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Education, Teaching and learning

Silk Purse or Sow's Ear?

Stephen Newstead gives a psychological perspective on recent developments in higher education. This article is an abridged version of his Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Teaching of Psychology lecture at the Society’s London Conference, December 1999.

18 April 2000

British higher education has undergone major changes in recent years. These changes include: the modularisation and semesterisation of courses; increased participation rate; changes in the profile of the student population; increased emphasis on validation and review; the Research Assessment Exercise; the introduction of student fees; and changes in methods of assessment. While there are other major changes, these are the ones I want to focus on here.

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