Learner or Consumer? Market-Led Higher Education, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality

Year 2019, , 527 - 552, 25.12.2019

Angela Partington

https://doi.org/10.30828/real/2019.3.4

Abstract

This paper addresses issues associated with leadership in Higher Education (HE), by drawing on research and debate in relation to the role of education in reproducing social inequalities, and on expertise developed through academic leadership roles in British art schools. It seeks to stimulate discussion about the commodification of HE, which is often perceived as a threat to its accessibility, and therefore to its positive impact in enhancing social mobility, and will argue that it is only a threat if we cling to a culturally conservative belief in value-free learning, which serves only to reproduce the values of the white middle-class intelligentsia. By addressing the question of how to respond to the changing profile of all HE students, in terms of the diverse social and cultural capital which they bring with them, (which shapes what and how they want to learn), this paper will challenge some of the prevailing views about student engagement, from the perspective of an academic whose leadership role includes responsibility for developing learning and teaching strategies to ensure student progression, achievement, and graduate outcomes, and for enhancing the quality of the student experience.

Keywords

Student engagement, Commodification of higher education, Learner-centric pedagogies, Inclusive practice, Equality

References

• Amos, V. & Doku, A. (2019). Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Student Attainment at UK Universities: Closing the Gap. UUK/NUS Report. Retrieved from https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2019/bame-student-attainment-uk-universities-closing-the-gap.pdf Attenborough, J. et al (2018). Undergraduate student views about assessment workload. Educational Developments, 19 (3), 14-16. Bakhshi, H., Hargreaves, I., & Mateos-Garcia, J. (2013). Manifesto for the Creative Economy. Retrieved from https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/a-manifesto-for-the-creative-economy-april13.pdf Bakhshi, H. & Yang, L. (2018). Creativity and the future of work. Creative Industries Federation and NESTA. Retrieved from https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/creativity-and-the-future-of-work/ Bazalgette, P. (2017). Independent Review of the Creative Industries. DCMS Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/649980/Indepedent_Review_of_the_Creative_Industries.pdf Bhagat, D. & O’Neil, P. (2011). Inclusive Practices, Inclusive Pedagogies: Learning from Widening Participation Research in Art and Design Higher Education. London: CHEAD. Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32 (3), 347- 364. BIS (2016). Success as a Knowledge Economy: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility, and Student Choice. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-white-paper Blair, B. (2007). At the end of a huge crit in the summer, it was “crap” – I’d worked really hard but all she said was “fine” and I was gutted. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education, 5 (2), 83-95. Bourdieu, P. (1984). The Aristocracy of Culture. Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge. Brown, S. (1995). Postmodern marketing. London: Routledge. Burke, P. J. & McManus, J. (2009). Art for a few: exclusion and misrecognition in art and design higher education admissions. London: National Arts Learning Network. Caves, R. (2000). The Creative Industries: Contracts between art and commerce. London: Harvard University Press. Cox, G. (2005). Cox Review of Creativity in Business. HM Treasury. Retrieved from https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120704143146/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Cox_review-foreword-definition-terms-exec-summary.pdf Curran, R. (2018). A meeting of minds: the impact of partnership working. RAISE International Colloquium on Partnership proceedings. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 2 (1), 114-5. Drew, L. (2008). The student experience in art & design higher education: Drivers for change. Cambridge: Jill Rodgers Associates Easton, E. (2015). Creative Diversity: the state of diversity in the UK’s creative industries and what we can do about it. London: The Creative Industries Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.creativeindustriesfederation.com/publications/creative-diversity Ferreday, D. & Hodgson, V. (2008). The tyranny of participation and collaborating in networked learning. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Networked Learning, 640-7. Retrieved from http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/the-tyranny-of-participation-and-collaborating-in-networked-learning Finnegan, T. & Richards, A. (2015). Embedding Equality and Diversity in the Curriculum: An art & design practitioner’s guide. London: University of the Arts London. Garnham, W. (2018). Let the bandwagon pass: a role for active learning in lectures. Educational Developments, 19 (3), 10-11. Gilroy, P. (1993). The Black Atlantic: Modernity & Double Consciousness. London: Verso. Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: the story of success. London: Penguin Gourlay, L. (2015). Student engagement and the tyranny of participation. Teaching in Higher Education, 20 (4), 402-411, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2015.1020784 Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: Who Needs ‘Identity’? In Hall, S. and du Gay, P. (Eds), Questions of Cultural Identity (p.1). London: Sage HEFCE (2008). Tender for a study into student engagement, Call for tenders edn. Bristol: Higher Education Funding Council for England. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: where old and new media collide. New York University Press. Kashif, M. & Basharat, S. (2014). Factors impacting university students’ engagement with classroom activities: qualitative study. International Journal of Management in Education, 8 (3), 209-224. King, C. (1963). Fashion adoption: A rebuttal of the ‘trickle-down’ theory. In S. Greyser (Ed.) Towards Scientific Marketing (pp.108-125). Chicago: American Marketing Association. Latour, B. (2005). Re-assembling the Social: an introduction to actor network theory. Oxford University Press Leadbeater, C. (2008). We Think: mass innovation not mass consumption. London: Profile Books. McWilliam, E. (2010). Learning culture, teaching economy. Pedagogies, 5 (4), 286-297. Merry, K.L. (2018). Developing teaching practice with Universal Design for Learning. Educational Developments 19 (3), 16-19 Miller, D. (1995). Acknowledging Consumption. London: Routledge Moran, H. & Powell, J. (2018). Running a tight ship: can universities plot a course through rough seas? Retrieved from https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2018/01/30/Guardian_HSBC_UUK_Research_full_report_V4.pdf Negus, K. & Pickering, M. (2004). Creativity, Communication and Cultural Value. London: Sage. Neves, J. & Stoakes, G. (2018). UKES, learning gain and how students spent their time. Higher Education Pedagogies, 3 (1), 219-221. Nixon, S. (2003). Advertising Cultures: gender, commerce, creativity. London: Sage. Noble, F. (2018). Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Quintessentially, speaking at the Creative Industries Federation International Summit, on The Future of the Creative Consumer. Milton Court, London. Orr, S. (2010). We kind of try to merge our own experience with the objectivity of the criteria: The role of connoisseurship and tacit practice in undergraduate fine art assessment. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 9 (1), 5–19. Orr, S. & Bloxham, S. (2013). Making judgements about students making work: Lecturers’ assessment practices in art and design. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 12 (2-3), 234-253. Senior, C., Moores, E., & Burgess, A.P. (2017). I Can’t Get No Satisfaction: Measuring Student Satisfaction in the Age of a Consumerist Higher Education, Frontiers in Education, 8, 980. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00980. Senior, C., Fung, D., Howard, C., & Senior, R., (2018). Editorial: What Is the Role for Effective Pedagogy in Contemporary Higher Education? Frontiers in Education, 9, 1299. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01299 Shelton, F. (2018). The Student Experience Framework: enhancing the student experience through a framework for engagement. Educational Developments, 19 (3), 7-10 Smailes, J. (2018). Flipping heck! Can we get students to engage in large group settings?. Educational Developments, 19 (3), 19-23. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press Willis, P. and Gregory, A. (2016). Making the road while walking: co-creation, teaching excellence, and university leadership. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.lfhe.ac.uk/en/research-resources/publications-hub/index.cfm/WillisST33 Winstone, N. E., Nash, R.A., Rowntree, J., & Parker, M. (2017). It'd be useful, but I wouldn't use it’: barriers to university students’ feedback seeking and recipience. Studies in Higher Education, 42 (11), 2026-2041.