Tertiary Accreditation

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Grifen on December 2, 2008 at 10:17

Hola Doug,
Thanks for your ideas!
As I understand it there is no need to become a pte or accredited tertiary institution in order to offer tertiary qualifications...unless you want to hook into the nzqa system and have access to funding and the like, which would obviously be useful down the line but not a prereq or limitation as GaiaU is accredited with international accred. IMCA Socrates http://www.imcasocrates.com/isl/ - which I think is now based in new zealand. Already in NZ there are many providers of experiential education - being enviroschools who have managed to move through the dillema of the curriculum (mind you the new nz curriculum is founded in developing action competence through experiential ed). Also there are many providers of workshops seminars and intensive design courses in sustainability mostly run by environment centre networks, and good polytech based courses in many skills of transition. The niche as I see it is elsewhere. Be good talk more on this.
But anyway gimme a few days, my son was born on 15th and Im swamped, but I want to focus the conversation here and start to explore how we can use the ning to collaborate.
Grifen

Permalink Reply by Linda Watts on December 4, 2008 at 11:34

Hello Doug, Grifen and others,
I also live in Christchurch and have recently started the Transition Cashmere group which can be both geographically and virtually based. I am very interested in supporting a quantum leap in the awareness of sustainability and enlightenment in all of our systems - economic, religious, education etc. I am particularly interested in nudging our religious constructs and institutions towards an evolving integral spirituality that works with both sustainability and enlightenment.
With regards to education, check out the concept of evolutionary education as being visioned and practiced by Nordic Integral - look for the work of Nick Drummond at www.nordicintegral.com.

Linda Watts
Coach and Consultant
ph: (03) 3375069 e: info@lifedesignnetwork.com

Permalink Reply by Jacinta O'Reilly on December 18, 2008 at 9:40

hello people

some of my activities involve community education & I think the nz model for this is very exciting in spite of a number of problems. The NZ curriculum also has an exciting openness to innovation and self-directed education. Education in NZ is definitely open to transition initiatives, because there is funding, through secondary schools and other providers, for transition learning.

A big issue is quality control. Currently the quality is regulated through market control- students find the best teaching situation for themselves and continue to enroll with teachers that work for them, and/or courses they are really interested in. That's great but as a consumer there is some difficulty with assessing the quality of what's on offer. The other regulation is through the providers who try to regulate the quality through student evaluations and QA procedures. I think this process is quite variable in effectiveness.

Another issue is the progress to more formal education, because the community teachers are essentially unregulated there is little process for recognising learning through community education. I am not actually sure how much.

I think that it's worth contemplating in the context of transition education an improvement in the process by which the two "arms" of tertiary education- community and formal can meet in a way that benefits learners. I'd like to see the development of a process by which the community sector could feed more directly into the formal sector, without this imposing unnecessary formality or regulation on the community sector. I wonder if anyone has information or input on that, particularly on the RPL (recognition of prior learning) process in tertiary education.

Jacinta

Permalink Reply by Andrew Langford on December 22, 2008 at 7:26

One of my strong motivations for evolving Gaia University had to do with the issue of creating a functional link between community education and formal education.

Over 12 years, from 1993 onwards, I worked on behalf of the UK permaculture community to see if we could make a link between our own community led initiatives in permaculture education (the permaculture design course - pdc - and a professional applied permaculture design diploma) and the formal higher education world. We knew we had a very significant part of the picture to offer and our expectation was that the formal sector would be very pleased to give us all help we needed to spread the word.

Well, there was some success in that we were able to have attendance on a pdc count for first year Bachelors credits with one university and then we also were able to lodge the pdc with an outfit called the Open College Network which, in theory, meant that the pdc carried transferable credits at pre-higher education level and, if the Skills Development Agency in any region of the country had identified sustainable development as a priority (against, lets say, IT and/or plumbing training and/or etc) and had sufficient budget then people on low-incomes with the right papers could receive some financial aid to attend a pdc (just so long as the pdc was delivered by teachers who were attached to an appropriately regulated educational provider and that these teachers held an appropriate community teaching qualification).

We never did manage to make any headway with the notion of a field based, experience derived qualification such as we were delivering via the applied diploma. This was despite three separate and intense forays into the inner workings of the quality assurance systems of three senior higher education providers each of whom reckoned that success was possible and who subsequently withdrew their willingness to 'recognize' our approach only after months of negotiations.

Altogether the experience was wildly frustrating, deeply demanding in terms of time and resources and largely fruitless. We knew that we had a lively and vital learning delivery to make, one that is much needed in the world, and yet we were unable to find a sympathetic space within the formal system that would allow our efforts to be 'recognized'. It was very hard for us to fathom the reason why.

