Invisible labour: do we need to reoccupy student engagement policy?

Hayes, S ORCID: 0000-0001-8633-0155 (2018) 'Invisible labour: do we need to reoccupy student engagement policy?' Learning and Teaching, 11 (1). pp. 19-34. ISSN 1755-2273

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2018.110102

Abstract

The ‘academic orthodoxy’ () of student engagement is questioned by Zepke, who suggests that it supports ‘a neoliberal ideology’ (2014: 698). In reply, Trowler argues that Zepke fails to explain the mechanisms linking neoliberalism to the concepts and practices of student engagement (2015: 336). In this article, I respond to the Zepke-Trowler debate with an analysis of student engagement policies that illuminates the role of discourse as one mechanism linking neoliberal values with practices of student engagement. Through a corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis, I demonstrate a persistent and alarming omission of human labour from university policy texts. Instead, the engagements of students and staff are attributed to technology, documents and frameworks. Student engagement is discussed as a commodity to be embedded and marketed back to students in a way that yields an ‘exchange value’ () for universities.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Critical Discourse Analysis, embodiment, engagement, neoliberal, reoccupation, students, Teaching Excellence Framework
Divisions:	School of Education
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2018.110102
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2023 09:42
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2023 09:42
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/15552

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