Working with schools: active citizenship for undergraduate social science students (original) (raw)
The students: Backgrounds, lifestyles and forms of engagement
2009
The social mediation of university learning This is the third in a series of working papers published by the Higher Education Academy to disseminate information about the project entitled What is learned at university: the social and organisational mediation of university learning (SOMUL).
Students' Experiences of University Life beyond the Curriculum
Higher Education Pathways: South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good (AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION DYNAMICS SERIES), 2018
What do we know about undergraduate students’ experiences of university and campus life beyond the curriculum, and the role of such experiences in students’ personal development and transformation? Can any aspects of that student experience be seen as contributing to the ‘public good’? This chapter offers a review of eleven years (2007–2017) of scholarly literature on students’ experiences of South African higher education ‘beyond the curriculum’. This includes all those aspects of university life which are not related to learning, teaching and academic development; they include the social, economic, political and health-related aspects of the student experience and student life on campus. In this chapter, we aim to give a sense of what has been written about these elements of students’ experiences, what this work says, and also what it does not say.
Resisting the iron cage of 'the student experience'
Solsko Polje, 2018
As higher education (HE) has come to be valued for its contribution to the global economy, priorities have been placed on study for a degree to directly meet the needs of industry (Hayes, 2015: p. 125). Furthermore, in UK policy, students have been defined as ‘customers’ by the government since the introduction of tuition fees (Dearing, 1997; Browne, 2010). Together, these developments have emphasized the role of a degree as a consumer ‘product’, purchased to secure future employment (Peters, Jandrić and Hayes, 2018a), rather than an experiential learning ‘process’, that continues well beyond student life (Hayes, 2015 : p. 130). We examine how the student-as-consumer approach in HE policy has recently developed into a strong rhetoric emphasizing ‘the student experience’ as a package, including leisure, well-being, future employment and other ‘extras’. This could be perceived as positive, where all elements of student life are acknowledged. Alternatively, policy discourse concerning ‘the student experience’ could also be critiqued as a concept that now transcends the notion of a degree as a utilitarian product. A disturbing impression is then generated, where universities are now delivering a packaged experience of ‘consumption itself’, to students (Argenton, 2015: p. 921). What students would individually experience, such as a ‘sense of belonging and pride in the university’, is delivered to students, not developed by them. To examine such concerns more closely, we analyse a sample of 20 UK university ‘student experience’ strategies, via a corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Drawing on themes from these texts, we question who ‘the student experience’ rhetoric really benefits? If a rationalized experience is constructed on behalf of students, then universities as ‘cathedrals of consumption’ (Ritzer, 2010) align themselves with any other provider of consumer experiences, where the ‘production’ of academic life has all been taken care of. In such a discourse, students are not necessarily conceptualized as empowered consumers either (Brooks, 2017) but trapped instead within an ‘iron cage’, even before they set foot in the workplace. Yet, despite a distorted picture that neoliberal HE policy discourse may portray, a postdigital understanding of ‘the student experience’ could yet offer helpful insights into possible routes of resistance.
An extraordinary amount of research and writing has been dedicated to understanding how the curricular and co-curricular experiences of college students affect their intellectual, moral, social, and attitudinal development. Since the college student is often at the core of the work of academic leaders, it is important for faculty members and administrators to understand the characteristics of the students with whom they are dealing and the myriad ways in which collegiate experiences affect student development. This chapter explores ...
Insider perspectives: students working within the university community
2014
The work environment is an important space for students to learn and develop and increasingly they need to find part - time employment alongside their studies in order to support themselves while they are studying. This chapter reports the results of an investigation that explored the role the university can play in providing work on campus and the impact of such opportunities on the student experience and engagement with the university community. The enquiry identified a number of paid roles available to students across the university, ranging from library shelvers through to ambassadors, mentors, peer learning facilitators and research assistants. The perspectives of students in these roles were sought, and through these a number of positive aspects to their higher education and their lifewide experience have been identified such as an increased sense of belonging. Challenges relating to student employment are mainly around systems for employment and students’ sense of equality an...
