Charlie Smith is a passionate advocate of student-centred pedagogy. He teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Architecture subject area at the Liverpool School of Art and Design, and on LJMU’s Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.
He joined LJMU in 2005, following five years in architectural practice where he primarily worked in the education sector. Charlie has developed a personal approach to learning and teaching centred on his concept of studio-based relational inquiry for expanding student voices. This revolves around three core practices: creating spaces for students to discover their own approaches to learning; explorative inquiry that facilitates a deep understanding of students’ perspectives and needs; and the projection of warmth, receptivity and approachability.
The student voice is a central theme that permeates throughout Charlie’s pedagogic research and learning enhancement practices, and students place great value in his relational support and guidance on their journeys through higher education. He is particularly interested in assessment and feedback, and the impact of these on the student experience, where his work is recognised internationally. Charlie has researched students’ views of peer review, enhancing the content and delivery of formative feedback, the design review, dialogic feedback, students’ use of formative and summative feedback, and nurturing students’ evaluative judgement skills.
Other projects include fostering self-directed learning, improving student retention, problem-based learning within creative disciplines, learning space design, and managing small group work. Most recently, his pedagogic inquiry and enhancement focused on the transition from physical studio to remote learning during the pandemic, and the role of relational approaches to learning and teaching on return to campus.
Charlie’s relational inquiry and explorative pedagogy lie at the heart of his academic practice, forming a virtuous circle with his transformation of student learning and support of colleagues, each informing and being informed by the others. LJMU bestowed Charlie with an Individual Teaching Excellence Award in 2016, in recognition of his outstanding, transformative and inspirational impact on the student learning experience. In 2018, he was conferred as Reader in Creative Pedagogies. Charlie’s edited book, Progressive Studio Pedagogy, was published by Routledge in 2021.