The Students' Role in French Academic Deliberative Democracy

Since 1968, according to the French higher education law, elected students must participate in the different academic boards in every university. As trustees, they must formulate opinions about the institutional policy. Moreover, they must deliberate on equal terms with teachers. According to a common discourse, this democratic activity is still considered as a nonsense because of some students’ structural weaknesses: very low turnout at the elections of their representatives, very high absenteeism rate of these miselected representatives and incapacity to formulate responsible and pragmatic proposals. This students’ uselessness in the academic participatory governance process would come from a post‐modernist air du temps: youth apathy, individualism, democratic societies’ crisis . . . In accordance with the scientific questioning about the contemporary processes of political communication, I propose an alternative set of explanations focused on the spirit and practices which rule French academic boards. I assume that the development and improvement of student participation are also limited by endogenous factors that are closely linked with the functioning of the academic boards. I propose an ethnographic analysis of a French university board. I compare the elected students’ absenteeism to the others members’ (teachers, staff members and guests) attendance rates. Then I study the cultural patterns which structure the interactions. Discursive freedom would be the sine qua non condition of academic autonomy and the structural explanation of weak student participation by teachers.     

新时期高校学生社区管理模式创新研究——以善治理论为视角

目前,高校学生社区管理有不同的模式,这些模式有其可取之处,但也存在一些问题。在善治理论的视角下,提出创新性对策：合作治理,主体多元;扩大学生参与度,服务学生;优化学生管理队伍,增强行为责任性;建立考核监督机制,提高管理效率。     

共享治理实践中的管辖权剖析

大学共享治理机制设计进入运行层面需要解决的首要问题是大学内部各权力主体之间学术管辖权的界定与划分。共享治理不是简单的分权或者授权,而是董事会、大学管理层、教师治理系统享有不同性质的管辖权。董事会享有对大学的治理权,管理层享有对大学内部事物的管理权,而大学教师治理系统则享有对专业性学术事物的控制权。文章研究共同治理模式下美国学术治理管辖权的划分的理论与实际运作,以期为我国大学治理的机制改革提供借鉴和参考。     

PARTICIPATION AND CONTENT IN COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE BOARD MEETINGS

This study examined meetings of North Carolina community and technical college boards of trustees, focusing on the participation and contributions to the content of those meetings by board members. The boards represented smallest to largest institutions, in the eastern, central and western regions of the State. They met morning, mid‐day, afternoon and evening on a monthly, bi‐monthly, and tri‐monthly schedule from August 1986 through February 1987. Attendance was high, with few late arrivals or early departures. All agendas, ranging from 6 to 18 items, were completed in 50 to 115 minutes, with limited comments or questions by trustees. Members initiated little during the meetings and provided little evidence of use of sources of information from other than their college personnel.

It is suggested that meeting at least monthly for at least 1 1/2 hours (mean for the study was 73 minutes) could encourage more initiating contributions by members. Boards should consider regular examination of the processes of their subcommittee and full board meetings to determine their effectiveness and member satisfaction with them. Orientation of new board members should stress the importance of members seeking relevant information to contribute or undergird their participation in board meetings.     

高校学生参与机制革新的法治路径

新时代高校校生矛盾时有发生,深刻影响了高校的和谐稳定发展。而学生参与不足经常成为校生矛盾频发的主要原因。高校现有的学生参与机制法制化存在诸多缺陷,是学生参与不足的重要原因。学生参与机制法治路径的革新与完善,有利于尊重学生利益诉求的表达,是提高高校校生关系“回应性”治理水平的优先选择。学生参与机制革新的法治路径包括,充分完善学生参与相关立法和高校章程,确定学生参与范围,完善学生参与程序制度。     

Bolstering graduates’ success through working as student ambassadors in university widening participation programs

Since 2010, the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) has provided funding for Australian universities to ‘raise aspiration’ among under-represented groups. Underpinned by utilitarian discourses of human capital and individual capacitation, these resources have transformed the ways that universities seek to engage prospective students. This paper turns to an overlooked cohort that is integral to widening participation initiatives, but has rarely been the focus of research. These are the student ambassadors – university students who work within HEPPP programs. This paper reports findings from the alumni component of a mixed-method study which examines how widening participation programs, which are ostensibly directed at future university enrolments, might also help university students who work as student ambassadors to become successful professionals and citizens once they graduate from university. Alumni accounts of their experiences and self-reported impact of their ambassador work advocate a more holistic view of graduate success and how activities beyond mandatory coursework can contribute to success beyond university graduation. Evidence from student ambassador alumni suggests that these positive impacts are broad and long-lasting, contributing to students’ professional successes and personal lives.     

A Plea for Standards in Language

Transformative pedagogy encourages students to critically examine their assumptions, grapple with social issues, and engage in social action. The author extends literature in this area by describing ways faculty members who teach online courses can effectively use transformative pedagogy, including (1) creating a safe environment; (2) encouraging students to think about their experiences, beliefs, and biases; (3) using teaching strategies that promote student engagement and participation; (4) posing real-world problems that address societal inequalities; and (5) helping students implement action-oriented solutions.     

