Abstract
A case is made for the there being an important, but so far largely overlooked,relationship between a studentââ¬â¢s academic practices and outputs and character attributes such as open-mindedness, enthusiasm and perseverance. Even though there are very good reasons for believing this relationship exists, a need is identified for further research of a qualitative kind for generating awareness in students, teachers and academic support staff of its complex and significantly idiographic nature. Since any generalised, formalised or non-student-led application of these insights to teaching practice is inappropriate, such research, generating detailed case studies, would also serve as an appropriate means of inspiring this kind of reflection ââ¬â either directly in the student, or indirectly via increased teacher and learning development staff sensitivity to possibilities of these kinds of dialoguesoccurring. A brief example from my own teaching and research indicates the formand content of this research.
Highlights
Among the attributes implicitly or explicitly promoted by many universities and governments (e.g. University of Sydney, 2012; University of Glasgow, 2014; NCIHE, 1997; European Commission, 2002), the relationship between skills such as ‘effective communication’ and ‘critical thinking’ and academic output is relatively uncontroversial and straightforward
A student’s reflections on the work they produce, and the way they go about producing it, could serve to improve selfknowledge beyond a narrow academic identity. Following this it is argued that evidence supporting this hypothesis and, if it is supported, its communication to staff and students, should be achieved via qualitative studies that reinforce the subtle, complex and idiographic nature of such knowledge. These could serve to increase the sensitivity of teachers, and to inspire student-led dialogue, and handled correctly, this perspective on academic practices and outputs has the potential to provide a valuable tool for student self-reflection
The ones that will be discussed – openmindedness, flexibility, respectfulness, perseverance, commitment and non-defensiveness – are not intended to generate a definitive list of character attributes that might be evident in academic outputs and processes, but their presence is at the same time not arbitrary
Summary
Among the attributes implicitly or explicitly promoted by many universities and governments (e.g. University of Sydney, 2012; University of Glasgow, 2014; NCIHE, 1997; European Commission, 2002), the relationship between skills such as ‘effective communication’ and ‘critical thinking’ and academic output is relatively uncontroversial and straightforward. The initial point put forward in this article, is that the academic practices that determine the qualities of students’ assessments have the potential to serve as indicators of character-based attributes such as openmindedness, flexibility, and perseverance. The focus is on the potential that assessments and academic practice in general have for facilitating students’ reflections on their personal development.
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