Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Future of Student–Staff Partnerships

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Enhancing Student-Centred Teaching in Higher Education

  • 713 Accesses

Abstract

The idea of student–staff partnerships has gained popularity in recent years. This is a positive move, placing dialogue with students as at the centre of teaching practice—as exemplified by the individual projects that are reported here. However, such projects are not without their challenges. Staff may have to revise their perspective of teaching, from being the practiced purveyor of knowledge that is packaged and rehearsed, to becoming a collaborative learner—entering into a research enterprise to explore a much more uncertain terrain where the “curriculum” is revealed to the student and staff member at the same time. This requires a certain level of agility on the part of the staff partner and a willingness to take the risk that the partnership might not be able to answer the question set. The members of the partnership have to trust each other and share in the excitement of discovery in an authentic learning setting. We argue that such work offers a challenge to the metrics-driven, neoliberal agenda that dominates higher education and reclaims the values that underpin teaching.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson, V., Rabello, R., Wass, R., Golding, C., Rangi, A., Eteuati, … Waller, A. (2019). Good teaching as care in higher education. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00392-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bovill, C. (2017). Breaking down student-staff barriers: Moving towards pedagogic flexibility. In I. M. Kinchin & N. E. Winstone (Eds.), Pedagogic frailty and resilience in the university (pp. 151–161). Rotterdam: Sense.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bovill, C. (2019). Student-staff partnerships in learning and teaching: An overview of current practice and discourse. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2019.1660628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook-Sather, A. (2014). Student-faculty partnership in exploration of pedagogical practice: A threshold concept in academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 19(3), 186–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., & Luqueño, L. (2019). Valuing knowledge(s) and cultivating confidence: Contributions of student–faculty pedagogical partnerships to epistemic justice. In J. Hoffman, P. Blessinger, & M. Makhanya (Eds.), Strategies for fostering inclusive classrooms in higher education: International perspectives on equity and inclusion. Innovations in higher education teaching and learning (Vol. 16, pp. 35–48). Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dharamsi, S. (2013). Power and privilege in the production of knowledge [Blog post]. http://www.ccghr.ca/blog/power-and-privilege-in-the-production-of-knowledge/. Accessed 1 September 2019.

  • Edwards, A. (2011). Building common knowledge at the boundaries between professional practices: Relational agency and relational expertise in systems of distributed expertise. International Journal of Educational Research, 50, 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felten, P., Abbot, S., Kirkwood, J., Long, A., Lubicz-Nawrocka, T., Mercer-Mapstone, L., & Verwoord, R. (2019). Reimagining the place of students in academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(2), 192–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick, T., & Landri, P. (2012). Materialities, textures and pedagogies: Socio-material assemblages in education. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 20(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2012.649421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gravett, K., & Kinchin, I. M. (2020). Referencing and empowerment: Exploring barriers to agency in the higher education student experience. Teaching in Higher Education, 25, 84–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1541883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gravett, K., Kinchin, I. M., & Winstone, N. E. (2019). ‘More than customers’: Conceptions of students as partners held by students, staff, and institutional leaders. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1623769.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. York: HEA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healey, R. L., Lerczak, A., Welsh, K., & France, D. (2019). By any other name? The impacts of differing assumptions, expectations, and misconceptions in bringing about resistance to student-staff partnership. International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v3i1.3550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinchin, I. M., & Kandiko Howson, C. B. (2019). Student voice(s) on the enactment of the research-teaching nexus. In S. Lygo-Baker, I. M. Kinchin, & N. E. Winstone (Eds.), Engaging student voices in higher education: Diverse perspectives and expectations in partnership (pp. 279–295). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kinchin, I. M., & Keeler, S. (1996). Preliminary observations on the use of trehalose to stabilise rennin during desiccation. School Science Review, 78(282), 61–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinchin, I. M., Kingsbury, M., & Buhmann, S. Y. (2018). Research as pedagogy in academic development. In E. Medland, R. Watermeyer, A. Hosein, I. M. Kinchin, & S. Lygo-Baker (Eds.), Pedagogical peculiarities: Conversations at the edge of university teaching and learning (pp. 49–67). Rotterdam: Brill/Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinchin, I. M., & Winstone, N. E. (Eds.). (2017). Pedagogic frailty and resilience in the university. Rotterdam: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kneebone, R. (2002). Total internal reflection: An essay on paradigms. Medical Education, 36(6), 514–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, H., & Pechenkina, E. (2019). Innovation-by-numbers: An autoethnography of innovation as violence. Culture and Organization, 25(3), 178–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, K. E., Cook-Sather, A., & Healey, M. (2019). Connecting learning, teaching, and research through student-staff partnerships. In V. C. H. Tong, A. Standen, & M. Sotiriou (Eds.), Shaping higher education with students: Ways to connect research and teaching (pp. 23–29). London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mercer-Mapstone, L. (2019). The student–staff partnership movement: Striving for inclusion as we push sectorial change. International Journal for Academic Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1631171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mercer-Mapstone, L., & Bovill, C. (2019). Equity and diversity in institutional approaches to student-staff partnership schemes. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1620721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mihans, R. J., Long, D. T., & Felten, P. (2008). Power and expertise: Student-faculty collaboration in course design and the scholarship of teaching and learning. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2(2), Article16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mooney Simmie, G., Moles, J., & O’Grady, E. (2019). Good teaching as a messy narrative of change within a policy ensemble of networks, superstructures and flows. Critical Studies in Education, 60(1), 55–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patriotta, G. (2017). Crafting papers for publication: Novelty and convention in academic writing. Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), 747–759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saw, R. S. (2019). Connecting students with staff research activities and real-world outputs. In V. C. H. Tong, A. Standen, & M. Sotiriou (Eds.), Shaping higher education with students: Ways to connect research and teaching (pp. 64–69). London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, K. A., Lenihan-Ikin, I., & Rushforth, C. (2019). The value of working with students as partners. In S. Lygo-Baker, I. M. Kinchin, & N. E. Winstone (Eds.), Engaging student voices in higher education: Diverse perspectives and expectations in partnership (pp. 37–54). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • West, K. M. (1966). The case against teaching. Academic Medicine, 41(8), 766–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wijaya Mulya, T. (2019). Contesting the neoliberalisation of higher education through student-staff partnership. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(1), 86–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Higher Education, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Ian M. Kinchin & Karen Gravett

  2. Researcher Development Programme, Doctoral College, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Nadya Yakovchuk

Authors
  1. Ian M. Kinchin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Karen Gravett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nadya Yakovchuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian M. Kinchin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Higher Education, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Karen Gravett

  2. Doctoral College, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Nadya Yakovchuk

  3. Department of Higher Education, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Ian M. Kinchin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kinchin, I.M., Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. (2020). The Future of Student–Staff Partnerships. In: Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N., Kinchin, I. (eds) Enhancing Student-Centred Teaching in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35396-4_22

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35396-4_22

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35395-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35396-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation