Reconceptualising Evaluative Practices in HE: The Practice Turn (SAP)

I congratulate the authors on what I believe will be a very interesting and useful book. The language is accessible and the structure of the argument is coherent and consistent ... This is a very interesting and significant contribution to the field of higher education in general and scholarship in evaluative practices in particular. Judyth Sachs, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. "With an increasing and, arguably, troubling confidence in the use of international league tables, student surveys and research ratings to ‘evidence’ the value of higher education, such scrutiny of higher education evaluation practices has never been more timely ... I believe the book may contribute most ... in empowering evaluators themselves to ensure that the outcomes of evaluation can be used to inform strategic priorities and decisionmaking in more meaningful ways." Higher Education Review, Vol 44, No 1, October 2011. A considerable amount of time and effort is invested in attempts to control, change and improve the higher education sector. These attempts involve evaluative practice, but we have not yet conceptualised the evaluations that take place so therefore the opportunity to understand the value and nature of different types of intervention is frequently missed. This book seeks to dismantle traditional boundaries in approaches to evaluation, assessing how value and worth is attributed to activities in higher education. It looks at evaluative practice in Higher Education rather than the evaluation of Higher Education. Reconceptualising Evaluation in Higher Education aims to aid understanding, drawing on a set of evaluative practices from the UK and internationally. The book will be of value and relevance to higher education providers and policy makers within higher education. Contributors Veronica Bamber, Margo Blythman, Val Chapman, Bernadette Charlier, Rob Cuthbert, Harry Hubball, Kerri-Lee Krause, Neil Lent, Alan McCluskey, Ian McNay, Joan Machell, John M. Owen, Marion L. Pearson, Michael Prosser, Christoph Rosenbusch, Murray Saunders, Uwe Schmidt, Alison Shreeve, Paul Trowler, Massimiliano Vaira, Christine Winberg.