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Pedagogic Research

Curriculum Connected Research

Curriculum-Based Disciplinary Research (CBDR) Curriculum Connected Research (CCR) Pedagogic Research

Why should I get involved in pedagogic research?

At its heart, pedagogic research is about exploring how we teach and how our students learn, and then using those insights to make higher education better for everyone.

Think of it as a way to test out new teaching ideas, gather evidence on whether they really help students, and then share those findings with colleagues - in our university, with partners, and the wider sector - so that we can all enhance student outcomes. Whether it’s experimenting with assessment methods, rethinking curriculum design, or exploring student engagement, pedagogic research puts teaching and learning under the microscope in a constructive, evidence-based way.

For a long time, especially in the UK, teaching practices in higher education were often just handed down or shaped by local or subject cultural traditions. Higher education has changed a lot in recent decades, with larger student numbers, more diverse cohorts, and ever-tighter regulations, and that shift has made it more important than ever to understand how we teach and why certain approaches work (or don't). Pedagogic research gives us the tools to do that.

Here’s the real benefit: it’s not just research for the sake of research. Done well, it has direct impact. Students get better learning experiences, staff develop their teaching practice (and career profile), and the sector as a whole moves towards more evidence-informed, innovative teaching.

It's not something you do in isolation, either. Students can be involved not just as participants, but as collaborators and co-researchers. You can work with colleagues in your subject area or, better still, with colleagues from other subject areas to conduct interdisciplinary enquiries. What are the most productive ways to teach reflective practice, for example? How can we best prepare students for placements? How can we teach core content without overloading our neurodivergent students? How can graduate attributes best be developed within programmes? How can we design in opportunities for more authentic and multi-modal assessments? Projects often start small as pilot studies, case studies, or testing across different cohorts, but they can and do grow into multi-site collaborations with real reach.

At Marjon, we’ve got a strong track record in this space, especially in education, sport, and health. Working with professional bodies, our partners, and other universities, our pedagogic research has already shaped practice and policy - and there’s huge scope for more.

Pedagogic research can enrich your teaching, boost your academic profile, and, most importantly, it can make a real difference for your students.

If you’re curious about starting your own project, in the following sections on this page we take you through the six steps required to build a research proposal.

These two resources will be helpful along the way:

Advance HE Toolkit - a great starting point for designing pedagogic research.
7-Step Guide to Pedagogic Research - a simple, practical framework for getting going.

Different types of pedagogic research▼

This table summarises the core aspects of different types of pedagogic research. Your project might be any one of these but when building your research proposal, it is useful for you to understand which type you are conducting.

Type	Focus	Methods / Scope	Purpose
Pedagogic Research	Teaching and learning in higher education	Systematic investigation, data collection, analysis of teaching methods, curriculum, engagement, strategies	Generate new knowledge about how students learn and how teaching can be improved
Educational Research	Broad field of education	Covers pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, policy, learning environments	Encompasses multiple approaches (including pedagogic research & SoTL) to study education at large
Educational / Academic Development Research	Professional growth of educators	Staff training, teaching strategies, curriculum design, institutional support	Improve teaching quality by enhancing educator skills and professional development
Evaluation	Programmes, courses, and teaching practices	Feedback, learning outcomes analysis, alignment with goals	Assess effectiveness, support institutional decisions, and drive continuous improvement
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)	Individual teaching practice and its impact	Reflection, documenting experiences, sharing with peers	Improve teaching in context and contribute to wider pedagogic understanding

Research Proposal Step 1: Identifying your research question ▼

The research question is the keystone of any pedagogic research project, serving as the guiding force that shapes your choice of methodology, methods, data generation, and analytical approaches. Without a clearly crafted and focused question, your research runs the risk of becoming unguided and incoherent, and producing vague outcomes or misaligned data. Formulating robust questions is the essential first step in designing a research study. How do you go about identifying and refining a good research question? Fortunately, it is a skill that can be learnt.

