Sandra Sinfield

Learning development in higher education

PART I: DEFINING LEARNING DEVELOPMENT.- What is Learning Development and How Has it Developed? J.Hilsdon.- Models of Learning Development in Higher Education Institutions B.Glass & L.Murray.- Is Learning Development part of the Problem? A.Barlow, A.Philips & J.Ackroyd.- Raising the Student Voice S.Sinfield et al..- PART II: SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN TRANSITION.- A PDP perspective on supporting students through transition into HE C.Keenan.- Learning Developers Supporting Early Student Transition E.Foster, S.Lawther & J.McNeil.- The Case for One to One Academic Advice for Students J.Turner.- The Assignment Success Programme M.Sedgley.- Enabling Transitions Through Inclusive Practice V.Chapman.- PART III: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ACADEMIC PRACTICES.- Building Student Confidence in Maths and Numeracy M.Gill & M.Greenhow.- Negotiating and Nurturing: Challenging Staff and Student Perspectives of Academic Writing R.Bell.- Learning Resources That Students Will Use: Producing a Web Based Multimedia Resource to Improve Group Working Skills C.Elston, P.Hartley & J.Braham.- The Student as Producer: Learning by Doing Research A.Hagyard & S.Watling.- Visualising Learning P.Ridley.- PART IV: STUDENTS AND TECHNOLOGY.- When Worlds Collide: Learning Development and E-Learning B.Glass, D.Holley & S.Sinfield.- Defining and Supporting the New Digital Students N.Currant, B.Currant, R.Whitfield & P.Hartley.- The Focus of Attention: Distractions from Study for the Generation Y Student K.Shahabudin.- PART V: LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE.- Learning from the Past and Looking Into the Future M.Verity & P.Trowler.- Learning Development: Work in Progress J.Hilsdon, C.Keenan & S.Sinfield.

A journey into silence: students, stakeholders and the impact of a strategic governmental policy document in the UK

Purpose - In the UK, higher education (HE) is being positioned as the new global business, and the power relations between its various stakeholders – society, the business community, management, staff, students – makes this not only uncharted, but also contested ground. This paper aims to map the new terrain with a focus on, and analysis of, one key government policy document: The Harnessing Technology (2005). Design/methodology/approach - Critical theory and textual analysis are used to research and analyse power relations as inscribed in policy discourse – the structures, the language, and the voices. The document is explored particularly in relation to its impact on prime stakeholders within the new contexts of todays HE; a HE that is embracing information communications technology (e-learning) – “for business”. Findings - Harnessing Technology boasts a heteroglossia and the capturing of many authentic voices in its composition which should open up a dialogic between its stakeholders; in fact power is revealed as refined, unified – deferring to centralised authority. Textual analysis reveals HE as a journey into silence for the student as stakeholder, where the voices that are not repressed are those with economic and institutional power. This analysis shows the student is constructed as either silent or deficit and the conclusions suggest that rather than a discourse of transformation, “regulation not education”, is the real goal of the dominant educational stakeholders. Originality/value - The critical approach to policy analysis in the paper can be adapted by others seeking to critique policy in a variety of different policy contexts. This is particularly significant where policy is not interrogated, but where nevertheless it influences institutional mission statements and the seepage pollutes practice.