Student participation in higher education – A question of governance and power

Abstract

The article presents a study of higher education teachers' view of student participation. The aim of the study is to describe and understand perceptions of student participation on teaching in relation to organisations, processes and contents through statements by a number of teachers. The theoretical framework consists of Foucault's view of power and Arnstein's participation model. The method is a qualitative textual analysis. The results show that student participation can be identified on the basis of the topics governance, activity and evaluation, and that there are six perspectives that show various levels of student participation and degrees of power. The conclusion is that student participation should be demonstrated on the basis of a broader perspective than normally seems to be the case.