Learners vs Consumers: The impact of student identities

The introduction of student tuition fees has created a new identity for students in higher education, that of a consumer.

This identity seems to bring with it a set of attitudes and behaviours that contradict the traditional identity of students as learners, such as the belief that obtaining a degree is an entitlement in exchange for fees.

This hybrid talk, titled 'Balancing students’ identities as learners and consumers: a research-informed teaching intervention to support inclusion', will discuss research on students' identities as learners and consumers, and how these identities impact student learning and academic outcomes.

A teaching resource will be presented that applies the principles of a social identity approach to supporting students to develop identities that will support inclusion and improve their learning and engagement.

Bio

Dr Louise Taylor (previously Louise Bunce) is a National Teaching Fellow, and Principal Lecturer for Student Education and Experience at Oxford Brookes University where she teaches psychology on the social work programmes.

Her research applies psychological theory to understand students’ attitudes and behaviours relating to studying, particularly in the contexts of marketisation  and degree awarding gaps. She is Chair of the Psychology of Education Section of the British Psychological Society, and co-editor of Psychology Teaching Review published by the Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology.