Subverting the Notion of Student Satisfaction

Authors

  • Anne Pirrie University of West of Scotland

Keywords:

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Abstract

A question posed by an undergraduate student in education provides the starting point for this subversive exploration of two canonical notions in educational discourse. These are reflective practice and student satisfaction respectively. These concepts are generally considered in isolation. However, in this article they are brought into relation, with a view to examining the manifold tensions between them. The author draws upon the work of Edmond Jabès (1912-1991) in order to explore how literature opens the gates to the ethical imagination. She suggests that literature can make available the conceptual and emotional resources that enable us to think differently about the inter-relationship between reflective practice and student satisfaction. Both the form and content of the article attempt to demonstrate that Jabès’ The Little Book of Unsuspected Subversion (1996) speaks to the essential nature of intellectual endeavour more adequately (and far more vividly) than more conventional responses to the student’s question.

References

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Fulford, A. (2016). Education: Expectation and the unexpected. Studies in Philosophy of Education, 35(4), 415-425.

Fulford, A. (2017). Refusal and disowning knowledge: Re-thinking disengagement in higher education. Ethics and Education, 12(1), pp. 105-115.

Gillies, D. (2016). Visiting good company: Arendt and the development of the reflective practitioner. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 48(2), pp. 148-159.

Heidegger, M. (1968). What is called thinking? New York: Harper Collins.

Ingold, T. (2018). Anthropology and/as education. London: Routledge.

Jabès, E. (1996). The little book of unsuspected subversion. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Pirrie, A. & Day, S. (2017). Reflective practice and student satisfaction: Never the twain shall meet? Paper presented at the annual European Educational Research Conference (ECER) in Copenhagen.

Skea, C. (2017). Student satisfaction in higher education: Settling up and settling down. Ethics and Education, 12(3), pp. 364-377.

Smith, R. (2016). The virtues of unknowing. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 50(2), pp. 272-284.

Waldrop, R. (2002). Lavish absence. Recalling and re-reading Edmond Jabès. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

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Published

2018-10-16

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2018)

Section

SI Peer Reviewed Articles

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