Teaching Methods Pilot

The WEA are keen to explore how teaching methods can promote active citizenship and community involvement by bringing the social and political into whatever we teach.    

To do this our teaching practice must encourage and enable learners to identify key issues that affect them and their communities at local and 'global' levels, to develop simple but robust approaches to researching those issues, to develop understandings of the contexts that surround them, to produce first step plans that support individual and collective action, to put plans into action and finally to take time to review and reflect on the process, identifying next steps and progression routes.

To do this we need to adopt teaching methods that enable us to:

  • encourage curiosity,
  • make our classrooms socially aware,
  • develop wider knowledge,
  • build confidence and inspire people to tackle issues courageously and honestly,
  • make our students confident to take action and
  • to shift their role from students to educators in their own right.

The WEA are piloting these methods and need tutors to help us by trying things out and feeding back to us. Tutors who wish to  engage in this can attend training and the support of a mentor.

Tutors interested in being involved can contact Phill O'Brien or Julie Ballantyne.