Education for complex Landscapes of Practice: Evaluating the role of social learning at the UHI’s Integrated Land Use Conference (ILUC)

Resources

Session Recording (UHI login required) | Presentation slides 

Session Outline

Internationally, integrated approaches to land management are regarded as crucial to addressing complex sustainability issues and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Balancing multiple land-based practices such as agriculture, conservation, forestry, and game and wildlife management reflect this complexity and need for interconnectedness, which requires professionals from various practices to regularly collaborate. However, the emerging work realities contrast with current further and higher education routes that privilege specialisation.

In balancing specialisation with interprofessional education, the UHI holds an annual three-day learning event, ‘Integrated Land Use Conference’ in the Cairngorms National Park. Since 2012, students from various sustainability related fields collaborate to address complex landscape scale issues. Key stakeholders from the land-based industries, NGOs, education institutions, and government support students in gaining practical and theoretical insights into topical land management issues through fieldwork, groupwork and conference talks. The event aims to engage students in interprofessional practice which provides the space to navigate complex sustainability issues that contribute to the SDGs.

Post-event student surveys show a decidedly positive reception of the event and highlight an increase in skills related to communication, problem solving and teamwork. This project, funded by the LTA, explores frameworks and pathways for longitudinal evaluation which provide insights into student experience and social learning drawing on qualitative methods and thematic analysis.

The theoretical framework underpinning the analysis employs Etienne Wenger-Trayner’s Landscapes of Practice theory, an extension of the widely used Communities of Practice. This theory conceptualises the boundaries between practices as valuable learning assets which invite learners to negotiate meaning and develop their identities. These processes allow learners to gain an overview of the involved (land use) practices, locate and reflect on their own practices, and identify overarching goals of interprofessional practice.

This webinar (presented by Sarah Pohlschneider, Early Career Researcher, Centre for Remote and Rural Communities, Inverness College UHI)  presents the research results and briefly introduces Landscapes of Practice theory before inviting attendees to participate in broader discussions of theory, practice and evaluation beyond sustainability education.

Presenter Bio

Sarah Pohlschneider is an Early Career Researcher at the Centre for Remote and Rural Communities, Inverness College UHI. Her PhD project focussed on the perceptions and impacts of change, complexity and uncertainty on British foresters and explored lessons learned for professional forestry education. Sarah has a keen interest in interdisciplinary research, social ecology, and transformative pedagogy.

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The UK Professional Standards Framework

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K3. How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)

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V1. Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities

V3. Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development

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