Learning in community: Student-staff partnership schemes at two UK universities

This paper analyses a model of student observation of teaching at the University of Sheffield, inspired and directly shaped by an earlier scheme at the University of Lincoln. Student observation of teaching does what it says on the tin; it places staff and students into dialogue with each other about teaching practices, and offers a space outside of conventional approaches to evaluation where meaningful dialogue can be fostered. The paper outlines what each scheme does and how it operates, evaluates the success of the Sheffield scheme through data gathered through two instances of the project, and relates these insights to the existing literature on student-staff partnership. Themes derived from the data identify changes to student and staff participants’ identities, their relationships with one another, and a deepening sense of solidarity between students and staff. A secondary finding focuses on the value of cross-institutional collaboration in projects such as this, where work may challenge conventional institutional expectations. We end by exploring the risks and opportunities for aligning this work with contemporary mechanisms of quality assurance, and policy discourses around teaching excellence.