Developing teacher autonomy to teach, and to accredit learning from the Lifeplace, to assist understanding of how to incorporate Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) strategies into their teaching
Margaret Harris, School of Education, Kings College, University of Aberdeen - m.harris@abdn.ac.uk
Abstract
This paper focuses on the concept of Lifeplace Learning, which is closely linked to, but not the same as, lifelong learning. Lifeplace Learning promotes and develops a new and exciting learning and teaching strategy that has been tested in both Scotland and Europe and which could be a useful strategy for teachers to develop if they are to incorporate effectively, the philosophy and practice of the Curriculum for Excellence.  The work undertaken by researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University, which was based on action research methodologies, was carried out during 2002-2008 and resulted in successful students, confident individuals and inspired facilitators who were more motivated, knowledgeable and skilful, than before undertaking the courses of study in Lifeplace Learning. 
The fact that in Scotland the Curriculum for Excellence is providing the way forward for education practices, provides a platform for further work on the concept of Lifeplace Learning and this paper suggests how these two important areas can be linked together to help facilitate one and promote the development of the other through initial teacher training.
Curriculum for Excellence 
The Curriculum for Excellence is based on a number of principles about learning and how a curriculum should be structured. Learning and Teaching Scotland (a & b) suggests that learning should be:
1	challenging, engaging and motivating with high aspirations and ambitions for all
2	organised so that students will learn and develop through a variety of contexts 
3	progressive so that students can move forward at a rate which meets their needs and aptitudes with options
4	full of opportunities for children to develop their full capacity for different types of thinking and learning.
5	responsive to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents, with increasing opportunities for exercising responsible personal choice 
6	linked to and between the different aspects of learning, including opportunities for extended activities which draw different strands of learning together
7	understandable so that students can see the purposes of their activities,  the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future
Learning and Teaching Scotland (b) states that these principles apply at an organisational and classroom level and indeed, “in any setting where children and young people are learners”. It also states, “At all stages, learners of all aptitudes and abilities should …be active in their learning and have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity…” with appropriate support.
The Curriculum for Excellence has grand ideas and a grand philosophical standpoint - learners should be at the centre of the learning journey with the ‘teacher’ focused on the facilitation of the learning but the Curriculum for Excellence has not been welcomed with open arms by the teachers and managers of Scottish education institutions nor do they appear to have a full understanding of it (EIS, 2011; TES Connect, 2011).  There has been concern and confusion as to how this will operate in practice and how teachers will cope with additional burdens and the vague concept of autonomous accreditation of non standard or informal learning. 
“The framework is less detailed and prescriptive than previous curriculum advice. It provides professional space for teachers and other staff to use in order to meet the varied needs of all children and young people.”(LTS Scotland (c), 2011) 
The space issue is one of particular concern as this comes on top of the problems associated with recruitment and training, changes to terms and conditions, pensions and the economic downturn (EIS, 2011)
New frameworks for qualifications are in the process of being developed that more than likely will answer some of the concerns but there will remain, hopefully, the idea that learning that has been done outside of the normal curriculum will be able to be accredited, in some way, as part of the person’s learning portfolio and count towards their assessed learning for progression purposes. 
In the Curriculum for Excellence, the experiences and outcomes are in lines of development, organised in eight curriculum areas that link to student progress. These are: Expressive arts; Health and wellbeing; Languages; Mathematics; Religious and moral education; Sciences; Social studies and Technologies, however, it is the ‘totality’ of the experiences in these areas and as a whole that appears to be important (LTS (c & d) 2011). 
In addition, and no less importantly, there needs to be opportunity for personal achievement both within the classroom and beyond it, providing the learners with satisfaction, motivation, resilience and confidence.
“…because children learn through all of their experiences - in the family and community, pre-school centre, nursery and school - the curriculum aims to recognise and complement the contributions that these experiences can make.” (LTS, 2011(b))
The Curriculum for Excellence appears to expect teachers to be creative and innovative and to teach and assess their students in a way that encapsulates skills and knowledge bases from all activities. As suggested by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS(d), 2011), “Pupils need opportunities for achievements both in the classroom and beyond, giving them a sense of satisfaction and building motivation, resilience and confidences”, which should all contribute to the four capacities for learners; that of being  successful learners, confident individual, effective contributors and responsible citizens.  
This would suggest then that teacher training and continuous personal development (CPD) activities need to ensure that student teachers, and those teachers improving or expanding their skills and knowledge bases, learn to assess learning from outside of the classroom in addition to that taught or gained within it.  
The Donaldson Report
The report by Graham Donaldson at the end of 2010 (Donaldson, 2011) made a number of important recommendations regarding the future of teacher education in Scotland.  His vision appears to complement the vision of the Curriculum for Excellence, and Lifeplace Learning as proposed here would be apposite in helping to establish the type of teacher and type of teacher training that he is promoting. He suggested,
“..the most successful education systems do more than seek to attain particular standards of competence and to achieve change through prescription. They invest in developing their teachers as reflective, accomplished and enquiring professionals who have the capacity to engage fully with the complexities of education and to be key actors in   shaping and leading educational change.” (p.4)
Whilst 50 recommendations were made those most relevant to the proposal in this paper are the following:
1	recommendation 2 
Education policy should support the creation of a reinvigorated approach to 21st century teacher professionalism. Teacher education should, as an integral part of that endeavour, address the need to build the capacity of teachers, irrespective of career stage, to have high levels of pedagogical expertise, including deep knowledge of what they are teaching; to be self-evaluative; to be able to work in partnership with other professionals; and to engage directly with well-researched innovation.

