Session 1: Beginning Together

There are two foundations to this course:

• The learning culture of this group; and
• The key concepts and frameworks that we will be using throughout.

They are both critical to our learning journey together – participants and course curators alike. We will start to shape our group’s culture by understanding each other’s contexts, experiences and ways of working. This will help us to build respect for one another, and feel able to be open with, and learn from, one another. This will determine how safe we feel to take risks, to explore new ideas, and to challenge our own and others’ assumptions.

There are also some key frameworks and concepts – introduced in the pre-course module – that underpin the entire course. They provide us with a shared language about partnerships and partnership brokering.

Throughout the course, we will be practicing the discipline of reflective practice. We will begin with individual reflection, and build towards reflective journaling as the course progresses.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Introduce the participants and curators to each other in a way that will encourage active interest and engagement
• Lay the conceptual foundations for the course, in terms of the course structure and core concepts we will be using
• Explore common partnering challenges experienced by the group, and how
  concepts / models introduced might help in future
• Hold the first Learning Group meeting (immediately after the session)