Towards the end of the 12 year process I was invited to attend a 4 month program of conferences on sustainable development convened by the UK Further Education Development Association in 2003 along with participation from the Government's own Committee for Education for Sustainable Development. This program drew together senior figures from UK university schools of education, geography and overseas development, relevant Government committee members, notables from significant scale NGO's specializing in community development and the like to contemplate the best strategies for education for sustainable development in the UK.

The conclusions of this substantial body of experts, delivered in a speech at a high profile debrief in the Science Museum in Knightsbridge, London, by the Rector of The University of Exeter were that: -

a) education for sustainability required extensive community participation as it gains much of its meaning and relevance from a process of social construction and thus, without participation in the construction, no 'buy-in' to sustainable development would emerge and

b) the formal education sector is not configured to manage such a constructivist approach, indeed academia is generally actively resistant to the very concept so

c) sustainability education would need to be lead by the community sector without any expectation that the formal sector would join in other than to provide technical degree pathways for the necessary engineers and technicians

So there it was, from the horse's mouth - the reason we had been unable to find a 'niche' for our action learning based education for sustainability was that the formal higher education sector was/is not configured in a way that allows it to adapt to the socially constructive nature of the process in which a community makes use of permaculture design (and other approaches) to enact local sustainable development.

"Hmm"' I asked, "does this mean that those of us in the community education field need to work out how do this ourselves then?" "Yes" was the reply from a couple of the senior education advisers present and so, from that day on, we have been working to create and learn how to operate our own, open and flexible quality assurance system that is configured to accredit learning that arises from socially constructive processes, can handle accreditation for prior learning in the field and focuses on experience, rather than only theory, as the prime source of learning. The result, to date, of this extended effort is the Gaia University system.

We are rather pleased with what we have come up with. We have managed to create a comprehensive and thorough quality assurance framework and learning support system that allows each student/associate to devise their own, entirely unique, project based pathway that delivers results in the field as part of their learning process. Note that last phrase - its quite radical - delivers results in the field as part of their learning process not results in the field only after they have qualified and found a job but results towards sustainable development right there and then, as they learn.

Another reason for delight is that project based learning does not require a person to disengage with life to go of to University to do some higher learning for sustainable development (or eco-social regeneration as we are preferring to call it these days) - instead whatever their regenerative passion in life is, on the ground so to speak, becomes their vehicle for higher learning. So, for example, using the Gaia University model a town transitioneer does not need to go to college to learn how to be a significant actor in a town transition, rather they get active, we support and they qualify through their activity on the ground.

In all it is an entirely different approach to higher learning than the conventional, formal academic approach. And it is one that we propose is much more suited to the social and emergent nature of localization, of eco-social regeneration, of transitioning a town and/or country.

In many ways it should be no surprise that the formal sector can't readily re-configure for this (although there are pockets of success here and there) - for one thing it is a sector dominated by massive brick and mortar investments arising from the pre-networked eras when the best way to bring excellence together was to have large collections of smart folk with big libraries all on the same campus. Whilst the internet more or less does away with this need and the social nature of the coming transition demands something else the ways of thinking engendered by this essentially centralizing, crusty 500 year old approach to higher education live on, embedded deeply in the psyche and fabric of the sector.

At Gaia University we are fortunate not to have such a legacy - not only are we able to think outside of the box, we ARE outside of the box so we can act without major delay, innovate ahead of the curve, be thoroughly social constructive, be daringly relevant, take on all sorts of risks that would curl the mortar boards and yellow the ermine stoles of a conventional senate and, here's an extra piece of the fun of it, go about creating our own eco-social, transition town focused, leading-edge, regenerative economy of learning and un-learning engaged with the great re-skilling that is essential to our collective success.

Do come and join in!

Permalink Reply by Jacinta O'Reilly on December 22, 2008 at 11:24

Pretty interesting and brave. I'd like more information (yes, I have looked on the website) What about NZ? anything happening here?

Permalink Reply by Jacinta O'Reilly on December 27, 2008 at 13:34

Hi

A little background for those not familiar with the NZ tertiary education system-
The Tertiary Education Commission http://www.tec.govt.nz/ administers most of the post-Compulsory education funding. This covers separate funding for Adult and Community Education (ACE) and student funding at unis, polys etc.

The TEC ACE sector has a focus on 5 priorities:
1. Targeting learners whose initial learning was not successful
2. Raising foundation skills
3. Encouraging lifelong learning
4. Strengthening communities by meeting identified community learning needs
5. Strengthening social cohesion.

