Student Voice in Academic Education Conferences

Abstract

Student-staff partnerships provide novel experiences for both parties, as active collaboration re-frames how they work in teaching and learning (Mercer-Mapstone et al., 2018; Cook Sather, 2008). Benefits of such partnership include participants appreciating diverse perspectives, increased future employability, and the development of communication and interpersonal skills (Marquis et al., 2019; Liogier, 2019). Projects incorporating student-staff partnership have focused mainly on engaging directly with curriculum reform and student experience while little has been said on including students within large-scale events whose purpose is discussing the implementation of innovative education strategies. TeachECONference2021, the second economics education hosted by UCL Centre for Teaching and Learning Economics (CTaLE) took place online from 28-30 June 2021. Four student partners led on session curation, presentation reflections and discussion through the student perspective, managing the live event and engaging with international presenters in materials dissemination. Reflections show student partners enhanced their experience by developing soft skills, logistical problem solving and engagement in economics education discussions. The student voices helped to raise academics’ awareness of student perspectives on innovative pedagogy, benefitting other students by creating more space for student participation in, and greater understanding of, the genesis and implementation of pedagogical change.