Sharing and building the higher education curriculum: course design in an open and collegial context

This paper addresses the characteristics of the teaching practices that are shaped by the educational beliefs and values that academics bring to curriculum design in higher education (HE). It presents the results of a case study of a 2012 curriculum-sharing project, involving ten UK universities, in which academics from the social science disciplines, Sociology, Anthropology, and Politics, came together to exchange course designs and materials. Drawing on realist epistemology, the study applies Bernstein’s (2000) pedagogic device to examine the basis of recontextualisation and the underlying epistemic insights evident when HE courses are made ready to be shared and used by others. This is made possible by enacting Legitimation Code Theory (Maton, 2014). A conceptual model of curriculum making is developed that can reveal how academics interpret and respond to the ‘opening-up’ process of reproducing the curriculum, and how their curriculum-making work is legitimated. Expertise in designing and approving the curriculum, as the basis of curricular authority, is seen to be discipline-based. Importantly, this analysis makes visible the factors necessary in order for academics to realise new forms of the curriculum

Bringing social media into the curriculum: new ways of teaching and learning?

Laura Pountney reflects on new ways of teaching and learning, where social media platforms have become part of A level sociology and anthropology curricula. Laura is a teacher of anthropology and sociology at Colchester Sixth Form College, senior examiner for A level anthropology, and author of several textbooks. She has been involved with curriculum development, teacher training and projects such as the UCL Why We Post research

Seeing and framing mentoring through the lens of knowledge practices

In this paper I draw on empirical work I have been involved in since 2016, involving over 1200 teacher mentors, to discuss a key issue that has arisen – the professional knowledge required to mentor effectively. This work includes the development of a curriculum for training school-based mentors of trainee and newly qualified teachers, Enhance your Mentoring Skills, delivered regionally across South Yorkshire (Pountney and Grasmeder, 2018), as well as nationally for mentors of mid-career teachers on the Chartered Teacher programme of the Chartered College of Teaching. I begin by discussing briefly what is known about teachers’ mentoring practices, and understandings of what constitutes professional knowledge. Next, I discuss the nature of mentor teachers’ learning for practice, and the difficulties inherent in articulating this to themselves, and to others. I illustrate this with examples, to show how the problem can be differentiated in two dimensions of meaning: the first is closeness to context (semantic gravity) and the second is the degree of conceptual complexity (semantic density). Finally, I discuss the need for a specialised language for mentoring and how this can promote the professional status of mentors, as well as building knowledge about, and for, effective mentoring practice

Developing effective learners through a school/university partnership in curriculum making

An important point in the establishment of a new secondary school is the making of its curriculum'. In 2013, XP School, Doncaster, invited researchers from Sheffield Hallam University (joined in 2016 by Auckland University) to work with its teachers, involving school visits, sharing of curriculum plans and curriculum evaluation. This paper describes the research-informed outcomes of this school (trust)/university partnership process in two parts: first, the collective theorising that has taken place; and second, how the curriculum is being enacted by the school to develop effective learners and learning

Building bridges: enhancing mentoring skills, knowledge and practice through an online course

This paper outlines the rationale for an open online course for teachers, Enhance your Mentoring Skills, aimed at addressing the UK National Mentor Standards (2016), and describes how this was put into practice. The professional needs of school-based mentors and how these were met in the design for learning are examined alongside a consideration of the efficacy of the curriculum and associated pedagogy of the course. Drawing on the evaluations of 73 teachers who have completed the course in 2017 and their contributions to individual and communal learning activities the paper develops an impression of mentoring practice that represents mentors’ theories-in-use. Teachers’ accounts of the value of the course suggest considerable effect on their levels of confidence and some evidence of impact on their mentoring practice. However, findings also indicate that participants’ understandings of their mentoring role lacks a clearly defined model for mentoring relationships and that mentors welcome greater opportunity to reflect on their practice and to share this with others discursively. The paper discusses the extent to which the course offers a bridge between mentors’ wishes and intentions and how they are realised in practice. Recommendations for future iterations of the course are made, with proposals to develop this case study further, as an instrumental form of theory building (Stake, 1995), in order to better understand how mentors understand and develop their practice

A Cost-Optimal Assessment of Buildings in Ireland Using Directive 2010/31/EU of the Energy Performance of Buildings Recast

This paper describes the first cost-optimal assessment of national energy performance standards for buildings in Ireland undertaken in accordance with Article 5 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) Recast [Council Directive 2010/31/EU]. This paper focuses on new-build standards which are set out in Part L of the Building Regulations in Ireland. A set of representative residential and nonresidential building models were selected. The impact on primary energy demand of a wide range of energy efficiency measures and renewable technologies was evaluated for each building model and the corresponding lifecycle costs were calculated. The results show that the new-build residential standards in Ireland are in the cost-optimal range, while the new-build non-residential standards deliver a greater primary energy demand than the cost-optimal range