Using Participatory Learning Action Techniques in Higher Education

CHEC Research T&L course

Using Participatory Learning Action

Techniques in Higher Education

Vivienne Bozalek University of the Western Cape

[email protected]

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CHEC Research T&L course 2

What is PLA?

•  A growing family of approaches, methods, attitudes and behaviours to enable people to share, enhance and analyse their knowledge of life and conditions and to plan, act and monitor, evaluate and reflect. (Chambers 2006:3)


Origins of PLA •  Democratisation of research •  Developed in the South in 1970s and also in

North as cooperative inquiry and then by Robert Chambers in UK

•  Examines issues from political, social and economic perspectives

•  Interiorisation of disadvantage (human capabilities approach concurs with this view)

•  Interactive process using visual methods for action and reflection

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PLA techniques

•  PLA techniques are open ended, flexible visual methods which are used in the learning process

•  Examples of such techniques are mapping, visioning, matrix ranking, problem and objective trees etc

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Key elements of the PLA approach •  A concentration on people as experts of their own lives

and the facilitator as a learner and enabler; •  A focus on equity and giving voice to marginalised and

socially excluded groups of people such as women, children, those who are rural and poor;

•  The use of visual learning methods which are adaptable and used flexibly to learn from and to evaluate people’s concerns;

•  A commitment to the quality of the interaction and a recognition and concern with diversity;

•  An emphasis on self-critical awareness of both facilitators and participants;

•  A conscious move away from knowledge for the sake of knowledge to knowledge for action and empowerment.

(Cornwall, 1999:1) 5

Different Views of Higher Education

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Taylor & Fransman (2004:6) CHEC Research T&L course

The usefulness of PLA for higher education

•  Participatory parity- inclusive •  Good reflective tool – alternate ways of

expressing •  Often leads to new insights •  Provides stimulus for discussion •  Non-threatening “playful” techniques •  Promotes social learning •  Includes emotional aspects •  Opportunities to challenge and deepen

knowledge CHEC Research T&L course 7

Ways in which we have found PLA useful in higher education

•  Dealing with difference •  Promoting collaboration between students

and the institution/faculty/department •  Learning techniques to use in own

disciplines •  Modelling democratic and respectful forms

of practice •  Active form of learning >participation


Limitations of PLA techniques •  Drawings are only a springboard for

discussion and analysis •  Drawings and discussions reflect

subjective experiences •  Can be unsettling/discomforting – needs

management •  How useful it is depends on skills of

facilitator •  Time consuming to plan and implement •  Resistance from some participants


Examples of how PLA techniques have been used in HE •  Research techniques for social work students at

UWC •  Factors affecting student learning at UWC •  Community, Self and Identity module for students

across the universities •  Women’s Health and Well-Being collaborative

course •  Masters in Child and Family Studies course •  Professional development course on teaching and

learning at UWC CHEC Research T&L course 10


What students said about PLA techniques

The drawing exercises let us ‘play’, and took the ‘seriousness’

and nervousness out of the situation we were placed in…Helped us in working together as a team in the way that we were no longer worried about expressing our feelings even though they sometimes were

conflicting.

as soon as you start drawing one thing you immediately think of all

the other things that link up with your initial

idea. After the drawings had been

made, I was suprised to see the things that were in front of me on

my paper.

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Learnings: Knowledge of Self

Through mapping my own community and the available (and blatant scarcity of) resources, I got

the opportunity to reflect on my community not only in terms of resources, but also communal ethos (including prevailing prejudices, attitudes towards gender, and even racism), ‘Coloured’ culture (as I’ve always had immense difficulty

defining to others what it means to be a ‘Coloured’ person, or defining myself as for

example a ‘Coloured male’

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Learnings: Change Agents

The most thing that i also learnt about myself is that, i

can have the potential to change my own community

after that drawing experience

I was reminded of just how fortunate I am to have resources so readily

available to me. I also learned the conditions that many of my colleagues have faced. Many of them do not have the most basic of resources available to them in the places where they live. The impact that this exercise had on me cannot be emphasised enough. It

strengthened my desire to get involved in the community and to make a change, as small as it may be

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Student debriefing video

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Visioning

•  People come up with their vision for how things might be and it can widen their thinking as well as indicating the things that are important to them. This could be drawn, modelled, acted or sung. It serves as a starting point for discussion of what actions could be taken.


Vision of ideal preschool


Visioning Exercise

What are the sort of things that would make a satisfactory learning experience at university? Draw or represent the things that you would find conducive to learning at university.




Mapping

•  Includes mapping of social, demographic, health and service issues, opportunities or resources

•  Can be drawn on the ground or on paper, models can be made, natural resources used

•  Provides a starting point for discussion or for prioritising issues for change


Things found helpful for learning



Body maps


Community Maps


Concept maps


Concept map - Science


Matrix ranking

•  Used to prioritise. The group brainstorms what it thinks is important in relation to a particular issue and then votes on which is most important.


Things preventing students being able to learn to the best of their ability



Venn diagrams

•  Shows influence of different service providers, resources and information sources


Adolescents’ sources of information on sex reproduction (Analysed by a group of boys, Old Kanyama Compound)


Mood or Life Lines

•  Can be done individually or as a group •  People can track how they felt about

particular events in their lives or even ae programme over time.

•  Need to be used sensitively.



Research journey




Positives and negatives wall/tree

•  This provides a quick indication of the key perceptions of the topic under discussion. Can be done as an introduction to draw out common themes for further exploration


Positives & Negatives wall


What helped and hindered learning at UWC


Conclusion •  PLA effective tool in terms of students’ and higher educators’

knowledge of positioning and resources •  Students have found it useful as methodology themselves •  Enabled safer kind of sharing •  Richer understanding of power relations – privilege and deprivation •  Participatory parity •  Respect for abilities as learners and co-creators of knowledge •  Question world and place in it •  Critical and compassionate worldview •  Skills and willingness for transformation in contemporary SA •  Enhances inquiry based learning approaches

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T&L course


USEFUL RESOURCE •  http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/particip/

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References Bozalek, V. & Biersteker, L. (2010) ‘Exploring Power and Privilege using Participatory

Learning and Action Techniques’ Social Work Education, 29(5):551-572. Bozalek, V. (2011) Acknowledging privilege through encounters with difference:

Participatory Learning and Action techniques for decolonizing methodologies in Southern contexts International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 4(6):465-480.

Bozalek, V. (2013) Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Techniques for Community Work. In A.K. Larsen, V. Sewpaul, G.O. Hole (eds.) Participation in Community Work: International Perspectives. London: Routledge. Pp. 57-71.

Chambers, Robert (2006) ‘Notes for Participants in PRA-PLA Familiarisation Workshops in 2006’.Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/particip/

Cornwall, A. (1999) Introduction to PRA Visualisation Methods. In The Participation Group (1999) Introduction to PRA and Health: A reader. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton.

Hodge, D.R. (2005) ‘Spiritual life maps: A client-centered pictorial instrument for spiritual assessment, planning and intervention’, Social Work, vol 50(1) pp 77-87.

Taylor, Peter & Fransman, Jude (2004) ‘Learning and Teaching Participation: The Role of Higher Learning Institutions as AgInstitute ents of Development and Social Change’ IDS Working Paper 219. Brighton: for Social Development, University of Sussex.