Abstract
<?page nr="71"?>Abstract In this article we develop a philosophical understanding of student-staff partnership through a novel interpretation and development of Aristotle’s friendship arguments. In contributing to an emerging critical field of study of student-staff partnership, we begin by explaining the current state of being a student in the neoliberal university. In light of the polylithic changes neo-liberalism impresses on student being and becoming, and how partnerships are proposed paradoxically as both a counterculture and serving this agenda, we develop a typology of partnership that helps those working in, and proposing to work in partnership, to discuss their ethical basis. For Aristotle, “What is worthy of love?” in the relationship, is a salient question. Is it utility? Is it pleasure? Is it virtue and flourishing? In the typology we propose an additional form of partnership—where creativity is a central activity worthy of time, energy, and love. It is reasonable to suggest that student-staff partnerships are likely to remain, if not grow, in the future university, and are likely to have a significant impact on the being and becoming of the student. It is for this reason we develop the typology in order for participants, particularly students, to have clarity in understanding the ethical motivation and purpose of the partnership in the university. We see this clarity as enabling students to see how the partnership will contribute to their notion of the flourishing life.
Highlights
Underpinning the discussion in this article is a concern that becoming and being a student in contemporary higher education takes place in a context where the neoliberal agendas of marketisation and consumerisation are having great impact on universities.1 Our focus is the increasing attention to and growth of student-staff partnerships and how the various forms such partnerships can be examined, based on an appreciation of Aristotle’s analysis of friendship.The article begins by examining the context in which becoming and being a student presently takes place and which affect becoming and being a student in the future university
In this article we develop a philosophical understanding of student-staff partnership through a novel interpretation and development of Aristotle’s friendship arguments
Is it utility? Is it pleasure? Is it virtue and flourishing? In the typology we propose an additional form of partnership—where creativity is a central activity worthy of time, energy, and love
Summary
Underpinning the discussion in this article is a concern that becoming and being a student in contemporary higher education takes place in a context where the neoliberal agendas of marketisation and consumerisation are having great impact on universities. Our focus is the increasing attention to and growth of student-staff partnerships and how the various forms such partnerships can be examined, based on an appreciation of Aristotle’s analysis of friendship. 10 Mick Healey, Abbi Flint, and Kathy Harrington, Engagement through Partnership: Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (London: Advance HE, 2014). They draw on Bovill and Bulley’s ladder of student participation in curriculum design as a useful model to explore practice and to demonstrate the different levels of participation that students have in decision making relating to curriculum (e.g., tutors making decisions based on student feedback, students having choice and influence in specific areas, or students controlling decision making) This category makes reference to students engaging in pedagogic consultancy, where students work closely with academics to provide advice and guidance on learning and teaching, following activities such as student-led teaching observations, surveying or interviewing students on the program, participating in program meetings and providing feedback and recommendations to staff. In order to do this, we draw on Aristotle and his friendship arguments with the intention that when “work is situated within a surprising form of interpretive framing, such as an unexpected metaphor, it may catalyse a new set of insights”.31 Our approach is intended to challenge us to think differently about what it means to be and become a student in the future university
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