RCE North East-2012

rce_proj_title
Submitted by RCEcaspar.hewett on Thu, 2012-09-20 00:00
1. General Information
Contact Name(s): 
Dr Caspar Hewett
Organizational Affiliation : 
Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability
Role in the project: 
project manager
E-Mail Address(es): 
thegreatdebate@live.co.uk
Project-relevant information: 
http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/YouthVoices.html, http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/GNYVVid1.html, http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/NclUniSch11.html, http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/FTF11.html, http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/Ingenious.html
2. Project Information
1. Project title: 
the great northern debate
2. Project Description: 
the great northern debate’ is an extension of the long established series ‘Development, Sustainability and Environment’ run by community organisation The Great Debate. The project delivers public workshops and debates, courses in schools, and action research into improving educational practice through discussion-based learning. The public discussions/workshops aim is to generate new shared understanding of the issues and realities of the topics through public debate open to all, reflecting the ongoing commitment of The Great Debate, RCE North East and their partners to bringing top quality speakers to the North East to deliberate in an open manner on the issues of the day. The schools programme focuses on developing an innovative interdisciplinary discursive approach to teaching young people about sustainable development and to use this to develop in the students the confidence and skills required to make informed judgements about scientific and social issues. The third element of the project is action research into improving educational practice through discussion-based learning. This element of the project is linked to the workshops, public discussions and courses described above. The aim is to impose academic rigour on the adaptive approach to discursive learning being developed.
3. Project Status: 
Ongoing
4. Key Words
Key Words: 
Biodiversity
Other: 
debate, discussion, development, sustainability, environment, energy, climate change, genetic modification, engineering, film-making, voices
5. Project categories
Project categories: 
Education
Research
Awareness building
6. Expected outcomes:: 
Delivery and dissemination of the public discussions and workshops; delivery of the courses in schools and colleges; engagement with young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), new shared understanding and knowledge on the topics discusses; innovative teaching methods developed through the action research; partnerships formed between the research community, the informal sector, local schools, colleges and Universities; feedback from the work with schools, public workshops, debates and training workshops to inform future projects
7. Duration of the Project:: 
started April 2008 with a view to a three year lifespan, but project is continuing for the foreseeable future.
3. Project Leadership & Vision
8. Project coordination (e.g. teams): 
The project is run by The Great Debate team which has a management committee overseeing all expenditure and outputs. The day to day running of the project is managed by The Great Debate Director, Caspar Hewett, who plays a key role in delivering the project along with occasional part time staff (for film-making and school debate workshops), volunteers and partners in a variety of organisations including Newcastle and Northumbria universities, Institution of Civil Engineers and local schools and colleges
9. Leadership structure
a. Administration: 
2
b. Transactional: 
2
c. Transformational: 
6
4. Project results
10. Project results : 
What are the current results of the project in terms of Outcomes:
In the last year we have delivered seven public debates including a one day workshop entitled 'Facing the Future', film-training for young people including a major series of workshops for NEET youth, a public engagement training programme for engineers, a series of debate workshops for schools, a school debating competition. We have also produced and puiblished on the internet a series of videos documenting events and the thoughts of young people involved in our programme.
11. Contribution to reforms and innovations: 
Our project is not focused on institutional and policy reforms but we do hope that our public debates and the wider access to the content of them provided by our films, will influence policy indirectly.
13.Core Partners: 
(who are the main partners of your project?) The Great Debate, North East Centre for Transformative Education and Research (NECTER), Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Institution of Civil Engineers, Royal Academy of Engineers, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
5. Partnership and networking
14. Project Network
a. Information network: 
2
b. Knowledge network: 
6
c. Innovation network: 
2
6. Participation
15. Type of involvement: 
Input of partners is central in developing the subject matter both for the public events and for the schools programme. Individuals in partner organisations get involved in event delivery in various capacities, from physically helping to deliver events to logisitical support with venues etc.
16. Participation opportunities
a. Informational participation: 
2
b. Consultation participation: 
6
c. Decision influencing participation : 
2
7. Education & Learning
17. Educational activities: 
Learning about topics through debate: students who participate in the schools programme are provided with background information on the topics and given guidance on doing independent research to expand on that information.
Public audiences of all ages become informed through hearing expert speakers' views on a topics and through having the opportunity to aks questions, make points and generally join in the discussions.
Young NEET participants gain skills in film-making but are also exposed to a variety of views through invlovement with the project's other activities - this is a unique aspect of our current work.
Participants of schools programme and film-making programme also develops a range of key skills in communication - speaking, listening, reading and writing skills; Information Communication Technology - finding, developing and presenting information; working with others - team work supports development of interpersonal skills through working cooperatively with others to achieve shared objectives; and improving own learning and performance - through target-setting, planning, learning, communicating own needs and accepting constructive feedback.
18. Learning activities: 
Learning and reflection are facilitated through discussion, conversation, formal debate, independent research, constructing arguments, exposure to the ideas of others (at public events), learning by doing (in particular in film-making training and school debate workshops) and peer to peer learning.
19. Educational activities
a. Theory: 
2
b. Discussion: 
4
c. Interactive and Multidimensional "action oriented education": 
4
8. Research Integration
20. Research & Development (R&D): 
The action research element of the project consists of ongoing development of approaches to discussion-based learning, experimenting with different formats and continually evaluating what does and does not work. Communication and faciliation techniques, formats and methodologies are refined and adapted based on feedback from participants, observation and self-reflection by the delivery team themselves.
21. Research partners: 
Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability (NIReS): interdisciplinary;
Newcastle University: Civil Engineering, Sociology, Politics;
Northumbria University: Social Sciences, Built and Natural Environment;
22. Description of research
b. Interdisciplinary: 
5
c. Transdisciplinary: 
5
Type: 
Project Reports
Region: 
Europe
Community: 
SCP,Livelihood and Well-being
Issue: 
Transformitive Learning
Country: 
United Kingdom