CALL FOR
PAPERS
Critical
Questions, Innovations & Practices in Work Based Learning
TEESSIDE
UNIVERSITY 13 & 14 JULY 2010
WORK BASED LEARNING NETWORK of
the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning CONFERENCE
The Work Based Learning Network has
long recognised the three-way interests of Work Based Learning (WBL) set in the
wider context of its commitment to a strategy for Lifelong Learning. These
interests are recognised as a three-way relationship between Learners,
Universities and Work Contexts, although one might also recognise the role of
government-led initiatives as a potentially fourth dimension within the current
conceptualisation and construction of the stake-holders.
WBL has grasped the productive
opportunities made available by the reconfiguration of contextual knowledge
which is created in and through ‘work’. However the material forms of these productive opportunities
have inevitably varied, depending on the quality of the three-way relationship
between Learners, Universities and Work Contexts. All three partners face
growing challenges and demands as they try to respond to external pressures
arising from economic circumstances and internal tensions regarding the nature
of their partnership and its relationship to knowledge, learning and their
varying definitions of ‘education’.
To achieve a real change in the
balance of power between learners, universities and employers will require
tensions to be understood and accommodated within new curriculum developments. There
are wide-ranging issues relating to the tensions facing all three partners in
the WBL relationship. Many people study part time during their full time work,
using their work situation as the context of their study. Universities that
undertake these kinds of work based programmes or modules have to consider
quality assurance issues.
Employer engagement is a complex
area of activity and of increasing importance both in the development of
government policy and in the strategic development of many institutions. The
WBL Network acknowledges the tensions and risks involved in new practices,
indeed its original Mission Statement states that it:
-
Acknowledges that learning is political and
performative in that learning based in work….seeks to change, improve or
subvert situated practice through reflection and research.
-
Asserts that learning should be emancipatory, in that
it has the potential to empower learners’ capacity to act.
The three-way interests of WBL need
to be thought through by all concerned. A critical engagement between
universities and communities that engage with work practices would enable both
the needs of contemporary work situations to be understood by universities and
the raising of awareness with organisations and communities of practice.
Engagement should mean interaction between practice communities and
universities beginning with thinking through the risks and tensions faced by
all partners.
Papers are invited on the following
broad themes addressing critical questions, innovations and practices in the
context of the contemporary tensions faced by WBL three-way interests:
The Challenges of Contemporary
Developments in WBL
- What critical questions are facing
those engaged in WBL as it faces the challenges of the 2010s?
- In what ways are the power relations
between WBL interests changing?
- As quality assurance issues become
increasingly to the forefront will the element of creative risk be eliminated
from WBL pedagogic practice?
- What innovative practices already
exist that offer new insights to WBL praxis?
- HEIs are challenged to change to
meet the demands of the 2010s: what is WBL’s role in changing the identity of
the university?
- What might the ‘Work Based
University of 2020’ be?
- All students are increasingly
encouraged to see themselves as ‘consumers of the student experience’: how might this impact on the nature and
practice of WBLs three-way relationship?
Pedagogic Practices and
Curriculum Design
- In what ways do we need to rethink
awards and programmes to meet the aspirations and needs of all WBL
stakeholders?
- What learning experiences are
relevant and inspiring for work based learners?
- How should Learning Contracts /
Agreements be re-thought in the light of changing power relations between WBL
stakeholders? How do we address the tensions implicit in changing roles: the
university advisor, the work-based mentor, the work place assessor, the
employer as learning provider and financer?
- In what ways might WBL theory and
pedagogic praxis contribute to the debates on assessment and quality assurance?
- What innovative curriculum designs
are needed to provide smaller units of learning that can be structured into
major awards to support lifelong learning aspirations and continued widening
access to HE?
- How might changes in the relations
between WBL partners impact on the accreditation of prior learning, especially
APEL?
- Who should be recognising prior
learning and future learning development?
- Should HEIs continue to assert their
intellectual authority as the final arbiters of higher learning?
Tackling Tensions and Engaging Relationships
- What networks can be constructed to
engage all WBL stakeholders?
- What are the financial implications
of engaging with WBL from the three-way stakeholder perspectives?
- Should WBL still be regarded as ‘
political and performative in that learning based in work….seeks to change,
improve or subvert situated practice through reflection and research’?
- In whose interests are contemporary
developments within WBL and its relations with fellow stakeholders?
- Whose Work Based Learning is this:
Questions of Ethics, Intellectual Copyright, Ownership and Reflection as Subversion?
The conference team would like to
receive papers and posters on the above areas. Mindful that schools,
departments and faculties may be at different levels of engagement in
work-based learning the abstracts, papers or posters can be based on case
examples, theoretical or empirical papers.
Acceptance/ revision of abstracts
notified
by 5th
March 2010.
Full papers
by 21st June 2010.
All papers accepted for the
conference will be published in the conference proceedings. Those who wish to
amend their papers following the conference can send in revised papers to be
considered for an addition of the new peer reviewed e-journal of Work Based
Learning:
http://www.Wblearning-ejournal.com.
We therefore request that conference
papers, 2000-5000 words in length, should conform to standard requirements of
the WBL e-journal.
Conference Venue
In a double accolade, Teesside University has recently won
University of the Year and Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative in the Times
Higher Education awards. It has a wide range of work-based learning practices
across the University including a pan-university Work Based Studies Framework
hosted by Teesside University Business School.
The University’s vibrant campus is set in the heart of
Middlesbrough, a town leading the way in Tees Valley. A range of
ground-breaking initiatives have been, and still are, transforming
Middlesbrough’s facilities and public spaces, adding to the town’s importance
for business, shopping, entertainment and cultural activities. In addition, the
dockland waterfront, Middlehaven is set for a £500m transformation which will
see a further 250 acres devoted to both work and leisure.
The University can be accessed via rail and air (Durham
Tees Valley Airport) and by road via the A19 and A66 from the A1M. Two town centre hotels have offered
reasonable rates for conference delegates and a shuttle service will run
between the hotels and the university. The Conference Dinner will be held at
Middlesbrough Football Club’s Riverside Stadium which has an outstanding
reputation for its hospitality and catering provision.
The
conference booking form will accompany the second call for papers in early
January 2010. Any enquiries should be addressed to Ian Jones,
i.jones@tees.ac.uk
Conference Organisers:
Carol Costley (WBL Network Convenor)
and Ian Jones (WBL Network Steering Group / Teesside University)
Research Assistance:
Irem Inceoglu (Middlesex University)
Conference Administrator:
Ian Jones (Teesside University)
Conference Team:
WBL Network Steering Group, WBL
Research Centre at Middlesex University, Work Based Studies at Teesside
University.