First, examine your topic of interest to identify the problem or puzzle you want to solve. In her excellent book Qualitative Researching (2002), Jennifer Mason suggests you think of your research as trying to solve an intellectual puzzle, something which is intellectually intriguing and socially meaningful. An intellectual puzzle is the driving problem, tension, or curiosity that makes a research project worth doing. More than simply the topic you wish to study, identifying your research question begins with identifying what is puzzling, surprising, or not yet understood in your area.

Framing your research this way helps show why the work matters, what’s at stake, and what gap or contradiction you’re trying to resolve. Intellectual puzzles often arise from things you've experienced in your teaching practice that don’t quite fit existing theories, or unexpected responses from students to an initiative, or everyday practices that you take for granted but don't fully understand why they work, or don't.

You may be interested in the broad topic of student engagement, for example, but by refining this into a sharper puzzle - such as why do my students engage more deeply in peer-led discussions than when I lead them - you identify clear and answerable research questions. Here are some examples of puzzles:

Three types of puzzle

Second, refine your research question(s) informed by Pat Hutching's (2000) typology of four questions below:

Watch this video of her talking about these questions in relation to pedagogic research:

These are great starting points for writing your own research question(s). Play about with some ideas. Here are some examples to inspire you:

1. 'What works?' (effectiveness of teaching approaches)

In Sport Coaching, does using video-assisted feedback improve students’ reflective practice more than written feedback alone?
In Teacher Education, how effective are micro-teaching sessions compared to traditional lecture-based preparation in developing classroom confidence?
In Nursing programmes, does simulation-based learning better prepare students for clinical placements than case study-based approaches?

2. 'What is?' (descriptive and evaluative questions)

What kinds of academic and emotional support do Psychology undergraduates most frequently draw on during their dissertation projects?
How do Counselling students describe the process of integrating theory with practice during placements?
How do Sport and Exercise Science students engage with blended learning materials outside of scheduled contact hours?
What are the main challenges faced by Education students balancing academic work with school-based placements?
How do Health and Wellbeing students describe their experiences of interprofessional learning activities?

3. Visions of the possible (aspirational projects)

How might immersive technologies (e.g., VR) be used in teacher training to prepare students for classroom management in diverse settings?
What would a fully co-created curriculum (with students as partners) look like in Sport Development programmes?
How might Health programmes redesign assessment to better integrate professional competencies with academic skills?

4. 'Theory building' (developing conceptual frameworks)

Can we develop a framework for understanding 'resilience in learning' across different Marjon programmes?
What theoretical models best explain how peer mentoring supports transition into higher education at Marjon?
How might a pedagogy of 'embodied learning' be theorised through practices in sport, drama, and physical education?

It will take time to refine your research question to ensure that it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based (SMART).

For further details on writing research questions, visit the EDCM03 Introduction to Pedagogic Research Canvas module.

References

Hutchings, P. (2000) Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED449157

Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative Researching (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

Research Proposal Step 2: Planning for impact▼

In UK higher education, research impact refers to the demonstrable benefits that academic research brings beyond academia. It captures how research influences society, the economy, culture, policy, health, environment, or quality of life. Measured through the Research Excellence Framework (REF), impact highlights real-world changes resulting from research, rather than academic outputs alone.

It is worth considering the kind of impact you hope your pedagogic research project to make right at the very start of the planning and proposal process. We have a highly useful collection of resources on Research Impact (currently available only to Marjon campus-based staff) to work with, which can guide you through the importance of identifying pathways to impact.

Research Proposal Step 3:Doing the literature review▼

Doing a literature review is a vital first step when it comes to conducting your pedagogic research project, as it helps you to situate your work within what is already known about teaching and learning. Rather than simply being a summary of articles and books, a good literature review is a critical process of mapping the field: identifying key debates, highlighting gaps in knowledge, and showing how your research will add something new. It demonstrates that you understand the wider context of your enquiry and can connect your specific interests, whether in teaching methods, student engagement, or assessment practices, to broader educational discussions in the higher education sector and beyond.

