The effects of student-consumerism on discipline specific teaching practices : a comparison of education and law

Bennett, TL ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9664-844X 2021, 'The effects of student-consumerism on discipline specific teaching practices : a comparison of education and law' , Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45 (3) , pp. 417-432.

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Abstract

Student consumerism in the Higher Education (HE) sector continues to stimulate critical academic commentary about the consequences of marketisation. Although much of the debate focuses on the effects that consumerism has on student achievement, little empirical research has analysed the effect that consumerism has on teaching and associated practices from an academic standpoint. Moreover, the disparities between how differing disciplines perceive student consumerism, and the varying effects that this has depending on the academic discipline, remain under-researched. This paper examines findings from eight in-depth interviews that sought to investigate the effects of student-consumerism on the teaching practices of academics from the departments of education and law, in one post-1992 university in England. It finds that perceptions of student-consumerism differ between the disciplines of education and law. One of the key arguments for this finding is that academics in the field of education are accustomed to a regulatory environment, whereas law academics are acclimatised to greater levels of autonomy. A further argument put forward by this paper is that the stark contrast in graduate salary expectations between education and law, may also impact upon student consumerism.

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