Holding space and engaging with difference: Navigating the personal theories we carry into our pedagogical partnership practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v4i1.4093Keywords:
partnership, students as partners, narratives, stories, faculty-student partnershipAbstract
Partnerships between students and faculty are increasingly established within higher education. Everyone’s unique life story or background influences how they understand partnership praxis. Acknowledging individual understandings of student-faculty partnership matters because personal stories can influence how such partnerships form, function, and evolve. We, as students and faculty, share our individual theories of partnership to illuminate differing ways people can make sense of partnership as praxis. Using a reflective, autoethnographic research approach, we unpack two interdependent threads from our narratives: (a) holding space for how personal histories shape the experience of partnership and (b) engaging the messiness of partnership. To understand and nurture inclusive practices, we contend, means engaging the unique standpoints and social positions that both students and faculty bring into partnerships. Instead of attempting to collapse and converge different perspectives of partnership, we take pause to consider how these differences can enrich partnerships and be honoured throughout a partnership
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References
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Cook-Sather, A., Abbot, S., & Felten, P. (2019). Legitimizing reflective writing in SoTL: “Dysfunctional illusions of rigor” revisited. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 14-27. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.2
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Cureton, D., & Gravestock, P. (2018) Supporting students’ learning: The power of the student-teacher relationship. In M. Shah & J. McKay (Eds.), Achieving equity and quality in higher education: Global perspectives in an era of widening participation (pp. 51-71). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
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de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., & Luqueño, L. P. (2019). Valuing knowledge(s) and cultivating confidence: Contributions of student–faculty pedagogical partnerships to epistemic justice. In J. Hoffman, P. Blessinger, & M. Makhanya (Eds.), Strategies for fostering inclusive classrooms in higher education: International perspectives on equity and inclusion (pp. 35-48). https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120190000016004
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Dwyer, A. (2018). Toward the formation of genuine partnership spaces. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(1), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3503
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Sage handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder and Herder.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Green, W. (2019). Stretching the cultural-linguistic boundaries of “Students as Partners.” International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(1), 84-88. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v3i1.3791
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education
Healey, M., Matthews, K. E., & Cook-Sather, A. (2019). Writing scholarship of teaching and learning articles for peer-reviewed journals. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 28-50. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.3
Hermsen, T., Kuiper, T., Roelofs, F., & van Wijchen, J. (2017). Without emotions, never a partnership! International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3228
Johnsen, H. L., Pacht, M., VanSlyck, P. E., & Tsao, T. M. (2009). The messy teaching conversation: Toward a model of collegial reflection, exchange, and scholarship on classroom problems. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 37(2).
Marquis, E., Black, C., & Healey, M. (2017). Responding to the challenges of student-staff partnership: The reflections of participants at an international summer institute. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(6), 720-735. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1289510
Marquis, E., Guitman, R., Black, C., Healey, M., Matthews, K. E., & Dvorakova, L. S. (2019). Growing partnership communities: What experiences of an international institute suggest about developing student-staff partnership in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 56(2), 184-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2018.1424012
Mårtensson, K., Roxå, T., & Stensaker, B. (2014). From quality assurance to quality practices: An investigation of strong microcultures in teaching and learning. Studies in Higher Education, 39(4), 534-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2012.709493
Matthews, K. (2017). Five propositions for genuine students as partners practice. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3315
Matthews, K. E. (2019). Rethinking the problem of faculty resistance to engaging with students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(2), 2. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2019.130202
Matthews, K. E., Cook-Sather, A., Acai, A., Dvorakova, S. L., Felten, P., Marquis, E., & Mercer-Mapstone, L. (2019). Toward theories of partnership praxis: An analysis of interpretive framing in literature on students as partners in teaching and learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(2), 280-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1530199
Matthews, K. E., Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Acai, A., Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Healey, M., Healey, R., & Marquis, E. (2019). Enhancing outcomes and reducing inhibitors to the engagement of students and staff in learning and teaching partnerships: Implications for academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(3), 246-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144x.2018.1545233
Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K. E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., Knorr, K., Marquis, E., Shammas, R., & Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119
Merriam, S. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
O’Shea, S. (2018). Equity and students as partners: The importance of inclusive relationships. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(2), 16-20. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i2.3628
Reeve, D. (2012). Psycho-emotional disablism: The missing link? In N. Watson, A. Roulstone, & C. Thomas (Eds.), Routledge handbook of disability studies (pp. 78-92). London, UK: Routledge.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Stauffer, J. (2015). Ethical loneliness: The injustice of not being heard. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Trahar, S. (2009). Beyond the story itself: Narrative inquiry and autoethnography in intercultural research in higher education. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1218
Yahlnaaw. (2019). T’aats’iigang—Stuffing a jar full. International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(2), 6-10. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v3i2.4081
Bindra, G., Easwaran, K., Firasta, L., Hirsch, M., Kapoor, A., Sosnowski, A., Stec-Marksman, T., & Vatansever, G. (2018). Increasing representation and equity in students as partners initiatives. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(2), 10-15. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i2.3536
Canagarajah, A. S. (2012). Teacher development in a global profession: An autoethnography. Tesol Quarterly, 46(2), 258-279. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.18
Clandinin, D. J. (2013). Engaging in narrative inquiry. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Cook-Sather, A. (2018). Listening to equity-seeking perspectives: How students’ experiences of pedagogical partnership can inform wider discussions of student success. Higher Education Research & Development, 37(5), 923-936.
