Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 8 | Page 46

ARTICLE #4 | 46 ARTICLE #4 Title Academic Tribalism and Subject Specialists as a Challenge to Teaching and Learning in Dual Honours Systems; a Qualitative Perspective From the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Keele University, UK Authors Dr. Steven L. Rogers and Dr. Alix G. Cage DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.21252/ KEELE-0000020 Contact [email protected] School School of Geography, Geology and the Environment Faculty Faculty of Natural Sciences Abstract Here we give an account of our experiences teaching within a tight cognate group (Earth Sciences) and our perception of academic tribalism within a dual honours teaching and learning environment. We pose the question whether academic tribalism represents a positive or negative effect to the teaching and learning process and if it has an impact on our students becoming discipline specialists. Keywords Academic Tribalism, Discipline Specialist, Dual Honours, Teaching and Learning Introduction “Do you often come across people for whom, all their lives, a ‘subject’ remains a ‘subject’, divided by watertight bulkheads from all other ‘subjects’, so that they experience very great difficulty in making an immediate mental connection between, let us say, algebra and detective fiction, sewage disposal and the price of salmon or more generally, between such spheres of knowledge as philosophy and economics, or chemistry and art?” (Sayers, 1948 in Burleigh 1973, p. 235) Funding bodies (e.g. Natural Environmental Research Council, NERC) are increasingly promoting and funding interdisciplinary scientific research as society strives to solve ‘real-life’ complex questions and problems which need different disciplines to meet and cross-over (e.g. Donovan et al., 2011), i.e. research and education become ‘problem- orientated’ (e.g. Rhoten & Pfirman, 2007). As Popper said “We are not students of some subject matter, but students of problems. And problems may cut right across the borders of any subject matter or discipline” (Popper, 1963, p. 88). Increasingly, there is a changing emphasis towards multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary departments across the University sector (Thomas, 2008). Despite this, the standard and common approach to the teaching and learning environments is one of segregation; a distinctive feature of Keele University is its dual honour system. Arising at the lowest levels of teaching and enduring with enhanced acceptation is the idea of a subject or discipline (e.g. Becher & Trowler, 2001 and Kreber, 2009). Subject areas, whilst often broad in scope, focus on attributes, values and educational goals often deemed as unique to that particular discipline, learners are provided with a particular framework through which they assimilate, categorise and understand knowledge. In higher education settings, teaching and learning can be viewed as a means of creating subject specialists. This article investigates the connectivity between what we interpret as disciplines and how subject specialism, particularly in a combined curriculum (Keele Universities dual honours is used as an example, with experiences drawn from teaching within Earth Sciences), may influence effective teaching and learning. The division of knowledge into disciplines (as seen by society) has often been regarded to generate “academic tribes and territories”, with each discipline having unique identity and cultural attributes (Beecher & Trowler, 2001, Amaral 2008 and Kreber, 2009) We hope to catalyse the discussion about academic tribalism, and the associated positives and negatives, in a broader context (including the views from other cognate disciplinary groups, e.g. neuroscience ARTICLE #4 | 47 ACADEMIC TRIBALISM AND SUBJECT SPECIALISTS AS A CHALLENGE TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN DUAL HONOURS SYSTEMS and psychology, marketing and media, business management and finance, etc.) The dual honours system at Keele University was spear-headed by Lord Lindsay, a philosopher with experience of 4-year-long degrees at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, which encompassed broad knowledge bases. Lindsay’s vision was for a new type of university; a university which aimed to break down specialisation and encourage cross-disciplinary teaching and research. Here we share our experiences of the dual honours system (specifically Earth Science teaching in a dual honours system) and the inherent academic tribalism associated with staff and students. The authors of this contribution are both from the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment (GGE); one a geologist, the other a physical geographer and both are members of several course teaching teams in GGE, including some shared courses such as Geoscience and Environmental Science. Academic Tribalism and Discipline Specialism: the Geography/Geology love/hate relationship Teaching and learning relies heavily on the concept of discipline, particularly in higher education. Teaching within subjects is often (and expectedly) undertaken by subject specialists, these specialists most often being past students of the particular subject themselves. The result is a cohort of students and teachers committed to their idea of what their subject is i.e. subject specialists. Disciplines have no “set in stone” divisions and are mostly traditional groupings of interest (Abbott, 2001, Becher & Trowler, 2001 and Kreber, 2009) the values and attributes of each discipline has been observed to change, both historically and geographically (Becher & Trowler, 2001). Both academics and students often identify with their department/ discipline rather than their university (e.g. Fanghanel, 2012) and Amaral (2008) stated that “University education could, therefore, be regarded as an introduction into a disciplinary community and as socialisation into its norms, values and ways of constructing the world...”. Within our subjects and disciplines we acknowledge the importance of the accumulated knowledge, values and attitudes that are coherent to our idea of what our discipline is but can often fail to acknowledge the same of other disciplines, even those closely related. Amaral (2008) views higher education (specifically university level) as an introduction, and subsequent socialisation of an individual into a disciplinary community’s norms and values. Abbott (2001) has suggested that within disciplines we are guilty of the same attitudes, with teachers and learners from sub-disciplines being dismissive of each other. The strong sense of discipline identity