Consensus moderation and the sessional academic: valued or powerless and compliant?

ABSTRACT

Consensus moderation is an approach to quality assurance where collaboration and discussion take place to agree mark allocation. This study explored sessional academics’ perceptions and experiences of consensus moderation in higher education. Data from four focus groups were analysed using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis. The findings reveal four discursive constructions of consensus moderation: necessary for fairness and consistency; fraught and complicated; confusing and lacking consistency; and time demanding. Situated within the discourses of the ‘vulnerable position of a sessional academic’ and the ‘paradox of quality assurance in a neoliberal university’. The findings highlight the need for academic development on moderation processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Consensus moderation
• sessional academics
• Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
• neoliberal university

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the participants who generously gave up their time to be part of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jaci Mason

Jaci Mason is an academic and Ph.D. candidate at Curtin University. She is currently developing an evidence-based framework for consensus moderation. Jaci has extensive academic and clinical experience in the UK and Australia. Her excellence in teaching has been recognised through teaching awards and nominations, as well as a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

Lynne D. Roberts

Lynne D. Roberts is an Associate Professor at Curtin University. Lynne is a Curtin Academy Fellow and an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow. Her research interests include learning and teaching in higher education (with a focus on research methods), online social interaction, cybercrime and cyber-victimisation, public attitudes to crime and justice, and research ethics.

Helen Flavell

Helen Flavell is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has over a decade of experience in higher education and has published on a broad range of higher education research topics including interprofessional education, fieldwork education, cultural capability, outbound mobility, academic leadership and academic development.