Cook-Sather, A., Abbot, S., & Felten, P. (2019). Legitimizing reflective writing in SoTL: “Dysfunctional illusions of rigor” revisited. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 14-27. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.2
Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Cook-Sather, A., & Felten, P. (2017). Ethics of academic leadership: Guiding learning and teaching. In F. Su & M. Wood (Eds.), Cosmopolitan perspectives on academic leadership in higher education (pp. 175-191). London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Cureton, D., & Gravestock, P. (2018) Supporting students’ learning: The power of the student-teacher relationship. In M. Shah & J. McKay (Eds.), Achieving equity and quality in higher education: Global perspectives in an era of widening participation (pp. 51-71). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
de Bie, A. (2020). Respectfully distrusting ‘Students as Partners’ practice in higher education: Applying a Mad politics of partnership. Teaching in Higher Education, 1-21
de Bie, A., & Raaper, R. (2019, March 29). Troubling the idea of partnership [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://macblog.mcmaster.ca/summer-institute/2019/03/29/troubling-the-idea-of-partnership/
de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., & Luqueño, L. P. (2019). Valuing knowledge(s) and cultivating confidence: Contributions of student–faculty pedagogical partnerships to epistemic justice. In J. Hoffman, P. Blessinger, & M. Makhanya (Eds.), Strategies for fostering inclusive classrooms in higher education: International perspectives on equity and inclusion (pp. 35-48). https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120190000016004
Dollinger, M., & Mercer-Mapstone, L. (2019). What’s in a name? Unpacking students’ roles in higher education through neoliberal and social justice lenses. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 73-89. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.5
Duarte, F. P. (2007). Using autoethnography in the scholarship of teaching and learning: Reflective practice from ‘the other side of the mirror.’ International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(2), 21. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2007.010221
Dwyer, A. (2018). Toward the formation of genuine partnership spaces. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(1), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3503
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Sage handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Floyd, A. H. L. (2016). Holding space: A reflection about teaching a class on forgiveness. Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal, 5(2).
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder and Herder.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Green, W. (2019). Stretching the cultural-linguistic boundaries of “Students as Partners.” International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(1), 84-88. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v3i1.3791
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education
Healey, M., Matthews, K. E., & Cook-Sather, A. (2019). Writing scholarship of teaching and learning articles for peer-reviewed journals. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 28-50. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.3
Hermsen, T., Kuiper, T., Roelofs, F., & van Wijchen, J. (2017). Without emotions, never a partnership! International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3228
Johnsen, H. L., Pacht, M., VanSlyck, P. E., & Tsao, T. M. (2009). The messy teaching conversation: Toward a model of collegial reflection, exchange, and scholarship on classroom problems. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 37(2).
Marquis, E., Black, C., & Healey, M. (2017). Responding to the challenges of student-staff partnership: The reflections of participants at an international summer institute. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(6), 720-735. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1289510
Marquis, E., Guitman, R., Black, C., Healey, M., Matthews, K. E., & Dvorakova, L. S. (2019). Growing partnership communities: What experiences of an international institute suggest about developing student-staff partnership in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 56(2), 184-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2018.1424012
Mårtensson, K., Roxå, T., & Stensaker, B. (2014). From quality assurance to quality practices: An investigation of strong microcultures in teaching and learning. Studies in Higher Education, 39(4), 534-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2012.709493
Matthews, K. (2017). Five propositions for genuine students as partners practice. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3315
Matthews, K. E. (2019). Rethinking the problem of faculty resistance to engaging with students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(2), 2. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2019.130202
Matthews, K. E., Cook-Sather, A., Acai, A., Dvorakova, S. L., Felten, P., Marquis, E., & Mercer-Mapstone, L. (2019). Toward theories of partnership praxis: An analysis of interpretive framing in literature on students as partners in teaching and learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(2), 280-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1530199
Matthews, K. E., Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Acai, A., Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Healey, M., Healey, R., & Marquis, E. (2019). Enhancing outcomes and reducing inhibitors to the engagement of students and staff in learning and teaching partnerships: Implications for academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(3), 246-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144x.2018.1545233
Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K. E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., Knorr, K., Marquis, E., Shammas, R., & Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119
Merriam, S. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
O’Shea, S. (2018). Equity and students as partners: The importance of inclusive relationships. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(2), 16-20. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i2.3628
Reeve, D. (2012). Psycho-emotional disablism: The missing link? In N. Watson, A. Roulstone, & C. Thomas (Eds.), Routledge handbook of disability studies (pp. 78-92). London, UK: Routledge.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Stauffer, J. (2015). Ethical loneliness: The injustice of not being heard. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Trahar, S. (2009). Beyond the story itself: Narrative inquiry and autoethnography in intercultural research in higher education. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1218
Yahlnaaw. (2019). T’aats’iigang—Stuffing a jar full. International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(2), 6-10. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v3i2.4081
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Published
2020-04-09
How to Cite
Ostrowdun, C., Friendly, R., Matthews, K., de Bie, A., & Roelofs, F. (2020). Holding space and engaging with difference: Navigating the personal theories we carry into our pedagogical partnership practices. International Journal for Students as Partners, 4(1), 82–98. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v4i1.4093
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