2	recommendation 11
In line with emerging developments across Scotland’s universities, the traditional BEd degree should be phased out and replaced with degrees which combine in-depth academic study in areas beyond education with professional studies and development. These new degrees should involve staff and departments beyond those in schools of education.

3	recommendation 14 
The professional component in programmes of initial teacher education should address more directly areas where teachers experience greatest difficulty and where we know that Scottish education needs to improve. That will require a radical reappraisal of present courses and of the guidelines provided by GTCS.

4	recommendation 23 
Through any reaccreditation arrangements, the GTCS should ensure that those involved in the front line of teacher education in universities and schools are fully ready for that task. University-based teacher educators should have a responsibility to undertake an agreed programme of CPD each year.

5	recommendation 39 
All teachers should see themselves as teacher educators and be trained in mentoring.

Within these recommendations, one can find the ideas for revision of teacher training courses, for proactivity in trainee teachers and teacher trainers, for gaining in-depth knowledge, for attitude change, for continuous professional and personal development, for collaborative working within and outside of the education institution. 
The use of Lifeplace Learning can assist in the development of many of these areas and is ripe for integration into the training and CPD for teachers.

Lifeplace Learning
Lifeplace Learning is a concept of learning that recognises the value of all learning that one does through one’s life activities, whether they are in the classroom, as part of the co-curriculum, in the home, in the workplace or indeed as part of leisure activity. Lifeplace Learning is defined as “Learning that encompasses knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitude acquired, being acquired or to be acquired throughout life, irrespective of when, where, why and how it was, is or will be learned…” (Blair 2006:181). Lifeplace learning is all encompassing and is designed to recognise any learning that a person might do throughout his or her lifetime and enable that learning to be accredited if the learner so wishes it. Some of its attributes are shown in the diagramme below. 
	
