Academic Freedom and Netflix's 'The Chair': Implications for Staff-Student Dialogue

Skea, Claire (2023) Academic Freedom and Netflix's 'The Chair': Implications for Staff-Student Dialogue. Educational Philosophy and Theory. ISSN 0013-1857

Text academic freedom paper REVISED (1).docx - Accepted Version Download (46kB)

Abstract

Academic freedom is seriously under threat. Here I will consider how the marketisation of Higher Education has exacerbated the decline of ‘academic freedom’. While the effects of a ‘cancel culture’ on university provision are difficult to ignore, threats to academic freedom raise a number of questions, such as: ‘who is allowed to speak on campus?’, ‘to whom?’, and ‘about what?’. These questions are fundamental to the academic profession, and therefore have clear implications for teaching and learning in Higher Education. Through an analysis of Netflix’s The Chair (2021), and drawing on the works of Martin Buber, I argue that academics’ freedom to teach is implicitly constrained by student-consumer desires, and in turn this reduces the space for genuine dialogue on university campuses. Rather than closing down debate and the discussion of ‘controversial’ topics, universities instead need to cultivate a climate of trust, openness, and reciprocity on campuses, such that genuine staff-student dialogue can flourish. University campuses are precisely the places where academics should be able to engage in scholarly debate on matters of importance – where students may be exposed to radically different viewpoints and perspectives – and film and TV series can be used to initiate such conversations.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article submitted for consideration in Educational Philosophy and Theory, published by Taylor & Francis. The final version is available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2022.2161891
Keywords:	academic freedom; freedom to teach; student consumerism; dialogue
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Claire Skea
Date Deposited:	29 Nov 2022 16:18
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 14:27
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3708

Actions (login required)

View Item