The place of teaching, learning and student development in a framework of academic freedom: Attending to the negative freedoms of our students

Abstract

This article reflects on the obligations that the principles of academic freedom places on a university in the ways in which it will approach the educational development of its students and, for their part, the reasonable expectations that students may hold in regard to the educational experience that they will find when they choose to learn at such a university. Universities have the responsibility to attend to the "negative" freedoms of their students and, in so doing, must ensure that full expression is given to the liberating value of education in the ways in which the intellectual development of students are structured. Lastly, this article considers the importance of institutional culture in both supporting and sometimes undermining the development of critically engaged graduates. The article argues for purposeful and directed effort to be brought to the task of developing the institutional culture of a university.