FEEDING BACK ON THE FEEDBACK - GENDER POLITICS ... AGAIN.

I wasn't going to write about this, but reading through my notebook, it obviously took me aback and I have had time to reflect, so here goes. BOOM! Another 'hand grenade'?

In our discussion on Max and Stephanie and their reaction to feedback, expanding to our own reactions to feedback, we discussed Max's "charisma" versus Stephanie's more "facts and content" approach. I won't use the swear words I have written in my notes but my scrawled in haste question was ... Gender / race politics raised in question of charisma??!!

... punctuated by a well known acronym for What The Flippn' Heck?

The discussion, though not too long apart of the session, immediately erupted, so my notes rand as follows... bulletpoints -

* People are people! We have charismatic women! Don't we???

* Colonialism raised!? On this? What am I missing here?

* (Someone said / quoted) "Charisma and power go hand in hand"

What??! What am I missing in this loop?

Another question comes out ... How is charisma embodied in the opposite gender?

* (Quote from notes) I'm quite taken aback by all this.

* Performance in relation to charisma - Ed Sheeran -v- Beyonce?

(Not sure what that's in reference to tbh)

But ... a telling note for me is Do academics always have to pull everything down to this level ... or elevate to this level depending on your stance? I was just sideswiped by a gender politics debate erupting around whether Max and his charisma was a 'male / masculine' trait? I couldn't grasp what on earth that notion was about or where it had come from in the discussion? Perhaps my attention had lapsed for a moment and I was jerked back onto a thread I'd left? I don't know. But yes, it annoyed me. In this environment (HE), it feels to me like every nuance is ruled by and decided upon by agenda politics. It's tiring.

As I said in my previous entries on this topic, for me, teaching is simply about helping students ... nurturing them to grow, to enable them to acquire the life skills (and vocational skills) to be seen and heard. And I feel that regardless of gender, or race, or identification. Perhaps I'm being naive?

And in regard to receiving feedback, be that directly from students and fellow staff, or - more pertinently, form USS / NSS surveys? Yes, allow it to provoke and stimulate self reflection, but we should not allow it to dominate our mindset. We should refuse the fear it can instil. We are not cloned, carbon copies of each other ... we are individuals, with an individual responsibility to act in ways that's fuelled by a sense of collective responsibility. A responsibility to enhance the life and teaching of students.

FEEDBACK ON MY PEER OBSERVATION - I received my peer observation feedback. Some excellent praise and a few notes on ideas for things that could perhaps be done differently. Thank you! I will reflect. Always ...