How Does the SPP Define Partnership?
Partnerships for us involves the formation of reciprocal relationships between students and academic staff. Everyone involved in the project are engaged in the process of working and learning together and stand to gain from it. We view partnership as a process or a way of doing things rather than the output of some product or artifact. Partnership is, in the end, a more abstract word. How your partnership operates or looks will always come down to preference. Partnership does not take a singular form, however, at its core, all partnerships are built on reciprocity, respect, and transparency between members.
Building Blocks of Partnership
Student partnerships are similar in nature to interpersonal partnerships that you have in life. There are some standards of interactions and behaviour that lead to lasting meaningful partnerships and have lasting impact on students and staff well past end dates.
What are the preferred ways to communicate and work. Be mindful that partnership requires collaboration and not just assigning tasks. The traditional staff/student dynamic should not be expected. Create an environment where students lead and take initiative, express concerns, and let it be known that expectations are not being met.
Discuss how and if the project’s findings will be disseminated. Whose name will go first on articles and other publications. Discuss how and where documents and other information will be saved and stored. What can be included on each team member’s CV and what can be done to bolster each other.
Discuss the short and long-term goals of the project as a group and personal objectives. What exactly do both sides want to get out of the partnership. Create a mutual and shared set of expectations, protect them, and revisit them if need be.
Why Try the Student Partner Model?
Traditionally, educators position faculty as experts who impart knowledge to students. The student partner approach, however, promotes a collaborative relationship where faculty and students work together. This method challenges the traditional hierarchy, sharing decision-making responsibilities in pedagogy. It encourages students to take an active role, fostering greater engagement, responsibility, and ownership of their learning.
The advantages of partnerships in higher education have been extensively documented (Barnes, Goldring, Bestwick, & Wood, 2010; Healey, Flint & Harrington, 2014; Jarvis, Dickerson & Stockwell, 2013). For instance, collaborations in teaching and learning can build research capacity through joint inquiry, enhance engagement with teaching and learning, and develop the knowledge and skills of both students and staff. Additionally, these partnerships foster a sense of personal and social responsibility, boost personal and professional confidence, and create a stronger sense of belonging and community within the university.
Working with students provides a more contextualized and precise understanding of student collected data, feedback and assessment and it thus far more likely to result in sustainable and mutually beneficial changes to teaching and learning practices.
Core Values of Partnership
Encouraging genuine collaboration, we foster a collective effort where students, faculty, and staff collaborate to co-create meaningful contributions to teaching and learning projects. Recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives, skills, and experiences, we firmly believe that collaboration enriches the quality of the work undertaken.
Our program is committed to cultivating an inclusive environment. Actively promoting participation from individuals of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities—including students, faculty, and staff—we emphasize the significance of equity and diversity in shaping educational practices.
Our objective is to empower all participants—students, faculty, and staff—to actively participate in the teaching and learning process. Through purposeful partnerships, we strive to give students the agency to contribute to the intellectual direction of projects, fostering a sense of ownership and empowerment.
We are dedicated to maintaining a commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. The program seeks projects that have the potential to make meaningful contributions to enhancing educational practices and knowledge. We prioritize rigorous scholarship, innovation, and an ongoing commitment to improvement.
Ensuring transparency in all processes and procedures, we prioritize clear communication. From the selection of projects to reporting outcomes, our focus is on making expectations, goals, and timelines easily understandable for all stakeholders, fostering trust and accountability.