Internal Keynote Lecture – NTF and CATE Winners 2021
27th May 2022
Wednesday 6 July, 14.00-15.15, TC014, Park Campus
Recording of the lecture
i. Student Teachers Learning for and from Themselves
Colin Forster, NTF (School of Education and Humanities)
Learning to teach is not easy. Learning anything worthwhile is hard, but teaching is particularly tricky to master as it is multi-faceted and many inter-related skills are used at the same time. (It’s a bit like learning to drive but more so.) Of course, we hope that student teachers will learn from carefully-crafted lectures from teaching experts, from observing experienced colleagues while on school-placement, from reading research about effective practice and from discussing ideas about teaching and learning with other student teachers … but, ultimately, if they want to be brilliant teachers, they will have to learn for and from themselves, from their successes and failures and everything in between. If that’s the case, what is the role of the teacher educator in supporting student teachers in this personal learning process? In this session, I will outline how I support aspiring teachers to develop their practice through engaging in action research, which student teachers recognise (eventually) as being transformational in their both their practice and their understanding of how to improve practice. If you’re thinking, ‘But I’m not a teacher educator …’, this topic is not as niche as it first appears: any teaching and learning can be enhanced by utilising these key principles: put the student at the heart of the learning process and give them the skills required to become an autonomous learner.
ii. Enhancing Engagement through Student-Led Learning
Alan Marvell, NTF (The Gloucestershire Business School)
Students are at the heart of learning. To learn effectively is to encourage students to be involved in their own learning and development and to take ownership. This session focuses on enhancing engagement through student-led learning, where students co-design learning experiences. Students actively learn with and from their peers through creating communities of learning. Further insight reveals that these experiences stimulate emotional responses, encouraging deeper learning and in turn have the potential to transform the learner. An outcome of this approach encourages students to become more scholarly by creating knowledge independently of their tutors, shifting the power relationship from the tutor to the student. These learning situations can be achieved during fieldwork and in the classroom by forming authentic learning experiences. The creativity of this approach was recognised as part of the award of a National Teaching Fellowship. NTF is a deeply rewarding and challenging experience that can transform the individual through reflective practice. The session concludes with a personal reflection.
iii. Reciprocal Mentoring: Embracing the Voices of our Racially Minoritised Students in our Approach to Institutional Change
Clare Peterson, CATE (HR Equality Team) with Dan Ramsay (Academic Services)
Many of you will have heard of the University’s Reciprocal Mentoring Programme, but I wonder how many know any of its detail, or the part it plays in creating a sense of belonging for our racially minoritised students? I’d like to share how a project, a small, niche one at that, became part of the mainstream offer for our students of colour and provided a catalyst for impactful change at both an individual and institutional level. Part of a larger project, the programme was designed as a ‘Positive Action’ pilot, providing the freedom to learn through the doing, and from making mistakes along the way. The approach was to position the student voice as central to learning for University leadership – leaders who would then implement impactful change. In exchange, students received professional advice and guidance, enhancing their employability and networking skills. This reciprocity was the key as it fostered trust.
Developing the submission for the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence focussed me to critically reflect on every aspect of the programme; identifying the mistakes made, but also quantifying the impact for both partners and the University. Being honest, it was a long, but rewarding journey, and in this session I will share my learning with you.