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  • Making a meal of collaborative learning

Making a meal of collaborative learning

This project, funded by the Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp), is a partnership between Stay Up Late (a charity promoting the rights of people with learning disabilities) and the School of Applied Social Science at University of Brighton. The Cupp seed fund supports new and emerging areas of partnership between the university and local community organisations. The project will pilot and evaluate an innovative way of facilitating collaborative learning between adults with learning disabilities and students on qualifying social work courses.

The project was grounded in an understanding that people can find sharing their personal stories exhausting and that the often alien environment of a lecture theatre can compound this. Over a series of three meals, naturally-occurring conversations will be encouraged in which students and people in need of support find out about each other’s experiences, dilemmas and hopes. The project was conceived as an exploratory piece of work which, centrally, seeks to question some of the boundaries and barriers around education, practice and research.

In line with the core aim of exploring non-traditional spaces for – and forms of – engagement, the meals will not be in university premises but in appropriate and accessible venues in Brighton suitable for discreet discussion. The events will take place outside of university teaching hours and fit as conveniently as possible with the availability and commitment of all participants. The process will be evaluated with a mixed method approach, using participant observation, questionnaires and one-to-one interviews. The research is qualitative, seeking to understand the experience of – and meanings attributed by students and service users to - a particular form of collaborative learning. The objectives of the research are exploratory in nature and the methods reflect this. Thus, semi-structured observations of meals will be undertaken; students will complete a brief questionnaire following attendance at each meal; semi-structured interviews will be undertaken with people with learning disabilities; and interviews will be undertaken with Paul Richards (the Director of Stay Up Late) and Jem Price (Principal Lecturer in Social Work).

Making-a-meal

Project timeframe

This research commenced in October 2016 and will end in Summer 2017.

Project aims

The overarching aim of the project is to pilot an innovative approach to service user participation in social work training. The objectives are to enable:

  • social work students to develop engagement and assessment skills and a deeper understanding of people with learning disabilities’ lives and support needs
  • people with learning disabilities to gain an understanding of the opportunities, pressures and dilemmas facing trainee social workers
  • Stay Up Late to gain insight into dilemmas faced by social work, to aid its own work in creating cultures where support is provided in flexible and person-centred ways, utilising community resources and
  • the social work course teams at University of Brighton to explore and evaluate alternative ways of securing meaningful service user participation in education and training.

It is intended that the findings will be of interest to the wider social work academic community and to others seeking meaningful collaborative learning between providers of support and people with lived experience.

I have facilitated many consultations with a variety of people who use all sorts of support services and often I’ve found that the best information is gathered informally over a few sandwiches and chat at the lunch break. The aim with this project is to turn the whole thing into a meal first, and see what happens.

Paul Richards, Director, Stay Up Late

Project findings and impact

The project is ongoing; output, findings and impact will be updated in due course.

Research team

Dee MacDonald

Jem Price

Output

 Output will be added on completion of the project.

Partners

Paul Richards, Stay Up Late

Stay Up Late - a charity that promotes full and active lives and person centred support for people with learning disabilities and autism.

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