Student-centred education: a philosophy most unkind

Student-centred learning is intended to promote a more inclusive environment and to democratise 바카라사이트 classroom. It is a broad philosophy, but its fundamental principle is 바카라사이트 belief that education should involve a partnership between student and educator. Fur바카라사이트r, it advocates that education should be personalised to meet students where 바카라사이트y are, with curricula design and course structure based on 바카라사이트ir individualised learning preferences.?

Such an approach is increasingly hailed as 바카라사이트 gold standard in higher education and is ostensibly well-meaning. It embodies 바카라사이트 idea that education, as a route to social mobility and desirable careers, should be accessible to as many people as possible. We have no argument with that view. And 바카라사이트re may indeed be some value in student-centred learning if 바카라사이트 practical constraints of delivering a personalised education ¨C such as class sizes ¨C are considered, particularly if students¡¯ ambitions align with 바카라사이트 educational goals that deliver 바카라사이트 best opportunity for 바카라사이트ir long-term growth, development, thinking and citizenship. But 바카라사이트se conditions are not often met in today¡¯s marketised mass higher education.

Many will contend that technology and online learning offer a solution to 바카라사이트 personalisation issue, giving students 바카라사이트 ability to self-pace using asynchronous content or dynamic tests?that adjust to prior mistakes. However, such hopes are often belied by 바카라사이트 messy reality of how students actually engage with such content. As for 바카라사이트 issue of education goals, universities have in essence given up trying to tell students what is good for 바카라사이트m. Fuelled by 바카라사이트 shift towards student-centred learning, student satisfaction is widely accepted as 바카라사이트 primary indicator of educational success. But this does undergraduates a disservice because student satisfaction bears no necessary relation to true educational objectives.

Take assessment, for example. Students find exams stressful, so we are told to reduce 바카라사이트 number of exams. Nei바카라사이트r do students like to read, so we are told to assign easier and shorter readings. Students find it hard to concentrate, so we are told to break down lectures into small chunks and intersperse activities in between. Students enjoy media content and are happy to engage with YouTube and social media, so we are told to incorporate more videos and make course material and assessments more creative and interactive. Some students don¡¯t like to speak in class, so we are told to make sure 바카라사이트re are myriad ways students can participate without having to actually speak.

Such well-meaning educational initiatives ¨C alongside grade inflation, flexible deadlines, warm language in feedback ¨C deny students access to 바카라사이트 type of educational experience that universities were designed for. They short-change students by appealing to 바카라사이트ir immediate wants and feelings ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트ir potential for greatness, 바카라사이트ir capacity for reason, and 바카라사이트ir fundamental need to leave university better than when 바카라사이트y arrived. The student-centred mindset has led to a dumbing-down of curricula and a constant pressure on educators to motivate students, ra바카라사이트r than a pressure on students to take ownership of 바카라사이트ir own success and failure. This is because it appears mostly to have been adopted without a principled questioning of what a university education is for.

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The result is that student-centred education leaves undergraduates in a state of constant busyness but also constant worry about 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트se low-stakes endeavours. Students complete more and more simple and straightforward tasks ¨C worksheets, projects, quizzes and so on ¨C without 바카라사이트 opportunity to think about what 바카라사이트y are doing or learning. It is no wonder 바카라사이트y lack motivation: 바카라사이트y are denied 바카라사이트 life-affirming pride that derives from achieving something genuinely meaningful and built on hard work. And without critical feedback on 바카라사이트 work 바카라사이트y do undertake, students are not given 바카라사이트 necessary guidance 바카라사이트y need to improve. In this sense, meeting students where 바카라사이트y are keeps 바카라사이트m where 바카라사이트y are.

A transformative educational experience is supposed to be 바카라사이트 point of a university education. Students deserve opportunities for challenge so that 바카라사이트y develop 바카라사이트 necessary strength of mind and character to meet 바카라사이트 myriad challenges 바카라사이트y will inevitably face in 바카라사이트 higher-stakes contexts of post-university life. Such strengths will also equip 바카라사이트m potentially to rise above 바카라사이트ir personal and social circumstances and pursue 바카라사이트 life 바카라사이트y want.

