Starting a pedagogic consultancy
“It all begins with an idea.”
When you use a website service like Squarespace they provide you with idiot-proof page templates. Each template carries repeated text such as “It all begins with an idea” that they assume you will delete and replace with your own text. In the case of what I am developing here for university teaching and learning this given sentence is entirely true and so I’ve kept their phrase.
An idea is born. I am not aware of any other such service (although I am bound to discover others soon, as is always the case…) offering pedagogic consultancy to universities. Is there a need? Defnitely. Why? Because again and again we find that universities - despite being bastions of education - are not taking into account the social science of the teaching they use for students. By social science of teaching I mean the educational philosophy (yet that could be a humanity) and socio-political implications of the manners in which they teach. I’m talking about the dynamics of power for instance. How do these play out in the classroom? Do students feel safe to express themselves or are they repressed by forms of discrimination? Is the professor a “maestro” lapping up adulation - with all the implications of that for potential corruption of marks and favours - or an ordinary person, on a level playing field with students as regards basic humanity?
Is the atmosphere in the classroom one of equality or of hierarchy and self importance or power used as ego, or is it a safe space full of joy and discovery, facilitated by a knowledgeable guide?
Who is the person receiving an education? Is receiving the best modality for the education to occur? How does a reception model serve the teaching and the teacher? How does it serve the student and the curriculum?
What uses of silence, chosen for pedagogical benefit, are there in a given setting? (See my book on this topic now available for free view via Internet Archive - Silence in Schools, Trentham Books / IoE Press, 2012). Would the teacher and/or the students like to use forms of chosen silence in their educational interactions? What is the pedagogy of such encounters and what results does that pedagogy have for the education to hand?
Does a teacher use pausing to allow students to reflect and find their voice? Is the space calm or agitated and how can you tell?
These are just some of the questions that a pedagogic consultant asks and offers. It started with an idea to introduce embedded, deliberate, aware pedagogy into university teaching and learning where it was lacking (and often where the problems such a lack can cause were manifesting to the concern of management), but the power of pedagogy is that it isn’t just an idea. It brings significant change.