International Teachers’ and Advisers’ Conference 2020 – CANCELLED

The transition from secondary/high school to university can be a complicated and anxious time for students. How can the diverse range of staff involved in the student journey better support each other, and learners, to add value to the student experience during school and as they transition to university?

Central to achieving this is ‘empathy’, and this session will challenge delegates to put themselves in the shoes of learners to better identify with the experiences of Gen Z students. Using the Lego Serious Play (LSP) methodology, delegates will share their own individual experiences and perspectives to specific tasks.

This hands-on and experiential workshop provides participants with a taster session into LSP as an additional resource to enhance teaching and admissions, counselling, learning, and student engagement. Through group exercises, participants will share knowledge and good practice to explore shared challenges in their respective roles.

By 'thinking with hands', 'listening with eyes', using storytelling, and metaphors, participants will work together to capture the learning needs of students today, to better support transition to university and readiness for jobs of the future.

The workshop is highly interactive, including individual exercises, group tasks, reflections, and feedback. It will be highly experiential rather than theoretical, and exercises will be drawn from real-life challenges – no advance experience with Lego is required, just an open mind, natural curiosity, and enthusiasm!

Learning outcomes

At the end of the session, delegates should be able to critically reflect on, and develop action plans for the following:

• What is the one thing can I do with the skills that I have learnt to be a catalyst for innovative, student-centred solutions to better support post-18 progression in the sector?
• How can I trial LSP in my role to enhance teaching, career advising, and student well-being strategies?
• How can we work in new ways/what can we do differently to improve and share good practice?