Traditionally, education has been based around logic, language and recall. However, to bridge the gap between what society and the economy need, South Eastern Regional College (SERC) in Northern Ireland has sought to develop students against a broader set of outcomes. Going beyond conventional assessment-led training, the College has developed approaches that embed transferable, 21st century skills directly into the curriculum.
Over six years ago, the need for a future-focused model led SERC to project-based learning (PBL), which was rolled out college-wide. Based on the challenge-based learning in the Basque region and Stanford University’s CDIO initiative, we developed a model for PBL that is embedded in every curriculum area. Students have the opportunity to be involved in real world, industry and community challenges, student expos, enterprise and entrepreneurship. The introduction of PBL across the college has been a catalyst for change, which has seen amazing results from our students.
Our project-based learning model provides a context for learners to work collaboratively on multi-disciplinary projects, helping them to develop the skills, attitudes, and behaviours they will need to thrive in learning, work and life. PBL has now become core to SERC’s culture as we continue to evolve and enhance our curriculum. Projects help students prepare for the experiences they will have in industry and the enterprise focus has seen the expansion of both the skillsets and horizons of our staff and students.
The impact of this work has seen us take our model and disseminate these approaches in colleges, schools and universities in Africa, Asia, Europe and around the UK. We are currently supporting Sunderland and Walsall colleges as they take a PBL approach within their curriculum delivery.
Often, colleges exploring PBL for the first time are aware of the constraints around what they can achieve. They are conscious of the challenges of cultural change when embedding PBL at scale. This is why our PBL training begins with ‘taster’ sessions to showcase what is possible.
For example, SERC realised early on that we wanted to embed PBL into our culture, not just our pedagogy. Part of this involved a radical rethink around traditional student induction. Students now start the academic year by completing a PBL team challenge during Enterprise Fortnight. This culminates in an Enterprise Expo, with internal and external judges assessing how students have performed against a range of criteria including innovation, creativity, team working and presentation skills. When they present their solutions, students receive feedback from the judges and their peers.
Taking this approach at the start of the academic year has seen improvements in the students’ critical thinking, collaboration and presentation skills, as well as creating an engaging, fun learning environment that encourages agency amongst learners. After Enterprise Fortnight, students are encouraged to implement their project by setting up a business.
Following the ‘taster’ sessions, training progresses to hands-on ‘dig deeper’ sessions. For Walsall and Sunderland, this meant devising challenge projects that focused on wellbeing, local and economic growth and community engagement. Using our 12-step PBL approach, the training looked at designing a real-world challenge linked to industry, engaging with external stakeholders, devising assessment strategies, and exploring the role of technology in hybrid learning environments.
It has been exciting to see how Walsall and Sunderland Colleges have introduced project-based learning into different curriculum areas as well as develop their own enterprise week. Building on the skills that young people need in life and work, they have developed open-ended tasks, engaged with stakeholders and peers, and created opportunities for cross-vocational collaboration.
Sharing our work with others involves building partnerships. To strengthen this initial work we have matched college teams to help scope out new ideas. We’ve also linked PBL initiatives between colleges to create further partnership opportunities, for instance through inter-college competitions. At the heart of PBL is collaboration and it has been a guiding principle in the training we have delivered.
Feedback has been excellent. Sunderland and Walsall have both said how motivating it is to hear about our work and that their teams received everything they needed to get started. The Assistant Principal of Curriculum at Walsall called our approach inspirational and said that “the decision to move the curriculum at this scale into PBL was brave and demonstrated real leadership.” Naturally, that’s wonderful for us to hear.
PBL has been transformative at SERC, so it’s a great privilege to partner with organisations like Sunderland, Walsall, and the Edge Foundation to help transform the education landscape. SERC’s values of being solution-focused, excellence-driven, responsive and collaborative are at the heart of the training we have sought to provide. I would encourage any college considering PBL for the first time to go for it. Focus on what you can do at a local level, find your tribe and run with it. The benefits to students and staff are huge.
Paula Philpott is Head of Learning Academy at SERC.
