Abstract

The student who enters the classroom to learn about the social world brings with him or her an existing set of ideas which often have not been challenged and are considered normal/ natural explanations. It is expected that our learning and teaching settings in HE will foreground critical thought, allowing students to consider the world in new and/or different ways. As HE professional educators in Social Sciences, we teach a curriculum which foregrounds inequalities. This includes differences of race, gender, disability and sexuality, underpinned by global approaches. In this paper presentation we address the difficult pedagogical moments faced by lecturers and the discomforting pedagogies experienced by the students. Tensions arise when our theoretical explanations for inequalities and power differentials clash with the students’ existing knowledge of the social world. These difficult moments produce struggle for the student who is learning and pedagogical challenges for the lecturer. This paper captures a snapshot of some of the experiences of educators teaching diversity across a range of subject areas. We also reflect on the potential for professional development and possibilities for embedding best practice in preparing academic staff to deal with difficult moments.