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Bhandari, Renu and Sibbett, Lorna
(2024).
Abstract
Higher education is grappling with the challenge of fostering student belonging and agency in an increasingly consumerist environment (Matthews ,2018). The Students-as-Partners (SaP) approach emerges as a powerful response, offering a liminal space where students and faculty co-create knowledge, dismantle traditional hierarchies, and act as change agents together. The study reports a SaP project in which two students from under-represented groups engaged in scholarship of inclusive practice in distance learning. One student intern was from Black ethnic minority background and with caring responsibilities and the second student intern was with lived experience of autism and caring responsibilities. The key research questions were: Do student interns increase their sense of belonging, including being part of a wider university community, not limited to module or programme? Do interns consider their employability to increase via such roles? The project findings suggest that when power relationships are explicitly addressed within students-as-partners projects, student partners develop agency, employability-related skills and sense-of-belonging. SaPs can facilitate a paradigm shift from belonging to an institution towards belonging with individuals and diverse communities. Such investment in building equitable relationships among staff and students, affords opportunities for student partners to contribute richly to teaching, learning design, student experience and policy. By fostering agency through shared expertise and inclusive co-creation, SaP offers a transformative pathway towards a more vibrant and equitable learning environment for all. Keywords: students-as-partners, inclusion, belonging, distance learning, agency