Transcript Slide 1

Revitalising the flexible learning offer
University of Greenwich Experience
Work-based Learning Flexible Frameworks: Applied Professional Studies & Higher Level Apprenticeships
Introduction
 This Presentation will provide you with an overview of the University of Greenwich undergraduate
and postgraduate flexible Applied Professional Studies programme together with recent
developments and delivery of Higher Level Apprenticeships
 These flexible part-time awards are offered by the Centre for Work Based Learning (CWBL), which
aims to:
‘Promote the value and role of professional practice in society, developing individuals who
have the conceptual, analytical and communication skills necessary to sustain them in the
changing workplace of the future’.
 This aim informs our work and that of colleagues, learners, the wider academic community and our
partners in the professional sector
 CWBL is a coordinated, south-east area-based, multi-stakeholder Centre who's mission remains an
approach to harnessing the skills, experience and resources of those in the public, private and voluntary
sectors to ‘support professional development and practice‘ recognised by Higher Education
Increasingly, work-based learning is being recognised as a
solution to support the social mobility agenda and to improve
specific opportunities for non-traditional HE learners.
Context HEI Complacency: PT/FL = ‘Cinderella Operation’
Are part-time, flexible
learners a missed
opportunity for higher
education delivery?
 The structure of the HE part-time flexible learning market and
the dynamics and drivers shaping its development are
significantly different to the traditional full-time offer
 Much more heterogeneous & diverse with respect to
entry qualifications than full-time learners
 Different learner attributes (attitudes, motivations,
perceived barriers), study requirements and aspirations
 Maximising participation requires developing routes to market
providing a flexible portfolio offer, together with a differentiated
marketing and outreach strategy
Yes, but they require a
greater understanding
and a tailored
approach!
 Engagement and support arrangements requires alternative
provision through the learner life-cycle to maximise professional
development that lead communities of practice and identity
Applied Professional Studies:
Flexible, Part-time Provision for all Sectors
 Applied Professional Studies has been designed with the
working practitioner in mind.
 It is a flexible programme that will allow the learner the chance
to tailor a personalised programme of learning to suit their
individual needs and to support current and future career
aspirations.
 The underlying philosophy of the Award(s) is to facilitate a
programme of negotiated learning using their actual working role
and employers objectives as the focus of their academic enquiry.
 Negotiated learning- practical application of theoretical
perspectives in a professional context.
 It combines work-based projects and/or taught courses.
Verna Rhodes
Foundation degree in Applied
Professional Studies
“The programme has given me the
opportunity to develop my career and
personal strengths, providing enough
flexibility, guidance and support to
enable me to enjoy studying while
working full-time and raising a family.”
Applied Professional Studies:
Flexible, Part-time Provision
The following Programme(s) are available through the Applied Professional Studies suite:
Undergraduate Programme: The programme is
structured over three phases representing two
separate but linked ‘stand alone’ awards:
Entry
Entry
Entry
Phase 1:
Phase 2:
Foundation
Degree
Award
(FDA)
Foundation
Degree
Award
(FDA.)
Progress

Entry
Entry
Entry
Phase 3:
Phase 1:
Phase 2:
Phase 3:
Bachelor of Arts
or Science
(B.A. Or B.Sc.)
Post Graduate
Certificate
(Pg.Cert.)
Post Graduate
Diploma
(Pg.Dip.)
Master of Arts or
Science
(M.A. Or M.Sc.)
Progress
Progress
Exit

Postgraduate Programme: The programme is
structured over three phases representing three
separate but linked ‘stand alone’ awards:
Exit
Exit
We operate in a Higher Education credit based system
Credits are at 4 HE levels; 4, 5, 6, and M 7 (post-graduate)
Progress
Exit
Exit
Creating an APS Individualised Programme
In any chosen APS programme the learner can accumulate credit in a number of ways:
By attending
‘taught’ courses
at the University or
Partner
Colleges –
core and/or
optional
By claiming
credit for courses
(or modules) that
have been
completed
at other universities
or similar places
By claiming credit
for learning
achieved
through work
or other
appropriate activity
By undertaking
work-based
projects whilst
being supervised
by us
Creating an APS Individualised Programme:
Taught Courses

Learners may want to gain new
knowledge, expertise and skills by
taking one or more taught courses to
add to their individualised programme

These are available from across a
number of the University’s Faculties,
by choosing individual courses from
any taught undergraduate (H) or
postgraduate (M) level programmes or
from our partner college network or
accredited employers.

Specialist taught courses may
contribute up to 75% of the overall
programme of study.
Creating an APS Individualised Programme:
Claiming Credit for Courses or Work-place Experience

The structure allows the learner to
receive academic recognition for
learning that has already been
achieved, either formally through
previous study, or informally within
their working environment, which
may be able to accelerate their
progress through the programme
and count towards the final award.

There are two types of accreditation
that can be claimed:

Accreditation of Prior Certificated
Learning – AP(C)L: Advanced
Standing or Credit Exemption
Accreditation of Prior Experiential
Learning – AP(E)L

Creating an APS Individualised Programme:
Negotiated Study: Work-based Learning Projects

These are “open” courses in which
the learner negotiates their own
learning intentions either from past
or current practice, by designing
and implementing a work based
project or by a combination of these.

This is done, for example through
reflection on your past or current
practice or through work based
projects that they are undertaking
as part of their professional practice.

Candidates will design one or more
Negotiated Study(s) to
accommodate the work-based
learning element of this programme,
and these can be 15, 30 or 45
credits.
Creating an APS Individualised Programme
Level 4: Personal
Development
Planning
Are you seeking accreditation from
prior or experiential learning?
No
Yes
APEL &/or APCL
Level 5: Personal
Development
Planning
Level 6: Learning
Agreement
Do you want to study
taught programmes?
Yes
Taught Courses
(however, at least 25%
must be WB learning
such as a
Negotiated Learning)
No
Negotiated Study
Level 7: Learning
Agreement
Select the credit structure
Select the value of
your credits:
15, 30, 45 Credits
Applied Professional Studies: Communities of
Practice
Communities of Practice with
Applied Professional Studies
as a hub for dissemination of
knowledge/practices:
 The individual professional
practitioner
 The academic community
 Professional communities of
practice: Employers and
professional bodies
Applied Professional Studies: Pedagogical
Framework
 Cycle of identity development where all people derive knowledge from collectively held
conventional knowledge
 Knowledge is then internalised, adapted and developed producing new practices
 These new practices can be published and observed and drawn back into conventional
collective practices
 Learning encompasses the highly complex nature of knowledge in use in the context of the
situated learner and the community of knowledge and practice that they operate
 Tacit dimension of learning - this aspect of learning cannot be easily taught without experience
of practice.
 Where the programme and/or academics as a community of practice overlap with this they
can help the process; be critical, well researched – but also essential to this process is the
building of a high quality body of knowledge within the communities
Working in Partnership:
A Community of Practice: A Multi-stakeholder Consortuium
A coordinated multi-stakeholder consortium to deliver learning programme(s),
QA & a supporting CPD framework:
CWBL
QA & CPD
Support
Partner
College
Entry
Progress
Partner
College
Partner
College
Progress
Level 4/5:
Level 6:
Level 7:
Foundation
Degree
Award
(FDA.)
Bachelor of Arts
or Science
(B.A. Or B.Sc.)
APS Post
Graduate
Awards
Exit
Exit
Progression could be onto
any UoG Programme or APS
Working in Partnership:
Employer-Based Professional Accreditation (EBPA)
 The Centre for Work-based learning can use the APS
framework through its external accreditation service to help
build capacity for employers or professional bodies
 We can identify opportunities for employers and
institutions from most occupational areas to benefit from the
accreditation of their training activities to support continuous
professional development and life-long learning, with
opportunities leading to the APS award at both
undergraduate and postgraduate levels
Using the Applied
Profession Studies shell
framework to develop
hybrid programmes to
support sector specific
professional practice,
institutional delivery &
new qualification awards
Working in Partnership:
Supporting Institutional Delivery in Work-based Learning,
Access & Widening Participation
Applied Professional Studies
(Facilitating Work-Based Learning)
A postgraduate programme for work-based learning practitioners,
facilitators & professionals
Applied Professional Studies
(Access & Widening Participation)
A postgraduate programme for access & widening
practitioners, facilitators & professionals
Using the Applied
Profession Studies shell
framework to develop
hybrid programmes to
support sector specific
professional practice,
institutional delivery &
new qualification awards
Working in Partnership: Promoting sector specific
professional practice & new qualification awards – Higher
Level Apprenticeships (HLA)
 The Centre has a national reputation for developing
Higher Apprenticeships and in 2009 worked with large
engineering employers and SEMTA to establish a pilot
Higher Apprenticeship in Engineering Technology
 Using this framework the Centre has additionally
developed two further Higher Apprenticeships in Business
and Professional Administration and in Sustainable Building
 This experience has formed the basis for research outputs
on Higher Apprenticeships disseminated widely to
government ministers, Sector Skills Councils, RDAs, LEPs,
universities and colleges, submitted recent to the Skills
Commission Inquiry into 'Technician and Higher Level Skills’
 Leading to external funding for the Apprentice
Progression Tracking Research Project:
Report: Longitudinal Tracking of Advanced Level
Apprentice Cohorts
Using the Applied
Profession Studies shell
framework to develop
hybrid programmes to
support sector specific
professional practice,
institutional delivery &
new qualification awards
Working in Partnership: Higher Level Apprenticeship FD in Business & Professional Administration (FD BPA)
Using the Applied
Profession Studies shell
framework to develop
hybrid programmes to
support sector specific
professional practice,
institutional delivery &
new qualification awards
Working in Partnership: Higher Level Apprenticeship FD in Business & Professional Administration (FD BPA)
 Integrates a recognised
competence based
qualification and a
traditional academic
qualification providing
progression routes to higher
academic qualifications
 Mapped against the
requirements of the Level 4
NVQ Diploma in Business
and Administration,
accredited by the Institute
of Administrative
Management (IAM) and
approved by the Council
for Administration (CfA)
Working in Partnership: Higher Level Apprenticeship FD in Business & Professional Administration (FD BPA)
 Encourage Higher Apprentices and experienced or inexperienced professionals
Questions & Open Discussion:
For further information:
Salim Jiwa
Manager – Centre for Work-based Learning
University of Greenwich
[email protected]