Learning in Partnership: pedagogy for empowement UWS Learning and Teaching Conference Ayr Campus, 26 June 2015 Learning in Partnership: pedagogy for empowement Kety Faina, Gordon Heggie, Jade McCarroll, Neil McPherson School of Media, Culture & Society, University of the West of Scotland

Message from the National Union of Students… ‘We have put our claim on the partnership agenda in education, setting out a radical vision for how students can co-produce their university experience’ (NUS, 2014: 2). Design a sustainable partnership model and methodology that enables this agenda to be put into practice in learning and teaching Our objective in this workshop is to….

First, we have to develop a working definition of partnership… Activity In pairs or small groups discuss and note down the key principles and values that should be included in our working definition of partnership

Key partnership principals and values Inclusivity Authenticity Reciprocity Empowerment Trust Community Community Responsibility (See Healey, Flint and Harrington, 2014)

OK, getting closer to a working definition Maybe we should use the one provided by the NUS? ‘At its roots partnership is about investing students with the power to co-create, not just knowledge or learning, but the higher education institution itself … A corollary of a partnership approach is the genuine, meaningful dispersal of power … Partnership means shared responsibility – for identifying the problem or opportunity for improvement, for devising a solution and – importantly – for co-delivery of that solution’ (NUS, 2012: 8)

So far so good, but a word of warning from Healey, Flint and Harrington (2014: 21)… ‘…partnership is not easily or straightforwardly achieved and sustained. Developing a co-learning, co-inquiring, co-developing, co-designing and co-creating approach challenges traditional power relationships and involves a cultural change in how much of higher education is organised. Building genuinely inclusive student and staff academic communities of practice is challenging – that is, both difficult and destabilising, effortful and provocative’

In pairs or small groups discuss the following questions. Activity In pairs or small groups discuss the following questions. To what extent can power relations be challenged and changed in HE given its prevailing ideological and structural characteristics? What are the key challenges that must be navigated so it is possible to instigate the cultural change required to achieve genuine partnership and empowerment?

Navigating the challenges Addressing the ‘dysfunctional’ relationship between teaching and research (see eg, Brew, 2006; Neary & Winn, 2009) Disrupting ‘traditional’ educational hierarchies (see eg, Freire 1993; Lambert, 2009) Resisting consumerist models of higher education (see eg, Boden and Epstein, 2006; McCulloch, 2009)

Learning in partnership: a pedagogy of empowerment connection creation production engagement inclusion participation active, inquiry-based learning research mindedness learning in partnership

Now we have to pilot the learning in partnership model and methodology How did we do that? Introduced participatory and inclusive pedagogies Integrated negotiated learning, co-creation and collaboration Repositioned students as active researchers and co-producers Empowered students as ‘pedagogic partners’ Embraced disruption through co-creation

Learning in partnership: embedding creative disruption in the curriculum from object to subject from passive recipient to active agent connection creation production engagement inclusion participation active, inquiry-based learning research mindedness learning in partnership from instruction to discovery

Did it work? Should be implemented more as it allows the experience of university education to be more stimulating, interactive and therefore more enriching I only found it scary because I was introduced to this way of learning so late in to my degree - do it earlier!!! It facilitates learning. That's all I need… and the current system fails at that Personally I think students taking ownership of their learning and becoming co-creators of their own learning experience has to be the future of Higher Education in Scotland

References Boden, R and Epstein, D (2006) Managing the research imagination? Globalisation and research in higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, vol 4 no 2, pp 223-236 Brew, A (2006) Research and Teaching: Beyond the Divide, London: Palgrave Freire, P. (1993) Pedagogy of the oppressed (Revised edn), London: Penguin Healey, M Flint, A and Harrington, K (2014) Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education, York: Higher Education Academy Lambert, C (2009) Pedagogies of participation in higher education: a case for research-based learning. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, vol 17 no 3, pp 295-309 McCulloch, A. (2009) The student as co‐producer: learning from public administration about the student–university relationship. Studies in Higher Education, vol 34 no 2, pp 171-183 Neary, M and Winn, J (2009) The student as producer: reinventing the student experience in higher education., in Bell, L., Stevenson, H. & Neary, N. (2009) The future of higher education: policy, pedagogy and the student experience. pp 192–210 London: Continuum NUS (2012) A manifesto for partnership. London: National Union of Students. NUS (2014) Radical interventions in teaching and learning: how the partnership agenda can help create radical and inclusive learning spaces.. London: National Union of Students.