“I Saw a Change”: Enhancing Classroom Equity through Student-Faculty Pedagogical Partnership

Abstract

Persistent inequities in access to and experiences of learning in postsecondary education have been well documented. In line with efforts to redress these inequities and develop more just institutions, this study explores the potential for pedagogical partnerships in which students and faculty collaborate on teaching and learning initiatives to contribute to classroom equity. We investigate this issue by drawing on qualitative interviews with students who have participated in extracurricular pedagogical partnership programs in institutions in Canada and the United States, and who identify as members of marginalized groups (e.g., racialized students, 2SLGBTQ+ students, students from religious minorities, disabled students). While much existing research on equity and student-faculty partnership primarily focuses on the outcomes of partnership for participating students, we instead investigate students’ perceptions of the extent to which their partnership efforts contributed to wider impacts—such as developments in faculty thinking and teaching practice and student experiences in the classroom. We also consider challenges students noted connected to power imbalances and faculty resistance, which influence partnership’s capacity to contribute to equity and raise important considerations for those interested in partnership practice.

Structuring extra-classroom pedagogical partnership to support truth telling for equity and inclusion: Recommendations for practice.

“…Others have their genesis in collaborations among offices and initiatives on campus (Bala, 2021) This work holds particular promise for realizing equity and inclusion efforts. SaLT and programs like it have been shown to impact practice through raising faculty and staff awareness of equitable practices such that those can be more intentionally implemented (Cook-Sather, 2020;Cook-Sather & Des-Ogugua, 2019;de Bie et al, 2021;Marquis et al, 2021). The partnerships also provide a low-stakes environment that encourages experimentation with pedagogical strategies that faculty and staff may not have had the opportunity to try before and on which they receive supportive feedback, such as in relation to equitable assessment approaches (Cook-Sather, 2021;Weiler & Williamson, 2020).…”

“…The student partners are in liminal roles—they are students, but they are not enrolled in the focal course (Cook-Sather, 2022; Cook-Sather & Alter, 2011; Cook-Sather & Felten, 2017)—working in one-on-one, semester-long partnerships with faculty or staff. This positioning allows students to draw on their lived experiences and expertise (Cook-Sather, 2023) and to mobilize their identities and insights to lead change for equity and inclusion (Cook-Sather, Krishna Prasad, et al, 2019; Marquis et al, 2021). In doing so, these students tell truths that, while not forms of telling faculty or staff how to do their jobs, offer insights faculty and staff are unlikely to access otherwise.…”

“…Through creating structures that bring students and faculty into dialogue and through supporting students in sharing lived experiences with other student partners in the brave spaces of weekly partnership program meetings, student partners are affirmed, empowered, and inspired as agents of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice work (Cook-Sather et al, 2021). Through engaging in dialogue with student partners, faculty and staff develop “respecting voices” (Cook-Sather, 2020) and become more intentional in enacting equitable and inclusive practices (Cook-Sather, 2020; Cook-Sather & Des-Ogugua, 2019; Cook-Sather et al, 2023; de Bie et al, 2021; Marquis et al, 2021).…”