ABSTRACT
For women academics, minority status, particularly in positions of leadership, means there are gender-specific ‘role model’ pressures to contend with, involving increased levels of scrutiny that serve to further exacerbate levels of isolation. For educators seeking to experiment with gender sensitive, gender neutral, or gender inclusive pedagogy, the model chosen will only succeed if it remains flexible enough to acknowledge that there could be many ways of working and many possible answers, not least because professional practice itself is full of ambiguity and uncertainty. Attempting to remove ambiguity from design studio teaching and assessment altogether may not only prove impossible but it might also play into the hands of today’s neoliberalist audit culture, curtailing experimental pedagogies and experimental design portfolios. Instead, a 'negotiated ambiguity' one where students' work can be considered against the backdrop of their individual lives, and that they can assume a role in shaping might better address the power inequalities within both prescriptive and permissive pedagogies.
