Supporting Pedagogy at City of Liverpool College

In the COVID-recovery context, recognising and meeting the needs of students may require pedagogical adaptations that recognise the social and emotional impact of the pandemic and wider socioeconomic pressures. As the College serves some of the most deprived areas of the North West, the social, physical, psychological, and economic impact of recent years on students’ lives and experiences must be taken into account in this process of recognition to ensure students are supported to achieve. In turn this requires that staff are supported to develop pedagogies and practices that are attuned to these needs. Attunement, here, refers to a sensitivity to the experiences, often traumatic, of young people, identified as a key component of good practice among those working with vulnerable cohorts and individuals (cf. Cummings et al, 2017).

The aim of the research is to support the College to develop a contextual, relational pedagogical model that is underpinned by an understanding of scaffolding as relational and contextual (van de Pol et al, 2010), and as requiring attunement to learner needs, clarity of communication, and understanding of metacognition by both teacher and student. Together these will support a framework of formal and informal feedback that supports students’ understanding of subject content, its value in wider context, and themselves as individuals developing increasing autonomy and independence.

Both young people and education staff face new challenges as we return to work and study following the pandemic lockdowns and the disruption they caused. This research will help the College to identify how to adapt and why, based on existing research and an understanding of the specific challenges faced by the College and its students.