EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL | 5
EDITORIAL
Prof . Paul Trowler Policy Sociologist
Prof . Trowler is best known for his work on Academic Tribes and Territories . However his interests range across many areas of higher education , both substantive and methodological . These are detailed at http :// www . lancaster . ac . uk / educational-research / about-us / people / paul-trowler
He is a policy sociologist , and applies that analytical lens across domains of research and evaluation which broadly concern policy production and enactment in different higher education contexts . Prof . Trowler works with an eye to making a difference : ‘ enhancement ’ is a watchword that guides his work . He has advised institutional leaders , higher education organisations and change agents in higher education around the world for many years . In this editorial , Prof . Trowler tells us about his recent visit to Keele by invitation from The Higher education Network Keele ( THiNK ) group ( https :// www . keele . ac . uk / lpdc / research / think /).
RESEARCHING FOR ENHANCEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION : BEYOND STRUCTURALISM AND INDIVIDUALSIM
“ is it realistic to expect that systemic change at the institutional or even national level can be brought about by interventions aimed at individuals ”.
In October I gave a talk to staff at Keele entitled Researching for enhancement in higher education : Beyond structuralism and individualism . What I wanted to do in the talk was to show how initiatives to enhance learning and teaching often focus on changing the attitudes , behaviours and choices of individual teachers . Where such attempts are underpinned by research , the research is also usually focused at the individual level . Clearly , individuals do make choices and can change their own behaviour , but realistically this should be seen as happening within the context of social practices : recurrent sets of practices in small social groups underpinned by emotions , assumptions and knowledge resources .
My talk therefore set out a picture of higher education contexts consisting of multiple sets of social practices in play , enmeshed with other social practices which sometimes had different , contradictory or even antagonistic purposes . This picture highlights the fact that contexts shape and sometimes limit the options of individuals themselves and so change initiatives need to recognise this and be pitched at the practice level and the way social practices mesh .