Parallel Session
Towards Cultural Change: Rethinking Quality as Impact in providing Epistemological Access in Higher Education
Dr M Fourie
Quality Manager, Academic Programmes
North West University
Mariette Fourie, a DEd graduate in Educational Psychology, with well-established knowledge and experience in quantitative research, is the Quality Manager: Academic Programmes, and a proud affiliated member of the Optentia research unit at the NWU. As an emerging researcher, Mariette anticipates advancing her own research fondness and potential into a vivacious career in the academic repertoire. Her research interest embraces the field of neuroeducation, particularly Mind, Brain and Education (MBE) Sciences. Mariette’s professional identity is seated in her scholarly journey, supported by her fervour to research, to mindfully discover, unravel complexities, and frequently publish about trends in MBE Sciences that could ardently inform pedagogies towards quality teaching and learning. Mariette’s research is further inspired by the epistemic becoming of students in higher education (HE) with an emphasis on epistemic justice and quality in HE. Mariette regard herself as a critical realist, mapping the ontological character of social reality. Her professional character portrays a strong disposition towards social justice and transformation in HE. Her current research focuses on the provision of epistemological access in HE disciplines focusing on epistemic cognition. In classrooms where teachers explicitly focus on the arguments and justifications for ideas in their discipline (i.e., emphasizing not just the what but also the why and how), students are more likely to engage in effective epistemic cognition. The overall quality in HE is a prerequisite to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and the competences that they need to be successful after graduation. Within the ambit of fitness for purpose and transformation, quality is promoted as impact within an overarching fitness of purpose framework as it refers to knowledge creation focusing epistemic justice and the provision of epistemological access in HE.
Abstract
As higher education (HE) systems grow and diversify, society is increasingly concerned about the quality of programmes. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are becoming a major driver of economic competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy. Some tensions in HE refers to the delicate balance between accountability versus improvement of HE; and quality as ideology against the traditional understandings of the purpose of HE (fitting into an ideological box not seeing and acknowledging blind spots). The quality of teaching and learning and subsequently the quality of qualifications at any HE institution is an integral part of the core business of the university due to its accountability to various stakeholders. The overall quality in HE is a prerequisite to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and the competences that they need to be successful after graduation. Quality teaching must be thought of dynamically in the context of dominant discourses and contextual shifts in the HE environment. One such contextual shift refers to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has influenced traditional teaching and learning models that seem not to be effective anymore in a changed HE landscape. Particularly in the ambit of remote online teaching and learning, we must rethink quality of teaching and learning, the way we provide opportunities for learning to our students. Teaching online is causing a ‘pedagogical renaissance’ in reflecting upon ways to emphasise the importance of a sound philosophical and pedagogical foundation for one’s teaching practice. Our ontological and epistemological beliefs influence our pedagogy, and the way we provide epistemological access to the discipline, how we teach, and how we assess. It is against this backdrop that this presentation will promote quality in HE as a outcomes indicator in realising the impact of no student left behind towards the provision of epistemological access in HE. Within the ambit of fitness for purpose and transformation, the presentation will further present quality as impact within an overarching fitness of purpose framework as it refers to knowledge creation focusing epistemic justice and the provision of epistemological access in HE. The presentation will ultimately stive to change prevalent quality cultures in HEIs in South Africa towards access, equity, and inclusion in the face of uncertainty: “No student left behind”.
Keywords: Epistemic justice, Epistemological access, Pedagogical renaissance, Ontological and epistemological beliefs, Quality as impact.
M Fourie_Towards Cultural Change .pdf