SYMPOSIUM Becoming researchers: A collaborative effort to conceptualise research as a pedagogy in Education Studies programmes

The symposium presents the journey of a group of undergraduate Education Studies students and lecturers exploring forms of conceptualising “research as a pedagogy” in research units of the programme. The symposium covers a series of student-researcher presentations in which small pieces of research work, together with personal reflections on the process of “becoming researchers”, are presented as the outcome of their engagement with an element of the Education Studies Curriculum. The final part of the symposium discusses common points, tensions and implications emerging from this collaborative effort.

This project has been driven by the idea that learning is not limited to content transmission from knowers (experts/researchers) to ‘blank slate’ or ‘deficient’ individuals and the necessity of building practices that reinforce the special role that University plays in democratic societies towards the democratisation of knowledge (Biesta, 2007).

Through engaging together in a collaborative research project in which students are positioned as partners (Healey, Flint, & Harrington, 2014), this project opened up opportunities for the participants to get access to the academic world in previously inaccessible ways. Students and lecturers are able to discuss the teaching-research-knowledge experience in terms of encounters (Biesta, 2013) that invite them to revisit the value of research and research units for Education Studies programmes. Data generated from students and lecturers reflections on the process of teaching/learning about research is used to illustrate the discussion.

Structure of the Symposium:
– Introduction and overview of the research project
– Student presentations (UG Education Studies Students)
– Findings and conclusions: impact on students & lecturers perception of research as a pedagogy

References:
Biesta, G. (2013). The Beautiful Risk of Education. London: Paradigm.
Biesta, G. (2007). Towards the knowledge democracy? Knowledge production and the civic role of the university. Stu Philos Educ 26, 467-479.
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. York: The Higher Education Academy.

Abstract Topic: Innovations in Education Studies; Student perspectives on Education Studies
Abstract Keywords: Research as a pedagogy; collaborative research; Student experience;
Additional Authors: To be confirmed

Additional Notes: This is a Symposium presentation (45mins- 1h slot) in which different papers are presented by students and lecturers who participate in a collaborative research project funded by CELT (MMU). The name of the students participating in the symposium will be provided later.