1. Values in Higher Education
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Values in Higher Education
Applying a disciplinary lens
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2. Overview What do we mean by values and why do they matter in HE?
Case studies (as methodology and example)
Articulating participants’ own values/ethical principles
Personal, institutional and disciplinary perspectives
Values, teaching and curriculum design
Locating values in practice: further work
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3. Why explore values?
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4. Activity 1: What do we mean by values?
Please make some notes about what you understand by the term ‘values’.
Please identify about 3 values that you feel are inherent in higher education.
Discuss these ideas in groups of 3 or 4.
Ice breaker activity
Note to workshop leader: This is an icebreaker activity, designed to help the group establish possible definitions of ‘values’ and to help participants start thinking of what types of values are inherent in their practice.
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5. Why address values in HE practice?
Values are at the heart of our identities as academics, and they shape our decisions as teachers and researchers. Yet, values and ethics in university teaching feature less frequently than we might expect in professional development courses for academics.
Bruce Macfarlane, suggests that there is a dearth of literature on the topic of 'managing the ethical implications of teaching in modern higher education', and he calls for the bridging of the gap between a professional competency approach to teaching in HE and the 'ethical complexities' of being a university teacher. (Macfarlane, 2008)
Gap between teaching of ‘techniques’ in HE CPD courses and engaging in ethics, values, politics and social context for higher education. (Malcolm and Zukas, 2001)
Note to workshop leader: Macfarlane is one of the leading writers on ethics in HE teaching and research. For students on an MA course, his work might be assigned as preparatory reading for this workshop. A suggested reading would be an extract from Teaching with Integrity: the ethics of higher education practice.
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6. Case studies and dilemmas
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7. Case studies Case study as method for exploring topics with groups:
A number of researchers in the field (Macfarlane, Smith, Harland and Pickering) advocate a case study approach to exploring ethics in HE.
Case studies can be fictionalised or historical accounts which present real-life events or dilemmas.
Case studies are often participant-led. A workshop leader can present a ‘case’ or ‘dilemma’ and participants then lead the conversation about the issues arising.
Case studies are a useful way of presenting complex material that may not have a single solution.
Note to workshop leader: Case studies can also be a method by which participants can put ideas from this workshop into practice. In face, the case study method of exploring topics might be one that the group would like to explore further as a pedagogical approach to teaching/researching values/ethics (or other topics) in their field. A question that might be asked is where, within the teaching of the discipline, might such a method be useful?
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8. Activity 2: Working with case studies
Please see the handout entitled ‘Values in HE case studies’ and select 2 cases to consider.
Please consider the cases from a disciplinary perspective.
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9. Activity 3: Developing a case study or dilemma
Please think of an experience that you have encountered in your practice that has posed a sort of dilemma for you as a teacher. Please draft a rough case study from this material.
Please share your rough draft with others in the group:
To what extent is this dilemma specific to your discipline?
To what extent could the thinking around this case study usefully involve people from other disciplines?
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10. Examining and articulating values
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11. HEA statement of professional values
HEA statement of professional values source: UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education
Professional Values
V1  Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities
V2  Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners
V3  Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development
V4  Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice
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12. Activity 4: Examining value statements
Please listen to Dr Holly Smith interrogating the HEA 2006 values:
Please consider the 2011 HEA value statements:
How would you amend these values?
Are there values you would like to add?
This is a generic set of values. What discipline-specific values would you add to the list?
Please discuss your amendments in pairs.
(adapted from an exercise developed by Holly Smith)
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13. Disciplinary values
Please find a set of values articulated by your discipline. Sources for such a set might include
Professional disciplinary bodies
HEA – subject repositories
Faculty or departmental statements
To workshop leader:
For example the Law Society 2010 manifesto contains the following:
The four principles
• That Government will uphold the rule of law by ensuring meaningful access to justice for all;
• That Government will properly defend the rights of the people;
• That Government will work for good governance and better law-making;
• That Government will support and encourage a strong and independent legal services sector for the benefit of all.
Law Society 2010 Manifesto
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14. Activity 5: Critically examining disciplinary values
The aim of this activity is for participants to develop a critique of the disciplinary values that you have identified. Here are some questions that might help:
What assumptions are made in the statement(s) you’ve found?
Who benefits from your acceptance of them?
Who might disagree with them?
Are there any contradictions between them?
What are the implications for academic practice?
To what extent are these values in accordance with the HEA value statement that we’ve just considered.
What might you amend or add?
(Adapted from Smith, 2011)
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15. Examining practice through a ‘values’ lens
Curricular perspective (teaching content)
Where are the values of your discipline present in the curriculum?
Would you like to foreground them further?
Pedagogical perspective (teaching practice)
How are your values realised in your teaching?
Are there ways of further grounding your teaching practice in your values (personal, professional and/or disciplinary)
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16. References
Harland, T. and Pickering, N. (2011) Values in Higher Education Teaching London: Routledge.
Macfarlane, B . (2008)Teaching with Integrity London: Routledge.
Malcolm, J. and Zukas, M. (2001) ‘Bridging pedagogic gaps: conceptual discontinuities in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 6 (1), pp
Smith, H. (2011) ‘Values in HE’. OER module produced for the CPD4HE project:
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17. Licensing
This file is made available under a Creative Commons attribution share alike license.
To attribute author/s please cite ‘Colleen McKenna and Jane Hughes, 2012, ‘Values in Higher Education: Applying a Disciplinary Lens’ for the Disciplinary Thinking Project, led by Helen King, University of Bath.
Users are free to link to, remix and reuse this material under the terms of the license.
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18. Learning Resource Metadata
Field/Element
Value:
Title
Values in Higher Education - Applying a Disciplinary Lens: Presentation Slides
Description
Presentation slides for an introductory workshop on the role of values in teaching and practice in higher education.
Module
Theme 3 – Values in Education
Subject
HE - Education
Author
Colleen McKenna & Jane Hughes: HEDERA, 2012
Owner
The University of Bath
Audience
Educational developers in accredited programmes & courses in higher education.
Issue Date
20/04/2012
Last updated Date
Version
Draft – V1
PSF Mapping
A1, A4, A5, K1, PV1, PV2, PV4
License
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Keywords
ukoer, education, discthink, disciplinary thinking, hedera, university of bath, values,
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