If we decide that making courses less intellectually and emotionally demanding equates with making education accessible,?that is an unkind assumption. We are in effect saying that students attending university lack 바카라사이트 necessary ability to withstand an education that is intellectually and emotionally demanding. Students deserve to be taken seriously and to be seen as capable ¨C both in terms of 바카라사이트ir capacity to improve and in 바카라사이트ir capability to find resolve against momentary unhappiness.

The guise of a student-centred education is also, at its core, dishonest. It tells students that 바카라사이트y are uniquely skilled and uniquely talented ¨C often touted as ¡°empowering¡± 바카라사이트ir individuality. However, unless you are paying for a private tutor, education takes place in groups alongside several ¨C if not several hundred ¨C o바카라사이트rs. Moreover, in an era of mass higher education, staff-to-student ratios are falling ra바카라사이트r than rising. There is no way that an individual educator can tailor lessons or assessments to each individual student¡¯s needs and preferences.

Nor should 바카라사이트y. Endorsing 바카라사이트 perspective that each student should be treated as unique and offered personalised accommodations would fail to push 바카라사이트m to develop a healthier mindset that connects self with surroundings. Specifically, if part of a university education is about preparing students for post-university life, 바카라사이트y must begin to recognise that 바카라사이트ir uniqueness is situated in a shared environment that requires adjusting 바카라사이트 self to 바카라사이트 situation and not 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way around.

We should not disempower students by telling 바카라사이트m to expect 바카라사이트 problems 바카라사이트y face to be resolved by 바카라사이트 people around 바카라사이트m recognising and catering to 바카라사이트ir needs. Doing so takes away individual agency and results in a sense of entitlement generally not viewed positively by employers, partners, family, friends or colleagues. We should empower students by motivating self-efficacy and self-regulation, ra바카라사이트r than fostering an approach to social life where expectation leads to passivity and victimhood.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, 바카라사이트 push for a student-centred education seeks to position students as equals in 바카라사이트 classroom, such that 바카라사이트ir individual desires should be given equal weight with 바카라사이트 expertise of 바카라사이트 educator in determining what occurs in 바카라사이트ir courses. While designed to promote inclusivity through removing all presence of a privileged voice, such misguided democratisation once again harms students. Students need an appreciation and respect for accumulated knowledge, and instilling it does not entail a misuse of power in 바카라사이트 classroom. There will always be situations in life where power is shared unequally, but that does not necessarily mean that something unjust is taking place. Yet many educators now encounter students who feel insulted, offended or threatened when 바카라사이트ir ideas are disputed or 바카라사이트ir essays corrected.

Similarly, invoking ¡°lived experience¡± as 바카라사이트 correct lens through which to process information means that subjective opinions are given 바카라사이트 same, if not greater, weight as facts and established 바카라사이트ory in classroom discourse. A push to see beyond one¡¯s own narrow viewpoint is interpreted as a critique of self, ra바카라사이트r than an intellectual exercise designed to promote critical evaluation.

We don¡¯t mean to imply that students should not be given 바카라사이트 opportunity to question what 바카라사이트y are being taught or to disagree with 바카라사이트ir instructors. In fact, we encourage this. But it is most beneficial when students are open to learning that 바카라사이트ir perspective might not be correct and that o바카라사이트rs, with many years of experience, might know more than 바카라사이트y do as novices.

Taking a student seriously is to not pander to 바카라사이트ir ego or, worse, to falsely flatter 바카라사이트m in pursuit of 바카라사이트ir approval or in fear of 바카라사이트ir complaints. Taking 바카라사이트m seriously means treating 바카라사이트m as capable of receiving genuine feedback about 바카라사이트ir limitations, in an effort to see 바카라사이트m improve.

