I’ve been reflecting on this thread, particularly the revolution/evolution dimension, and I’m wondering if I would be bold enough to submit something along these lines in the next TEF – as the written submission part.

 

(Not that any institution is likely to ask me to write a TEF submission, of course, so this is just a fictitious scenario for reflection amongst us in this community of practice)

 

Personal Notes for the next TEF submission

 

Conceptual Underpinning:

Start with a bold statement.  If everything is a footnote to Plato then it must be in The Republic somewhere – [but don’t quote Plato – probably won't sound right in this context]

 

Perhaps look up Peter Abbs (The Socratic Imperative) and say something about how the institution fosters the notion of education, not as knowledge of, but as a critical attitude of mind in search of what is good.

 

Say something about education and the human condition (link Arendt, perhaps?) – and how the institution tries to foster a sense of social justice – making the world a better place through education, or how HEIs should be viewed as the social conscience of a nation and how we try to enact that - but use citizenship word if things are beginning to sound a bit deep [check that this is still an appropriate buzz word]

 

Mine the critical pedagogy tradition.  Possible reference to Friere, and students not being spoken to, but provided with opportunities to explore how they can authentically grow – link with widening opportunity policies of the institution [but check that the latest publicity still says WP and not inclusive practice or diversity – use as appropriate]

 

Jump to Monica McClean and demonstrate how critical pedagogy tradition is being operationalized [but don’t use that work – sounds daft].

 

Give a nod to Carl Rogers on significant learning opportunities being provided – and LOs being negotiated rather than prescribed [check whether student or learner is the current PC word]. 

 

Check with head of learning technology that the digital learning landscape still dovetails on everything [check first that they still use that phrase. If don’t understand reply, email Helen Beetham for advice].

 

Practical application in the curriculum

Find some good examples in the curriculum of students having negotiated projects with staff and employers and local community reps  - demonstrate where they have made a difference and enhanced their employability [check that employability is still the appropriate buzz word].

 

Give examples of where students have been made responsible for their learning, and become autonomous from their teachers, or free – as Rogers said  [check whether people still say flipped classroom]. Make explicit link with assessment strategies which emphasise student negotiation on assignments, self-assessment, and student peer mentoring.

 

Find good examples in depts where `rounded person’ focus is evident in the negotiation of LOs [check with Teacher Ed dept whether anyone refers to Bloom anymore or SOLO taxonomy, etc. and whether students are made aware of all this; not just staff – use appropriately, if yes].

 

Use Angela Brew’s mosaic to show how research and teaching are being combined in the curriculum and show how staff and students work together on all four of Boyer’s scholarships [use Boyer’s term the scholarship of engagement to describe this]

 

Get some good quotes from the student ambassadors on how their projects have enhanced the student experience – [check that this is still the correct buzz term].  Good opportunity here to refer to those projects which have enhanced student well-being – but check that this emphasis doesn’t undermine the role of critical thinking for students – use Boyer’s notion of a rounded scholar to apply to students as well as staff [check whether institutional publicity still says global citizen and that it wouldn’t sound too pompous here and would undermine soundness of argument].

 

Make sure that examples of `student as partners’ are clear [check that this is still the correct term in the institution], and use examples from where students have been change agents on campus.

 

Emphasise how students are not the objects of learning but a critical part of the learning process in higher education.  If that sounds a bit risky and sounds like blaming students if they don’t learn anything then quote von Humboldt on how the whole purpose of HE is to put everyone in the service of scholarship [he’s too revered, surely, for any criticism on that front] and how the institution tries to enact this.

 

Notes to self on things to check

Conveniently ignore all the departments that haven’t taken a blind bit of notice of anything I’ve said at development events in the previous two years  [if feel that institution could be exposed here make references to how the institution respects disciplinary differences in academic practice]

 

Check with Quality dept. that all the quantitative data we hold will look good on the metric side.  Pretty pointless exercise, if not.

 

If data looks dodgy, make appointment with Pro VC L and T, and start talking about lowering expectations of Gold, and that Silver is about right this time round.

 

At the same time, seek intel from her on how many people she believes in the SMT are rather transactional in their thinking about the TEF and assess whether you think that she has gone over to the dark side in her new role or is she is still the transformational figure she was.