In order to write your research proposal, your initial literature review will be of a broad scoping nature, rather than an in-depth review, although the process is very similar. Begin with clarifying your research focus and then systematically search for relevant studies, policy reports, and theoretical frameworks. As you read, you are not just collecting evidence but comparing perspectives, noting areas of consensus or disagreement, and considering how different approaches might apply to your own setting. When it comes to writing up your pedagogic research findings to disseminate later, your literature review will weave these strands together into a narrative that explains why your research question matters and how it builds on, or challenges, what has come before. In short, it provides both the intellectual foundation and the justification for your pedagogic research.

Visit the Getting started on your literature review page in the Introduction to Pedagogic Research Canvas module.

Research Proposal Step 4:Choosing the right research methodology and methods▼

When you set out to do pedagogic research, it’s not enough just to have an interesting question - you also need a clear plan for how you will go about answering it. That plan is your research methodology. A methodology gives structure and credibility to your project because it shows others (and reminds you) that your findings are not just based on personal opinion or chance, but on a systematic and replicable approach. Without it, it’s difficult to convince others that your conclusions are trustworthy, useful, or could be built on in future studies. If you intend to publish your findings, academic journals will expect to see your theoretical approach evidenced in your chosen methodology.

There are many ways of gathering and analysing evidence (research methods), and your methodology helps you choose the one that best aligns with your research question and your worldview (ontology). For example, if you want to understand students’ personal experiences of a teaching approach, you might use a qualitative method such as interviews or focus groups. If you want to measure the effectiveness of one teaching strategy compared to another, you might design a quantitative study, collecting numerical data such as grades or survey scores. Sometimes, a combination of both works best. By being clear about your methodology, you make your research transparent, replicable, and more valuable to colleagues who may want to learn from or adapt your work.

Take a look at this table showing different paradigms (Miller-Young & Yeo, 2015) and the elements of the research process associated with them. You will encounter different terms and words for aspects of research and so it is useful to see the different terminology and vocabulary used in each in this table.

Here are two examples of the same research topic, considered from two different research paradigms or methodologies:

Imagine a researcher at Marjon studying how trainee teachers experience feedback during school placements.

Instead of asking 'Does feedback improve teaching performance?' (which would fit a more quantitative, positivist paradigm), the researcher is interested in the meanings, feelings, and interpretations that students attach to feedback. They might ask:

- How do trainee teachers make sense of the feedback they receive from mentors?
- In what ways do they perceive feedback as supportive, critical, or motivating?

To explore this, the researcher adopts an interpretative paradigm: they assume that reality is not fixed or singular, but shaped by the perspectives of the people involved. Data might be collected through in-depth interviews or reflective journals, focusing on students’ lived experiences.

The underlying epistemology is subjective, where knowledge is viewed as being co-created between researcher and participants. The researcher does not claim to be 'objective' or detached; instead, they acknowledge that their own background as an educator may shape the questions they ask and how they interpret what they hear.

The outcome is not a universal rule about feedback but a rich, contextualised understanding of how different students experience it, which can inform more empathetic and responsive mentoring practices.

Now imagine a researcher at Marjon wants to investigate whether or not feedback style influences trainee teachers’ performance during school placements.

Instead of exploring personal meanings or feelings this time, the researcher frames the study around measurable outcomes. They might ask:

- Do trainees who receive structured written feedback perform better in lesson observations than those who receive mainly verbal feedback?
- Is there a correlation between the frequency of feedback and improvements in teaching performance scores?

This study sits in a positivist paradigm, which assumes that reality can be observed, measured, and quantified. The researcher might design an experiment or quasi-experiment, comparing two groups of trainees across a placement period. Data would come from numerical sources such as observation ratings, student test results, or Likert-scale survey responses.

The underlying epistemology here is objective, where knowledge is seen as something that exists independently of the researcher. The goal is to minimise bias, apply consistent measurement tools, and produce generalisable findings that could be replicated elsewhere.

