Negotiating student-staff partnership : developmental evaluation of change in a law school’s curriculum review process

Boyle, Fiona and Trowler, Paul (2024) Negotiating student-staff partnership : developmental evaluation of change in a law school’s curriculum review process. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Working in partnership between staff and students on matters related to the curriculum is seen as desirable for several reasons. These include equalising power relationships between students and staff, challenging neoliberal models of Higher Education and complying with moral and democratic values. Student-staff partnership is therefore an increasingly popular form of student engagement. However, evidence suggests that partnerships for programme curriculum review and design continue to be uncommon in practice. The reasons for this are unclear. Furthermore, disciplinary differences, an important variable, are not well understood. This thesis details research which examines one instance of a partnership approach to curriculum review in a UK law school. Using a developmental evaluation methodology, I consider the ways that institutional staff, Student Union representatives, legal educators and law students understood the difficulties, risks and rewards of working together in partnership. I discuss the implications for practice and policy, and examine the concept of partnership as a form of student engagement. Analysis of mixed methods data suggests that participants saw the partnership process as a means to achieve various objectives rather than as an end in itself. However, while they saw great democratic value in diverse viewpoints, they also perceived risk in the process of partnership. The research adds to knowledge regarding partnership in whole curriculum review in law schools. It considers how, in this context, seeing partnership in different ways, might promote and enhance the process and outcome. It also indicates the dynamic complexity of values in partnership, including the centrality of trust between actors and its connection to courage, risk, empowerment and responsibility. While no claims are made for direct generalisability, the evaluative approach used highlights the potential value of collaborative and participatory conceptions of power as well as pluralistic understandings of partnership. This facilitates a more holistic, pluralistic and potentially practical, understanding of partnership practice as a negotiation process that encompasses varying participant interests and motivations.