Engagement through partnership: students as

partners in learning and teaching in

higher education

Dr Abbi Flint

Higher Education Academy 6 January 2015

1. What does

‘Partnership with

students’ mean to you?

2. Why are you

interested in partnership

in learning and teaching?

2

Defining partnership

Image used under creative commons license: Peter Patau http://bit.ly/11yaYAN

• to empower students to take responsibility for their learning

• as a way of developing a sense of belonging, and making HE more

accessible and inclusive

• as an ethical responsibility to students and staff

• to align with personal teaching philosophy

• to challenge and resist consumerist models of higher education, and

offer a constructive alternative

• to re-invent the university

• to align with the purpose and values of higher education

• as a meaningful way of engaging with the measurement agenda

• to align with policy directives

3

Rationales

4

Defining student engagement

Behavioural

perspective

•Student behaviour

•institutional practices

Psychological

perspective

•Cognitive

•Affective

•Relational

Socio-cultural perspective

• Social context

• Power

• Culture

• Discourse

• Partnership as a specific form

of student engagement:

process not product.

• Pedagogic rationale

• Focus on learning

relationships as well as

working arrangements

• Partnerships between staff

and students and amongst

students

• The exact form of

partnership is contextual 5

Engagement through partnership

From NUS/HEA (2010) Student Engagement Toolkit

Authenticity – all parties have a meaningful rationale for investing in partnership, and are honest

about what they can contribute and the parameters of partnership.

Inclusivity – partnership embraces the different talents, opinions and experiences that all parties

bring, and there are no barriers (structural or cultural) that prevent potential partners getting

involved.

Reciprocity – all parties have in interest in, and stand to benefit from working and/or learning in

partnership.

Empowerment – power is distributed appropriately and all parties are encouraged to

constructively challenge ways of working and learning that may reinforce existing inequalities.

Trust – all parties take time to get to know one-another, engage in open and honest dialogue and

are confident they will be treated with respect and fairness.

Challenge – all parties are encouraged to constructively critique and challenge practices,

structures and approaches that undermine partnership, and are enabled to take risks to develop

new ways of working and learning.

Community – all parties feel a sense of belonging and are valued fully for the unique contribution

they make.

Responsibility – all parties share collective responsibility for the aims of the partnership, and

individual responsibility for the contribution they make.

6

Partnership values

7

Conceptual model (Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014)

© 2014. The Higher

Education Academy.

All Rights Reserved

Learning teaching and

assessment

• Active and collaborative

learning

• Flipping the classroom

• Personalised learning

• Professional/practical

experiences

• Peer education

• Example – Broad Vision

(University of Westminster)

Subject-based research and

inquiry

• Embedding research and

inquiry based learning (e.g. PBL)

• Example – Student as Producer –

University of Lincoln

• ‘Boutique’ UG research

schemes

• Example – Think Ahead: SURE

(University of Sheffield)

8

Learning, teaching and research

Scholarship of teaching and

learning

• Exploration of how students

learn within their discipline.

• Institutional examples

• University of Exeter – Students

as Change Agents

• Birmingham City University –

Student Academic Partners

• National example

• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/project

s/change-agents-network

Curriculum design and

pedagogic consultancy

• Different understandings of

‘curriculum’

• Sheffield Hallam University –

Course Design Consultancy

• University of Huddersfield –

students as learning and

teaching consultants

9

Quality enhancement of learning

and teaching

10

Conceptual model (Healey, Flint and Harrington 2014)

© 2014. The Higher

Education Academy.

All Rights Reserved

1. Inclusivity and scale

• Boutique vs mainstream

• Who actually participates?

2. Power relationships

• Different kinds of power

• Dominance of hierarchical

relationships

• Access to resources

3. Blurring identities

• Problematic labels

• Shifting roles

4. Terms of engagement

• Induction and outduction

• Peripheral/full community

membership

• Reward and recognition

11

Tensions and opportunities

Pedagogies of partnership

Learning from ‘failures’

Impact

Ethical implications

12

Areas for further exploration

Healey, M., Flint, A. and Harrington, K

(2014) Engagement through partnership:

students as partners in learning and

teaching in higher education. York, Higher

Education Academy

HEA (2014) Framework for partnership in

learning and teaching. York, Higher

Education Academy.

Both available from

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/students-as-

partners

13

Publications

Website: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/students-as-partners

E-mail: StudentsasPartners@heacademy.ac.uk

abbi.flint@heacademy.ac.uk

Twitter: @HEA_SaP

14

Keep in touch

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