"Teaching" or "Support"? The Poisoned Chalice of the Role of Students' Skills Centres

Autor/in	Barkas, Linda Anne
Titel	"Teaching" or "Support"? The Poisoned Chalice of the Role of Students' Skills Centres
Quelle	In: Journal of Further and Higher Education, 35 (2011) 2, S.265-286 (22 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0309-877X
Schlagwörter	Higher Education; Qualitative Research; Research Methodology; Adult Education; Educational Change; Skill Development; Student Role; Colleges; Universities; Federal Legislation; Teacher Role; Academic Achievement; Employment Potential; Economics; Models; Foreign Countries; Skills; United Kingdom (England) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Qualitative Forschung; Research method; Forschungsmethode; Adult; Adults; Education; Adult basic education; Adult training; Erwachsenenbildung; Bildungsreform; Kompetenzentwicklung; Qualifikationsentwicklung; College; Hochschule; Fachhochschule; University; Universität; Bundesrecht; Lehrerrolle; Schulleistung; Arbeitsmarktbezogene Qualifikation; Beschäftigungsfähigkeit; Volkswirtschaftslehre; Analogiemodell; Ausland; Skill; Fertigkeit
Abstract	After the 1992 Further and Higher Education Reform Act enabled polytechnics and the qualifying franchised colleges to be renamed universities or higher education institutions, the dominance of the rhetoric of skill development aggravated long-standing schisms between further and higher education about whether or not degree-level courses should be available in further education. One aspect of these disagreements concerns the dominance of a skills deficit model and its influence in learning and teaching. This article draws on the findings of a study into the role of a Students' Skills Centre (SSC) in a post-1992 university. It focuses on how and why working in SSCs is envisaged as a subordinate function, as a "support" and not a "teaching" role. The research study utilised both quantitative and qualitative research methods in a case-study design to examine the nature of students' requests for help in an SSC. The article argues that academic skills, including writing, study and key skills, are more effective if taught in a subject/disciplinary-specific context. Hence, lecturers in the SSC had to provide intensive teaching, which, at the same time, also addressed this contextual dimension. This is a complex and highly specialised teaching process, yet, despite the yearly increase in numbers of students attending the centre for help, university managers and some academic staff refused to acknowledge the complexity of the nature of students' learning requirements or the teaching function of the role of lecturers working in the SSC. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10