Innovative Teaching Practice: The Hidden Curriculum:

How to introduce learning activities that allow the students to acquire transferable skills essential for solving real-life problems? Skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, project management and planning are requirements for future employment. Implementing a teaching strategy with learning activities that allows the students to build these soft skills means they can apply these to other studies or enhance their career development. Cross-cutting theme learning is essential to integrate into lessons (Kelly, 2009). These transferable skills allow students to apply what they learned to react and solve problems.

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development

Zone of Proximal Development

Lev Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding aims at developing students' knowledge by filling the gap between what they already know and what they need to learn (Shabani, 2010). I tried to identify the students' abilities under supervision and what they managed independently. It is not practical with this method when teaching a larger group, often when the allocated teaching time means students who need additional support are not permitted.

From the first year, students can develop critical thinking through Q&A sessions with questions that require the students to analyse and evaluate. However, in most of my classes, only a few students responded, and some students never interacted in the Q&A session. There were students with different learning styles, and clear instructions and learning activities had to accommodate their needs; some followed instructions, some actively engaged with activities and some preferred research.

A creative idea to use recycling material.

'Creativity is also about fresh thinking,...[it] involves critical judgement, and is a dynamic process that often involves making new connections' (Kalyan et al. 2018, p.155)

Creative thinking is fundamental, and it was challenging to teach an art and design subject where students are often very creative. Another learning activity I introduced was helping the second-year students to plan for their assignments. Project planning could help students to approach their assessment and develop their organisational skills. A Word document was created for the students to plan their assignments and prioritise their learning objectives. This activity encourages the students to manage their learning by completing the planner; it also helps to develop their critical thinking skills.

The third students were given an action plan template to set their goal of creating their digital presence with professional branding; they have to be able to prioritise and decide the tasks that need action now. Final-year students should be able to develop their employability skills and respond to opportunities using their ideas, knowledge, skills and confidence to create interventions that will address the challenges they meet (QAA, 2018).

Student's presentation on moodboard

I encouraged students to present their ideas in front of the class; this would help them to gain confidence in public speaking and develop their presentation skills; as some students might be nervous, these are optional. Working in groups allows the students to engage in teamwork and develop the ability to work in partnership with others which also helps with their communication skills.

One of the issues with group activities was not all students joined in the group activities; they preferred working individually as this worked better for them. This became a challenge when implementing a teaching strategy in creating an inclusive learning environment to engage all learners. It is essential to refer to the Welsh Government Professional Standard.

I have learned the importance of the hidden curriculum for the students developing new skills and how to integrate cross-cutting theme learning into lesson planning. And Demonstrate commitment to learners, their learning, safety, and well-being: inspiring, supporting and stretching learners, taking account of their starting points and progression options (2017, p.10).

References

Kalyan, B. Lemisko, L. And Squires, V. (2018) ‘Discourse Communities of Learning in Graduate school: An Authentic Transformative Experience’ in Enomoto, K., Warner, R. and Nygaard, C. Innovative Teaching and Learning Practices in Higher Education Faringdon: Libri Publishing

Kelly, A.V. (2009) The Curriculum Theory and Practice. (6 edn) London: Sage

Shabani, K. (2010) Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development: Instructional Implications and Teachers' Professional Development https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1081990.pdf

QAA (2018) QAA Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education: Guidance for Uk Higher Education Providers [online] available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaas/enhancement-and-development/enterprise-and-entrpreneurship-education-2018.pdf?sfvrsn=15f1f981_8 (Accessed 13 April 2023)

Welsh Government (2017) Professional standards for Further Education Teachers and Work-based Learning Practitioners in wales. Available online: https://hwb.gov.wales/api/storage/460a740a-7bf1-4c7b-b4ae-348ae380879b/professional-standards-further-education-teachers-work-based-learning-practitioners-wales.pdf