Escalate Practice Workshop Designing Flexible Work-based Learning

1. Escalate Practice Workshop Designing Flexible Work-based Learning Tuesday, 27 October, 2009 David Young Professor of Work Based Learning National Teaching Fellow

2. Programme for the day • 9.30 Tea/Coffee • 10.00 Welcome + Introductions (Celia Moran) • 10.15 Negotiated Work-based Learning (David Young) Presentation & workshop activities • 12.15 Lunch • 13.00 Roundtable 1 • 14.00 Tea/Coffee Available • 14.00 Roundtable 2 • 15.00 Round-up • 15.30 Close

3. Policy contexts Characteristics of negotiated work-based learning programmes More than “delivery”: Pedagogic and theoretical dimensions Practical approaches 1 – your perceptions Practical approaches 2 – work in progress at Bradford (pm Roundtables)

4. Policy agendas for work-based learning in Higher Education • Persistent!

5. Current policy on employer engagement means the following for HE: • A focus on skills • Aspiration • Stretching targets • Funding

6. Policy agendas for work-based learning in Higher Education • Persistent! • Consistent focus on “economically valuable skills” • Re-balancing priorities of the HE sector towards the adult workforce • Replace a supply-side model by employer demand which identifies the skills gaps to be filled. • And then HE “delivers provision” to fill the gaps. • A neat trick if you could manage it!

7. But … • University level learning is not easily commodified, parcelled up and distributed to fill gaps in a deficit model of learning. • the focus on skills using a concept of delivery, rather than the development of learning relationships does not address the fact that higher education is a transformative process … • … concerned with analysis, contextualisation, evaluation and critique. • “Delivery” is about bottles of milk. • Respond to employers by all means, but of course • Learners are the heart of the learning process.

8. Work-based Learning in Higher Education Characteristics: … learning opportunities are not contrived for study purposes but arise from normal work … … learning tasks and work tasks are complementary… … meets the needs of learners, contributes to the longer-term development of the organisation and is formally accredited as a university award … … a radical approach to the notion of higher education ... Boud D & Solomon N (2001)Work-based Learning: A New Higher Education? Buckingham, SRHE/Open University Press

9. Seven elements of a work-based curriculum(after Boud 2001) • Work-based learning, while often undertaken in work, is not identical to work. • Address the diverse range of skills and knowledge possessed by learners coming to work-based learning at the beginning of the process. • Locate the outcomes of work-based learning in a framework of awards based on known and identified levels and standards of achievement. • Promote the ideas of negotiation and development within a programme of activities. • Develop a means of supporting learners at work or in any other location remote from a campus. • Encourage critical reflection throughout the programme. • Document learning in a form which can be assessed in terms of the awards frameworks already identified.

10. Characteristics of learning, teaching and assessment of work-based learning in higher education • Recognisable as Higher Education • Flexible freedom rather than licence aligned with QAA qualification descriptors • learning, not training where socially situated individuals relate the familiar circumstances of their work contexts to the requirements of academic award • Blended, transdisciplinary learning, not just a blend of delivery mechanisms work and professional practice as the starting point for curriculum design • Combining academic and theoretical knowledge with work-based skills • Assessment fit for academic and professional purposes

11. Who learns like this? • Duncan “… an increased level of academic/historical knowledge in combination with my practical work experience … help to give more context to my work and enable me to talk more confidently about my area of expertise.” • Sheila “…to learn new methods of planning and setting goals … keen to adapt new ideas into my job … the 25 years I have spent within business … validated … I can comfortably share my skills with those at the beginning of their careers.”

12. University of Derby approach, 2001-2008: Learning through Work (LtW) • Flexible, work-based routes to university qualifications • Exemplifies the shift from teaching and instruction to learning • Not a supply-side model - the learner and /or the company is at the heart of the process • Operates within robust QA procedures – interesting External Examination arrangements. • NEGOTIATION within a quality-assured framework is the key • Commended in Derby’s 2005 QAA Institutional Audit • Times Higher Award 2006: Most Imaginative Use of Distance Learning

13. A Regulatory Framework for Negotiated Learning (Approved December 2000, July 2004, July 2009) • A comprehensive generic set of collaborative arrangements for partnerships. • Procedures allowing learners to access all undergraduate and postgraduate awards of the University through individually negotiated programmes of study. • A suite of short awards (from 30 credits) … as realistic first steps for learners unfamiliar to HE … • … or CPD awards addressing specific business needs

14. Certificate of Achievement (30 credits at any level) University Certificate /Diploma (60 credits level 4, 5 or 6) Intermediate and Major Awards Undergraduate Cert HE (120 credits at level 4) Fd / Dip HE (120 credits at level 5) BA / BSc (120 credits at level 6) Postgraduate PG Cert (60 credits at level 7) PG Dip (60 credits at level 7) MA /MSc (60 credits at level 7) Minor Awards

15. The Approach • Takes work and professional practice as the starting point for curriculum design • combines learner-managed tasks and learner-managed processes … • is a negotiated programme…where learners relate the familiar circumstances of their work contexts to the requirements of academic award • can be categorised as ‘blended learning’ (Konrad, 2003) • Offers constructive alignment of learning, teaching and assessment(Biggs, 1999)

16. Constructive Alignment - what the learners say And I think if I’d have done it (a LtW assignment) just as a work project, I wouldn’t have done the reading and have gained the level of knowledge that I’ve done as part of this programme … … you’re tying what you’re doing at work with your qualification…. …so … it’s taking my job, which is what I think is important, and getting a lot more background development and knowledge to take my job further, as well as getting a qualification. From the company’s point of view, part of the reason why they’re sponsoring me is because they see that it actually fits with the work I do here and whatever I do will actually be of benefit, not only to me, but also to the company.

