Psychosocial Approaches To Learning

Course Code: MMAPSO_02

Masters Level Module

This module enables a critical examination of aspects of learning. Starting from the premise that learning is not a tidy, linear, rational process, it draws on psychoanalytic theories and psychosocial research to explore learning, learning relationships, curricula and policies. The course acknowledges and explores the paradoxes and deeply felt ambivalences at the heart of the learning enterprise. It is designed to provide some balance to the predominantly cognitive and rational discourses that currently (and traditionally) surround learning and close down particular kinds of analyses. There is an emphasis placed upon the relationality of learning and the pedagogic enterprise. Throughout the course there will be opportunities to explore our dual roles as learners and the ones supposed to know, and the tensions this can generate. Teaching takes place in the spring term over three Saturdays (6 hours) and four Thursday evenings (2.5 hours). Assessment is by coursework, and there are opportunities to receive formative feedback throughout the module to support understanding and writing. This is a core module for the MA Psychosocial Studies and Education, but it is open to students from other MA programmes. Please contact the module leader, Dr Tamara Bibby, to discuss the module's coverage further.

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