Learning Together: forging belonging among students with experience of the criminal justice system

The Learning Together methodology at Liverpool John Moores University attempts to open up higher education for people with criminal convictions.  Applied in a criminal justice course, Learning Together aims to create a safe space for criminal justice academics, students, service users and practitioners to come together and form a unique community of practice whereby scholarly activity, life events and professional experience are recognised, applied and practiced within and beyond the classroom.  As the initiative has grown and developed, course co-creators have recognised how community engagement as a pedagogical framework holds the ability to reduce cultural distance between academic researchers and the communities in which they work whilst at the same time enriching learning and strengthening communities.  This paper provides an insight into the initiative and reflects on how belonging can be embedded via a connected curriculum framework.&nbsp

Embedding value: perspectives on a foundation level course in arts and humanities

The number of learners opting to study on a foundation level programme at universities in England has risen sharply over the last few years.  Foundation level courses at university represent a vital opportunity for learners to progress to undergraduate courses, especially those learners from areas where participation in higher education has been traditionally very low.  This paper offers a reflection on the foundation level course delivered at LJMU’s School of Humanities and Social Science, which has featured on the institutional prospectus since 2017.  The tutors reflect on the adjustments that have been made to both the organisation and delivery of teaching, underlined by the development of an inclusive and open learning community.  Based on the authors’ experiences, it is argued that foundation level courses at university are well calibrated to support the UK government’s levelling up agenda and, ahead of the 2021 Spending Review, the paper is therefore a counterpoint to recommendations made on the foundation level programme in the Augar Review of post-18 education funding

Memories of the future: educational concepts in the shadow of a pandemic year

In June 2021, just after England had entered a fresh national lockdown, Liverpool John Moore University’s Teaching and Learning Conference (on the theme ‘Transition to Transformation’) was hosted entirely online for the very first time.  This paper was produced as a conference resource to offer a reflection on the pandemic year, 2020/21.  Its aim was to encourage delegates to consider ten educational concepts (Bildung, critical social theory, epistemology, colonialism, identity, diversity, care, friendships, creativity and performativity) in the context of key national and international developments of the pandemic year, including the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA

Age against the machine: active ageing and guest learning on campus

This paper offers a brief overview of ‘the guest student’ initiative, established in countries like Germany, and highlights its potential to support those in later life – or the ‘third age’ – in particular.  In a nutshell, where the initiative is supported, universities open up selected lectures to the public which they, as ‘guest students’ (Gasthöreren), can apply to attend.  The paper considers how UK third age citizens are supported (e.g. through the U3A initiative) and how universities might think about supporting their communities in a post-pandemic world

Lifting the lid on period poverty in higher education: a student engagement perspective

In 2018/19, Liverpool John Moores University became the first university in England to offer free menstrual products on campus.  This paper shares insights from the project – called The Free Period – which was established to tackle period poverty, or menstrual hygiene management (MHM).  The authors reflect on student engagement as a significant proportion of menstruators had missed classes owing to period poverty.  The paper highlights the need for better dialogue and communication to: improve data; tackle stigma and taboos; and cultivate healthier relationships on campus

Higher education: sector reports review - September 2019 to January 2020

This paper provides a summary of selected reports and papers (‘grey literature’) published by key HE sector organisations in England/UK and think tanks between September 2019 and January 2020.  These include: Advance HE; The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS); The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ); Department for Education (DfE); Education Policy Institute; Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Intergenerational Foundation; Jisc; Leading Routes; LKMoo; National Education Opportunities Network (NEON); National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE); National Union of Students (NUS); Office for Students (OfS); Stonewall; Student Minds; Theos; Unite Students; Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); Universities and Colleges Union (UCU); Universities UK (UUK); Universities UK International (UUKi).   The themes covered in the paper include: students response to the Augar review; university priorities; unconditional offers; outreach; social mobility; care leavers; student engagement; student expectations; sustainability; postgraduate experiences; mental health and wellbeing; initiations; racial harassment; Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students; Latinx students; LGBT students; prisoner education; religion; disability; online harassment; digital experiences; copied materials in HE teaching; language learning; employability and transition after graduation; male participation in nursing and allied health HE; casualisation of staff; staff diversity; the 2019 General Election; privilege in HE; and university chaplaincies

Book Review of Vincent C.H. Tong, Alex Standen and Mina Sotiriou (Eds.) (2018) Shaping Higher Education with Students: Ways to Connect Research and Teaching

Shaping Higher Education with Students is about linking research and teaching through collaborative relationships between students and staff. The central tenet of this expansive book is that student learning should be anchored in the kind of active, critical, and analytic inquiry traditionally undertaken by researchers. Unpacking the complexities of research-based education, this edited collection documents a University College London (UCL) project that challenges the conventional roles of students and teachers and proposes that research and teaching are not disparate undertakings, but that research equals teaching (‘R=T’). In a contemporary academic environment, that seems to prioritise skills for employability in order to improve student satisfaction and league tables standings, the notion of converting students into co-producers of knowledge is captivating. R=T, as interpreted at UCL, proposes developing students’ voices academically in a way that allows them to transform their ideas into actions, whether in the sphere of politics, society, business, or science. [Review continues

Race for equality: reflections of a students’ union officer

It has been eight years since the publication of the National Union of Students’ (NUS) Race for Equality, a report containing several sobering reflections on the BAME student experience in post-16 UK education. In 2018/19 many of the themes were revisited with the publication of a Universities UK and NUS report on the BAME attainment gap. In this viewpoint paper, a personal reflection is offered from the perspective of a students’ union officer, drawing attention to the need to be willing to engage with untapped talent, and on the role a students’ union can play in helping universities create more inclusive cultures and, consequently, more vibrant learning communities

On embracing failure and the cultivation of knowledge

In Yuval Harari’s Sapiens – a book that offers a magisterial sweep of the history of humankind – the beginning of our enslavement by wheat (about 10,000 years ago) is posited as a pivotal moment in our civilisation.  In recognising the crop’s potential and value, our ancestors turned their backs on the frenzied existence of hunter gathering or the nomadic pastoral existence and, in effect, stayed put.  And, in this state of contemplation, things began to change.  The entanglement with wheat led to the formation of enclosures, the cultivation of fields and domestication of animals.  Eventually flatbreads produced by the early strains of grain gave way to the emergence of a ‘loaf-bread culture’ about 2,000 years ago in Europe (Marchant et al., 2008; Rubel, 2011).  Those early pioneers were gloriously curious, a trait that has followed human beings since the beginning of time.  The techniques for grinding, the conversion of grain to flour and, later, yeast discovery, baking methods, cooling, proving, dividing, kneading and other mixing techniques, led to the celebrated sliced white we have today.  All this required patience but, and I’d like to think, the trials and errors enabled our ancestors get to know a little more about themselves along the way. [Editorial continues

Religion and belief on campus: notes from ‘just your average Muslim’

At the start of 2019/20, religion and belief featured in two prominent sector reports that highlighted problems in social integration on our campuses.  This paper offers a personal reflection on faith on the campus, from the perspective of ‘just an average Muslim’, Zia Chaudhry MBE.  It presents an overview of the Muslim student experience on campus and endorses the notion of ‘religious’ literacy as a means of nurturing respect and spiritual wellbeing