Beyond the student experience: rethinking higher education for the 21st Century
Opening Keynote Speech for the Annual Higher Education Academy Conference 'Transforming the Student Experience'; Harrogate, 1-3 July 2008. Considers: rewards and recognition for teaching; the links between teaching and research; the idea of the university; academic freedom; and the nature and purposes of higher education in the 21st century. We should abandon the idea of the research-teaching-nexus. It has made us focus too much on what we teach, and on how we teach in a technical sense. We must pay more attention to why and where we conduct our academic practice. And we must pay more attention to how we do it in the sense not of technical proficiency but of moral proficiency – what our values are, and how we exercise our academic freedom responsibly. We need to replace the research-teaching-scholarship nexus with a broader idea of higher education which recognises the range of academic practice and the necessity of academic freedom, conditioned by purpose and context.
Drawing upon qualitative and quantitative data collected within a larger investigation of the nature of student experience within a post 1992 Scottish HE institution, this paper will explore the decision-making processes of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds as they enter HE and their experiences of transition at University. The study has been conducted against the back-drop of rapid HE expansion in the UK (Barnett, 1998). HE expansion has been accompanied by increases in diversity and stratification within the system, particularly in Scotland(Gallacher, 2005, 2006). HE expansion has increased the complexity of the sector and the diversity of the student body. The increasingly significant contribution of those students referred to as “non-traditional” represents an important yet sometimes overlooked change to the HE system. Increases in student diversity have not been uniform across the sector and so-called “non-traditional students” are more likely to apply to attend New Institutions (formed after the removal of the Binary Line in 1992) and in many cases enter University with “non-traditional qualifications” via “non-traditional routes” (Leathwood and O’Connell, 2003). Research which has explored the experience of “non-traditional” students has tended to emphasise the challenges faced by this group highlighting a variety of pessimistic outcomes. For example attention has been directed towards increased levels of attrition or non-progression (Christie, et al., 2003, Davies & Elias, 2003, Assiter and Gibbs, 2007), and reasons for withdrawal (Yorke et al., 2000, Johnston, 2002). Less consideration has been given to understanding the transitional experience of “non-traditional students” or the opportunities presented by “non-traditional pathways” into HE. The population studied in this paper includes those students who entered the institution at Level One and those who Entered with Advanced Standing to Level Two or Level Three of their Programme following the completion of a Higher National Certificate/Diploma at College. Participants were recruited through a New Entrant Survey distributed in Induction week at an Urban Scottish Post 1992-Institution. Data was collected across a variety of fields including, age, gender, educational background, residence prior to attending University, parental occupation, family links with higher education, and pathway into the Institution. For the purpose of the study students from lower socio-economic backgrounds were defined as those who were resident in an area of deprivation prior to attending university, had no family links with higher education, and whose parental occupations were ranked IV or V according to the Standard Occupational Classification. Selected participants participated in semi-structured interviews at two points in the Academic Year. Phase One interviews were conducted in October and explored the initial interaction of the student with the Institution. Phase Two interviews were conducted in February after the Semester A Exam diet. Interviews were conducted in order to capture the experience of transitions of New Entrants as they begin to navigate their way through University. Phase One interviews explored students decision-making processes regarding entrance to University, first impressions of University, friendship groups, expectations of University, and initial views regarding learning at University. Phase Two interviews reflected on these initial expectations and perceptions of University, perceptions of learning and assessment frameworks, and the development of friendship networks. Qualitative data collected in this study was analysed using an approach which draws upon elements of grounded theory (Glasser & Strauss, 1967). Initial areas of exploration were identified following an analytical review of literature in the areas of widening access and student experience, and the analysis of quantitative data collected from the New Entrant survey which illustrated key similarities and differences between new entrants from lower socio-economic backgrounds and the wider new entrant population. Areas of exploration were reviewed and expanded on the basis of analysis. This approach was adopted given the complexity of student experience and the added intricacies associated with the experience of those from areas of deprivation which will be detailed more fully in the paper. A new conceptual framework emerged which assists in understanding the experience of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. It illustrates the relationship between decision making processes associated with entrance to higher education, pathways into University, and experience prior to and within Higher Education. This paper draws upon Bourdieu’s conception of habitus and Mead’s (1934) conception of identity within the context of recent changes to the HE system. It will examine the relationship between, and the potential of these concepts to provide a theoretical foundation through which to explore the complexities associated with diverse student groups and student experiences of transitions. The concept of habitus (Bourdieu, 1977) facilitates an understanding of how the structure of University and wider cultural impacts can shape an individual’s experience of being a student. Mead’s (1934) account of identity as fluid, grounded in context and shaped through interactions with others facilitates an understanding of the processes of change a student may or may not experience as part of the transition to University. In short students have a relationship with themselves, each other, the institution which they can transform and can transform them. This paper attempts to illustrate some of the processes associated with University transitions guided by a framework built upon these concepts. Participants offered a description of transitional experiences which are both complicated and diverse. There are key differences in the accounts offered by those students who enter into Level One and those who with Advanced Standing with regard to both academic and social experience. Of interest is the potential role that positive learning and social experiences can play in encouraging and maintaining participation in Higher Education, and the diversity of messages that these students encounter with respect to their participation in learning. This paper will also highlight key challenges associated with researching the experience of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and mechanisms through which these may be overcome. There is a particular challenge regarding the initial definition of lower socio-economic background and the identification of potential participants. Participants from lower socio-economic backgrounds are recognised within the literature as a hard to reach group with respect to participation in research. This has been attributed to their focus on their own survival and difficulties in balancing activities (Beresford and Hoban, 2005). This paper will highlight the potential of telephone interviewing as a flexible format through which to conduct discussions with participants. One key finding of this study is the increasingly varied nature of student experience within Higher Education. This accompanied by increased variation in the social background of the participants of contemporary HE points to whether it is timely to move beyond terminology that labels sub-sections of populations within the sector as “non-traditional”?
