1. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic: Flexible Learning Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation Tony Wall Head of Flexible Learning & Teacher Fellow York St John University

2. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 2 of 24 Towards a mosaic Starting point of diversity (of purpose?)  Access, diversity, participation (and transition)  ‘Lifelong learning’?  Employer engagement? ‘Flexible’ practices (and patterns) Recognising value for our purposes Strategically placing together Noting ongoing/emerging challenges Possibilities for a vision of life-long-learning

3. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 3 of 24 Familiar Patterns (short, fat) Important notions: Content ‘coherence’ + Academic Freedom Ongoing challenge: engraining academic culture(s)?

4. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 4 of 24 Familiar Patterns – Long, thin structures Important notions: Content ‘coherence’ + Academic Freedom Embedded learner preparation / development (transition, retention, success) Engraining in academic culture(s)

5. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 5 of 24 Familiar Patterns – Access (awareness / confidence raising; community delivery?) Important notions: Generating interest / building confidence ‘Bolt-on’ learner preparation/development Content ‘coherence’ + Academic Freedom Partnership (possibly) Ongoing challenge: engraining in academic culture(s)?

6. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 6 of 24 Familiar Patterns – Extended degrees Important notions: Content ‘coherence’ + Academic Freedom ‘Bolt-on’ learner preparation/development Partnership (possibly) Ongoing challenge: engraining in academic culture(s)

7. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 7 of 24 Familiar Patterns – APL for Access (access) Important notions: Content ‘coherence’ + Academic Freedom Ongoing challenge: engraining in academic culture(s) access

8. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 8 of 24 ‘Familiar’/Emerging Patterns – APEL? (access  employer engagement) Important notions: Content ‘coherence’ + Academic Freedom Recognition of experiential and partner-learning (as part of award rather than for access) Learner preparation/development??? Ongoing problem: engraining in academic culture(s)???

9. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 9 of 24 ‘Familiar’/Emerging Patterns – Short Awards (Adult education / employer engagement) Important notions: Broad interest / content ‘coherence’ Embedded learner preparation/development Ongoing problem: engraining in academic culture(s)

10. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 10 of 24 ‘Emerging’ Patterns – Negotiated / CAT Awards (Employer engagement; cross institutions) Important notions: Need/interest ‘coherence’ + Learner Freedom? Embedded learner preparation/development? Ongoing problem: engraining in academic culture(s)

11. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 11 of 24 ‘Emerging’ Patterns – Bite size (Employer engagement) Important notions: Need/interest ‘coherence’ + Learner Freedom? Learner preparation/development??? Ongoing problem: engraining in academic culture(s)??? Accredited learning / activities Non-accredited learning / activities Optional accreditation: “wrap-around”

12. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 12 of 24 ‘Emerging’ Patterns – Accreditation (FEC / employer engagement) Important notions: Need/interest ‘coherence’ – organisational/individual Partnership & Distributed Learning Learner preparation/development??? Ongoing problem: engraining in academic culture(s)??? In/at a HEIIn/at a business / work setting

13. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 13 of 24 An Example from a YSJU Dialogue… transition aspiration raising In-community and/or YSJU campus transition bite-size modules activities clusters of bite-size modules - negotiated transition YSJU campus

14. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 14 of 24 …towards a community-negotiated partnership learning approach aspiration raising In-community and/or YSJU campus transition

15. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 15 of 24 A Summary of ‘Flexible’ Patterns Diversity of patterns (practices), usually separated and/or isolated:  recognition for prior experiential/community-based learning (localised, )  credit accumulation and transfer (small)  negotiated studies (small, localised, intensive)  credit-wrapping around external organisation provision (employer-facing provision)  distance, open and blended learning (fragmented)  accredited partnerships (mixed: FE, employer engagement)

16. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 16 of 24 …towards a community-negotiated partnership learning approach Determined by a community of learners (plus advice and guidance) Within the particular ‘cultural context’ Within a negotiated award structure Affecting motivation to learn relevant subjects / skills

17. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 17 of 24 Towards a Mosaic for Care Leavers: Starting Out Context and commitment – Frank Buttle Trust Plotting the life journey of care leavers Who has a ‘learning and development’ role or impact?  What is ‘legitimate’ learning in academe?  “informal” = “formal”?  Experiential learning important Developing relationships with ‘developmental influencers’  “they are not HE material” (see Wall and Davenport, 2009)  What is ‘legitimate’ learning in academe?!

18. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 18 of 24 Towards a Mosaic for Care Leavers: Developing Partnerships Developing ‘activity’ partnerships Developing accreditation partnerships:  Accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL)  Credit recognition  Academic practices (not necessarily skills) development embedded in:  Content determined by the local, specific group  Utilise flexible academic frameworks (e.g. ‘shell award’ suite of awards)  Utilise innovations in teaching/assessment (“creative assessment beyond the essay”)

19. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 19 of 24 Possibilities Bringing together multiple practices A wide diversity of approaches Focus for impact – aims, aspirations, opportunities ‘Engagement with credit’ A mode of ‘partnership learning’ – shared delivery, shared risk, commitment to learning from the partnership, and developing it

20. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 20 of 24 Making it happen – facilitators Vision of the possibilities Academic frameworks – ‘shells’? Academic structures – ‘owned’? Leadership, champions, commitment Examples, pilots Evaluation, experimentation

21. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 21 of 24 Growing Challenges What is HE?  What is ‘valid learning’?  APL – broadening to APEL + APCrL + ACnL – accreditation of concurrent learning  Teaching (+R)  Accreditation of Learning (+R)? Teaching vs Support  T/S  Learning Professionals (specialist curriculum developers, link tutors, assessors, moderators) Notions of ‘professionalism’  Notion of ‘coherence to/of what’ – content, process, experience?  Academic Freedom  Learner/Demand driven Costing, Funding, Pricing (inc. ELQ)

22. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 22 of 24 Additional principles for life-long-learning? People developing personally and professionally, over time – in different areas Multiple awards (vs. towards a degree) – credit accumulation, specialist Learning as a broad, inclusive term (inc. informal) Developing criticality, autonomy (confidence, motivation, critical/reflective skills) Shared, partnership approaches Using a mosaic of practices (vs. in ‘silos’) …?

23. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 23 of 24 A beautiful mosaic… …and beauty is in the eye of the beholder (how can these practices help you?)

24. Imagining a Beautiful Mosaic - Flexible Practices for Access, Diversity and Participation 24 of 24 Collaborative inquiry and research in the issues raised today: Tony Wall,  t.wall@yorksj.ac.uk t.wall@yorksj.ac.uk  +44 (0) 1904 876948  Flexible Learning Centre, York St John University, Lord Mayors Walk, York YO31 7EX