The concept has to date been used in higher education courses of a general nature where the students were given the opportunity to choose their own topic area, research or study methodology, learning outcomes, and assessment strategy and criteria. This enabled them to choose something that was of interest and importance to them and to study it in their own way and in their own time. Importantly, it enabled them to decide on what the learning should be and to demonstrate the learning in a fashion cognisant with their own strengths and in conjunction with the guidance of their mentor/facilitator Harris (2008).
This last point is an important one as it was found that the part played by the academic staff member, in whatever guise they chose to describe it (mentor, tutor, facilitator, teacher, supervisor, critical friend) was crucial to the success of the student.  It was recognised that the unfamiliarity in this learning strategy, the autonomy given to the student, and the fact that the student is the novice in the learning journey, and in the institutional and academic protocols, meant that the reliance on the guidance and support of the staff member was considerable. Harris (2011) makes a similar point about unfamiliarity and the need for support in describing the part students have to play in responding to their own needs in higher education.
Lifeplace learning offers opportunity to gain credit for learning done outside of the academy (school) and although the research so far has been related to free choice in what is accredited, there is potential to link it to learning outcomes of a course that are already clearly delineated and of how the student provides the evidence that this learning has been achieved. Indeed, there is also the potential to allow students to think about how they would like to learn something and prove that they have learned it. This would be very much in line with the development of independence and confident thinking skills of the Curriculum for Excellence and the proactivity, critical thinking, creative and leadership abilities identified by Donaldson as critical for teachers for 21st Century teaching and learning.
Approximately 120 students went through the Lifeplace Learning modules over a period of three years and, in the majority of cases, they were successful. There were one or two students only for whom this style of learning did not work but each of these had additional circumstances that caused personal problems that contributed to the lack of success.
The Opportunity
The fact that teachers in Scotland are being offered a new autonomy in teaching,  where they have some choice in how they can teach and assess students’ skills, is a daunting perspective for many of them, however,  it could also be an exciting one. On a positive note,  this paper  suggests that  Lifeplace Learning  could be used to help teachers develop as more confident assessors of independent learning  and,  if the teaching strategy was incorporated into teacher training and CPD activities, it will enable teachers and student teachers to take a different attitude to this new freedom and indeed how to teach and assess students in a way that satisfies quality and regulatory requirements, whilst allowing them to create new momentum and enthusiasm in their own work life.
The ‘pain’ that some teachers are experiencing in embracing and practicing the requirements of the Curriculum for Excellence is understandable as this is new and some might say not yet adequately formulated. 
“The somewhat anxious response of many teachers to Curriculum for Excellence (Glasgow University 2009), particularly in the secondary sector, at least in part reflects a desire for more direct support and training than the Curriculum for Excellence philosophy embodies.” (Donaldson, 2011:9)
So teachers want support at least during the initial stages of the introduction and whilst the whole strategy for practice is still being developed. This is understandable as this is what most are used to.
To assist them, teachers and student teachers need to be shown and learn how to:
1	Think differently and embrace a more flexible style of teaching
2	Encourage students to meet learning outcomes using a variety of different learning sources
3	Be confident in their own ability as teachers to make the decisions on student learning, including assessment strategies
	According to Harris (2008:41), Lifeplace Learning can: 
1	extend the boundaries of learning to information sources and environments outside the academic environment, 
2	make use of the wide variety of resources that exist, 
3	allow people to become independent learners, 
4	extend and complement discipline based study, 
5	make people think rather than repeat.
It is suggested then that Lifeplace Learning could contribute to the development of the skills of teachers and student teachers, could encourage the use of external and personal learning, could make the time issue less problematic for teachers and could increase the motivation of teachers in developing their own role.
New Teacher training and CPD
In order to train teachers who have the autonomy skills required, training initiatives should change such that the teachers have to think about how learning outcomes can be met. The suggestion being made here is to restructure some of the learning strategies for teacher training and allow them to learn how to use Lifeplace Learning during their own training to enable them to use it in their future teaching.  The teacher-training curriculum then should:
1	ask teachers/student teachers ‘how’ learning objectives for their own learning could be met from learning that they have done in the past, are doing at present or can be done in the future.
2	follow up by getting them to set their own learning objectives for a specific topic area and let them develop their own way of researching and learning the topic in order to meet the objective they have set.
3	 allow them to set their own assessment, with assessment criteria, for a particular piece of learning of their choice linked to their curriculum
4	ask them to reflect on the experience and the learning gained from both the study of the topic and the experience of Lifeplace Learning itself
Moving them through these stages will assist them to develop an understanding of how specific learning objectives can be met by students using personal learning from past, present or future activity and that the learning does not have to be taught by a teacher. This will start the autonomous learning, teaching and assessment cycle.
