Creation and nurturing of staff-student partnerships

Unspoken challenges

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v10i1.6778

Keywords:

staff-student partnership, Emotional Labor, Institutional Resistance, challenges, pedagogical opportunity

Abstract

While the pedagogical benefits of Staff-Student Partnerships (SSP) and Students as Partners (SaP) are widely recognized, the complex and often invisible challenges of initiating and sustaining such collaborations remain underexplored. This reflective essay critically examines the unspoken dimensions that shape SSP/SaP practices across diverse institutional and cultural contexts. Drawing on our lived experiences and collaborative inquiry, we explore four provocations: the challenge of achieving conceptual clarity across institutions; the generative potential of uncertainty in partnership work; the often-overlooked emotional labor involved; and the systemic resistance to transformative change. Rather than offering solutions, we invite the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) community into deeper dialogue about the paradoxes, tensions, and lived realities of co-creation in higher education. By highlighting these underexplored aspects, we aim to foster more honest, inclusive, and critically engaged conversations about partnership practices in teaching and learning.

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Author Biography

Ketevan Kupatadze , Elon University

Dr Ketevan Kupatadze is an Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Elon University, US. She actively engages in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Her recent projects explore flipped classroom pedagogy and collaborative approaches, particularly the Students as Partners methodology in teaching and learning development. She has facilitated reading groups and workshops on collaborative student partnerships and has collaborated extensively with students and faculty on instructional design and curriculum development. Since 2021, she has served as Associate Editor of Teaching and Learning Inquiry, the journal of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

References

Bovill, C. (2020). Co-creation in learning and teaching: The case for a whole-class approach in higher education. Higher Education, 79(6), 1023–1037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00453-w

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. Jossey-Bass.

Felten, P. (2017). Emotion and partnerships. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3070

Felten, P., Bagg, J., Bumbry, M., Hill, J., Hornsby, K., Pratt, M., & Weller, S. (2013). A call for expanding inclusive student engagement in SoTL. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 1(2), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.1.2.63

Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. The Higher Education Academy. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher

Matthews, K. E. (2017). Five propositions for genuine students as partners practice. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i2.3315

Matthews, K. E., Dwyer, A., Hine, L., & Turner, J. (2018). Conceptions of students as partners. Higher Education, 76, 957–971. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0257-y

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Published

2026-02-23

How to Cite

Rahman, N., & Kupatadze , K. (2026). Creation and nurturing of staff-student partnerships: Unspoken challenges. International Journal for Students as Partners, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v10i1.6778

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Reflective Essays

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Nira Rahman, Ketevan Kupatadze

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