Challenging the Status Quo to Embed Partnership

This year I have been analysing my PhD research data and have been delighted to have opportunities to share, discuss, and receive feedback on my initial findings. In particular, I began 2017 by leading the workshop 'Exploring Power: Democratisation of Knowledge through Co-production' a conference on co-production at the University of Glasgow and I presented 'Co-creation of the Curriculum: The Juicy Challenges and Clear Benefits' at the TSEP conference in London (see my Publications and Presentations page for further details).

Presenting at these conferences helped me reflect more about some of the initial research findings relating to the challenges and benefits of co-creation of the curriculum in higher education. This informed my work on a research article for the Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change with the theme of Embedding the Culture of Engagement.

I'm thrilled that my work on the research article 'Co-Creation of the Curriculum: Challenging the Status Quo to Embed Partnership' for this special issue has now been published. The abstract is below, and I hope you enjoy reading it. I look forward to any continued discussions about it via Twitter or email!

Many individuals in the higher education sector claim that co-creation of the curriculum is an innovative process of student engagement in which students and staff members become partners in curriculum development. This research analyses rare instances of co-creation of the curriculum in the Scottish higher education sector to understand individuals’ different conceptualisations of this collaborative teaching and learning practice. The researcher interviewed ten academic members of staff and ten students who participated in co-creation of the curriculum in Scotland to analyse their perspectives of the benefits as well as the challenges of this form of active student engagement. Staff and students participating in co-creation of the curriculum encounter such challenges as staff and students taking on different responsibilities, increased time and effort involved and institutional inertia as they challenge the status quo. This paper will explore how individuals have overcome these challenges to embed partnership and achieve strong benefits of co-creation of the curriculum, including shared ownership and the engagement of both students and staff in the learning community and their increased satisfaction and professional development resulting from working in partnership.

Read the full article.