The Coproduction of Knowledge: Working Together to tackle Sustainability
Keywords:
Student Voice, Co-production, Community Project, Collaboration, Experiential LearningAbstract
“The lesson for progressive education is that it requires in an urgent degree, a degree more pressing than was incumbent upon former innovators, a philosophy of education based on a philosophy of experience” (Dewey, 1938, p.10)
This article evaluates the impact of coproducing a community project between a university lecturer, a group of social science students, and a Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisation in the local community, along with their service users. The project was part of a collaborative initiative between The British Academy and Students Organising for Sustainability (SoS) “which uses a ‘living laboratory’ model to demonstrate the importance of arts, humanities and social sciences in tackling sustainability challenges” (https://www.sos-uk.org/post/shape-sustainability-impact-projects-22-23). The students worked with Base 25, a local VCFSE organisations providing support services to disadvantaged young people and families in the Wolverhampton area (https://base25.org/), to identify a project that could support the Mental Health and Wellbeing of young people – one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Working co-productively with staff and young service users at Base 25 the students, supported by the lecturer, produced a ‘Recipe for Life’ website for the organisation, freely available for anyone to use and circulated to local schools. By engaging in a project that responded to a real need in their local community, working across disciplines and organisational boundaries, the students gained critical skills, values and competencies that move beyond a narrow understanding of ‘employability’ (Booth, 2023). Instead it provided an opportunity to nurture graduates better equipped to engage in “Wicked Problems” (Brown et al, 2010). In addition, by the University participating in a more community-centric approach to research and pedagogy, it was able to widen the impact of its practice and knowledge through the softening of boundaries between academic and “local” community knowledge.
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