Secondly, whilst developing autonomy, it also develops thinking skills, creativity, independence, research skills, time management, negotiating skills but most importantly confidence in their own ability to undertake such autonomous learning and some practice to understand how that could be transferred into the classroom to use with their own students. This was an outcome acknowledged in research done on Lifeplace Learning in higher education by Harris and Chisholm during the years 2003-2008, as was the fact that facilitators (teachers) were motivated by undertaking the learning and teaching strategy and working closely with the students. 
The facilitators enjoyed a renewed interest in teaching their students, as they had to negotiate with them the ‘content’ of the module and guide them through the process of developing their own learning module. This created interest for the teacher, as they would not initially know the topic of choice of the student. It was clearly then, also a learning experience for the teacher as topic areas were very varied, stretching from very personal topics such as understanding the causes of heart failure and the treatments involved, to general interest topics such as looking at the employment prospects in France, to quite specialised topics such as the operas of Puccini. The essential ingredients were choice and flexibility and each student also having to negotiate how they would undertake their study and the support that they would require from the teacher. 
According to the outcomes of the Lifelearn project undertaken jointly with four other European countries (Germany, Estonia, Denmark and Spain) 
“…you will be inspired by the freedom and choice that it offers your students and what each student will achieve personally by undertaking this route of learning.” (Harris, 2008:41)
This concept needs not be restricted to general higher education though and could easily be, as suggested here, extended to teachers in primary and secondary education, to college and post 16 lecturers. In these areas there is talk of providing “…local solutions for individual young people”, that we need to “…recognise and accommodate the range of individual needs…” and that “…the quality of relationships between learners and staff and programme design being informed by, and matched to, learner needs, as crucial to successful engagement and achievement of … learners.” (Aspect Report, 2010: 1). As Curriculum for Excellence ranges from learners from three to eighteen, and is linked closely to lifelong learning, the Lifeplace Learning strategy of learning is equally as appropriate at all stages in the learning journey.
Donaldson (2011), as we have seen, has suggested that there needs to be a radical overhaul of teacher training courses and CPD opportunity and if that were to happen, adopting Lifeplace Learning strategies within these redesigned courses, would assist in achieving an exciting range of learning opportunities for trainee teachers and allow them to experience firsthand the more in-depth and motivational learning that can be achieved through the independence and proactivity of the Lifeplace Learning concept.
 Issues to be considered 
There are issues that need to be developed further though as the Lifeplace Learning concept is challenging. One outcome of the previous research indicated the very supportive, guiding and crucial role of the facilitator (tutor/teacher) and as such, there are many issues to consider. 
“The skills required are different to what is required… of a lecturer and the importance of training to ensure that you have the right people in place to do it and that they are knowledgeable and have the correct skills is important. Training should be done with facilitators well in advance… concentrate on the concept itself; opening minds, working facilitatively with students (more as partners), being proactive in communication, and coaching and facilitation skills. “(Harris, 2008:42)
It is obvious then that his cannot be done successfully without full commitment from the teacher trainers. They in turn need training so that they understand the concept fully and are able to practice and teach it. This is an all-important issue when considering the introduction of Lifeplace Learning into the curriculum and is an area that would have to be considered carefully. There are only a few people who currently fully understand this concept but training could be provided by them for lecturers who have the right attitude to embrace this type of learning immediately.
Conclusion
Teachers and lecturers, whether student or experienced, have the challenge of addressing the requirements of Curriculum for Excellence. Some of this challenge is related to how they teach and how they assess. Lifeplace Learning is a concept that will enable them to incorporate much more autonomous learning, teaching and assessment strategies into their personal teaching role, encouraging lifelong learning and engagement in both their students and in themselves. It is an opportunity to embrace a motivational learning and teaching strategy that should assist them in incorporating the requirements of the Curriculum for Excellence in an effective way. This has to be in line with the development of teachers for 21st Century education and form part of the vision for the revision of teacher education in Scotland suggested by Donaldson (2011).
That said this paper does recognise that resources, both in the way of time and money must be provided to enable a smooth transition to Curriculum for Excellence strategies and that those dictating what should happen, e.g. Scottish Government, HMIE, need also to understand the nature of real flexible and personalised learning. This has to happen if teachers are to succeed and not have their practice and innovation restricted by less forward looking and far seeing organisations or individuals. 
There are big things expected from Curriculum for Excellence and there are those for whom this is a real opportunity. It would be a shame if it turned out to be just the old stuff in a slightly different format. This would defeat its purpose entirely and waste all of the effort that has so far been expended in its development.
References
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