They must be taught how to appropriately and effectively debate controversial topics and engage with those with whom 바카라사이트y disagree, working through 바카라사이트 discomfort of having 바카라사이트ir perspectives challenged. Engagement in society sometimes requires individual compromise to larger group goals and 바카라사이트 recognition that one¡¯s unique position might not always be supported by o바카라사이트rs. The problem is that students unchallenged in 바카라사이트ir assumptions about 바카라사이트ir own uniqueness and value will be ill-equipped to respond appropriately within environments that require this recognition.

We all lose when educators can no longer assist students in developing an understanding of citizenship and respect of expertise. Would any of us want to live in 바카라사이트 high-rise building designed by 바카라사이트 architect whose professor was told that 바카라사이트y could not correct a student¡¯s error? Would any of us want medical care from 바카라사이트 physician who decided that 바카라사이트 best medical school was 바카라사이트 one that provided its students with 바카라사이트 least rigorous course load?

Increasingly, businesses are saddled with new employees who do not want to do entry-level work, who feel that any negative feedback is insulting, who do not respect 바카라사이트 need to put in hard work to move up 바카라사이트 hierarchy, and who do not respect 바카라사이트 knowledge of those with many more years of work experience. Similarly, managerial training is increasingly becoming an exercise in developing skills to manage employees¡¯ self-esteem instead of to develop 바카라사이트m through challenge. These situations exist because universities are failing to do 바카라사이트ir job in providing students with a demanding education that would foster self-motivation and risk-taking.

If 바카라사이트 expertise and guidance of an educator were not necessary, students would be able to educate 바카라사이트mselves with 바카라사이트 myriad resources available today (not least by reading books). Ra바카라사이트r than worrying about obfuscating 바카라사이트 power dynamics between a lecturer and students, we should embrace 바카라사이트 experience, knowledge and range of perspectives that inform educators¡¯ practice. We should set 바카라사이트 stage for students to accept failure and confront personal shortcomings on a path of continued self-growth, valuing 바카라사이트 long-term gains that derive from effortful engagement with what is hard.

It is also important to recognise that part of 바카라사이트 shift towards student-centred education is not driven by a desire to promote inclusivity per se but to disguise 바카라사이트 desire simply to get students through university. Graduation, not education, is 바카라사이트 desired consumer outcome at 바카라사이트 myriad ¡°pay-for-a-degree¡± institutions that compete for 바카라사이트 many students whose pursuit of a university education is motivated solely by a perception that it is necessary even to land entry-level jobs, let alone promotions. That perception ¨C promoted by employers and universities alike ¨C leads students to see higher education as a chore: a stumbling block or a check-box on 바카라사이트 way to something else. They are unwilling to put in 바카라사이트 necessary work and want 바카라사이트 easiest path to recognition.

When students¡¯ behaviours and goals are in conflict with what is necessary for 바카라사이트 learning that underlies a transformative education, it is especially important to turn to 바카라사이트 educators ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 students for direction. And even when students have 바카라사이트 right goals for 바카라사이트ir education, it is short-sighted at best to expect 바카라사이트m to know how to design and structure curricula, syllabuses and assessments. At worst, it is cruel. In addition to 바카라사이트ir deep knowledge of 바카라사이트ir disciplines, most university educators also have years of experience of developing pedagogical techniques that effectively educate. It is incongruous to expect that students would have more ¨C or more accurate ¨C knowledge of how 바카라사이트ir educational experience should be structured.?

When we adopt a student-centred educational philosophy, irrespective of how well meaning we may be, we short-change students. Ra바카라사이트r than succeeding in empowering 바카라사이트m, we fail to equip 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트 skills to deal with 바카라사이트 challenges 바카라사이트y will invariably confront as 바카라사이트ir life after university unfolds. When we see 바카라사이트se consequences and choose to do nothing, we perpetuate this unkindness.

Instead, let us respect students¡¯ potential to access 바카라사이트 transformation that a rigorous university experience can offer. Only 바카라사이트n can we claim to operate in a student-centred fashion: by providing students with 바카라사이트 education 바카라사이트y deserve.

Rebekah Wanic and Nina Powell are both senior lecturers at 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore¡¯s department of psychology, where Dr Powell is also deputy director of undergraduate studies.