‘The virtues of not knowing’
How ‘unknowingness’ in pedagogical partnership prepares student partners to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and change in pursuit of equity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21556160 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alison Cook‐sather (0000-0002-0116-7158, Bryn Mawr College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1640-1654 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Higher Education Research & Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0729-4360 • E-ISSN: 1469-8366 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07294360.2025.2482802 |
| OpenAlex | W4409044511 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 26 |
We live in a time of complexity, uncertainty, and change that can exacerbate inequities. Student–faculty pedagogical partnership that embraces ‘unknowingness’ can prepare student partners both to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and change and to work toward equity within and beyond higher education. After noting several current conditions of complexity, uncertainty, change, and inequity in the United States and beyond, this article introduces the concept of unknowingness, defines pedagogical partnership, and describes a longstanding, US-based pedagogical partnership program that embraces unknowingness. Using thematic analysis, the article draws on published essays and anonymous student-partner feedback to illustrate three stages through which student partners learn to work against hierarchies, re-understand complexity, uncertainty, and change, and develop the capacity to navigate the world with an equity orientation. The first stage is the uncertainty student partners feel when they enter into a pedagogical partnership, which reflects the dominant orientation in US higher education to have or seek the right answer. In the second stage, student partners build confidence and capacity through learning to trust unknowingness. Third is embracing unknowingness as a mindset student partners carry with them to navigate with an equity orientation the challenges and opportunities presented by a complex, unpredictable, and increasingly undemocratic and inequitable world
Economic growth · Economics · General partnership · Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Collaborative Teaching and Inclusion · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Psychology · Reflective Practices in Education
Addressing potential challenges in co-creating learning and teaching
Transgressing the boundaries of ‘students as partners’ and ‘feedback’ discourse communities to advance democratic education
A Partnership Outcome Spaces framework for purposeful student–staff partnerships
Seeing institutionally
Coping with Complexity, Uncertainty and Ambiguity in Risk Governance
Environmental, Technical, and Representational Uncertainty
Performativity, Commodification and Commitment
The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity
Suspending Damage
More than customers
It is a complicated thing
Thematic Analysis
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |