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Academics as Educators in Australian Universities: Power, Perceptions and Institutions *
Author(s) -
Foster Gigi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1759-3441
pISSN - 0812-0439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1759-3441.2011.00142.x
Subject(s) - power (physics) , perception , higher education , empirical evidence , pedagogy , political science , public relations , mathematics education , frame (networking) , sociology , psychology , engineering , telecommunications , philosophy , epistemology , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , law , physics
In this paper, I take a simple game‐theoretic view of educational production within universities to frame a discussion of pedagogical power, effort, and influence in Australian higher education. After introducing the stylised game structure, I first compare the role of teachers in Australian universities to that of university teachers elsewhere in the world, in terms of Australian academics’ power in pedagogical affairs relative to the power of the higher‐education institutions within which they operate. I then review some existing empirical evidence using Australian data that sheds light on the role of both teacher inputs and student inputs in creating educational outcomes, and discuss some new evidence on students’ perceptions of teacher influence. The paper concludes with some recommendations for changes to the current system designed to improve student outcomes.