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As the strength of the regeneration sector continues to grow there is a demand for sector specific tailored training courses to provide employees with the skills and knowledge needed to develop a successful career in regeneration. Coventry University and the University of Salford have both taken a step to start to address this demand by developing tailored courses on regeneration.
The two approaches vary in response to different needs within the sector. The Managing Complex Regeneration course offered by Coventry University is focused around an individual's specific job role and desired outcomes providing supported self study. In contrast the Creating Sustainable Communities course at The University of Salford works within organizations to deliver bespoke training in a workplace environment. The success of these two different approached emphasizes the fact that more needs to be done to develop tailored CPD for the regeneration sector to make the most of the specialist skills and knowledge needs of its employees.
A focus on the individual - action learning and learning frameworks
Coventry University's Managing Complex Regeneration course is run in collaboration with RegenWM offering Masters level credits which count towards a postgraduate qualification. The course is aimed at people involved with delivering regeneration projects who want to build on their existing knowledge to better understand and manage the complexities of delivering large regeneration projects.
The main strength of this particular course comes from the fact that there is a focus on both the individual and the sharing of experiences and good practice. Each course has a maximum number of 18 participants from a wide range of organizations, this allows practitioners to learn in a relaxed environment drawing on the experiences of professionals from the private, public and voluntary sectors.
This interdisciplinary nature is explored through action learning. Action learning encourages discussion and debate with peers and fellow professionals to address a particular problem or situation before putting that learning into practice in the workplace. Each participant explores a particular problem or situation that they have encountered in their workplace through discussion with other practitioners in the group; by taking the thought process away from the day-to-day workplace professionals are able to think more reflectively and gain different advice and perspectives from professionals in contrasting, as well as similar,...