Co-authored by Lucy Blakemore, Kathy Egea, and Alisa Percy.
They’re not asking us to solve all their problems, they just want to be seen as humans.
Peter Felten, co-author of Relationship-Rich Education, speaking on the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast
Educators and support staff know from experience the impact of fostering strong relationships among students, educators, and the broader academic community to create a more inclusive and effective learning environment. In anticipation of the final FFYE Forum for this year on Enhancing student transition: A Focus on Relational-Based Strategies Inside and Outside the Classroom, we share some of the key literature highlighting these strategies and their implications for what we do in learning and teaching.
📕 Relationship-rich education
Peter Felten and Leo Lambert’s Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (2020) is a firm favourite in the FFYE community, and has been referenced in previous Forum events as well as blogs such as Laura Hanna’s Building relationships in the classroom at UTS College.
Key points in the book include:
- The importance of human relationships in higher education, evidenced by decades of research and 400 interviews with students, educators, and staff at 29 higher education institutions.
- Relationship-rich environments don’t need to rely on huge resources, elite institutions, or specialist educators.
- Relationship-rich education is particularly important for first-generation (first in family) students, who have a lot to offer at university but often face long-standing barriers.
- Practical advice for educators on how to develop and sustain powerful relationship-based learning in your own context.
🎧 Listen to the authors talk about this topic in Relationship-Rich Education (Podcast: Teaching in Higher Ed)
📕 Relational pedagogies
Karen Gravett’s Relational pedagogies : connections and mattering in higher education (2023) asks what meaningful connections in learning and teaching look like, and how we can nurture these. We recently saw some aspects of this topic covered in a UTS seminar on complexity theory, and a related blog about the less visible moments when learning happens in the spaces between us.
Key points in the book include:
- The role of relationships, and in particular of relational pedagogies, where meaningful relationships are positioned as fundamental to effective learning.
- Concepts of authenticity, vulnerability, and trust within learning and teaching, and the potential of working with students in partnership.
- The role of relationships between colleagues: how educators can learn from others both within and beyond higher education.
- The concept of ‘mattering’ in education – who should be considered and valued, and the material mattering of learning (e.g. technology, learning spaces).
🎧 Listen to/ watch the author talk about this topic in Relational pedagogies in higher education
📕 Co-creating learning and teaching
Co-creation is another common topic on this blog, and Catherine Bovill highlights important connections for learner engagement and positive relationships in Co-creating learning and teaching : towards relational pedagogy in higher education (2020).
Key points in the book include:
- Co-creation of learning and teaching as key to meaningful learner engagement and building positive student-staff relationships, drawing on examples from schools’ education, and universities worldwide
- The benefits of classroom-level, relational, dialogic pedagogy and co-creation, with a focus on the classroom as the site of co-creation.
- Examples of practice and practical guidance, bringing together the concept of co-creation with relational pedagogy within higher education learning and teaching.
🎧 Listen to/ watch Cathy talking about The case for whole class co-creation in learning and teaching: towards inclusive, relational teaching in this 2023 conference presentation.
📄 …and 2 bonus articles!
Still hungry? No time to browse a book? No worries – these articles are also a great addition to your pre-reading on this topic!
- Gravett, K., & Winstone, N. E. (2022). Making connections: authenticity and alienation within students’ relationships in higher education.
- Pedler, M. L., Willis, R., & Nieuwoudt, J. E. (2021). A sense of belonging at university: student retention, motivation and enjoyment.
Join us on 20 November to dig into some of these concepts and more, with contributions from UTS Student Experience Director Natalie Bradbury, staff supporting student transition in the curriculum, co-curriculum and extra curriculum space. 2023 FFYE grant holders will also share their projects, showcasing their innovative, inclusive, and intentional curriculum practices to enhance successful student transition.