This is the first brief in the Centre for Teaching and Learning or CTL's 'Making a life' series, where we explore the attitudes and experiences of academics at Stellenbosch University, with regard to their roles in teaching, research and what is generally called 'community involvement'. The series was approached as a set of interviews with individual academics, which took the form of reflective conversations between a CTL researcher and the individual academic. Academics approached for the interviews were not sampled, but drawn from different departments and different disciplines, and tended to be those who had had some involvement with CTL. At times we have incorporated other texts into the brief, to enrich the sense of the activities academics engage in, in 'making a life'. In this brief Professor Aslam Fataar, of the Department of Education Policy Studies, is interviewed by Dr Catherine Kell, a researcher commissioned by the CTL. Aslam Fataar is currently Professor and Head of the Education Policy Studies Department. He works on the sociology of education, in particular, on policy reform and education in urban space and is an NRF B-rated scientist. The starting point for the discussion was his view on the relation between teaching, research and community involvement. Aslam explained how he became an academic and came to work at Stellenbosch University: AF: I participated in youth activism in the 1980s and this fundamentally shaped me. I worked with youth organisations, religious organisations, teaching organisations, sports organisations, on the Cape Flats. I was also involved in student activism at UWC and I picked up a type of political literacy, which provided the intellectual context for my BA, and Higher Diploma in Education. I went into teaching and became a teacher with a deeply politicised agenda, but I realized that while you can always conflate politics with education, to be a good teacher, you had to keep a distinctive line between politics and how you ran your class. Being a good teacher was about pedagogy and learning, about getting kids into the curriculum, getting kids to critically engage with what they were doing.
Education and New Developments 2022 – Volume I, 2022
Anchored in a qualitative approach, yet informed by the constructivist theoretical perspective, this paper addresses a research issue related to the transformative potential and biographical legacy and impact of community-engaged learning model (service-learning) on twelve students who participated in the Gender, Sexuality, Identities-From Oppression to Equality course. This course is the first such in Croatian universities that, integrating the community-engaged learning model, covered the thematic areas of human rights, gender equality, gender-based violence and gender theory. For students who participated in this research, all of it represents the first such educational experience-so far they have not been exposed to the mentioned contents, they have not participated in a course of such specific didactic and methodological features, they have never collaborated with civil society organisations, they have never written reflective diaries, nor were they previously engaged in tasks similar to those that awaited them in this course. This paper therefore intends to contribute to the current academic debate on the positive outcomes of community-engaged learning for students in the context of its transformative potential viewed from the perspective of contributing to changes in student biographies. In addition, the paper seeks to answer the (research) question of whether the narratives of students who participated in such a course for the first time are narratives of disappointment or empowerment, continuity or change, and whether they have developed a tendency to modify (their) habitus? The main identified dimensions of the students' experienced change are classified through new knowledge or competencies, educational and professional paths, intentions of further (civic) engagement and personal development. Drawing on Turner's concept of "liminality" (1969), Bourdieu's habitus (1977, 1984) and Mezirow's Theory of transformative learning (1981), students' participation in the course with full integration of community-engaged learning model is interpreted in this paper as a liminal phenomenon of the otherwise traditional (higher education) teaching and learning field, which led to the modification of students' habitus, while indicating their empowerment and propensity for further socially responsible and active contribution within their communities.
Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 2011
VER OUR CAREERS, we have been involved in student, faculty, administrative, and staff roles in multiple types of postsecondary institutions. In the different contexts of our work, we have witnessed shifts in the discourses that shape academic and fiscal discussions in higher education. These shifts mirror the "academic capitalism" that Slaughter and Rhoades (2009) describe in their analysis of academic cultures and priorities, and illustrate a tension between academic and market or financial priorities. More specifically, many people making decisions in tertiary education are torn between, on the one hand, holding tightly to their missions and, on the other, maximizing revenue and reframing institutional effectiveness as doing more with less. Clearly, both considerations are important, and recent changes in state support have increased the complexity of the discussion. It is important to recognize, though, that the emphasis on one side or the other makes a difference in determining students' experiences in our institutions. In a recent committee discussion about the organization of graduate education at one of our institutions, a senior administrator suggested that the committee's decisions were important but that, if we were wrong, "the market will sort it all out." The increasing reliance on business partnerships, the marketplace as a decision-maker, and transactional approaches to education that underlies this administrator's statement raises questions about the changing roles of education in society. With this article we ask readers to consider the effects of such shifts on students. The relationships between institutions and students can be characterized in many ways. For example, as in the era of in loco parentis in the United States (U. S.), institutions could be expected to perform parental roles for their students. Institutions can also consider themselves as providing a developmental role, helping students to grow either holistically or in particular ways to become ready for the next phases of their lives. Institutions can also characterize their students as
Student Engagement: a catalyst for transformative change: Conference Proceedings
2013
Undergraduate intake into the School of Environmental Sciences, Ulster comprises students studying honours degree programmes in environmental sciences, geography and marine science, and students following a two-year non-honours Associate Bachelors degree (ABD) in environmental studies. Induction includes first year students interacting with studies advisers and senior student tutors (SSTs) in small group activities. The main aim of the SST workshops is to help level four students prepare for their end-of-semester modular written examinations. This article outlines the scheme and shows how peer-mentors facilitate the readying of first year students for what is a challenging task. Using an empirical survey we evaluate their effectiveness in bridging the experiential learning gap between themselves and those under their tutelage. It is argued that faculty suffering from student progression problems traceable to weaknesses in examination performance could benefit from adopting this locally, controlled, low cost, small scale peer-mentoring model.
The work of learning: The stories of a group of undergraduate university students
2019
The research presented in this thesis was in the form of a qualitative inquiry into the perceptions by a group of senior undergraduate students of their learning processes and experiences in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) at Simon Fraser University (SFU). The research goal was to explore what students understood of their learning and their lives as learners. The research aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the ways in which students approached learning tasks, their awareness of study tactics, their styles of working, and their use of particular practices, tools, and routines. The research invited senior year FHS students to describe and reflect on the ways in which they cultivated and developed their approaches to learning and study and how they regarded the various learning environments they had experienced during their time in the FHS. It also elicited students' thoughts about self-regulated learning, quality teaching and meaningful assessment, and the degree of confidence or enthusiasm they brought to learning challenges. They were also asked about their orientations toward further learning or about learning outside formal institutional structures. As the research for this thesis progressed through the series of interviews, it became evident that the participating students led very full lives beyond their work at the university, and that their work in learning and their views of the nature of knowledge and the scope of the field of health sciences were all affected by their overall life circumstances and experiences. The research found notable students' abilities to balance and manage their competing priorities and effectively align their complex "life spaces" with often demanding academic requirements. The study's findings suggest that improvements to students' experiences in university learning require that those involved in curriculum and program design, learning supports, and general student services, give serious consideration to the remarkable diversity of students' lives.
