Critiques of student engagement
Critiques of student engagement
Student engagement initiatives at the national, institutional and classroom level have emerged against a backdrop of rising participation rates and the marketizsation of higher education. This context has informed the development of a literature that is heavily influenced by cause-effect framing and a focus on effectiveness. However, in recent years an alternative, critical literature has emerged that challenges some of the assumptions of the student engagement movement on the grounds of student rights and freedoms as learners. This review article identifies the following six critiques of student engagement based on an analysis of the literature and arguments stemming from analyses of the effects of neoliberalism, namely performativity, marketing, infantilisation, surveillance, gamification and opposition. It is concluded that at a policy and institutional governance level, there is a need to shift the emphasis from what and how questions concerning student engagement to consider its broader political, economic and ethical implications as a means of challenging the prevailing
policy narrative.
student engagement, neoliberalism, performativity, marketing, infantilisation, surveillance, gamification, opposition
6-21
Macfarlane, Bruce
3e2b9eb0-1772-4642-bb51-ab49cc5b748c
Tomlinson, Michael
9dd1cbf0-d3b0-421e-8ded-b3949ebcee18
1 March 2017
Macfarlane, Bruce
3e2b9eb0-1772-4642-bb51-ab49cc5b748c
Tomlinson, Michael
9dd1cbf0-d3b0-421e-8ded-b3949ebcee18
Macfarlane, Bruce and Tomlinson, Michael
(2017)
Critiques of student engagement.
Higher Education Policy, 30 (1), .
(doi:10.1057/s4130701600273).
Abstract
Student engagement initiatives at the national, institutional and classroom level have emerged against a backdrop of rising participation rates and the marketizsation of higher education. This context has informed the development of a literature that is heavily influenced by cause-effect framing and a focus on effectiveness. However, in recent years an alternative, critical literature has emerged that challenges some of the assumptions of the student engagement movement on the grounds of student rights and freedoms as learners. This review article identifies the following six critiques of student engagement based on an analysis of the literature and arguments stemming from analyses of the effects of neoliberalism, namely performativity, marketing, infantilisation, surveillance, gamification and opposition. It is concluded that at a policy and institutional governance level, there is a need to shift the emphasis from what and how questions concerning student engagement to consider its broader political, economic and ethical implications as a means of challenging the prevailing
policy narrative.
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Accepted/In Press date: 30 November 2016
Published date: 1 March 2017
Additional Information:
Bruce Macfarlane is professor of higher education at the University of Southampton
Keywords:
student engagement, neoliberalism, performativity, marketing, infantilisation, surveillance, gamification, opposition
Organisations:
Southampton Education School
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 405343
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/405343
ISSN: 0952-8733
PURE UUID: a4220171-15ca-466c-a93e-3449ba34ea7f
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Date deposited: 06 Feb 2017 14:18
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:08
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Author:
Bruce Macfarlane
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