It was great to hear all of the exciting things that unions are doing to recognise and reward great teaching at the recent NUS/ Higher Education Academy ‘Power of SLTAs’’ event. But this all got me thinking. We are starting to understand the power of teaching awards, but what about the power of teaching itself? Are we right to think of teaching as being a powerful (and therefore political) act? And has the way we, as students, engage nowadays changed this?

I believe that teaching is a political act and always has been. My friend’s dad was telling me recently about how students of the 1960s and 1970s were able to change the curriculum through protest ‘teach-ins.’ Students then were unhappy with what they were being taught, so they campaigned for change. Now, since student engagement has become increasingly widespread and meaningful, is there any need for such protests?

Well, we only have to look at initiatives such as the ‘Pop-Up Universities’ appearing as part of the ‘Occupy’ movement to get a sense of just how key to change teaching is. Current movements for social change have teaching and education at their heart. I was proud to be a part of the protests against higher fees, which served to demonstrate just how much education means to my generation.

Perhaps it’s the way that we engage in our teaching that makes it more or less powerful. Student-Led Teaching Awards, for example, change the power dynamics of teaching. They is a chance for students to set the definitions of good teaching, and have their say on what they want from their teachers. That kind of power would not have been imaginable even a few years ago, but the power that students have has changed. But then if we as students are positioning ourselves to have a say on teaching, should teachers have a say in learning? That’s another question for another blog!

Teaching is a powerful and a political act because it inspires us to change- ourselves; the world around us; even both. And not only that, it tells us how to do it. But just as important is the way that we engage with teaching- that is how we can really ‘be the change.’