Monica Mclean
Biographic Data
| ID | 3941084 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Monica Mclean |
| GIVEN NAMES | Monica |
| FAMILY NAME | Mclean |
| SIGNATURE | MCLEAN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Nottingham |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The future of the research and teaching nexus in a post-pandemic world
Vaccines and treatments produced during the global coronavirus crisis demonstrated the importance of university research and teaching. There was widespread celebration of university-industry partnerships and collaborations across disciplines and geographical locations. However, simultaneously, higher education institutions in England faced serious financial and organisational challenges throughout the pandemic, which has implications for the rela…
How does completing a dissertation transform undergraduate students’ understandings of disciplinary knowledge
Dissertations are positioned as the capstone of an undergraduate degree, bringing together what students have previously learned from their programmes through a piece of independent research. However, there is limited research into the ways in which engaging in a dissertation has an impact on students’ understandings of disciplinary knowledge. In this article, we explore the relations between students’ accounts of sociological knowledge in their …
Conceptualising transformative undergraduate experiences
Existing ways of understanding the transformative potential of students’ undergraduate experiences either focus solely on the formal educational elements of these experiences or present an overly static picture of students’ intentions in engaging in higher education. In this article we argue that the notion of ‘personal project’ offers a more flexible way of understanding what students are trying to gain from being at university. Based on a pheno…
Promising Spaces
Attention has been drawn to reduction of universities’ purposes to serve economic interests only. This dissatisfaction has provoked thinking about how to reclaim a critical, moral role for universities in society. Inspired by contemporary utopian studies this paper brings together traditional ideas about how transmitting university knowledge connects to universities’ critical-moral functions, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approac…
Professionals and Public Good Capabilities
Martha Nussbaum (2011) reminds us that, all over the world people are struggling for a life that is fully human -a life worthy of human dignity. Purely income-based and preferencebased evaluations, as Sen (1999) argues, do not adequately capture what it means for each person to have quality of life. There are other things that make life good for a person, including access to publicly provided professional services. The question then is what versi…
Promising Spaces’
Attention has been drawn to reduction of universities’ purposes to serve economic interests only. This dissatisfaction has provoked thinking about how to reclaim a critical, moral role for universities in society. Inspired by contemporary utopian studies this paper brings together traditional ideas about how transmitting university knowledge connects to universities’ critical-moral functions, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approac…
Professionals and Public-Good Capabilities
Martha Nussbaum (2011) reminds us that, all over the world people are struggling for a life that is fully human -a life worthy of human dignity. Purely income-based and preference-based evaluations, as Sen (1999) argues, do not adequately capture what it means for each person to have quality of life. There are other things that make life good for a person, including access to publicly provided professional services. The question then is what vers…
Representations of a high-quality system of undergraduate education in English higher education policy documents
This article examines the ways in which a high-quality system of undergraduate education is represented in recent policy documents from a range of actors interested in higher education. Drawing on Basil Bernstein's ideas, the authors conceptualise the policy documents as reflecting a struggle over competing views of quality that are expressed through pedagogic discourses. They identify two pedagogic discourses: a dominant market-oriented generic …
The use and value of Bernstein’s work in studying (in)equalities in undergraduate social science education
This paper illustrates how critical use of Basil Bernstein's theory illuminates the mechanisms by which university knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy both reproduce and interrupt social inequalities. To this end, empirical examples are selected from the findings of the ESRC-funded project ‘Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First Degrees' (RES-062-23-1438, November 2008–January 2012). The project investigated sociology-related social …
The possibilities for university-based public-good professional education
The education of professionals oriented to poverty reduction and the public good is the focus of the article. Sen’s ‘capability approach’ is used to conceptualise university-based professional education as a process of developing public-good professional capabilities. The main output of a research project on professional education in South Africa is an innovative ‘Public-Good Professional Education Index’ generated by using three knowledge source…
South African universities and human development
Self, others and society
There is currently an over‐emphasis on the economic aims of higher education at the expense of the aims of personal and social transformation. This article proposes a specific approach to integrating educational aims. It draws on the works of Jürgen Habermas and Martha Nussbaum to conceptualise integrative learning as a simultaneous focus on self, others and society. A small‐scale case study of five lecturers from different disciplines is employe…
Qualitative research as a method for making just comparisons of pedagogic quality in higher education
