Abstract

Drawing on the dramaturgical theory of Erving Goffman, this paper explores undergraduate students’ differing experiences of the Cambridge supervision system. Semi-structured interviews with fifteen undergraduate students were analysed to examine the dramaturgical demands of the supervision and students’ perceived abilities to meet these. Findings that suggest that female students and those from working-class backgrounds felt less able to deliver credible performances complicate the University’s celebratory account of the teaching system. The discussion draws out the relevance of these findings for scholarly literatures addressing student experiences of elite educational institutions, teaching practices in higher education and dramaturgical approaches to the exploration of power.

摘要

借鉴厄夫·高夫曼（Erving Goffman）的戏剧理论，探讨大学生对剑桥监督体系的不同经历。对15名本科生的半结构式访谈进行了分析，以考察督导的戏剧性要求以及学生满足这些要求的感知能力。研究结果表明，女学生和来自工人阶级背景的学生感到难以提供可靠的表演，这使大学对教学体系的庆祝活动更加复杂。讨论提出了这些发现与学术文献的相关性，这些文献涉及精英教育机构的学生体验，高等教育的教学实践以及探索权力的戏剧方法。