Colwell, Stephen John; (2019) Hall of Mirrors: policy, mythology and media practice curriculum development in higher education for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This research and analysis looks at policy governing Higher Education (H.E.) practices that contribute to the activity of curriculum development for media practice courses. It examines institutional policy regarding practical and theoretical bases for the development of curricula, pedagogy and assessment and government policy regarding H.E. finance and relations between H.E. and media industries. The general theoretical position of this research is that recontextualisation, the translation of practices from one socially distinct context to another, is the primary factor in this empirical field. Social Activity Method (SAM) is used to dismantle and describe curriculum development practice in two H.E. institutions. Research shows that, generally, policy casts a gaze that rationalises H.E. practice so that it conforms to its own principles. However, the convergence of multiple policy regards produces strategies that are, generally, incommensurable. For example, the convergence of academic policies that stabilise assessment of student learning in this field also serve to reify a theoretical split between media practice and theory as conflicting pedagogic strategies. Government policy on consumer rights applied to H.E. potentially annihilates H.E. practice that ensures the integrity of academic awards. Strategies that are evident in the process of curriculum development can be dismantled and described to show how policy shapes practice. The organisational language of SAM allows the strategic relationship between policy and practice in this field to be mapped. This research suggests that opacity regarding the simultaneous activation of multiple policies in the process of developing curricula, risks the introduction of incoherence and instability in pedagogy and assessment of student learning. However, the organisation and description of strategic action using SAM may provide the transparency necessary to achieve stability and coherence in pedagogic and evaluative relations between institutions and students.

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