Role: Researcher, Workshop Designer, Facilitator | Format: In-person workshop | Participants: 4 Indonesian students in the UK | Methods: Collage, drawing, guided reflection, dialogue | Focus: Recognition, visibility, belonging, sense of self
Overview Sense of Self in School is an arts-based research workshop exploring how Indonesian learners experience recognition, belonging, and visibility throughout their educational journey. Rather than asking participants to define what it means to be “seen”, the workshop invited them to revisit meaningful school memories through creative reflection, storytelling, and collective dialogue.
Using collage-making, drawing, and discussion, participants reflected on moments when they felt acknowledged, overlooked, or misunderstood in school. The project explored how these experiences continue to shape confidence, identity, and learning, while showing how creative practice can surface emotions that are often difficult to express.
The Challenge Educational success is often measured through visible behaviours – participation, grades, confidence, or academic achievement. Yet these indicators rarely reveal how students emotionally experience learning. Growing up in Indonesia, I experienced classrooms where academic performance was prioritised over emotional presence.
Although I occasionally encountered teachers who made me feel recognised as a person rather than simply a student, those moments stayed with me for years. This project began with a simple question:
“What happens when students truly feel seen – and what happens when they don’t?”
😽 zulfa amany 