A pedagogy for the vocationally educated learner entering Higher Education: from competence to capability 1 st UK National Transition Conference 24 th April 2009 Julie Wintrup, Helen Briers, Tracey Pugh

First year students who had undertaken vocational education and training before they started their HE studies describe their transition into HE as a complex and often difficult process Hayward et al,

Overview of workshop Welcome, introductions Ice breaker / exercise Feedback from pairs and discussion Cultures: competency and capability Towards a pedagogy for transition 3 ideas for change 3

Go back in time to your arrival at the venue today. Imagine that you had found a notice pinned to the outer door. You are advised that maps are available at reception. 4

Discuss your immediate responses. Jot them down. Ask yourselves: What are your choices? What will you do? What will influence your decision? Is there anything else you would have wanted to know? Are there any differences in each of your responses, attitudes, need for information? 5

Discuss 6

Competences describe performance as outcomes of a person's work. They focus on what the person needs to be able to do, as well as what they must know and understand to work effectively....are designed to allow people to assess and be assessed against them and must be: a single task able to be undertaken by one individual measurable observable 7

Capability The ability to manage uncertainty and complexity S elf awareness, preparedness to enter uncharted territory and tolerance of uncertainty Learning for capability should provide skill in the use of learning networks, research evidence, IT and knowledge management and ways of working across professional boundaries Fraser & Greenhalgh,

Capability and social justice Freedom + opportunity While opportunity freedom refers to what people have opportunity or ability to achieve, process freedom refers to the process through which things happen Sen, 2002: 585 9

Nussbaum and capability Functional ability and real opportunities based on personal and social circumstance Life, bodily health, emotions, reason.. Control over one's environment Nussbaum,

What are the cultural characteristics of each? 11

Compare your own team / organisation / programme with: A competence-based culture A capability-based culture 12

If Vocational training draws upon a competency culture and Higher Education requires capability...what are the implications for transition? 13

Towards a pedagogy for transition 14

What are the abilities and opportunities students need, in order to achieve in HE? What are the processes in HE that enable them to make use of those abilities and opportunities..and to exert control over their environment? Think of 3 process changes which would facilitate transition in your institution / team / programme 15

References Fraser, S.W. & Greenhalgh, T., (2001). Coping with Complexity: Educating for Capability. British Medical Journal. 323: 799 – 803. Hayward, G (2008) Degrees of Success: Learners Transition from Vocational Education and Training to Higher Education TLRPwww.tlrp.org/project%20sites/degrees Accessed on 14 /2/2009www.tlrp.org/project%20sites/degrees Nussbaum, M. (2006). Education and Democratic Citizenship: Capabilities and Quality Education. Journal of Human Development (7); 3: 385 – 395. Sen 2002: 585. in Comim, F., Qizilbash, M. & Alkire, S. (2008) The Capability Approach: Concepts, Measures and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University press 16