Pedagogic partnership in higher education: encountering emotion in learning and enhancing student wellbeing

Abstract

Despite emotion being recognised as fundamental to learning, the affective aspects of learning have often been side-lined in higher education. In the context of rising student wellbeing challenges, exploring ways of supporting students and their emotions in learning is increasingly significant. Pedagogic partnerships have the potential to help students to recognise and work with their emotions in their learning in a positive manner. As such, pedagogic partnerships offer opportunities to promote resilience and enhance student wellbeing. In this paper, we develop partnership research in three ways by: 1) considering the ways in which pedagogic partnership may support students to encounter emotions and empower them to develop resilience, leading to positive wellbeing; 2) exploring how this process might be achieved in the disciplinary context of geography; and 3) developing an evidence-based model to summarise the potential effect of pedagogic partnership in enhancing student wellbeing. We draw upon two case studies of student-faculty and student-student pedagogic partnership within geography curricula in order to evidence that emotional awareness in learning comes through the joys and struggles of working in partnership. We argue that pedagogic partnership may be developed to support the wellbeing of modern-day higher education communities.

Learner involvement in the co-creation of teaching and learning: AMEE Guide No. 138

“…Additionally, learners and teachers continuously develop their skills and attitudes regarding communication, collaboration, and how to deal with conflicts (Cook-Sather et al 2014). Empowering learners contributes to the development of positive feelings and attitudes and to the establishment of safe environments, where learners are respected and where emotions can be safely addressed (Hill et al 2019). All these benefits contribute to a more positive, inclusive and democratic learning climate for learners and teachers (Cook-Sather and Luz 2015).…”

Student–staff partnerships in learning and teaching: an overview of current practice and discourse

“…So, what can geographers bring to the debate about partnership? Already, geographers are influencing partnership debates, whether it is about defining partnership (Healey et al, 2014), inviting students to become partners in research (Healey & Jenkins 2009) exploring the spaces and processes of partnership (Hill et al, 2016), dealing with emotions positively through partnerships (Hill et al, 2019;Marvell & Simm 2018) or proposing ways of overcoming challenges to ensure partnership is inclusive (Bovill et al 2016;Moore-Cherry et al, 2015). Geographers have a good deal to offer in deepening our understanding of student-staff partnerships in learning and teaching, whether it is from the wide range of contexts within which you practice and research, the scale of your work or the different roles students adopt within your partnerships.…”

“…And yet in a recent study by Mercer-Mapstone and Bovill (forthcoming), many institutional partnership schemes placed value on the processes of partnership, something perhaps surprising in institutions where the emphasis is most frequently on outcomes. We need to ensure that we maintain a focus on enhancing partnership processes, as reimagined learning and teaching processes are responsible for so many of the positive partnership impacts on students, staff and the wider learning environment (Hill et al, 2019). This continued focus on processes can be achieved, for example, through student partnership in inquiry, and resistance to relying solely on narrowly-focused quantitative outcome measures.…”

“…One strong element of building more meaningful relationships is that teachers and students are better placed to respond to emotions. Recent work in geography by Hill et al (2019) highlights the role that student-staff partnerships can play in supporting students to engage with emotion in learning. Hill and colleagues discuss the ways in which partnership working can enable students to deal with emotions in ways that lead to more positive wellbeing.…”

“…One of the reasons that student-staff partnership in learning and teaching has been gaining attention is due to the growing body of evidence demonstrating compelling positive outcomes from partnership work. Many of the positive outcomes of partnership are shared by staff and students, even if they are experienced in different ways, and they include: enhanced engagement, motivation and learning; deeper meta-cognitive awareness of learning and teaching; a more developed sense of identity; improved classroom and teaching experiences; enhanced student assessment performance; increased trust; enhanced sense of belonging to a university, discipline or community; enhanced student-staff relationships; enhanced student-student relationships; and enhanced student wellbeing (Cook-Sather, Bovill and Felten, 2014;Hill et al, 2019;Mercer-Mapstone et al, 2017).…”