Study of live consultative and deliberative projects

University of Gloucestershire

Mr James Garo Derounian
Principal Lecturer & National Teaching Fellow
Telephone: +00 44 01242 714562
jderounian@glos.ac.uk

August 2008

Overview
Participation and consultation (EL307) is a final year undergraduate module delivered at the University of Gloucestershire (UK). The emphasis on WIL is essential given the applied and current nature of participation and consultation in decision-making. Whether you look at UK policy or programme development since the 1990s across diverse areas such as heritage management, environmental action, health & social welfare, planning & regeneration there is a strong/central emphasis on citizen inputs to decision-making. And globally this is true of the pursuit of sustainability and climate change remediation.

This module, with its inherent emphasis on WIL, endeavours to walk the talk and practise what it teaches.learning by doing is essential and appropriate to the subject matter. Students respond to the contemporary, applied & interactive nature of this course. The assignments reflect and extend classroom understanding of participation and consultation; and enable students to select live deliberative events and initiatives that reflect their own degree and topic interests, such as sports development, social welfare and local governance, to explore in assignment submissions.

Structure of programme
This module has been running in its present, applied, form incorporating WIL since 1998. Its evolution has been gradual and ever-changing as the participatory and consultative initiatives (both local, regional and national) change. Given the Universitys emphasis on active learning and the pursuit of sustainability/climate change remediation, this module expresses and make a contribution towards both strategic goals. It also ties in with the author/module tutors work through a central government funded Centre of Excellence in Teaching & Learning CeTL. The University of Gloucestershires own CeTL researches, practises and reviews active learning. More on this at http://www.glos.ac.uk/ceal/ .

For each session a pair of students select a participatory activity from Robert Chambers 2002 book Participatory Workshops: A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas and Activities, Earthscan, 2002 [ISBN 1853838624]

Again this requirement reinforces key aspects of participatory working; namely ownership by the students of the case study activity they choose; fun as a central aspect of learning (& community development); active participation; application of techniques across a range of subjects and circumstances. Student selected activities most of which lasted no more than 5 minutes have included participatory forms of session evaluation, how to refresh participants part way through a 2-hour contact session (energizers), and tips on dealing with dominators and helping the silent to speak (if they wish to!). Students were also encouraged to suggest appropriate speakers, projects etc..so for example a student drew in her work placement mentor to present on citizen participation in delivery of social welfare.

The module tutor identifies overlapping and mutual benefits for work-based practitioners, students, staff and communities. The following is an illustrative ratherthan exhaustive listing:

• Benefits for work-based practitioners
• Access enthusiastic, motivated and skilled undergraduates;
• Evaluate potential employees and/or work placement students;
• Have tasks professionally completed in a cost-minimal way;
• Exposure to students who bring fresh energy, new ideas and perspectives to the practitioner and employer;
• Contribute to the training of emerging professionals
• Access University resources and programmes
• Access staff and student inputs to live project consultancies & research [to improve future service delivery]
• Practise teaching/public presentation and thereby become aware of a new career option in terms of lecturing/teaching.

For students

• Gain valuable, up-to-date practical experience relevant to their field of study;
• Gain access to practitioners in the field of consultation, community development & participatory work a number of whom are University of Gloucestershire graduates [who previously attended as students the module they now contribute to! A form of recycling teaching in pursuit of sustainability;
• Develop career opportunities and explore career options via exposure to recent graduates, who have studied as they have;
• Apply theory learned in the classroom to real life circumstances, policies, programmes and projects;
• Develop practical (communication) skills of value in the workplace;
• Gain insight into how organisations really operate;
• Clarify career aspirations;
• Build valuable contacts and networking with practitioners & stakeholders that may e.g. lead to other mutually useful assignment research undergraduate dissertations, independent studies, work placements etc.

For staff

• Powerfully embody the module title/aims of participation & consultation;
• Become aware of new ideas, programmes & policies relevant to the subject;
• Make consultancy & research inputs to live initiatives [to improve future service delivery];
• Teach less, listen & learn more;
• Become directly involved in the co-production of knowledge (between students, practitioners, staff and citizens)
• To enable students to understand the real life/warts and all aspects of participatory working and to gain academic credit by reflecting on these in module assignments.

Benefits for communities

• Access enthusiastic and skilled undergraduates at no cost!
• Have tasks professionally undertaken (e.g. assistance in producing a Community Audit/Plan) in a cost-minimal way;
• Bring fresh energy, new ideas and perspectives;
• Contribute to the training of emerging professionals;
• Access University resources and programmes;
• Become aware as individuals and communities of how the university may help them, through live project consultancies & research and programmes of study;
• Practise articulation of what is needed setting down a brief for students/staff to follow.

Special features
This programme is multi & inter-disciplinary, & transferable across many different disciplines. In essence it is simple, effective, relevant, up-to-date and ever-changing this makes it fascinating for students, staff and practitioners alike.

The success of the programme is grounded in the maintenance of workable, longer term relationships with employers, students, graduates & staff based on mutual benefits and respect. The enterprise is sustainable the more enthusiastic practitioners that students are exposed to, the more of them seek to emulate and follow role models; so the pool of experienced graduates grows who, in turn, are encouraged to return to increase, up date and refresh the teaching and learning. It also enables students (and staff) to learn about their immediate surroundings their hopes, fears, aspirations and needs. As U.S. researchers DeLind & Link (2004) have stated:

The above quote underpins the approach to teaching and learning is this case study module.

As illustrations only students have participated in the following live participatory initiatives:

Voting on preferred health service priorities for the future; partnership with Gloucestershire combined Health Service Trusts 2008

Constructive critique of University of Southampton online learning materials related to aspects of citizenship
http://www.soton.ac.uk/citizened/ 2007

Constructive critique of New Economics Foundation DEMOCS participatory technique 2006
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/democs.aspx

Future work
As a priority the module tutor will present to colleagues, both within and without his university, on the benefits of aligning teaching and learning approaches to enact learning outcomes. So that students learn by doing and reinforce head knowledge by directly practising the knowledge they are gaining. The author/module tutor intends Faculty seminars and conference presentations to spread the word about this approach and to refine and reflect on his own experiences and ideas.

The author would also like to research how other disciplinary subjects and materials can be/are taught in such a way that the learning style and approaches exemplify and reinforce the content. James Derounian would therefore be keen to hear from colleagues & readers of this case study, who have insights and examples to offer. Contact details at the top of p.1 of this case study.

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