The outcome is statistical evidence about which feedback practices appear most effective, offering clear recommendations for teacher training programmes.

If you want to learn more about identifying your research strategy, visit the Introduction to Pedagogic Research page on Canvas.

When choosing the research methods for your data generation and analysis, it is essential that you select the ones that are most aligned with your research methodology. There are too many methods to share here but do your own research into the best ones. There are plenty of useful books in the library and the two examples above show suitable qualitative and quantitative research methods of data generation (or collection). This Canvas module on Research Methods created by Ben Jane is useful for more operational details on each method.

Research Proposal Step 5: Ethical considerations▼

Conducting ethical research is vital to ensure the integrity, credibility, and societal value of pedagogic inquiry. Ethical research safeguards the rights, dignity, and well-being of participants, preventing harm and exploitation. It promotes transparency, honesty, and accountability, which are essential for building public trust in research findings. Moreover, adhering to ethical standards fosters rigorous and unbiased methodologies, enhancing the reliability and validity of results. Ethical research also upholds legal and professional obligations, reducing the risk of misconduct or reputational damage. Ultimately, prioritising ethics not only protects individuals and communities but also strengthens the foundation of knowledge, guiding responsible innovation and informed decision-making that benefits society as a whole. it is not an afterthought, but an integral part of the research design process.

All research at Plymouth Marjon is required to undergo a research ethics review process. You can find all the resources you need to support you with the research ethics process on the Marjon Research Ethics Canvas page.

You will need to submit a full ethics application to the Marjon Ethics Panel once you have designed your proposal. If you are submitting an application for internal funding, then you do not need to have completed the full ethics process before you submit your proposal. When it comes to writing the ethics application, use the template and the application guidance provided, as well as any of the resources relevant to your project (e.g., the information sheet and consent forms). These can all be found on the Ethics page above.

Watch this short video of Dr Kass Gibson and Alice Inman for an introductory overview of the ethics and integrity of research:

It is helpful to download the Ethics Form and look at the sections you need to complete. Visit the Ethics Guidance pages for advice on designing an ethical research project and copies of form templates and indicative consent forms, etc. For more information, visit Session 4: Writing your ethical protocol on the Introduction to Pedagogic Research Canvas module.

A valuable resource is BERA's Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (5th edition).

Writing up your research report▼

When you are writing your proposal, you need to give thought to how you will present your findings and recommendations.

When writing up research findings, the goal is to communicate your work clearly and meaningfully so that others can understand and apply what you have discovered. You may wish to consider writing an academic article for publication, but you will need to produce a research report that includes all of the process and results. Whilst academic publications often follows strict formatting and technical standards, a general-use research report should prioritise accessibility and clarity. This means presenting your results in straightforward language, explaining their relevance, and avoiding unnecessary jargon.

Think about your intended audience, which may include colleagues, partners, stakeholders, or community members who are more interested in the practical implications than the technical details.

A good starting point is to set the context: briefly remind readers of the purpose of the research and why it was conducted. From there, present your key findings in a logical order, highlighting patterns, trends, or significant insights. Visual aids such as charts, tables, or concise summaries can help make complex results more digestible. Finally, consider linking your findings back to practice in the higher education sector, so readers can see how the results might inform decisions, practices, or future work.

Here is an indicative structure for your report:

Title of Project - a concise and informative title that captures the focus of your research.)

Acknowledgements (optional) - acknowledge colleagues, students, or institutions who supported the work.

Executive Summary / Abstract (no more than 300 words summary)

Introduction / Context - briefly outline the teaching and learning issue/puzzle, challenge, or innovation you explored. Explain why this area is important (link to student experience, learning outcomes, or educational practice). State the aim(s) and research question(s). Include a brief summary of your literature review.

Methodology - describe what approach or paradigm you used, and what you did (e.g., research methods like surveys, focus groups, classroom interventions, analysis of student work, etc). Note any ethical considerations (e.g., informed consent, confidentiality).