They provide help and support for community teachers and learners in various ways.

The department that focuses on Tertiary Teaching Excellence (Ako Aotearoa) specifically includes ACE in its brief, and will fund community education based projects.

I see the TEC as being open to and willing to learn about many of the goals and issues of community education.

I see the present as a time of significant change in education and the TEC as one of the places where new visions of education can be constructed within our changing society.

I think it's important for those of us with a strong vision of change to be there at the forefront, describing our vision and enabling those who make decisions to focus clearly on the sort of structures that will support the best outcomes in all education.

One of the important processes in a forum like this one is to analyse the elements we would like to preserve, and those we'd like to challenge, and to articulate why we respond in this way. If we have a vision we can advocate for it.

To me, accreditation is a key issue because we are talking about the intersection of quality control and freedom to try new teaching pathways in both form & content. As an ex-primary school teacher, I have seen the quest for teaching standards become a stressor for teachers, and have been concerned that regulation can be counter productive. But I have also seen teachers being encouraged to strive for excellence and innovation in this context.

My personal opinion is that community education should be able to tolerate more variability in both form and content, but should still strive to be as "good" as formal education. How can this be achieved? How can we measure this?

So, I'm particularly inclined to think debate around QA and accreditation important.
QA can be oppressive and it can be inspiring.
Accreditation can be limiting and it can open new vistas.

I am interested in the views of teachers, providers & learners all are "stakeholders" (excuse jargon)

Jacinta

Permalink Reply by Andrew Langford on December 30, 2008 at 1:17

Thanks for the explanations of TEC and ACE - somewhat similar to UK situation although in UK there is increasing emphasis on Adult and Community Education providing learners with accredited (usually by examination) qualifications for employment.

Thus the character and style of the accreditation system, its aims and objectives, the way it is managed and the return on investment for organizations seeking to have their offerings accredited become key questions.

On just one of those topic, the aims and objectives, my observations regarding nearly all government sponsored accreditation systems that I have come across is that whilst the promoters SAY that the system is primarily about quality assurance they act as if a priority function is about allowing access to government funds. That is, as they know the sad truth that any training, learning and unlearning opportunity (can I call these provisions?) that is not accredited will stand no chance of being allowed in the funding hat they emphasize this need above all others.

Lets say we did manage to get a provision in the hat. Does this mean certain funding? No, because what we see in the UK is that accreditation of a provision/provider on its own is not enough, the provision also has to meet government priorities for where it wants public money to go - and, at this stage, this usually means allocating these limited funds to provisions that will lead to jobs in the existing economy and not on trainings designed to encourage people to emerge something new.

I guess what I was suggesting to you in my last reply is that we have been down this community education road in the UK (and so too have the good permaculture folks of Australia with their APC via the TAFT system - you could ask them for their experiences) and found it wanting for our purposes: -

• too much effort for very little return (much funding support required just to join in with and keep up with the system)
• unstable results (and what worked one year didn't work the next so then we had to start all over),
• a continual sense of being mired in an overly bureaucratic culture ( a high level of maintenance required)
• no support (and even some hostility) to the notion of an emerging, new, ecologically sustainable and socially just economy
• no capacity to deliver anything like a degree. (the highest level we were ever able to work to was as if we were delivering last year of high school courses - mind you, they have done better than this in Australia with the APT although they are still not allowed to call their senior diploma level a degree).

You might find it very different in NZ (which would be nice!) and I guess that's the exploration you are offering to make. What I'd suggest is that you (plus a couple of others) make this exploration (can/will the informal NZ ACE system provide a viable platform for supporting transition learning) in action learning mode and then, depending on your existing level of qualifications, you could use the learning that arises as the basis for a Gaia University Masters or Doc Degree. That's a serious proposal (and just a little tongue in cheek too!).

Then we could get formally comparative and encourage a similar sized group to go about setting a Gaia U node in NZ at the same time and see what each strategy yields, whether they can be complimentary and so on - this way we would be walking on two legs and we/you could choose to redeploy your relative effort according to which-approach-yields-what against some effectiveness criteria.

Just as a last little bit - in the Gaia U system we have decided to stop chasing after funding. You may have come across the book, 'The revolution will not be funded'. Our own experiences with applying for and disbursing funding more or less concur with the authors contention which is that funded organizations have to make considerable and repeated efforts to toe the often hidden lines drawn by funders if they want to ensure a steady stream of resource and that this ultimately leads them to toning down their agendas to avoid scaring off benefactors.

