Session 5 – 12th April – 11.30 – 12.30
Title of Presentation: Negotiating the Curriculum
Presenters: Jeremy Gass, University of Newport & Heather Willbourn, Workers Educational Association S. Wales
Organisation: Community University of the Valleys Partnership
Summary:
Community learning providers within the CUV Partnership promote a common approach to curriculum, believing that a quality curriculum is crucial in engaging with new learners and in motivating existing learners to progress to higher learning. Ensuring an effective curriculum is however, much more than course content. A quality curriculum is one where negotiation, learner support and learner democracy are at the heart of teaching and learning strategies, reflecting and responding to the diverse needs of community learners.
This workshop discusses the implications for learners and learning providers of the CUV Partnership’s Good Practice Guide ‘Negotiating the Curriculum and Ensuring Learner Democracy.
In our experience, adults prefer learning and teaching environments that are interactive, that encourage ownership and negotiation within the learning process and where there is respect between learner and tutor. This approach adds significantly to quality by encouraging the development of tailored curriculum suited to need, which increases motivation for learning and improves retention.
While promoting the benefits of a learner centred approach, we acknowledge the challenges this approach may present to institutions of learning and traditional learning and teaching strategies. It is relatively easy to support learner democracy within informal learning or community based courses but is a negotiated approach viable as learners progress through more structured college and university programmes?
We would argue that some level of negotiation is possible and beneficial even in the most rigid of curriculum structures.
But what is your experience of negotiating the curriculum and how far can we really ‘stretch the academy’? (1)
If non-traditional learners in community settings come to expect a negotiated and learner centred approach, what are the implications for learners and learning providers, as they progress into higher levels of learning?
The CommunityUniversity of the Valleys Partnership is a network of universities and community learning providers in South Wales working strategically to help widen participation in HE through accessible community learning.
For further information on the CUVP and its partners www.cuv.org.uk