Findings / Results - present the key results in a clear, logical order. Use visuals wherever possible (charts, tables, bullet points) to make information digestible. Include extracts from interview or focus group transcripts and highlight patterns, themes, or notable insights.

Discussion - interpret what the findings mean in the context of teaching and learning. Consider strengths and limitations of your project. Connect to existing practice or theory where relevant.

Implications for practice / Recommendations - explain how the findings can inform or improve teaching and learning. Suggest practical changes, strategies, or next steps.

Conclusion - summarise the key messages. Indicate possible directions for future inquiry or application.

References - credit sources of ideas or literature.

Take a look at this Evaluation Report produced by Lynne Wyness for a small pedagogic research project for ideas of how to structure a research report and how to present findings.

Disseminating your pedagogic research▼

The findings and conclusions of pedagogic research projects are important to share, so others can benefit from your research. There are a range of ways you can share your work, including the more formal routes of academic publishing and academic conference presentations.

Here are some other ways you could share your research findings:

Within Marjon or your institution

Send the Executive Summary to your Dean of Learning and Teaching, Academic Director of Student Success, Academic Director RKE, and/or Programme Leader/Academic Director of your Department, along with recommendations of how this can enhance teaching practice and student outcomes.
Present your findings at Programme Level or Department meetings
Present your findings at a Teach Talk! event
Write a blogpost to share with colleagues on the webpage or Antler
Write up a brief case study to be included on this Pedagogic Research guidance page.

In the wider HE sector

Look for opportunities with AdvanceHE or the QAA to present a webinar to share your findings - combine with idea below perhaps.
Offer to do a podcast on one of the national T&L podcasts, for example A Cup of Tea (University of Hull) or Talking Teaching and Learning (with Dr Kevin Merry, de Montfort University) - they're always looking for contributors.
Submit a short article to your subject area's popular 'trade' magazine or journal.
Create an infographic to share findings. Platforms like Piktochart or Venngage can help in designing eye-catching visuals, or use Canva.
Share findings on social media accounts or your LinkedIn profile if you have them. Develop a campaign to share bite-sized insights from your research. Create shareable graphics, short videos, or engaging posts to reach a broader audience. Utilise hashtags to enhance visibility.
Co-author collaborative blog posts or articles with colleagues, showcasing different perspectives on the research project. Publish these on educational platforms, journals, or even mainstream media outlets to increase visibility.

Academic publishing in journals and books

If your project was well designed and conducted with integrity and rigour, then there should no be reason why you couldn't consider publishing it in an academic journal. Journals range from high-ranking (where studies tend to be international or covering more than one institution) to lower-ranking (where smaller and more localised studies are published). Have a look at the comprehensive list on this Pedagogic Journal list.

Here is some reading to get you thinking about publishing your first article or chapter:

An introduction to the area of academic publishing

Making sure your article gets attention

Evans, C., Howson, C. K., Forsythe, A. & Edwards, C. (2021). What constitutes high quality higher education pedagogical research? Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1790500

7 Steps to Publishing Pedagogic Research University of Plymouth.

As soon as you received confirmation from a journal that your article has been accepted for publication you must submit the accepted manuscript to the Guild HE Research and Open Access repository. This enables your research to be included in the Research Excellence Framework (REF). To do this visit Research and Open Access to find out what information needs to be submitted alongside the manuscript and then submit using this email repository@marjon.ac.uk.

You can also find information about various ways to disseminate your work, with links to relevant resources, for both academic and non-academic audiences, as well as other support for academic publishing, on the RKE Antler page on Dissemination, here.

Example Pedagogic Research Projects

Jennie Winter Dean of Learning and Teaching

Title: Decolonisation of the Curriculum

Budget: £0

Benefits:

Students – Gain a greater sense of belonging and inclusion through a more representative curriculum.
Staff – Develop more inclusive and confident teaching practices.
Institution – Enhance reputation by demonstrating commitment to equity and social justice.

