Transition pedagogies and the neoliberal episteme: What do academics think?

Kate Hughes

doi:10.5204/ssj.v8i2.378

Abstract

There has been much discussion of the massification of higher education and its impact on contemporary universities in terms of increased demands on academic staff in the context of neoliberal managerialism, and the power regimes which govern the sector. Less is written about the pedagogies used under neoliberalism. Many academics view tertiary education as both an individually and socially transformative process, and there is a sense that the current discursive environment engenders an inertia wherein this commitment is lost. This paper focusses on a small qualitative study of staff working in two universities at the bottom of the league tables. Their perceptions of pedagogical work and their views of their transformative potential under neoliberalism is discussed. The argument is made that there is the potential for building a space for critical education in contemporary universities. This article explores these issues, arguing that the use of transition pedagogies can create a transformative education.

Highlights

There is little doubt that higher education is in the midst of seismic change as it becomes increasingly constrained by a range of neoliberal discourses and practices which draw higher education into the economic domain of the marketplace and subject it to the principles of the free market (Ball & Olmedo, 2013; Collyer, 2015; Connell, 2013)
This paper explores the habitus of neoliberal universities, the position of the teaching academic workforce, and the ways in which transition pedagogies offer a disruptive intervention which might better generate the ‘creative process orientated to the future’ which Connell advocates (2013, p. 104)
How can you teach that without being explicit? And the cost is what? That as a teacher you somehow lose your power or control over the class? Well I think if that's a problem for you, maybe it's a deeper problem than just being explicit about how you're teaching (37, permanent, Creative Arts). Is it possible to stand aside from the discursive imperatives generated by neoliberalism and its practices in the academy? On one level, it is not, since all academics are subject to the managerialism and metrics which both shape academic lives and predict academic futures in new ways

Summary

Abstract*

There has been much discussion of the massification of higher education and its impact on contemporary universities in terms of increased demands on academic staff in the context of neoliberal managerialism, and the power regimes which govern the sector. This paper focusses on a small qualitative study of staff working in two universities at the bottom of the league tables. Their perceptions of pedagogical work and their views of their transformative potential under neoliberalism is discussed. The argument is made that there is the potential for building a space for critical education in contemporary universities. This article explores these issues, arguing that the use of transition pedagogies can create a transformative education.

Introduction

Ethics approval was granted by both participating universities

Conclusion