Moving Beyond Consultation in Student Engagement

Moving Beyond Consultation in Student Engagement

What is this Research About?

‘Student Engagement’ is a phrase that is frequently thrown around in education, however it is often treated as a performative box-checking exercise, or as very surface-level participation. To have meaningful discussions with students about institutional change, we must find ways to go above and beyond simple consultation to have open and authentic conversations about how our system of education is run. This study aimed to find ways to encourage students to participate as co-creators of education and collaborators in curriculum renewal and development.

What did the Researchers Do?

For this project, a group of students were recruited to be ‘Student Ambassadors’ for the Sydney Teaching Collective (STC), a conference for instructors at the University of Sydney. These Ambassadors were given concrete tasks to work on before/during/after the STC, including developing social media resources to engage the wider student community with the conference. Student ambassadors then joined the conference and interacted with faculty/staff, independently discovering education research and recent innovations in teaching. After the conference, researchers sat down with each student and invited them to reflect on their experience at the STC, including what they had learned about university teaching and assessment development.

What did the Researchers Find?

The bulk of the researchers’ findings came from their interviews with the Student Ambassadors after the end of the conference. Students said that having concrete ways for them to contribute to the conference eliminated some of the barriers and made them feel invited in a space that that was not built for student voice. Since the students involved approached the conference as researchers, they asked questions and explored parts of the faculty/academic experience that felt unclear to them. Equipped with this knowledge, students engaged in more participatory discussions, and provided clearer ideas on how faculty members can improve assessment practices.

→ How to Implement this Research in Your University:

This study shows what is necessary to have participatory discussions with students about institutional and curriculum changes. Academic staff often approach these conversations with significantly different experiences from students, and a deep knowledge of the realities of academic life. To have valuable discussions with students, it is important to allow them to explore and come to an understanding of the systems that shape the faculty experience. Once a level of common understanding is reached, students and academic staff can critically discuss teaching, assessment practices, and the university system. Students should be encouraged to think critically about their educational experience and act as researchers of the student experience, with support from academic staff.

→  Citation

Peseta, T., Bell, A., Clifford, A., English, A., Janarthana, J., Jones, C., Teal, M., & Zhang, J. (2016). Students as ambassadors and researchers of assessment renewal: puzzling over the practices of university and academic life. International Journal for Academic Development, 21(1), 54-66. doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2015.1115406

→  Keywords

  • Post-secondary education
  • Students-as-partners
  • Student engagement
  • Assessment development

Creative Commons by logo This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Canada License

Snapshot Writer: William Coleman

Snapshot Publication Date: 2025

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