Systems designed to ensure that teaching and student learning are of a suitable quality are a feature of universities globally. Quality assurance systems are central to attempts to internationalise higher education, motivated in part by a concern for greater global equality. Yet, if such systems incorporate comparisons, the tendency is to reflect and reproduce inequalities in higher education. Highlighting the European context, we argue that, if …
Investigating the Production of University English in Mass Higher Education
Two university English seminars were video-recorded to provide data for a pilot project investigating how English is produced or 'actualized' in teaching and learning encounters. The project is positioned within three contexts: national policy about higher education teaching; current research about higher education pedagogy; and, the history and politics of university English. The main aim of the article is to explicate a methodology that takes a…
Communicative Competence and the Improvement of University Teaching
The arguments in this article have been generated from involvement in a government-funded project designed to improve teaching. The authors reflect on their experience and use Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative competence to argue that initiatives designed to improve university teaching often work against their own intentions by closing down opportunities for open dialogue. They argue that improvement of teaching requires undistorted commu…
Becoming Sociologists
This article is based on research undertaken as part of a project designed to promote support for part-time teachers in sociology. Contemporary changes in higher education are the backdrop for suggesting that a reflexive sociology should scrutinise itself, including the conditions and experiences of part-time teachers in their own department. Empirical data raises issues about the implications of the working conditions of part-time teachers for t…
Jumping Through Hoops
In the context of the trend towards the accreditation of university teachers and the use of teaching portfolios as a form of assessment, the teaching portfolios of eight novice university teachers of geography are analysed. The portfolios are examined with reference to: how useful portfolios are for teacher development; what they reveal about philosophies of teaching; what can be learned from portfolios about the experience of novice teachers; an…
Whatever happened to TVEI
This paper analyses some of the policy‐practice lessons learned from the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative as its influence comes to an end. Historically, perhaps, TVEI will be remembered as a moment in education policy and practice, characterizing the transitional phase from local to central determination of the curriculum. This paper considers how TVEI affected the culture of teaching, learning and curriculum in ways unintended and …
Becoming Sociologists
This article is based on research undertaken as part of a project designed to promote support for part-time teachers in sociology. Contemporary changes in higher education are the backdrop for suggesting that a reflexive sociology should scrutinise itself, including the conditions and experiences of part-time teachers in their own department. Empirical data raises issues about the implications of the working conditions of part-time teachers for t…
South African universities and human development
Conceptualising transformative undergraduate experiences
Existing ways of understanding the transformative potential of students’ undergraduate experiences either focus solely on the formal educational elements of these experiences or present an overly static picture of students’ intentions in engaging in higher education. In this article we argue that the notion of ‘personal project’ offers a more flexible way of understanding what students are trying to gain from being at university. Based on a pheno…
The use and value of Bernstein’s work in studying (in)equalities in undergraduate social science education
This paper illustrates how critical use of Basil Bernstein's theory illuminates the mechanisms by which university knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy both reproduce and interrupt social inequalities. To this end, empirical examples are selected from the findings of the ESRC-funded project ‘Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First Degrees' (RES-062-23-1438, November 2008–January 2012). The project investigated sociology-related social …
Self, others and society
There is currently an over‐emphasis on the economic aims of higher education at the expense of the aims of personal and social transformation. This article proposes a specific approach to integrating educational aims. It draws on the works of Jürgen Habermas and Martha Nussbaum to conceptualise integrative learning as a simultaneous focus on self, others and society. A small‐scale case study of five lecturers from different disciplines is employe…
Communicative Competence and the Improvement of University Teaching
The arguments in this article have been generated from involvement in a government-funded project designed to improve teaching. The authors reflect on their experience and use Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative competence to argue that initiatives designed to improve university teaching often work against their own intentions by closing down opportunities for open dialogue. They argue that improvement of teaching requires undistorted commu…
Jumping Through Hoops
In the context of the trend towards the accreditation of university teachers and the use of teaching portfolios as a form of assessment, the teaching portfolios of eight novice university teachers of geography are analysed. The portfolios are examined with reference to: how useful portfolios are for teacher development; what they reveal about philosophies of teaching; what can be learned from portfolios about the experience of novice teachers; an…