 

When final draft is ready, check whether not using the word teaching at least once in the narrative would be a bit risky.  If so, go back through and put `teaching and’ in front of all references to learning. [Check whether it is still PC to put `learning and teaching’, or whether the order doesn’t matter any more.]

 

Re-read final draft several times to make sure that the narrative is compelling – after all this is a textual exercise – but also – for the sake of personal integrity - that it does actually reflect everything the institution truly believes in, and tries to enact.

 

If Bronze comes back, comfort oneself with the J.M. Keynes explanation as to why he got a third in Maths from Cambridge - because he obviously knew more than the people marking his work.  But put that comment out of head when making new job applications – think Gandhi.

 

Don’t be tempted to send these notes to anyone …

Best

John

John Lea

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From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Lea, John ([log in to unmask]) <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 26 January 2018 17:49

To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Blog post: The purpose of education?

 

Thanks Jason,

 

For me, I think Readings’ most substantial point was that because everything is contestable the battle of ideas is not so much about reaching a consensus but learning to work with dissensus.

Best

John

John Lea

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From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Jason Davies <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 26 January 2018 17:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Blog post: The purpose of education?

 

Didn't Foucault say something to the effect that the word 'fascism' is only useful because it's underdefined, and is therefore quite easily moulded to whatever purpose you need?

I like Reading's book a lot (great paragraph somewhere in there about everyone describing themselves as excellent using identical language) but my memory of it is that he recommended universities be/become/remain places for 'thinking', and he left that just as underdefined as 'excellence' already was even then.

Language being made to perform subtly (or drastically) new purposes is surely just language at work: the driving and shaping forces are always going to be values and relevance (not as far apart as they might initially seem to some), which takes us back to Dilly's point that we need to keep contesting the meanings imputed to/imposed on teaching not as guardians of a fixed meaning but as custodians of those values that underpin what has us teach and research in the first place. I'd suggest this isn't about 'settling' anything though. When I started teaching, a friend said 'just remember, more than anything else, you teach what you are'. Academics are what academics do, which (I think) is stop, look and listen more deeply (then poke things gently to see what happens [please translate for your discipline as appropriate]; as long as we are doing that to the metrics and the governance (and the language), there's hope;)

Cheers
Jason

On 26 Jan 2018, at 16:32, Lea, John ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

“All that the system requires is for activity to take place and the empty notion of excellence refers to nothing other than the optimal input/output ratio in matters of information.” Bill Readings The University in Ruins (p39)

 

An example of this I enjoy contemplating (to see if I can think of any equivalents in education) is how the rail companies in their desire to reach excellence now give trains more time to get to their destinations – so that fewer of them can be deemed late – that’s excellent in one sense and pure nonsense in another.

Best

John

John Lea

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From: David Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 26 January 2018 16:13
To: [log in to unmask]; Lea, John ([log in to unmask])
Subject: Re: Blog post: The purpose of education?

 

There's some interesting conundra/conundrums on 'excellence' contained in the attached from Notts Uni. It seems that to be an 'excellent' lecturer, I need to be 'easily contactable outside the classroom', among other things. 'Excellence' now seems to me to be a vapid empty signifier, especially since if everyone achieves excellence (and we are being told to be excellent in everything - research; research bids; personal tuition; engagement and on and on), we would all be the same, or rather, a new normality would have been achieved devoid of excellence, since excellence is presumably defined in relation to mediocrity and normality. It seems like another whip to beat us towards a target that can be neither defined nor achieved - nor readily criticized without imminent censure.  It feels a bit like the Cultural Revolution all over again.

Dr. David Roberts,
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Senior Lecturer in International Relations
Loughborough University (Room BE141)
[log in to unmask]

New publications
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/P3GZXEUw6saJMACuHtwW/full

www.davidrobertsconsulting.org
www.lboro.academia.edu/DRoberts
www.davidrobertsonline.org

https://lb-public.lboro.ac.uk/cgi-bin/personcite?username=eudr2&hits=10

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From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Lea, John ([log in to unmask]) <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 26 January 2018 15:52:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Blog post: The purpose of education?

 

Or - as often happens when you start using a word as a ruler - once people all become excellent you then have to talk about going `beyond excellence’.

