Scott, Elizabeth A.; (2018) Student involvement in quality assurance in HE in FE: perceptions of students, teachers and managers. Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

In Higher Education (HE) in England, much attention is paid to the importance of obtaining student feedback through quality assurance processes. However, the vast majority of that written on this subject deals with students in the main university sector and either ignores those enrolled on HE programmes in a Further Education college (HE in FE) or allows them to be subsumed into the mass of statistics. In particular there has been a lack of research into what these students themselves say about their experience of quality assurance processes. This study took a qualitative case study approach to finding out how students in English HE in FE perceive their involvement in the quality assurance processes, and how teachers and managers perceive student involvement. Five focus groups involving a total of 22 students, and individual interviews with six managers, eight teachers and one member of support staff were implemented, with key themes identified through thematic analysis. All parties showed a conviction that students should be involved and have an important role to play; however none of these groups was satisfied that the current systems were delivering what they promised. A number of different perceptions and tensions were uncovered both within and among these groups, showing that involving students in the quality assurance processes is more complex than it would first appear, as each group made assumptions about the motivation of the other, leading to well-intentioned words and actions sometimes having unintended consequences. The findings of the study shed light on the complexities of involving students in quality assurance, and show that the context of HE in FE influences the nature of the issues that arise. Recommendations are given with the aim of developing a more coherent approach to quality assurance in HE in FE, that incorporates meaningful student engagement.

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