The evolution of student identity: A case of caveat emptor

Engaging students has been seen as the key to promoting their achievement in higher education institutions. However, there is an important stage prior to this: the development of a positive student identity which influences students’ motivation to engage. As the student body has evolved from full-time, on-campus students entering university straight from school to embrace adult, part-time and online learners who are also in employment, the transition to a student identity has become less transparent. To encourage part-time students undertaking an undergraduate degree in Social and Health Care Management to engage with each other, the course team piloted peer assessment within the programme for a year. This paper informs the debate by providing insight into the students’ approach to learning and attainment. It is argued that the culture of compliance and the technocratic approach to task completion increasingly required within the social care and learning sector is antithetical to deep learning. For students to make the transition they need to commit to a student identity in which participation in reflection and critical debate are valued. The challenge is for universities to enable this by addressing the barriers and stimulating a positive identity for non-traditional students.     

Teachers and students’ perception of competence-based education in the agricultural higher education system (Case of a student cooperative in Iran)

Purpose: This quantitative study sought to investigate the perceptions of teachers and students regarding competency-based education (CBE) principles at the College of Agriculture at Razi University.

Design: This research is a comparative analysis of two groups. The first group consists of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in agriculture who are members and non-members of student cooperatives (n?=?256). The second group consists of agricultural faculty members (n?=?59).

Findings: The results of this study show that students and teachers have different views with regard to the extent to which CBE principles are practiced in the College of Agriculture. Moreover, students with different learning patterns had different perceptions regarding the extent to which CBE is practiced, whereas teachers with different teaching patterns had the same perception of the application of CBE principles in the College of Agriculture.

Practical implications: This study has practical implications for agricultural higher education in general and colleges of agriculture in particular. Colleges of agriculture across Iran could encourage their students to establish and engage in student cooperatives so that the ‘what’ and ‘how’ aspects of CBE are put into practice.

Theoretical implications: This study has theoretical implications for CBE principles. For example, student cooperatives can be utilized by faculty members as one of the main strategies for developing CBE in agricultural colleges.

Originality/value: This study is original in that it moves from theory to practice when considering CBE.     

The engagement of mature distance students

An increasing proportion of tertiary students are aged 25 and over, and many of these students choose to study at a distance in order to more easily combine their studies with their family and work commitments. Higher attrition rates and lower course completion rates for this group highlight the need for a greater understanding of their student experience. To explore whether age and mode of study impact on student engagement, satisfaction, learning and departure intention, data from the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement from 1116 first-year undergraduate students from a single New Zealand university were analysed. Results confirm the influence of student engagement on both student satisfaction and learning, in particular the importance of a supportive learning environment. The findings suggest that while older and distance students are less likely to engage in active learning strategies with their fellow students, they have a much greater capacity to integrate their learning with their work experience. The finding that these students are as satisfied as the more traditional-aged, on-campus students suggests that their experience is different, but not second-rate. Universities need to build on the strengths of these students as well as provide greater opportunities for them to form collaborative relationships with similar students. Limitations stemming from the timing of the survey and the inherent limitations of cross-sectional surveys suggest the need for more in-depth longitudinal work to understand the changing nature of engagement for these students and to explore why they engage differently with their studies.     

The Ineffectiveness of our Effective Schools

The values and principles underpinning the ‘Leadership for Learning: Cambridge Network’ support the distribution of leadership to all members of the school community. This paper introduces the HCD (Highest Common Denominator) Student Partnership as a key way in which the ‘Leadership for Learning’ team learns from, explores and extends student leadership and participation within the current educational context. The paper opens with a consideration of current issues within the field of student voice before locating the contribution of the HCD Student Partnership within this field. Examples from recent projects with primary- and secondary-aged students are used to reflect on and illustrate the work of the Partnership with a view to sharing new practice and collaborating with new partners.     

Using action learning sets to support students managing transition into the clinical learning environment in a UK medical school

This paper reports on a Curriculum Innovation Project to empower third-year Undergraduate Medical students to recognise learning opportunities in their clinical placements and to proactively use them to develop their understanding and practice. The project created action learning sets (ALS) in response to the challenges students face when trying to engage in work-based learning. In particular, how changes to clinical working patterns affect student learning, principally their participation within clinical teams. Learning sets were conducted in 2 teaching hospitals, involving 20- year, 3 medical students over a 10-week period. The students met for one and a half to two hours each week and between meetings engaged in agreed activities and reflections. The project was independently evaluated using student interviews triangulated with facilitators’ systematic reflections on the sessions and student written reflections. ALS were found to provide a valuable and atypical approach to support students through the transition from Academic to Clinical learning settings and lay the foundations for a lifelong learning practice. This included supporting students to ask effective questions, develop participation in practice, present and identify themselves as emergent professionals, reflect upon and manage critical incidents and engage in both self-directed and collaborative learning.     

学生党员担任新生辅导员助理的现实意义探析

学生党员担任新生辅导员助理的工作模式有助于提高学生党员的党员意识和综合素质,有助于加强新生的思想政治教育,有利于班级工作全面深入地开展,帮助新生尽快适应大学生活.     