 

Which itself has two meanings: 1: extending the ruler, or 2: deciding not to play that game anymore.

Best

John

John Lea

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From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Giles I.G. <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 26 January 2018 15:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Blog post: The purpose of education?

 

Oh! the inexactitudes of language.  In the OED the adjectival use of good has 7 distinct meanings (see below).  Hence the importance of everyone understanding what definition is being used in this kind of context.  I suspect that politicians would use a different meaning to those subscribing to this list.  I also think that we are in danger of creating a new definition of excellence as there is only a single dictionary definition which is (my emphasis):

noun [mass noun] 

the quality of being outstanding or extremely good: awards for excellence | a centre of academic excellence. 

• [count noun] archaic an outstanding feature or quality. 

To me this is a binary quality - something is either excellent or it is not - therefore how can excellence be graded?

Ian

______________
Dr Ian G. Giles PFHEA
Emeritus Professorial Fellow, Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine
University of Southampton
 

Email:	[log in to unmask]
Web:	http://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/about/staff/igg.page http://about.me/iggiles
LinkedIn:	http://www.linkedin.com/in/iggiles

 
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled” - Plutarch

good | ɡʊd | 

adjective (better, best) 1 to be desired or approved of: it's good that he's back to his old self | a good quality of life | [as exclamation] : Good! The more people the better! • pleasing and welcome: we've had some good news | it's good to see you again. • showing approval: the play had good reviews. 2 having the required qualities; of a high standard: a good restaurant | his marks are just not good enough. • skilled at doing or dealing with a specified thing: I'm good at crosswords | he was good with children. • healthy, strong, or well: she's not feeling too good. • useful, advantageous, or beneficial in effect: too much sun is not good for you. • appropriate to a particular purpose: this is a good month for planting seeds. • (of language) with correct grammar and pronunciation: she speaks good English. • strictly adhering to or fulfilling all the principles of a particular religion or cause: I am the eldest of five in a good Catholic family. 3 possessing or displaying moral virtue: her father was a good man. • showing kindness: it was good of you to come. • obedient to rules or conventions: accustom the child to being rewarded for good behaviour. • used to address or refer to people in a courteous, patronizing, or ironic way: a man very like your good self, in fact | the good lady of the house. • commanding respect: he was concerned with establishing and maintaining his good name. • belonging or relating to a high social class: he comes from a good family. 4 giving pleasure; enjoyable or satisfying: the streets fill up with people looking for a good time. • pleasant to look at; attractive: you're looking pretty good. • (of clothes) smart and suitable for formal wear: he went upstairs to change out of his good suit. 5 [attributive] thorough: now is the time to have a really good clear-up | have a good look around. • used to emphasize that a number is at least as great as one claims: they're a good twenty years younger. • used to emphasize a following adjective or adverb: we had a good long hug | it'll be good and dark by then. • fairly large in number, amount, or size: the match attracted a good crowd | there's a good chance that we may be able to help. 6 (usually good for) valid: the ticket is good for travel from May to September. • likely to provide: she's always good for a laugh. • sufficient to pay for: his money was good for a bottle of whisky. 7 used in conjunction with the name of God or a related expression as an exclamation of extreme surprise or anger: good heavens! 

On 26 Jan 2018, at 13:20, Fung, Dilly <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Interesting that you see a sense of positivism in the notion of 'good', Nick - for me it's quite the opposite. Good for me implies morally right (see dictionary definition), not by any means something that's in principle scientifically 'provable'. And of course the definition of good is specific to a given culture and time. I tried to make that point in my blog post but perhaps not very clearly - difficult with such a limited number of words. But yes, shared sense-making is absolutely what I have in mind here - once you orientate towards values, there's no other way. In my book I write about ongoing shared dialogue for exactly that reason.

All the best

Dilly

Prof Dilly Fung PFHEA FRSA

Professor of Higher Education Development

Academic Director

Arena Centre for Research-based Education

University College London

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@DevonDilly

PA: Sonale Karadia

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Tel: 0203 108 6463 (ext 56463)

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Dr Jason P Davies
Senior Teaching Fellow (Tuesday-Friday)
UCL Arena Centre for Research-Based Education (formerly CALT)
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