Edge Hill University Medical School (EHUMS) students will undertake a longitudinal project within the second year of their programme, which will link them with Community Voluntary Sector (CVS) organisations to explore the role CVS organisations play in supporting health and wellbeing outside of the traditional health care system. By working with CVS to identify projects they wish to undertake and develop with our medical students, EHUMS are creating links that we hope will continue to develop in a mutually supportive way, providing transformative learning experiences for our students by providing support for development of the CVS organisations.
In providing this learning and development opportunity EHUMS is actively utilising pedagogical approaches as outlined by the Higher Education Academy, that are particularly effective in the context of education for sustainable development, enabling medical students to relate their learning and develop understanding of real-life problems and situations in the context of health and wellbeing. Participatory learning approaches, peer-learning and collaboration – within and outside the classroom, allows students to be exposed to multiple perspectives, enabling creative responses to emerge.
Experiential and interactive approaches are particularly well suited to education for sustainable development, particularly where they encourage students to develop and reflect on their own and others’ values. As future doctors this is an important aspect of their development, engaging in critical reflection of their values and assumptions leading to transformative learning experience.
EHUMS will seek to monitor the impact of this collaborative educational experience for both student and CVS organisation to ensure projects are beneficial to both parties, and how outcomes meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
More information about the CVS projects can be found on the Voluntary Organisation Placement page.