17. The Impact of Work-based Learning • Higher Education Academy Research Study (July 2008)Employer Engagement: Study of Impact on Employers and Employees in Work-based Learning • Aim:“…to explore the experience of employees and their employers engaged in work-based learning, and the impact that this learning has for them.”

18. Key findings • HE programmes of study have a positive impact on employers and their employees: • Enhancing an individual’s skills; • Positive changes in attitude; • Exchange or generation of new knowledge; • Engage in reflective practice; • Increased confidence in work • The impact of “bite-sized” programmes of work-based learning in HE on individuals and their organisations far outweighs their value in terms of the credits required for a major award.

19. “It gave her a degree of confidence and expertise that was unparallelled (in the training provider sector) at the time” (2004) “… she raised her game. She has taken on more responsibility and does use the language of leadership”. “She was already a strong manager, but there is a definite change in the way (she) approaches things.” “It improved her confidence … The course was an affirmation of the skills she had developed.” “We have been very pleased. We feel we have direct and real benefits … (and Learner)… found … support to be excellent … very complimentary about the programme.”

20. University of Derby approach, from 2008: University of Derby Corporate (UDC) • A new, single mission business model for HE / Employer Engagement to overcome barriers and improve relationships • Workforce Development Fellows • A new, well respected and supported academic career pathway at the heart of the institution • A Business & Enterprise Centre • Purpose built to fill a gap in the sub-region’s learning and development infrastructure

21. The University of Derby Corporate Offer • Aims to increase business through academically-driven B2B activity • Works across all Faculties • UDC is a separate operating division for groups of company learners, offering … • … flexible, higher level learning and skills development relevant to the workplace • From short accredited bite-sized learning in the workplace to full industry specific courses • Accreditation of in-company learning and training • Complementary knowledge transfer and consultancy

22. Designing Flexible Work-based learning programmes in higher education: Sharing Group Perceptions • Start with two broad categories: • AGREE and DISAGREE. • Share out the statement cards provided. • Place your own statements in the AGREE or DISAGREE categories. • Now AS A GROUP discuss the statements. • Reduce the number of statements to 12.

23. Priorities Next, reduce the number of statements to 12 and arrange these 12 statements in a diamond, like this:  Agree            Disagree

24. Write your own group’s statement about DESIGNING FLEXIBLE WORK-BASED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION, or re-word one of the existing statements to make it more fully reflective of your group’s opinions. Be prepared to present and discuss your rank order and group statement with others.

25. Designing Flexible Work-based Learning In Higher Education A Jigsaw

26. The Jigsaw Process (1) • Participants begin in a number of HOME groups, where they work on a task introducing them to an area of debate or discussion. • Each HOME group member then agrees to become an EXPERT on one aspect of this topic. • EXPERT tasks are designed so that each looks at a different aspect of the topic. • EXPERT groupings will be negotiated by the members of the HOME groups.

27. The Jigsaw Process (2) • Next, groups re-form and participants discuss and work on their topics in their EXPERT groups. • EXPERT groups agree to make sure that each member has information to take back to their HOME group. 7. Then the EXPERTS return to tell the HOME groups what they have learned. 8. A second HOME group task takes the learning further by asking groups to use what they know as EXPERTS in an extension or drawing-together of the topic.

28. EXPERT EXPERT EXPERT EXPERT The Jigsaw ProcessAfter Aaronson (1978), Brubacher & Payne (1981) HOME GROUPS

29. HOME GROUP TASK ONE • Think about the following four dimensions which need to be considered designing flexible work-based programmes in higher education. • CURRICULUM DESIGN • ASSESSMENT • QA ISSUES, including validation / approval • PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT • In negotiation with the rest of your group, choose one of these dimensions to explore further.

30. EXPERT TASKS EXPERT TASK ONE What are the key CURRICULUM DESIGN considerations for flexible work-based programmes in higher education? EXPERT TASK TWO What are the key ASSESSMENT considerations in designing flexible work-based programmes in higher education? EXPERT TASK THREE What are the key QA ISSUES, including validation / approval, in designing flexible work-based programmes in higher education? EXPERT TASK FOUR What are the key PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT considerations in designing flexible work-based programmes in higher education?

31. HOME GROUP TASK TWO Drawing on the work of the expert groups, identify key issues for designing flexible work-based programmes in higher education. • Limit your answer to the six main points in your group’s opinion. • Be prepared to share your answers with the other groups.