Book Review of Robert Troschitz (2017) Higher Education and the Student: From Welfare State to Neoliberalism

In Higher Education and the Student, Robert Troschitz offers a thorough study of the modern British higher education system.  Written from a historian’s perspective, this is an invaluable and introductory survey for all educational researchers.  At 236 pages, Troschitz’s first published monograph is digestible but also displays his broad research interests, including cultural theory.  Indeed, Troschitz attributes particular significance to language and meanings.  I ought to confess that I studied History and was in the first cohort of students to have the maximum £9,000 tuition fees applied as I enrolled.  This was back in 2010 and my experience was a far cry to my parents’ generation who reflected nostalgically on ‘grants’ rather than ‘loans’.Britain, and primarily England, is the focus; the book captures the social and political changes and exposure of the HE system to neoliberal market forces.  The timescale encompasses the 1940s to the 1990s, although post-2010 developments are considered.  This chronological approach accentuates the historical narrative, based upon secondary published sources that contemplate the nature and purpose of higher education, such as government documents, reviews, consultations and Acts of Parliament.Troschitz applies discourse analysis to investigate the role of students, interrogating terms associated with higher education to demonstrate their shifting nature.  As he observes, the term “student” or “students” has proved particularly elusive.  However, he is not concerned with the lived experience of students; his aim is to demonstrate “how the idea of higher education and the concept of the student have shifted over time.”   This is framed within the contexts of ‘eligibility’ and ‘power’.  Thus, the biggest impact of the marketisation of higher education, it is argued, has not just been the financial implications for students, but a shift within the debate around the essence of higher education is and shifting sense of ‘the student’.  As we have recently observed by the Higher Education Research Act 2017 and formation of the Office for Students, the emphasis on value for money has more firmly cast the student as customer.[Review continues

Research-informed teaching: releasing the power of the student research conference

In May 2018 the School of Sport, Leisure and Nutrition ran an inaugural student research conference that was entitled ‘The Power of Sport’.  Students at all levels of study can benefit in a variety of ways through being actively engaged in research and enquiry.  Such student activity can also support the development of research in the institution as well as the impact of research in the community.  Hosting the conference intended to provide a way of developing and promoting such approaches in the curriculum and to give students a safe environment in which to test and disseminate their work.  In essence, it was an activity that blurred the lines between research and student education.  The two core aims of The Power of Sport were: to enhance student learning and confidence through engagement in research and research conversations; and to assist programme teams to further implement research-informed teaching in the curriculum for presentation at the conference.  This short paper touches on the theoretical basis for these two aims by considering both research-informed teaching and student empowerment in the context of the conference.

Stepping out: transforming teaching with low threshold technology

To the actor, nonverbal communication is as important as their voice; the ‘claiming’ of the space in which they work is an integral part of a meaningful performance. In Michael Chekhov’s seminal The Techniques of Acting the rudiments of an actor’s presence in a space are delineated and stimulated, via a series of exercises: for instance, walking across the entire space, and the touching of walls.  In turn, in this uninhibited process, confidence and authority evolves.  As teachers, how often do we ‘claim’ the space, other than that behind the lectern?  Or concern ourselves with the way we communicate beyond the spoken word?  This short paper reflects on an innocuous, ‘low threshold’ technology that has significant transformative power in the classroom

Engaging with enterprise education: reflections on the Liverpool John Moores University experience

Enterprise education is moving higher up the agenda for educators.  However many practitioners still find themselves on the outside looking in as many often perceive barriers that defeat their best intentions.  There are now tools to combat these barriers, including UK and European guidelines, frameworks and sources of support that can help an educator embed enterprise successfully.  This Viewpoint was prompted, in part, to sector conversations on students’ perceptions on value for money, and new QAA guidelines on enterprise and entrepreneurship education.  The paper draws on the experience of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, which has been supporting staff and programmes at LJMU to prepare students to meet today’s challenges in the workplace

Student mental health and wellbeing: a synopsis from recent sectoral reports

Sectoral reports, or ‘grey literature’ (reports, technical notes, guidance materials, surveys) from key higher education policy bodies and think tanks, have been summarised in the Sector Round-up section of Innovations in Practice since 2016.  Ahead of a new mental health charter for UK universities, which is expected to be rolled out in 2019/20, this paper summarises some of the findings and conversations that have taken place on student mental health and wellbeing in recent months.

Small group work: dodging potential pitfalls to reach the pedagogic possibilities

Small group work is a common learning format in higher education.  Whilst numerous positive learning outcomes are associated with this approach, there are also pitfalls scattered along the way that can undermine the entire process.  In this Viewpoint paper, I reflect on my experiences of teaching a small group work module.  It discusses new strategies I have employed to nurture communication and interaction within the student groups, and considerations I took when constructing them.  My challenge was to build a positive socio-cultural context for learning to take place, as the learning environment can exert considerable influence on the experiences students have whilst trying to work cooperatively with their peers

Sector reports review: September 2017 to January 2018

This paper provides a summary of selected reports and papers (‘grey literature’) published by key HE sector organisations and ‘think tanks’ between September 2017 and January 2018.  These include: Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS); Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Department for Education (DfE); Equality Challenge Unit (ECU); Gambling Commission; Higher Education Academy (HEA); Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU); Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR); National Audit Office (NAO); Oxford Economics; Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA); Social Market Foundation; Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL); The Sutton Trust; Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA); Universities UK (UUK); and Universities UK International (UUKi).The themes covered in this paper include: the HE market; HE participation and enrolments; admissions and supporting transition; student outcomes after the first year; teaching excellence; student engagement; postgraduate experiences; peer review of teaching; assessment; peer learning and mentoring; academic integrity; degree algorithms; student transfer; mental health; supporting disabled students; supporting progress; ethnicity, equality and diversity; care leavers; transgender experiences; sexual harassment; impact of gambling; student fees; enterprise and entrepreneurship; employability; work-based learning; university-business partnerships; intentions after graduation; graduate retention; graduate wellbeing; Brexit; internationalisation; challenges in HE; arts education; university-schools partnerships; HE workforce; academic libraries; and alternate providers of higher education

‘In-house’ journals and the scholarship of teaching and learning – thoughts from a discipline that is not a discipline

This paper offers a reflection on the practical and theoretical issues involved in the development of an in-house journal that publishes work in the area of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).  While proceeding from the experience of running one such journal in the context of a research-intensive institution, the paper aims to offer a broader view on the impacts, both positive and otherwise, which such institutionally focused publications might make on the field of SoTL as a whole