Professionals and Public Good Capabilities
Martha Nussbaum (2011) reminds us that, all over the world people are struggling for a life that is fully human -a life worthy of human dignity. Purely income-based and preferencebased evaluations, as Sen (1999) argues, do not adequately capture what it means for each person to have quality of life. There are other things that make life good for a person, including access to publicly provided professional services. The question then is what versi…
Representations of a high-quality system of undergraduate education in English higher education policy documents
This article examines the ways in which a high-quality system of undergraduate education is represented in recent policy documents from a range of actors interested in higher education. Drawing on Basil Bernstein's ideas, the authors conceptualise the policy documents as reflecting a struggle over competing views of quality that are expressed through pedagogic discourses. They identify two pedagogic discourses: a dominant market-oriented generic …
The possibilities for university-based public-good professional education
The education of professionals oriented to poverty reduction and the public good is the focus of the article. Sen’s ‘capability approach’ is used to conceptualise university-based professional education as a process of developing public-good professional capabilities. The main output of a research project on professional education in South Africa is an innovative ‘Public-Good Professional Education Index’ generated by using three knowledge source…
Qualitative research as a method for making just comparisons of pedagogic quality in higher education
Systems designed to ensure that teaching and student learning are of a suitable quality are a feature of universities globally. Quality assurance systems are central to attempts to internationalise higher education, motivated in part by a concern for greater global equality. Yet, if such systems incorporate comparisons, the tendency is to reflect and reproduce inequalities in higher education. Highlighting the European context, we argue that, if …
Investigating the Production of University English in Mass Higher Education
Two university English seminars were video-recorded to provide data for a pilot project investigating how English is produced or 'actualized' in teaching and learning encounters. The project is positioned within three contexts: national policy about higher education teaching; current research about higher education pedagogy; and, the history and politics of university English. The main aim of the article is to explicate a methodology that takes a…
Whatever happened to TVEI
This paper analyses some of the policy‐practice lessons learned from the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative as its influence comes to an end. Historically, perhaps, TVEI will be remembered as a moment in education policy and practice, characterizing the transitional phase from local to central determination of the curriculum. This paper considers how TVEI affected the culture of teaching, learning and curriculum in ways unintended and …
Whatever happened to TVEI
This paper analyses some of the policy‐practice lessons learned from the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative as its influence comes to an end. Historically, perhaps, TVEI will be remembered as a moment in education policy and practice, characterizing the transitional phase from local to central determination of the curriculum. This paper considers how TVEI affected the culture of teaching, learning and curriculum in ways unintended and …
Jumping Through Hoops
In the context of the trend towards the accreditation of university teachers and the use of teaching portfolios as a form of assessment, the teaching portfolios of eight novice university teachers of geography are analysed. The portfolios are examined with reference to: how useful portfolios are for teacher development; what they reveal about philosophies of teaching; what can be learned from portfolios about the experience of novice teachers; an…
Becoming Sociologists
This article is based on research undertaken as part of a project designed to promote support for part-time teachers in sociology. Contemporary changes in higher education are the backdrop for suggesting that a reflexive sociology should scrutinise itself, including the conditions and experiences of part-time teachers in their own department. Empirical data raises issues about the implications of the working conditions of part-time teachers for t…
Communicative Competence and the Improvement of University Teaching
The arguments in this article have been generated from involvement in a government-funded project designed to improve teaching. The authors reflect on their experience and use Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative competence to argue that initiatives designed to improve university teaching often work against their own intentions by closing down opportunities for open dialogue. They argue that improvement of teaching requires undistorted commu…
Investigating the Production of University English in Mass Higher Education
Two university English seminars were video-recorded to provide data for a pilot project investigating how English is produced or 'actualized' in teaching and learning encounters. The project is positioned within three contexts: national policy about higher education teaching; current research about higher education pedagogy; and, the history and politics of university English. The main aim of the article is to explicate a methodology that takes a…
Qualitative research as a method for making just comparisons of pedagogic quality in higher education
Systems designed to ensure that teaching and student learning are of a suitable quality are a feature of universities globally. Quality assurance systems are central to attempts to internationalise higher education, motivated in part by a concern for greater global equality. Yet, if such systems incorporate comparisons, the tendency is to reflect and reproduce inequalities in higher education. Highlighting the European context, we argue that, if …
