Catherine Boot, 15 January 2017

A student in Higher Education today can expect to pay up to £27,000 for their degree.

How does this fact affect their relationship to the course on which they study?

These are some (uncurated) thoughts:

Students come to learn - do they know what we think they need to know? Who is best

placed to say what they need to know - students or teachers?

How can we convey the sense that can be made from the teaching only once the

student has entered the industry?

Can we get students to ever trust us enough to allow us to spend their £9000 a year

for them? Asking for/engendering trust in a teacher/institution/course - HOW?

The £9000 price tag is quite new - in years to come, will the fall out from this lessen,

as it becomes the new norm? Do we just need to play a waiting game?

Statistics around student satisfaction now have an independent ratings body which

flashes up at the bottom of your computer screen when looking at a course -

satisfaction = more students. Universities are keen to keep these figures high, but

does short term satisfaction lead to long term excellence?

The French approach - teacher as maestro (Lecoq, Gaullier) - ‘Shut up, listen and you

will learn’ - could this ever work in the UK? Why/why not?

What duty do we have towards the students to tell/show them the truth, when it's not

what they want to hear? Do we have a duty to prepare them for the industry, or do

they get to temper the truth with every £ spent?

Refers to the way students accept feedback and criticism. How can we encourage

them to become more open to the process of learning?

Maybe it would help if the threat of being kicked off the course was real… but

Universities can't take on the financial risk of making this threat real - we're in a catch

22 situation.

How to teach millennials - creating love, trust, relationships versus instant gratification

and short attention spans.

Tags:

Theatre, theatre, Arts, Teaching, higher education, TEACHING, arts, THEATRE,

teaching, student loans