Critical reflections on staff-student partnership and ‘re-interpreting’ journal submissions

Abstract

This thoughtpiece shares some personal reflections on a distinctively different approach to student-staff collaboration, whereby students ‘re-interpret’ scholarly submissions to this new HE journal for a wider audience. Student and staff motivations for becoming involved in this work of partnering are examined, and values and ‘intrigue’ are uncovered as contributing to partnership-readiness and sustaining interest. Students engaged critically with Higher Education policy and theory; particularly the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and the concept of a ladder of partnership. The collaboration offers different conceptual lenses, revealing possibilities for the co-creation of a student-staff scholarly community. Student reflections reveal digital literacies for producing re-interpretations and the ‘softer’ skills for collaborating in diverse groups.  However, the key appeal of getting involved is not, as may be assumed, for benefits such as employability, it is the opportunity of collaborating across disciplines and as an equal partner with staff,  where their voices contribute to real debates about teaching and learning in HE.