We don't enjoy having to be this compliant and so our decision is to fund Gaia University directly from tuition fees so that the people with the funding power are our students, not the government (and not the foundations belonging to the corporate sector). This means we need to keep costs low, look at complimentary currencies, think flexibly and so on in order to preserve our autonomy and independence. Government sponsored education is government controlled education - lets not put them in charge again!

Permalink Reply by Jacinta O'Reilly on January 9, 2009 at 11:01

Hi Les and all

I agree with much of what you say, particularly about the energy expended to gain funding that is not reliable, and to challenge bureaucratic systems that become locked into routines that are self sustaining more because they are unwieldy than because they are useful.

And yet, personally, I am a socialist and heart and want to push the concept that it is our government, our money. I think it's OK to have to jump through some hoops to get a share of relatively scarce resource- that funding- and that some attention and effort into improving the process as participant is good use of time and energy. I think we the community education sector can do both- step aside from what is too hard to change and establish our own bottom-up system, and step into the formal system where we can effectively do so and say "this is what I want, this is what I can do".

Border crossing is a key concept (and also buzz words, I know) in community Ed. The borders of educational bureaucracy are being slowly opened from the outside and the inside- and it's not all good, but some of it is. I'd like those of us in the transition movement to be thinking really hard about what is baby and what is bathwater, about how to keep what is important and throw the rest out.

I don't think the limitations of accreditation are important, I'd like to throw out the concept and the consequences of the attitude that qualifications describe the limits of learning, understanding or ability. However I think it is quite useful to have qualifications that declare that certain learning and exploration events have occurred and that a group of learners can be formed on a shared understanding that some ground has been covered, and that the learners don't have to have learned together, or from the same teacher, to be able to feel that they can form a group that will start with some assumed understandings, and move ahead from there.

All that is happening is a job for many people to be smart and thoughtful and work together. I am so happy to find that Gaia U is a space at the border.

Jacinta

Permalink Reply by Raven on March 27, 2009 at 17:31

Kia Ora everyone,
It has been really interesting to read all of the information about an alternative gaia university. I am currently in my second year of university studying geography soon to be environmental studies. I have struggled with the mediums by which they transfer information as well as the general lack of applicability to real life that I have encountered in many of my courses. Part of my trouble with universities probably stems from having attended an alternative high school called Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti where I didn't participate in NCEA and instead took part in self directed learning and gained university entrance as a side "project".
To be honest this idea sounds absolutely amazing. I'm currently working on a project which involves creating a guide for secondary students as to ways to create your own career using qualifications, experience jobs and volunteer work. The aim is that secondary students will feel empowered to create their own combination of qualification that can contribute to the sustainability field. If this project gets of the ground it will certainly add a new and exciting dimension to the options available to young people.
I think there's a lot of potential in this and will be following the progress of the Gaia University closely!
Raven.

Permalink Reply by Grifen on July 25, 2009 at 4:34

hola raven, how are you going with your research? have you delved much into the GU model? gracias, Grifen

Permalink Reply by Andrew Langford on July 25, 2009 at 5:00

Hi Raven,

Andrew from Gaia U here - your project, to prepare a guide for secondary students to create their own pathways towards qualification, sounds great - would love to see the results and/or comment on your progress if that would help.

Mainstream education deeply enmeshed with the problem and disabling is a standard effect - can readily imagine your experience of going backwards from progressive, self-directed to conventional dependency mode would give you all sorts of trouble ...

Permalink Reply by Shane Orchard on September 22, 2010 at 9:36

Hi Grifen and others,

Yes agree with your thoughts there and also Doug's comments. There's plenty of holes in the Adult & Community Ed sector to explore. Let's keep the conversation going and shall be interested in how the Gaia University concept may develop and be applied in our setting.

Cheers,

Shane Orchard
Policy Analyst / Researcher
ChCh

Grifen said:

Hola Doug,
Thanks for your ideas!
As I understand it there is no need to become a pte or accredited tertiary institution in order to offer tertiary qualifications...unless you want to hook into the nzqa system and have access to funding and the like, which would obviously be useful down the line but not a prereq or limitation as GaiaU is accredited with international accred. IMCA Socrates http://www.imcasocrates.com/isl/ - which I think is now based in new zealand. Already in NZ there are many providers of experiential education - being enviroschools who have managed to move through the dillema of the curriculum (mind you the new nz curriculum is founded in developing action competence through experiential ed). Also there are many providers of workshops seminars and intensive design courses in sustainability mostly run by environment centre networks, and good polytech based courses in many skills of transition. The niche as I see it is elsewhere. Be good talk more on this.
But anyway gimme a few days, my son was born on 15th and Im swamped, but I want to focus the conversation here and start to explore how we can use the ning to collaborate.
Grifen