Playful pedagogies: innovative teaching interventions
Discover why this innovative teaching method was recognised with a Gold award in the latest national Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
At the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, Dr Laura Mitchell was invited to deliver a pedagogical intervention using artistic tasks. This ‘playful pedagogy’ complements Dr Mitchell’s research into games, play and learning in management to support professional development.
Students were introduced to the idea of leadership as a life-long human craft, requiring the ability to be present, attentive, authentically engaged in their leadership role, and resilient in the face of criticism. Extending the analogy of craft, they acknowledged their inexperience as leaders, and reflected on how to pay attention to their tools and materials. Here, they were invited to study the tools and materials of an artist with close attention; the smell of the paper, the weight of the brush, the texture and quality of the paint.
Students were restricted in their access to materials, and asked to produce their own artwork on the theme of 'connection'. They were warned that as novices, their first attempts could be frustrating, and some students admitted to noticing a clear gap between their ambitions and their performance capabilities. There was a lot of laughter from time to time in the room, paralleled with the occasional outburst of shame and anxiety. For these highly competitive and advanced students, no longer used to the struggle of learning new skills, the challenge of working in paint was deeply uncomfortable. Yet at the same time, many students expressed a calmness in the tactile experience of painting.
Management students taking part in the session
The created artworks were then used as a basis for conversations among class members on the challenges of communication, even among groups with shared language and experiences. Students reflected on their own capabilities in the medium, the scale of the task to become experts, and the emotional resilience needed to respond to critique. They were invited to keep their art as a marker of the first step in any leadership journey, and to consider how any leader needs to practice their craft and engage in active reflection and care for their resources in order to enhance their expertise. We speculated on the devotion, energy and effort that would take, and admitted that in truth, to work at developing mastery in the art of leadership must take lifelong dedication.
This article has been republished from the Spring 2024 issue of Progress magazine.