Course Resources Archive

Performative policy climates can tempt schools and colleges to seek apparently quick and easy solutions to what are in reality ‘wicked’ problems. These are problems which are central to all professional work and therefore require constant engagement, although they are insoluble in any final way. Teaching, learning and assessment all pose problems of this kind and constantly require fresh insights from psychology, linguistics, sociology, philosophy and other contributory disciplines. These are the central concerns of this module and make it suitable for serving teachers from all sectors of education from the early years to FE and HE. The module encompasses an exploration of current pedagogical research, theories, concepts, controversies and populist kitsch solutions. A major emphasis will be to examine ways of developing teaching and learning in both individual classrooms and educational institutions.  Attention will also be given to the significant influence of international, national and local contexts on educational thinking and practices.

Please note that this module is offered in two modes:

1. University campus based
2. As work based learning. This means that the vehicle for the development of pedagogy is current activities, projects and other initiatives led by the participant or in which they have a key role. These must relate to the school improvement plan and to the participant’s own performance review objectives. The WBL route is an innovative approach that enables participants to demonstrate current competence and develop future capability. The WBL route is open only to groups of staff in the same school or college, or to staff groups from more than one school or college. It is taught entirely within the contracting institution(s). Work for this module is intended to result in impact at institutional and classroom level.

The module will begin by exploring the contexts within which ideas, theories and policies about what is to be taught are developed both nationally and internationally.  There will be an early consideration of the deceptively easy question of, What is education for?’  The implications of ‘performativity’ and ‘gaming the system’ on current pedagogical practices will then be explored. The module will examine new research within major theories of learning including that of neuroscience, socio-cultural learning and dialogic enquiry, as well as exploring implications for practice. Assessment principles and practices will be reviewed in relation to both educational theory and performative practices. The module will in addition, critically analyse via research and evaluation evidence, a selection of recent populist trends in education such as ‘learning styles’; ‘therapeutic learning’; ‘personalisation’; ‘learning how to learn’; ‘brain gym’ and their impacts on teaching, learning and institutional practices.

On successful completion of this module participants should have

• A critical understanding of recent research, theories, concepts and ideologies related to teaching, learning and assessment
• An advanced capacity to analyse current practices and assumptions within national policy, curricula, classrooms and educational institutions
• A greater capacity to develop individual praxis via the use of research, theory and professional insights into teaching, learning and assessment in order to develop and improve practice

300 hours student learning time to include up to 30 hours contact. 

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.