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ABSTRACT
Students as Partners (SaP) initiatives have been gaining traction in the past decade, and many institutions are praising the SaP model as a method to enhance collaborative, reciprocal, and equitable learning. In this paper, we offer insights on student and faculty experiences of the Students as Partners Program (SaPP) at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Our research is motivated by the question: to what extent are Students as Partners Programs (SaPP) compatible with goals of equity, diversity and inclusion? We take a qualitative, case study approach to explore student (n = 51), and faculty (n = 67), experiences of the Students as Partners Program in 2020. Our findings reveal strong participation by students with a disability, and female, and BIPOC students, and an overrepresentation of white, able-bodied participants at the faculty level. To improve EDI in SaP initiatives, we share recommendations from student and faculty participation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 In the 1970s, “mass education,” described higher education institutions that enrolled between 15% and 50% of high school graduates (Trow Citation1970). Today, “mass higher education” describes the broad trend of significant enrolment expansion in higher education after 1960 (Geiger Citation2014).
2 Ethics clearance to conduct this research was granted by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board-A.
3 At Carleton, professorial ranked faculty are paid roughly 30% more than teaching faculty members.
4 It should be noted that the percentage of women in teaching faculty roles is much higher in Carleton’s Faculty of Public Affairs, and Faculty of Social Sciences, where in 2020, women represented 77% and 70% respectively.
5 To be sure, at Carleton, 40% of faculty are women, notably lower than the external workforce (OIRP Citation2021).
6 It is important to note that female students are overrepresented at the undergraduate level, but not at Carleton University, where female undergraduate students make up 50% of the undergraduate population (OIRP Citation2021). In Canada, 56% of undergraduate students are female (Ferguson Citation2016).
7 In Canada, 10% of undergraduate students, and 5% of faculty identify as LGBTQ+ (Burczycka Citation2020; Statistics Canada Citation2019a). It should be noted that three more students identified as non-binary in focus groups.
8 In this study, there was only one example of a non-white faculty member initiating a partnership with a non-white students, and one example of a non-white student initiating a partnership with a non-white faculty member.
9 Notably this faculty member identified as Jewish, and did not identify as BIPOC.
10 In Canada, one-third of undergraduate students, and 22% of faculty report having a disability (Canadian University Survey Consortium Citation2020; Universities Canada Citation2019).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Marylynn Steckley
Marylynn Steckley is an Assistant Professor in Global and International Studies at Carleton University.
Evelyn Fortin
Evelyn Fortin is a Policy Analyst with the Government of Canada, and a Graduate Student in the Norman Patterson School of Public Affairs at Carleton University.
Alexandra Minic
Alexandra Minic is the Discovery Centre administrator at Carleton University.