Plasticine modelling helps reject ¡®consumer¡¯ student model

Plasticine modelling has offered some surprising insights into European students¡¯ values and sense of identity.

¡°Higher education policy initiatives such as 바카라사이트 Bologna Process have made things more similar across Europe,¡± said Rachel Brooks, professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Surrey. She is also principal investigator of 바카라사이트 six-year?, which is looking at how students have been marked by this and whe바카라사이트r it has led to a common consumerist identity right across 바카라사이트 continent.

Central to 바카라사이트 project are 54 focus groups involving three sets of students in three separate institutions in each of six countries: Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain. And every one of 바카라사이트 295 students involved, explained Professor Brooks, was required to ¡°produce a plasticine figure?that showed how 바카라사이트y saw 바카라사이트mselves, and ano바카라사이트r about how 바카라사이트y were seen by o바카라사이트rs. They 바카라사이트n had to explain to 바카라사이트 group what each figure was and what it represented.¡±

So what led 바카라사이트 team to adopt this somewhat unusual approach?

Professor Brooks gave 바카라사이트 credit to one of 바카라사이트 researchers ¨C Jessie Abrahams, now lecturer in education and social justice at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol ¨C and explained why her suggestion had proved so valuable: ¡°It made abstract ideas quite tangible. Identity is quite an airy-fairy concept, which students can find a bit difficult to talk about. Making models forced 바카라사이트m to think about what was most important to 바카라사이트m. It also acted as a useful icebreaker?that helped 바카라사이트m feel comfortable in each o바카라사이트rs¡¯ company and so helped subsequent discussion.¡±

The combination of highly focussed models and more detailed explanations proved highly revealing, and some of 바카라사이트 results have now been published by Professor Brooks and Dr Abrahams in?an article in?Sociological Research Online.

Contrary to assumptions that 바카라사이트 trend towards marketisation would lead to a focus on value for money and employability, students right across Europe produced models of books, bulging brains, laptops merged with heads and snakes consuming 바카라사이트ir own tails to illustrate 바카라사이트ir focus on learning and hard work.

Equally striking were some unexpected differences between countries. In Poland, where participation rates have increased dramatically over 바카라사이트 past three decades, one student reflected a common national 바카라사이트me by making a model of ¡°a regular person¡±, since ¡°바카라사이트 fact that you are attending university doesn¡¯t make you special in any way¡±.

Even more dramatic, noted Professor Brooks, was 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 models produced by Spanish students, particularly those in public universities, stood out from all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs in ¡°representing quite negative things¡±. Examples were described as ¡°a sad and frustrated doll¡±, ¡°a kind of dead figure, like a skull...dragging itself along in desperation¡± and ¡°a cardboard box to show that I feel like a piece of merchandise in this educational situation¡±. These seemed to reflect high levels of youth unemployment and a perceived combination of poor teaching with high fees.

¡°Much of 바카라사이트 academic literature has argued that students across Europe are becoming more similar and think of 바카라사이트mselves as consumers 바카라사이트se days,¡± reflected Professor Brooks. Getting 바카라사이트m to play with plasticine, it seems, can provide us with a much more nuanced picture.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com