This study explored how staff and students at a modern UK university perceive efforts to decolonise the curriculum. Decolonisation in higher education seeks to challenge Eurocentric legacies, diversify knowledge, and promote equity, belonging, and representation for all students. Using surveys adapted from sector toolkits, 99 staff and 290 students shared their views on six themes: representation, content, peer engagement, assessment, language, and culture. The findings revealed a gap between staff perceptions and those of students, particularly minority ethnic (ME) students. Staff and white students often reported more positively on current practice, while ME students identified fewer opportunities for diverse perspectives, representation, and inclusion. Key differences emerged around assessments, where ME students felt issues of ethnicity and privilege were rarely embedded, and in peer discussions, where conversations about race and inequality were limited. These gaps highlight the challenge of ensuring that well-intentioned initiatives are experienced equitably by all students. The study establishes a benchmark for decolonisation work in a non-diverse institution and emphasises the need for targeted staff development, inclusive assessment practices, and greater confidence in facilitating critical discussions. Its findings offer valuable insight for universities seeking to make decolonisation meaningful and sustainable.

Winter, J., Turner, B., and Webb, O. (2023) The role of educational developer in supporting the decolonisation of practice within a UK university: reflections from the field. Seda Annual Conference. Online. 19/5/2023.
Ali, Kamran, Winter, Jennie, Webb, Oliver and Zahra, Daniel (2022) Decolonisation of Curricula in Undergraduate Dental Education: An Exploratory Study. British Dental Journal. ISSN 1476-5373
Winter, J., Webb, O. and Turner, R. (2022) Using educational development to initiate decolonisation activity in a UK HEI. International Consortium of Educational Development. Aarhus, Denmark, 1-3 June 2022.
Winter, Jennie, Webb, Oliver and Turner, Rebecca (2022) Decolonising the curriculum: a survey of current practice in a modern UK University. International Journal of Academic Development, 61 (1). ISSN 14701324

Georgios Katsogridakis
Senior Lecturer Outdoor Education

Title: Teacher-student relationships in higher education: reflections from an adventure sport context

Budget: £0

Benefits:

Students: Feel supported, motivated, and connected in their studies.
Staff: Gain professional satisfaction through meaningful teaching relationships.
Institution: Build a culture of belonging and enhance the student experience.

This paper explores the importance of teacher–student relationships in higher education, drawing on insights from adventure sport programmes. While teaching in universities is often seen as the transfer of knowledge, the authors highlight how meaningful relationships between staff and students play a vital role in learning, confidence, and personal growth. Using reflections from an adventure sport context, the study shows how outdoor and experiential settings can strengthen teacher–student connections. These environments encourage trust, dialogue, and shared experiences that extend beyond traditional classroom roles. The research demonstrates that when students feel supported and respected, they are more engaged and motivated, and teachers also develop greater professional satisfaction. The authors argue that universities should pay more attention to the relational side of teaching. Positive relationships can help students navigate challenges, build resilience, and feel a stronger sense of belonging. For staff, they create opportunities to teach more authentically and holistically. The paper concludes that teaching excellence in higher education cannot be measured only through grades or metrics but must also value the quality of human relationships at the heart of the learning experience.

Katsogridakis, Georgios and Leather, Mark (2024) Teacher-student relationships in higher education: reflections from an adventure sport context. Sport, Education and Society. pp. 1-12. ISSN 1357-3322
Katsogridakis, G., & Leather, M. (2024). Teacher-student relationships in Higher Education: Reflections from an Outdoor Adventure Education degree. 10th International Outdoor Education Research Conference, Tokyo, Japan, 4-8 March.
Katsogridakis, G., & Leather, M. (2023). Teacher-student relationships for an equitable learning environment: insights from the field of Outdoor Adventure Education. BERA Conference, Birmingham, UK, 12-14 September.

Debby Cotton
Dean of Research and Knowledge Exchange

Title: Visual Images of Sustainability in Higher Education

Budget: £1000

Benefits:

Students: Gain a richer, more authentic understanding of sustainability.
Staff: Can use meaningful visuals to support teaching and engagement.
Institution: Strengthens credibility by aligning imagery with real sustainability action.

