Partnership is a process of student engagement,
but these terms are not interchangeable (Healy et al, 2014).
Ways of engaging students in higher education as
partners in learning and teaching is arguably one of the most important issues
facing higher education in the 21st Century, an partnership is part of this,
but it is a way of doing things, rather than an outcome in itself (Healey,
2017).
The HEA’s focus is on the pedagogic rationale
for partnership: how it can lead to increased student engagement with, and
success in, their learning as well as supporting the design, delivery and
support of engaged student learning.
Much of the literature points to HEA benefits
for both staff and students.
Students, it seems:
•
are better engaged with the
process of learning in and out of contact-time;
•
develop essential high level
knowledge and skills to support their employability; and
•
feel a sense of belonging and
community that the ‘What Works?’ programme has shown is key to student
retention and success.
Staff experience:
•
renewed engagement with and
transformed thinking about their practice, and a
•
deeper understanding of
contributions to an academic community.
Whatever the rationale for staff, students,
institutions and students’ unions to develop partnerships in learning and
teaching, this framework aims to offer an evidence informed and reflective
approach to support their development.
One proposed model (see Figure 1) is interesting
in that it distinguishes four broad areas in which students can act as partners
in learning and teaching:
·
learning, teaching and
assessment;
·
subject-based research and
inquiry;
·
scholarship of teaching and
learning;
·
curriculum design and pedagogic
consultancy.
Visually the model is represented as four
overlapping circles to emphasise that distinctions between the areas are
blurred and inter-relationships are complex and diverse when put into practice.
At the centre of the model is the notion of partnership learning communities,
which draws attention to the processes by which partnership operates in the
four different areas.
Partnership is a relationship in which all
participants are actively engaged in and stand to gain from
the process of
learning and working together. This approach argues that partnership represents
a sophisticated and effective approach which offers the potential for a more
authentic engagement with the nature of learning itself and the possibility for
genuinely transformative learning experiences.
Research has also shown that partnership can
engage and empower traditionally marginalized students and lead to sharing
authority and responsibility with staff in the development of culturally
sustainable pedagogy (Cook-Sather and Agu, 2013; Healey et al., 2014). This
appears a panacea for addressing key issues within higher education however it
cannot surely be that straightforward?
Healey et al (2014) advise there is potential
for an inherent tension between partnership policy and partnership pedagogy. It
appears policy is about determining the direction and shape of work in advance,
whereas partnership pedagogy is about being (radically) open to and creating
possibilities for discovering and learning something that cannot be known
beforehand. They propose suggestions for addressing this tension:
• remain aware of the tension
• consider how partnership is (or is not) described in institutional
policies and strategies (e.g. learning and teaching strategies, student
charters, partnership agreements, marketing materials);
• consider implementing staff and student engagement surveys for a
nuanced picture of the views, priorities and experiences of potential partners
to inform local policy;
• use participatory and whole-system approaches to the development of
strategy and policy in ways that seek to embody partnership in practice.
That said this is something actively engaged
with at all levels within higher education. Middlesex is replete with examples
and this issue will address these to stimulate and encourage experimentation
and innovation.
Fig. 1 A conceptual model for students as
partners in learning and teaching in higher education
(Healey, et al, 2014)
References:
Cook-Sather, A., & Agu, P. (2013). Students
of color and faculty members working together toward culturally sustaining
pedagogy. In J. E. Groccia & L. Cruz (Eds.), To Improve the Academy:
Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development (pp. 271–285). Volume 32. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Healey, M.
(2017) Students as partners. Online Blog. Retrieved from: https://www.mickhealey.co.uk/workshops-offered/sotl-change-and-partners/students-as-partners-in-learning-and-teaching-in-higher-education
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K.
(2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and
teaching in higher education. York: Higher Education Academy. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education
