The course is suitable for early-career professionals with less than three years of full-time teaching experience and those lacking formal teaching qualifications or a Descriptor 2 fellowship. It aims to cultivate contemporary knowledge, skills, and practices pertinent to the UK's higher education sector. Emphasizing student-centered and inclusive teaching, learning, and assessment strategies, the course draws on current educational and pedagogic research to develop and enhance participants' professional and academic growth. Consequently, the course is structured to establish the foundational engagement required to meet the PSF 2023 required for Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). 

The course comprises three modules:

Becoming a Reflective Pedagogue: This module invites participants to critically reflect on their own teaching and learning and put evidence-informed theory and pedagogy into practice in their own teaching. Sessions invite participants to engage in shared group activities and discussions culminating in a formatively assessed peer-to-peer presentation. Summative assessment is in the form of an individual reflective blog which asks participants to evaluate the impact of the module of their own practice.

Evaluating the Feedback and Assessment Process: This module requires participants to focus on the various forms feedback and assessment take in their own education settings and identify an area (or areas) they would like to explore more closely to develop and enhance their own practice and experience of their students based on current theoretically informed approaches. The module offers the opportunity for participants to collaborate in peer to peer formative assessment and summative assessment is in the form of an individual reflexive blog.

Developing Practitioner Enquiry: This module is a small-scale research project that gives participants the opportunity to explore an aspect of their own practice in greater depth. Participants have significant flexibility to investigate an area that is meaningful to their professional context, and will receive feedback by presenting their work at an academic research poster event. Summative assessment is through a reflexive report. All three modules provide participants with the opportunity to gather evidence towards meeting the PSF 2023 standards for Descriptor 2 (Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, FHEA). At the end of the course, participants are required to demonstrate via a mapping document how they have been able to meet the standards during the course.

Important to note:

1. To achieve the PGCert course award, participants must complete three core modules. Participants will study Modules 1 and 2 by taking one module per semester, while Module 3 will begin towards the end of Module 1 and continue alongside and beyond Module 2, providing a core reflexive ‘spine’ to participants’ learning and development:

• Becoming a Reflective Pedagogue (20 credits).
• Evaluating the Feedback and Assessment Process (20 credits).
• Developing Practitioners’ Enquiry (20 credits).

2. Taught sessions are primarily in-person and take place every Tuesday between 9.30am and 4.30pm during semester time at LSBU’s Southwark campus, with occasional online sessions. All course participants must be able to attend taught sessions and complete course-related tasks on Tuesdays, with sufficient hours recognised within participants’ workload allocation.

If you have a disability which you think may affect your studies for this course, and wish to discuss how we may best support your needs, then please do email me the Course Leader in the first instance. We can discuss your needs and/or questions in confidence, as you prefer.

Learning Objectives

The course has the following learning objectives:

• To reflect critically on aspects of inclusive and effective professional practice in assessment and feedback, quality assurance and curriculum development.
• To synthesise links between theory and practice effectively and authoritatively.
• To articulate learning clearly and logically in all formative and summative forms assessment, complying with conventions of academic writing.
• To demonstrate evidence towards all dimensions of PSF (2023) through all summative forms of assessment

Key Features

• Alongside taught sessions delivered by expert tutors with extensive experience in Higher Education, participants benefit from a high level of support throughout the course. Teaching and learning activities include student-centred tasks, collaborative group work, tutorials and workshops, employing creative and critical pedagogies to support participants’ academic, professional and practice-based development. Each of the three modules carries one formative peer assessment, and one summative assessment worth 100% of the module mark. The PGCert is modular, thus allowing participation over a manageable time-scale that best fits with other personal and professional commitments.
• Participants enjoy opportunities to engage in a scholarly study community with other early career educator peers from a diverse range of subject disciplines and backgrounds, primarily from across LSBU and NHS/clinical backgrounds.

Continuing Students

Please make sure to re-enrol prior to the semester commencement dates so that you have full access to systems such as mylsbu and moodle.

This programme has the following discipline specific/optional modules

PED_7_BRP: Becoming a Reflective Pedagogue

PED_7_EFAP: Evaluating the Feedback Assessment Process

PED_7_DPE: Developing Practitioner Enquiry