First stages of the PASCL project discussed in Florence

FLORENCE – Student-centred learning will be a cross-cutting theme at the European Students’ Convention held in Florence, Italy, from 28 to 30 September 2014, held in conjunction with the first annual conference of ESU’s project called Peer Assessment of Student-Centred Learning (PASCL). This project is co-funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.

The first results of the research conducted by the project’s consortium will be presented at the conference where the participants will be given the chance to discuss closely different approaches to student-centred learning and its implementation. A special attention will be given to topics such as student-centred learning as part of e-learning processes, inclusive pedagogy of student-centred learning, correlation of student-centred learning with both quality assurance and commodification and different definitions applying to student-centred learning and its relevance to the curriculum, assessment and learning outcomes.

With this project ESU aims to present an overview of different policies for student-centred learning and practices in the European Higher Education Area. A critical analysis of the implementation process of student-centred learning dating back to the issuing of the Leuven Communiqué from 2009 will be carried out. More information about the PASCL project can be found on the project’s website http://pascl.eu/ and you can also follow recent developments and activities of partners on social media using the hashtag #pascl.

On this occasion, representatives from the national unions of students from 39 different countries, stakeholders, experts and policy-makers in higher education are expected to meet and discuss the recent developments in the field, in particular the paradigm shift in teaching and learning towards student-centred learning. The conference is co-organised by the European Students’ Union (ESU) and the national union of students in Italy (UdU).

The concept of student-centred learning was first introduced in a communiqué from a ministerial meeting of the Bologna Process in Leuven in 2009. Then, the ministers agreed that “student-centered learning and mobility will help students develop the competences they need in a changing labor market and will empower them to become active and responsible citizens.”

ESU believes that student-centred learning represents both a mind-set and a culture at higher education institutions and a learning approach that is broadly related to and supported by constructivist theories of learning. It is characterised by innovative methods of teaching which aim to promote learning in communication with teachers and other learners and which take students seriously as active participants in their own learning , fostering transferable skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and reflective thinking.

ESU is currently finalising all practicalities for the event, including a detailed agenda and a reader that will be presented in the upcoming weeks.

The European Students’ Convention is organised by ESU twice a year, usually in those member states of the European Union holding the rotating presidency, with the aim of creating synergies with the countries priorities on education.

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For more information, please contact:

Elisabeth Gehrke, ESU Chairperson: +32/479.591.499 // elisabeth@esu-online.org or Robert Hlynur Baldursson, ESU Communications Manager: +32/473.669.894 // robert@esu-online.org