Contents
Presenters
Dr Jacqueline Gibbs – Senior Lecturer in Sociology
Dr Karen Graham – Lecturer in Criminology
Paper
Our paper reflects on research and practice in co-design of modules aimed at improving skills learning, belonging and engagement for first year Sociology and Criminology students. It explicitly integrates a critique of inclusion drives in universities which do not attend to racialised, classed and gendered assumptions of academic ‘skill’, ‘voice’ and critical thinking.
Academic Skills modules which support student transition through a focus on academic referencing, writing, and communication are now a standard across HE. Incorporating discipline specific competencies, such skills are important to progression, engagement and student learning (McCLean et al 2012). Yet, skills modules are often deemed ‘irrelevant’ by students owing to the perceived lack of degree focus and impacting engagement (Keating et. al. 2009). Amongst academics, skills teaching has been critiqued for ‘dumbing down’ degree programmes – a common (yet poorly evidenced claim) about widening university access (Keating et. al. 2009).
Another area of pedagogical research explores student achievement in the context of HE inequities. Recognising the role of institutional racism, classism, dis/ableism and gender norms in Higher Educational practice, these literatures focus on the role of admissions processes (Boliver 2018), curriculum content (Arday and Mirza 2018, Saini 2019; Seckinelgin 2023), teaching approach and assessment (Ahmet 2020; Campbell 2022) in unequal awarding, outcomes and experience of belonging (Burke 2018).
This presentation reflects on our co-designed and co-taught transition module for First Year Sociology and Criminology students which brought the teaching of academic skills into conversation with sociological research into HE inequities. Discussing the planning and teaching of the module, this presentation reflections on our thematic analysis of teacher reflections and recorded discussions as co-teachers reflecting on the module.
We will consider:
- How skills teaching can be blended (but not hidden) within critical discussion of Higher Education norms, practices and inequalities for first year students
- The pedagogical and engagement potential of skills teaching through discussion-based workshops
Discussing our findings of peer-to-peer support, improved student confidence in academic voice, and sustained participation in the module, we question the straightforward interpretation of academic ‘skill’ and student success, the potential for blending academic skills teaching within critical discussions about Higher Education outside of social science teaching.
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Keating, M., O’Siochru, C. & Watt, S. 2009. Dumbing down or beefing up the curriculum? Integrating an ‘academic skills framework’ into a first year sociology programme, Learning and teaching, 2(2), 66-95
Seckinelgin, H. 2023. Teaching social policy as if students matter: Decolonizing the curriculum and perpetuating epistemic injustice, Critical Social Policy, 43(2), 296-315.
Saini, R. 2020. From management meetings to meaningful change: Risks of institutional capture in the decolonisation of UK higher education and recommendations for delivering structural change. LSE Impact of Social Sciences Blog. [online]. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/08/11/from-management-meetings-to-meaningful-change-risks-of-institutional-capture-in-the-decolonisation-of-uk-higher-education-and-recommendations-for-delivering-structural-change/