This study examines how sustainability is represented through visual images in higher education and what these images communicate about universities’ values and commitments. Sustainability is often promoted on university websites, prospectuses, and teaching materials, yet the choice of imagery shapes how students and staff understand its meaning and importance. The authors analysed a range of visual resources to explore the stories these images tell. They found that universities frequently use generic pictures of nature, recycling symbols, or 'green campus' shots. While these create a positive association, they can also oversimplify sustainability, presenting it as surface-level branding rather than a complex, transformative agenda. In contrast, more powerful images highlighted people, communities, and real projects, showing sustainability as social as well as environmental. The study suggests that images matter because they frame how sustainability is perceived and acted upon. Over-reliance on abstract or decorative visuals risks reducing sustainability to a marketing tool. By using more authentic, inclusive, and action-oriented images, universities can inspire deeper engagement and show genuine commitment.

Cotton, D.R.E., Winter, J. Allison, J. and Mullee, R. (2023) Visual Images of Sustainability in Higher Education: The hidden curriculum of climate change on campus. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. 24 (7): 1576-1593. Available online at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSHE-09-2022-0315/full/html.
Winter J. Cotton, D., Allison, J., and Mullee, R. (2023) Using auto-photography, photo elicitation and grounded visual pattern analysis to explore visual representations of sustainability in university environments. European Educational Research Association. Glasgow, Scotland. 21-24/8/2023.
Winter, Cotton, D., Allison, J., and Mullee, R. (2023) Using visual methods to explore the hidden sustainability curriculum of the university campus. International Visual Methods Conference. Rome, Italy. 31/5/2023.
Cotton, D., Winter, J., Allison, J., and Mullee, R. (2022) Visual Images of Sustainability in Higher Education. UK-CSR Symposium. Manchester. 16/9/2022.

Lynne Wyness Associate Professor of Academic Development (with Professor Paul Jones)

Title: Different Languages, Shared Goals? Exploring the Potential for Merged Pedagogies in Enterprise Education and Sustainability Education

Budget: £1600

Benefits:

Students: Enhanced awareness of sustainability and entrepreneurship, and required skills and attributes.
Staff: Can draw on a bank of pedagogical approaches from both fields.
Institution: Offers an innovative merged approach to addressing sustainability and enterprise.

This project examined the presence of sustainability in entrepreneurship curricula and enterprise in sustainability curricula, and explored the potential for a merged pedagogical approach, critically informed by leading practice in both fields. It entailed an online survey of 97 educators in Sustainability Education and Enterprise / Entrepreneurship Education (in the UK and beyond) and 15 online and in-person interviews with leading educators in both fields.

The underpinning concepts and key findings of the research project were well-received in both Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Educational fields and sparked a number of stimulating conversations between educators from each. Creativity holds a central position in the entrepreneurship curricula, but is an area that has been largely overlooked in sustainability education. From the other perspective, the attention to systems thinking and critical thinking that forms the cornerstone of Sustainability Education receives little attention in Entrepreneurship Education. It will be useful to consider how the pedagogical approaches used in each field might contribute to a wider education for their students, which will foster the sustainability values and awareness that future entrepreneurs require, and nurture the creativity and ability to bring about change that future sustainability leaders need.

The research was presented at six conferences during the course of 2015, where it generated considerable interest - including the World Environmental Education Congress (WEEC) in Gothenburg (June 2015), the European Conference of Educational Research (ECER), in Budapest (Sept 2015) and the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) in Glasgow (November 2015), where it was nominated for Best Paper in Conference in the Enterprise Education category.

Wyness, L. & Jones, P. (2018). Boundary crossing ahead: perspectives of entrepreneurship by sustainability educators in Higher Education. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2018.1493338.

Wyness, L., Jones, P. and Klapper, R. (2015). Sustainability: what the entrepreneurship educators think, Education + Training, 58(8/9). http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2015-0019.

Explore more Pedagogic Research conducted by staff at Marjon and partner institutions