Here here, Sian - well said! (sorry Trev!)
chris rust
>
>--Boundary_(ID_VIae2Tb4dxXK/9I+oqov9Q)
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>I don't agree at all with the point I think Trevor was making, that we =
>all knew quality when we saw it, even if we couldn't quite put our =
>finger on what made it quality. When I made my choice of which =
>university to go to, we 'all knew' that Oxford was the best university, =
>(apart from everyone who 'knew' that Cambridge was the best university), =
>and I spent 3 years reading Eng Lit at Oxford & left with a 2:1=20
>
>I am still angry at the poverty of the teaching I received there, and my =
>ignorance when I left of almost everything that had happened this =
>century in terms of studying literature and culture. If I hadn't gone =
>on to do a Masters at Strathclyde, I might never have found out what I =
>didn't know. =20
>
>So while I may not agree with all the proposals QAA make, I have no =
>doubt that we need quality assurance measures which do not rely on the =
>old boy network and the status quo. I only hope that a system develops =
>that does bring, not the language, but the concepts, of 'stake-holders' =
>and 'value-added' to Oxbridge.
>
>Sh=E2n=20
>
>Dr Sh=E2n Wareing
>Head of Learning Development
>University of Wales College, Newport
>Allt-yr-yn campus PO Box 180
>Newport NP20 5XR UK
>
>[log in to unmask]
>http://cld.newport.ac.uk
>tel:01633 432556
>fax:01633 432506
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 07 November 1999 21:14
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Assessing attendance: in support of Peter Cuthbert
>
>Good on you, Peter.
>When I read the original mail in which the writer said she had been told =
>to=20
>write a paper on 'assessing attendance', my immediate answer was 'tell =
>them=20
>you won't do it'. I wouldn't. What I might do is to point them elsewhere =
>for=20
>they are surely trying to find an answer to the wrong problem.=20
>
>Being a university teacher has two components: (a) supporting the =
>student and=20
>(b) academic (underlined) rigour. This involves achieving an =
>appropriate=20
>balance between 'trust' and 'control'. Assessing attendance probably =
>displays=20
>a lack of trust or an excess of control or both.=20
>
>I'm taking the liberty of quoting below, very freely but I hope the gist =
>is=20
>there, from the Annual Report on Staff Development for 1997-98, =
>beautifully=20
>written, as usual, by Colin Evans at Birkbeck College, which says it all =
>
>better than I can. Most of the words in brackets are my additions.
>
>"The changing context of higher education in the UK is characterised by =
>a=20
>contest between two value systems - the Implicit and the Explicit.=20
>
>Thirty years ago going to university was a minority activity with =
>relatively=20
>little financial consequences for the state and the tax payer. The =
>university=20
>operated on a system of implicit knowledge (and trust):=20
>. we all knew what good research was;=20
>. we knew the difference between a first class degree and a second =
>class=20
>one;=20
>. we knew when a lecturer) was spending her/his time profitably and =
>earning=20
>his keep and when s/he was underworking though it (usually) 'wasn't =
>done' to=20
>act on this knowledge;
>. we knew that (a higher) education was sufficient unto itself and =
>didn't=20
>necessarily have to 'have a purpose'.
>
>Today higher education is a big budget item concerning large numbers of=20
>students and staff who are expected to make a contribution to the =
>nation's=20
>wellbeing and the exact nature of the 'value-added' has to be made =
>explicit=20
>to the 'stakeholders' (who include the students).
>
>The language of 'value-added' and 'stakeholders' ..... is that of those =
>who=20
>require explicitness not of those whose sense of identity comes from not =
>
>needing to spell things out.
>
>A group (e.g. teachers, students, teachers and students together, etc.) =
>whose=20
>members understand each other implicitly, almost without language, has =
>great=20
>strength. When required to spell things out, to the world or to one =
>another,=20
>it loses that strength, partly because the implicitness and togetherness =
>may=20
>prove to be an illusion (we may not know what 'graduateness' is or what =
>a=20
>'First' is (or what 'good attendance' and 'poor attendance' imply or =
>mean),=20
>but mainly because the trust on which implicitness depended has been=20
>destroyed, to be replaced by what seems to be an endless, pettifogging,=20
>bureaucratic process of specification.
>
>The whole process of demanding explicitness - RAE, TQA, Appraisal,=20
>Accreditation, Quality Audit, (Assessing Attendance) - entails a very =
>real=20
>loss which has not always been acknowledged. Complaints about the =
>quality=20
>industry (and its various effects on higher education) are not always =
>the=20
>last ditch resistance of people wanting to protect a privileged,=20
>non-accountable life.=20
>
>They are also essential reminders of the value of implicitness and of =
>the=20
>fact that, not everything can be measured or even articulated and some =
>of the=20
>things that cannot are our most valuable possessions."
>
>Yep, that just about says it for me!
>
>Trevor Habeshaw
>
>
>
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