South African universities and human development
Self, others and society
There is currently an over‐emphasis on the economic aims of higher education at the expense of the aims of personal and social transformation. This article proposes a specific approach to integrating educational aims. It draws on the works of Jürgen Habermas and Martha Nussbaum to conceptualise integrative learning as a simultaneous focus on self, others and society. A small‐scale case study of five lecturers from different disciplines is employe…
The possibilities for university-based public-good professional education
The education of professionals oriented to poverty reduction and the public good is the focus of the article. Sen’s ‘capability approach’ is used to conceptualise university-based professional education as a process of developing public-good professional capabilities. The main output of a research project on professional education in South Africa is an innovative ‘Public-Good Professional Education Index’ generated by using three knowledge source…
The use and value of Bernstein’s work in studying (in)equalities in undergraduate social science education
This paper illustrates how critical use of Basil Bernstein's theory illuminates the mechanisms by which university knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy both reproduce and interrupt social inequalities. To this end, empirical examples are selected from the findings of the ESRC-funded project ‘Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First Degrees' (RES-062-23-1438, November 2008–January 2012). The project investigated sociology-related social …
Promising Spaces
Attention has been drawn to reduction of universities’ purposes to serve economic interests only. This dissatisfaction has provoked thinking about how to reclaim a critical, moral role for universities in society. Inspired by contemporary utopian studies this paper brings together traditional ideas about how transmitting university knowledge connects to universities’ critical-moral functions, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approac…
Professionals and Public Good Capabilities
Martha Nussbaum (2011) reminds us that, all over the world people are struggling for a life that is fully human -a life worthy of human dignity. Purely income-based and preferencebased evaluations, as Sen (1999) argues, do not adequately capture what it means for each person to have quality of life. There are other things that make life good for a person, including access to publicly provided professional services. The question then is what versi…
Promising Spaces’
Attention has been drawn to reduction of universities’ purposes to serve economic interests only. This dissatisfaction has provoked thinking about how to reclaim a critical, moral role for universities in society. Inspired by contemporary utopian studies this paper brings together traditional ideas about how transmitting university knowledge connects to universities’ critical-moral functions, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approac…
Professionals and Public-Good Capabilities
Martha Nussbaum (2011) reminds us that, all over the world people are struggling for a life that is fully human -a life worthy of human dignity. Purely income-based and preference-based evaluations, as Sen (1999) argues, do not adequately capture what it means for each person to have quality of life. There are other things that make life good for a person, including access to publicly provided professional services. The question then is what vers…
Representations of a high-quality system of undergraduate education in English higher education policy documents
This article examines the ways in which a high-quality system of undergraduate education is represented in recent policy documents from a range of actors interested in higher education. Drawing on Basil Bernstein's ideas, the authors conceptualise the policy documents as reflecting a struggle over competing views of quality that are expressed through pedagogic discourses. They identify two pedagogic discourses: a dominant market-oriented generic …
Conceptualising transformative undergraduate experiences
Existing ways of understanding the transformative potential of students’ undergraduate experiences either focus solely on the formal educational elements of these experiences or present an overly static picture of students’ intentions in engaging in higher education. In this article we argue that the notion of ‘personal project’ offers a more flexible way of understanding what students are trying to gain from being at university. Based on a pheno…
How does completing a dissertation transform undergraduate students’ understandings of disciplinary knowledge
Dissertations are positioned as the capstone of an undergraduate degree, bringing together what students have previously learned from their programmes through a piece of independent research. However, there is limited research into the ways in which engaging in a dissertation has an impact on students’ understandings of disciplinary knowledge. In this article, we explore the relations between students’ accounts of sociological knowledge in their …
The future of the research and teaching nexus in a post-pandemic world
Vaccines and treatments produced during the global coronavirus crisis demonstrated the importance of university research and teaching. There was widespread celebration of university-industry partnerships and collaborations across disciplines and geographical locations. However, simultaneously, higher education institutions in England faced serious financial and organisational challenges throughout the pandemic, which has implications for the rela…
Sociology (16 works) · Pedagogy (15 works) · Political science (13 works) · Higher education (11 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Evaluation of Teaching Practices (5 works) · Global Educational Policies and Reforms (5 works)