Collaborative teaching

Glasgow City Council is proud of its partnership with the OU and is promoting the model of collaborative teaching to other councils in Scotland.

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Our innovative collaborative teaching model is designed to enable organisations to deliver high quality learning opportunities in-house – with employees taught by suitably-qualified colleagues in their own workplace setting.

Running since 1997, the scheme has a strong track record of developing people and helping organisations to meet their strategic aims in a wide range of contexts and sectors.

Under the scheme:

• courses are delivered in appropriate workplace and community settings
• The Open University provides all the high quality study materials and resources needed, together with administrative and organisational support
• employers provide their own in-house tutor to support learning and assessment.

The major benefit for employers is greater flexibility and ownership of course delivery. In-house tutors can ensure that they deliver learning in line with organisational priorities and to meet specific staff training needs. In addition, collaborative teaching offers:

• the potential to tailor group tutorials to address local priorities, policies and procedures
• the flexibility to locate courses in the context of broader staff development plans or local workforce initiatives
• access to further Open University personal and professional development opportunities for staff after they have completed the course.

The in-house tutor role

There are benefits too for colleagues appointed as in-house tutors – for whom a lecturer-practitioner role offers a valuable professional development opportunity. Staff with a recognised teaching qualification may particularly welcome the chance to combine tutorial and student support activity with their existing role.