The dilemma of a teacher-practitioner.
I’ve been a little perplexed about where I stand these days. I spent more than a decade in design and media before entering academia. I worked on campaigns and projects I’m proud of, learned from some very good people, made mistakes, survived deadlines, difficult clients, bad briefs, good briefs, and everything that comes with actually practising a profession. Three years ago, I moved into ‘full time’ teaching with a fairly simple thought: perhaps I could bring some of that lived experience into the classroom. Perhaps I could be, in some small way, the kind of teacher I often wished I had. For a while, that gave me an enormous sense of purpose. Lately, though, I’ve started questioning it. Teaching design, media or film is a strange space to occupy. There’s still that lingering assumption that if you were really successful in practice, you wouldn’t be teaching it. That academia is where practitioners eventually “settle.” I’ve never quite believed that. A good practitioner doesn’t automa...