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In the next 15 minutes…
We will cover:
•Developments in student engagement •Different types of student engagement and the evidence base•The emergence of ‘students as partners’
Background
• Although the practices around student engagement may be long-standing in some cases, student engagement as a policy priority is relatively recent.
• Student representation is no longer something to be simply tolerated, marginalised or confined to the students’ union.
• We are now moving beyond a narrow focus on the validity of various systems of student engagement and instead describing the concepts that might underpin them.
• Student engagement is not happening inside a policy vacuum.• It is a flexible enough concept to be appropriated by a wide
range of interests. • It is often stated that student engagement is a ‘good’ thing.
What are we basing this on?
Evidence-based student engagement
Three types of engagement:• In students’ own learning• Rooted in identity• In structures and processes
Trowler, V. (2010) Student Engagement Literature Review. York: The Higher Education Academy
Engagement in learning
• Engagement in this sense has been proven to improve outcomes– Performance– Persistence– Satisfaction
• Much work in this area has led to improvements in teaching and learning practices
Seven effective practices
– student-staff contact– active learning– prompt feedback– time on task– high expectations– respect for diverse learning styles– co-operation among students
Chickering and Gamson (1987) "Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education" American Association of
Higher Education Bulletin vol.39 no.7 pp.3-7
The role of identity• All students benefit from engagement,
but those who are least academically prepared benefit more than those who are most prepared.
• Developing an identity as a student and a sense of belonging to the university community are prerequisites to successful engagement.
Pascarella, E.T. and Terenzini, P.T. (2005) How College Affects Students: A Third Decade ofResearch (Vol. 2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Evidence vs Values• There is little evidence to support NUS’
conception of student engagement:– Co-ownership of entire institution– Equal partnership– Joint responsibility for delivering solutions
• We are values-based:– Democracy, collectivism, change agents– Redressing power imbalances– Community not consumerism
The emergence of ‘students as partners’ • Lots of concepts have clustered around
student engagement. Co-creators, co-producers, active participants, students as collaborators, students as agents for change…
• The concept of ‘partnership’ has gained significant currency.
The emergence of ‘students as partners’ • The 2010 NUS/HEA Student Engagement Toolkit framed
partnership as the goal of student engagement. • The QAA published the new Student Engagement
Chapter of the UK Quality Code. • Lots of organisations and institutions are talking about
and taking action on student engagement and/or partnership.
• NUS has published ‘A Manifesto for Partnership’
What is partnership
• A rejection of consumerism and a re-imaging of apprenticeship.
• A partnership approach will in most cases involve work between an institution and its students’ union to determine an institutional understanding. But, we can sketch out some broad parameters…
What is partnership
• The sum total of student engagement activity does not equal partnership.
• Activities emerge from the beliefs and intentions that underpin an partnership approach.
• At its roots, partnership is about investing students with the power to co-create not just knowledge or learning, but the institution itself e.g. widening access, community engagement, sport, capital investment.
What is partnership
• Genuine and meaningful dispersal of power so that students are enabled to contribute to educational change.
• Shared responsibility- for identifying the problem or opportunity for improvement, for devising a solution and for co-delivering of that solution.
• Students and staff at all levels working together to achieve agreed goals.
• Dispute that occurs in good faith on both sides.
Manchester Met Union – have delivered a staff development workshop on ways to introduce partnership into curriculum
Sheffield and Oxford Brookes– are looking into role that academic societies play in departments.
Loughborough – today are having a student leaders conference discussing the concept of “you said, we did” and the nature of involving those with the problem in the solution
Durham
• Wanted to protect what they had
• Recognised that lots of partnership was already happening
• “Partnership Amnesty”
Liverpool Hope Union
• Sponsored course reps & lecturers to have a coffee
• Suggested list if things to talk about – what motivates you about the course etc., not position assuming something wrong
Ljmu – civic change – partnership projects with funding to solve problems in the community – ie parking. Everybody gets an employability mentor.
Liverpool John Moores• Civic change
• Partnership projects for students to work with local community to solve local problems– ie parking.
• Everybody gets an employability mentor.
