’s not merely about student experience – it’s about creating an environment where everyone feels secure enough to contribute, challenge, and grow.
This might look like asking ourselves the following questions:
- How do our policies and practices impact tutor psychological safety?
- What concrete steps can we take to support both tutors and students?
- How can we better align our institutional values with daily educational practice?
My ARP has revealed that psychological safety isn’t just about creating comfortable spaces – it’s about building environments where students feel empowered to take creative risks, experiment with new ideas and grow both artistically and personally.
Rewarded vulnerability
I define vulnerability as uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.
Brené Brown
This powerful statement resonates deeply with the essence of arts education, where articulation of creative voice often requires embracing vulnerability. The act of sharing creative work is inherently vulnerable. Students don’t just share assignments – they share pieces of themselves, their perspectives, and their lived experiences. My research has highlighted the delicate balance between encouraging sharing and respecting personal boundaries. When students feel psychologically safe, they’re more likely to engage in:
- Authentic creative expression
- Constructive peer feedback
- Risk-taking in their artistic practice
- Open dialogue about their creative process
Challenging power dynamics
The challenge lies in ensuring that we create environments where students can integrate their lived experiences without fear of their identity being displaced by the bodies that seek to de-voice anyone posing a ‘threat’ at the periphery of institutional whiteness (Ahmed, 2012).
Inspired by Maha Bali’s (2023) praxis of intentionally equitable hospitality (IEH) which focuses on intentionality in ‘fostering learner/participant agency within the learning space, while never forgetting the ways in which power and oppression work outside of that learning space, and how they influence it’, I envision implementing these insights through several key approaches:
Curriculum design:
- Building structured opportunities for low-stakes sharing
- Creating a clear distinction between ‘eager’ and ‘expected’ sharing
- Incorporating reflection points about psychological safety as a value
- Designing assessments that value process as much as product
- Supporting and rewarding vulnerability in creative arts practice
- Reframing failure as a valuable part of learning
- Creating spaces where diverse lived experiences are valued
Institutional changes:
- Embedding psychological safety in course documentation (validation?)
- Developing staff training around creating safe spaces
- Establishing clear support frameworks for both students and tutors
- Creating feedback mechanisms to monitor psychological safety
Final thoughts
As we continue to develop online learning spaces, we must remember that psychological safety isn’t just a concept to be studied – it’s a practice that must be deliberately embedded at every level of our educational institutions. Only by supporting those who support our students can we create truly effective learning environments.
Creating truly psychologically safe learning environments requires ongoing commitment and action at all levels – individual, departmental, and institutional. It is everyone’s responsibility. The challenge ahead lies in ensuring that our commitment to psychological safety moves beyond rhetoric to become embedded in every aspect of our educational practice.
It is my hope that explicitly focusing on building psychological safety will ‘build cultures which positively foster a strong sense of community and belonging’ (Hubbard and Gawthorpe, 2023), where students feel comfortable to take creative risks and are not afraid to share their thoughts, opinions or work with their tutor or peers.
References
Ahmed, S. (2012) On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Durham, N.C: Duke University Press.
Bali, M. and Zamora, M. (2022) ‘Intentionally Equitable Hospitality as Critical Instructional Design’, in Quinn, J., Burtis, M., Jhangiani, S. and Denial, C.J. (eds) Designing for Care. Hybrid Pedagogy Incorporated. Available at: https://pressbooks.pub/designingforcare/ (Accessed: 12 September 2024).
Brown, B. (2012) Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Hubbard, K. and Gawthorpe, P. (2024) The Inclusive Higher Education Framework, Inclusive Education Framework. Available at: http://www.inclusiveeducationframework.info/ (Accessed: 16 Decmeber 2024).