Unleashing student potential through democratic participation in decision making: controversies and prospects

The idea of students participating in decisions that affect them as individuals, organisations and/or communities is recent and urgent. The participation of students in decision making has gained global support, yet it does not seem to be regarded as a main vehicle for promoting democracy in educational institutions. This conceptual paper aims at demonstrating the difficulties perceived to hinder student participation in educational institutions. It further proposes strategies that may favour the increased and improved involvement of students in decision making processes. The reviewed literature on student participation informing this article highlights positive outcomes from engaging students as decision makers in education.     

关于高校学生参与学生管理的探讨

学生参与管理是我国高校在管理上的一个进步,标志着我国民主化进程的不断发展.学生参与管理的相关问题包括很多,比如说学生参与的内容,学生参与的程度以及学生参与的效果、学生参与的意义等.大多数高校学生认为学生参与管理是有意义的,同时也乐于参与管理.文章主要从高校学生参与管理存在的问题以及高校学生参与学生管理的措施两方面出发来探讨此问题,以期对高校学生参与管理有所借鉴.     

Teachers' framing of argumentation goals: Working together to develop individual versus communal understanding

For students to meaningfully engage in science practices, substantive changes need to occur to deeply entrenched instructional approaches, particularly those related to classroom discourse. Because teachers are critical in establishing how students are permitted to interact in the classroom, it is imperative to examine their role in fostering learning environments in which students carry out science practices. This study explores how teachers describe, or frame, expectations for classroom discussions pertaining to the science practice of argumentation. Specifically, we use the theoretical lens of a participation framework to examine how teachers emphasize particular actions and goals for their students' argumentation. Multiple-case study methodology was used to explore the relationship between two middle school teachers' framing for argumentation, and their students' engagement in an argumentation discussion. Findings revealed that, through talk moves and physical actions, both teachers emphasized the importance of students driving the argumentation and interacting with peers, resulting in students engaging in various types of dialogic interactions. However, variation in the two teachers' language highlighted different purposes for students to do so. One teacher explained that through these interactions, students could learn from peers, which could result in each individual student revising their original argument. The other teacher articulated that by working with peers and sharing ideas, classroom members would develop a communal understanding. These distinct goals aligned with different patterns in students' argumentation discussion, particularly in relation to students building on each other's ideas, which occurred more frequently in the classroom focused on communal understanding. The findings suggest the need to continue supporting teachers in developing and using rich instructional strategies to help students with dialogic interactions related to argumentation. This work also sheds light on the importance of how teachers frame the goals for student engagement in this science practice.     

Beyond professionalisation: enhancing the governance culture for Australian university governing boards

This article examines emerging norms of good practice for Australian university governing boards and issues that university governing boards could address to develop effective governance cultures. It firstly considers the ways in which support for many Australian university governing boards has become professionalised over the past decade. At the same time, longstanding tensions or ‘paradoxes’ persist, (Cornforth, 2003) notably between ‘corporate’ and ‘participatory’ board models. To ‘tame’ these tensions requires formative processes of deliberation and debate. The article outlines understandings that may assist boards to engage in such processes and to develop their awareness of differing values in governance practices.     

Independent School Leadership: Heads,Boards, and Strategic Thinking

This study seeks to identify and assess factors that contribute to effective independent school governance at the board of trustees level. A review of extant literature reveals two major challenges: (a) definitions and standards of board effectiveness are inconsistent, and (b) there is very little empirical evidence to support existing definitions and notions of effective governance. Study authors have developed a “strategic effectiveness” metric to encompass factors associated with perceptions of board effectiveness and an “institutional performance” metric that includes factors that are critical to the sustainability of independent schools. Survey respondents include 806 heads of school and board chairs. School leaders at six independent schools in the Northeast, Midwest, and the South were interviewed to gather empirical data regarding strategic board governance and institutional performance. This study identifies two areas that impact school leaders’ ability to think and act strategically: (a) intentional acculturation of trustees over extended periods of time (“onboarding”) and (b) strategic identification and cultivation of potential trustees. Both of these factors impact strategic effectiveness and contribute positively to institutional performance.     

Who’s asking the questions in classrooms? Exploring teacher practice and student engagement in generating engaging and intellectually challenging questions

Student engagement that leads to enhanced learning outcomes involves three interdependent facets: behaviour, emotion and cognition. As such, learning activities that encourage deep learning and the intellectual challenging of minds should provide opportunities for reasoning and critical and creative thinking. An approach that resonates strongly with student engagement involves fostering student voice in the classroom, and the generation and utilization of students’ questions is one means of achieving this. Implicit in this approach is the need for both teachers and students to pose questions that engage and intellectually challenge thinking. In this pilot case study, eight volunteer teachers from one school chose to investigate their own practice by either focusing on their own questioning skills to foster student engagement in the classroom or, on how they could support their students to generate intellectually challenging questions that lead to increasing student voice, engagement and deeper learning in the classroom. Key findings were that who does the questioning is not an either-or dichotomy, and that significant pedagogical shifting requires a long-term focus. This shift is influenced by teachers’ commitment to using questioning as a pedagogical approach for enhancing student learning.