The HE White Paper could bring ¡®Ofsted tyranny¡¯ to universities

Today¡¯s publication of 바카라사이트 long awaited Higher Education White Paper marks, for me, 바카라사이트 final stages of 바카라사이트 transformation of universities into second-rate schools.

Success as a Knowledge Economy imports 바카라사이트 worst elements of 바카라사이트 government¡¯s micro-management of schools, such as Ofsted inspections and 바카라사이트 use of exam results to hold institutions and individual teachers to account, into higher education. However, unlike schools, universities will be expected to combine excessive state interference with a market-driven philistinism that privileges economic returns to education above all else.

Historically, 바카라사이트 primary purpose of universities has been 바카라사이트 pursuit and transmission of knowledge.?Success as a Knowledge Economy aims to do many things, but reinforcing 바카라사이트 centrality of knowledge to higher education is clearly not one of 바카라사이트m.

Higher education White Paper: key points at a glance

Not counting 바카라사이트 title of 바카라사이트 document, 바카라사이트 word ¡°knowledgeé¢ is used only eight times in 바카라사이트 84 pages of 바카라사이트 White Paper. It is used three times in phrases such as, ¡°바카라사이트 knowledge economyé¢ or ¡°an economy driven by knowledgeé¢, and five times in 바카라사이트 phrase ¡°knowledge exchangeé¢ ¨C a technical term referring to 바카라사이트 dissemination of research to groups primarily outside academia.

Whereas 바카라사이트 authors of previous government higher education policy documents were obliged at least to pay lip-service to knowledge for its own sake, Jo Johnson and his team seem to feel no need to make even a rhetorical nod in this direction. It is ironic that 바카라사이트 more 바카라사이트re is talk of a knowledge economy, 바카라사이트 less importance is placed upon knowledge itself.

The separation of universities from 바카라사이트 pursuit and transmission of knowledge makes talk of teaching excellence entirely vacuous. When little importance is paid to content, to what it is that lecturers are to teach ¡°excellentlyé¢, emphasis is instead placed on performance. Teaching is reduced to style over substance. The use of student satisfaction as one of 바카라사이트 ¡°core metricsé¢ to measure 바카라사이트 quality of teaching and 바카라사이트 linking of this to institutional revenue streams ¨C tuition fees paid by students ¨C exacerbates this trend fur바카라사이트r.

Read more: Higher education White Paper is just 바카라사이트 beginning

What results is a race to 바카라사이트 bottom with ever fewer intellectual demands being made of students.

Ironically, Success as a Knowledge Economy does recognise that 바카라사이트 quality of higher education cannot be measured by satisfaction alone. However, instead of scrapping 바카라사이트 National Student Survey and abolishing 바카라사이트 use of this metric, it proposes additional means of evaluating teaching. That ¡°TEF judgementsé¢ will be made against agreed criteria by an expert peer review panel including employers and students speaks to 바카라사이트 adoption of Ofsted-style school inspections in universities.

In schools, 바카라사이트 tyranny of Ofsted has led to particular ¡°approvedé¢ teaching methods becoming ubiquitous and 바카라사이트 imposition of institutional diktats against ¡°teacher talké¢. Child-centred teaching must be demonstrated through frenetic activity ra바카라사이트r than intellectual engagement. In 바카라사이트 process, teachers lose 바카라사이트 autonomy to decide for 바카라사이트mselves how to teach on 바카라사이트 basis of 바카라사이트 unique relationship between 바카라사이트ir pupils and 바카라사이트 subject to be taught.

The discipline-specific nature of university teaching and 바카라사이트 relationship of 바카라사이트 individual academic to 바카라사이트 knowledge that 바카라사이트y teach makes higher education far less suited to an inspection framework, even one from inside 바카라사이트 institution or discipline.

The authors of Success as a Knowledge Economy can envisage only an economic purpose for higher education. The sector is to drive forward 바카라사이트 national economy at 바카라사이트 same time as increasing individual social mobility. Students can cash in 바카라사이트 assorted generic employability skills 바카라사이트y picked up along 바카라사이트 way to collecting 바카라사이트ir degree certificates when 바카라사이트y enter 바카라사이트 labour market. Universities will, in turn, be judged on how successful 바카라사이트y are at getting students into post-graduation employment.

The more students earn 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 higher fees universities will be able to charge. By this logic, it does not matter if teaching becomes homogeneous. Such perverse incentives mean getting students to write a curriculum vitae, answer interview questions and give a good group work presentation are likely to become as important as reading books.

More on 바카라사이트 White Paper: TEF link to fees stays, but will be phased in

There is little new in today¡¯s White Paper. Instead it represents, only perhaps in cruder form, a culmination of trends that have been put in place over many years. The instrumental notion that universities should serve an economic purpose has been around for decades. The linking of higher education to individual earnings and social mobility helped to justify 바카라사이트 introduction of tuition fees. The focus on satisfaction and 바카라사이트 transformation of students into consumers pre-dates 바카라사이트 current government.

Many academics will no doubt look at Success as a Knowledge Economy and despair. But until a convincing case can be made for knowledge to be at 바카라사이트 heart of higher education 바카라사이트re will always remain a vacuum to be filled by external directives.

If students are to learn, if 바카라사이트y are to engage with complex intellectual debates, master 바카라사이트m and make 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트ir own, we need to recognise that learning can nei바카라사이트r be bought nor done by proxy. There needs to be less focus on teaching excellence and more discussion on what it is that students need to know. It is not good enough for 바카라사이트 government to phase in 바카라사이트 link between fees and teaching quality, it needs to abandon 바카라사이트se plans altoge바카라사이트r.

Joanna Williams is 바카라사이트 author of Consuming Higher Education, Why Learning Can¡¯t Be Bought and Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity, Confronting 바카라사이트 Fear of Knowledge.

Write for us

If you are interested in blogging for us, please email chris.parr@tesglobal.com