2015
Core debates in Higher Education are largely centred on the issues of formal access vis-àvis epistemic access. In South Africa, universities have managed the issue of formal access that is, by focusing on merely attaining entry into university without much of epistemic access (Cross 2004; CHE, 2010). Following Morrow (2009), there is currently, a growing interest in Higher Education about epistemological access that entails becoming a member of the academic practice, student achievement and eventual success. This interest seems to have been necessitated in part by the growing diversity of student composition in universities. As formal access broadens as a result of university transformation, it is not being matched with student success since it is accompanied by difficulties in adaptation especially 'nontraditional students' as they are known in South Africa. Like other institutions in the country, the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is confronted with the dilemma of poor results which the students, particularly the undergraduates, achieve and the difficulties linked to their academic failure or success. Insomuch as the universities and, in particular Wits, have the onus to provide a rich and nurturing academic, social and cultural environment that promotes student achievement through non-discrimination, it is crucial to know how the student makes the best of this. Most of the current studies on student experiences emphasise formal access and epistemic access without paying particular attention to campus experiences leading to student social and academic development. The studies are about what institutions do and what students should do to achieve epistemic access without taking into consideration the contribution of student campus life. The problem with this is that the campus is changing. It is increasingly becoming an extension of the classroom: a social learning space. This study explored epistemic access vis-à-vis campus experiences. The study used a qualitative case study approach to explore the ways in which undergraduates students experience their lives on campus and what meaning they make of such experiences to position themselves for success in their early years of study. The qualitative approach allows me to elicit answers to address the 'why' question of student experiences which is scant in previous I wish to express my appreciation to the staff members in the Division of Educational Leadership and Policy studies, but especially to Professor Brahm Fleisch and Dr. Francine De Clercq who were instrumental financially through the provision of part time workvii jobs that brought food to the table for my family during my years of study. Professor Brahm, thank you again for trusting me with the position of a Project Manager for one of your mega and unique programme: Professional Certificate in Education Finance, Economics and Planning. Thank you Professor Jane Castle, Professor Eric Worby and Dr. Moyra Kean for the opportunity to attend the numerous Academic Writing Workshops and Writing Retreats that not only saw this work receive critical and conceptual suggestions but take shape and final completion. I also would like to thank Dr. Maxwell Kadenge for editing this thesis. This study could not have been possible without an array of the University of the Witwatersrand's funding support structures comprising of Supervisors research project funds (Professors Michael Cross' and Felix Maringe's); the 3 year Post Graduate Merit Award; the Post Graduate Merit Scholarship; the Post Graduate University Council school grant; the Post Graduate Completion grant and, the Fhun J. C. Carstens grant. Very special thanks to my husband Amasa for enduring the endless anxieties and frustrations emanating from the pressure experienced in the writing of this thesis-Gonyohori, zvakaonekwa, totenda. I also owe this thesis to my two sons, Tadiwanashe Philip and Nyasha Mhike and my only daughter Tafadzwa Glory aka Shakaina for encouraging me to soldier on against all odds. You rhetoric question: 'Mhamha mopedza riini?' gave me the strength to realise my dream. Thank you mother Pauline Marivo, siblings, relatives and friends for the encouragement. This section of my thesis cannot close without me giving praise and honour to the Almighty God through His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The scripture in Philippians 4:13 that says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", was the most powerful source of my strength in this endeavour. viii
Mis)Understanding the Student Experience
Philosophy of Education Archive, 2016
IntroductIon: “the Student experIence” It seems that you cannot read the educational press, or browse social media, without coming across yet another league table of the best universities or colleges. Universities themselves eagerly await such rankings, and their websites vaunt that they are among the very best in terms of factors such as academic achievement, sports facilities, campus location, student diversity, student safety, or environmental awareness. More recently, there has been an increasing emphasis on rankings based on “the student experience”, and colleges and universities pursue relentlessly both measuring and improving it. As Paul Standish and Elizabeth Staddon note: “The phrase ‘student experience’ is now reiterated, as if de rigeur, in university policy statements.”1 Moreover, Peter Scott, Professor of Higher Education at a leading UK university, wrote recently:
2017
The present political and economic climate for universities can promote competitive learning and anxieties about individual students' academic achievements. It can inhibit the enjoyment and skill in shared learning. Group work can provide a creative, empowering avenue so students become proactive in their learning and engage more equally with academics. It has potential to enhance intellectual ability as well as social and emotional wellbeing, yet careful planning is essential to achieve this. This paper addresses the shortfall of prioritising assessment over relationships and identifies how relationships are central in preparation for assessment. It draws upon an ethnographic, qualitative and emancipatory approach to research. This approach enabled students to initiate the research focus and design of the last session. The paper identifies how the group was set up, developed and what it achieved. It makes recommendations for overcoming some tensions and fears that can inhibit e...