The SEDA values are a guide for action, they are not an attempt to stipulate what we think or believe or feel, rather they are intended to inform our actions as practitioners in higher education. They are sometimes about what we do; sometimes about why and how we do it; sometimes about what our actions are intended to achieve. They are also a basis for monitoring and evaluating our actions and our achievements, as individual professionals and as an organisation.
The values need to be embedded in your SEDA provision, we do not prescribe how you do this, understanding that we all need to interpret these values for our own particular learners and educational settings. Below we offer you some ideas to help explore what these values might mean, and how they may inform and underpin the context of your PDF programme.
All PDF named awards need to incorporate an opportunity for participants to explore learning models and theories. Participants will need to consider how such theories and models inform and underpin their engagement with the named award and achievement of the outcomes and to shape their own and others’ development.
To achieve successful outcomes, participants on the named award will need to demonstrate how they take an evidence-based approach to their practice. They will have the opportunity within the award to explore an appropriate literature base and any relevant codes of practice and ethics.
This value is about both participants working collaboratively in developing own practice and in encouraging students to learn with and from others. Like all the values, this can be demonstrated in various ways. For example, in the way the programme encourages participants to work collaboratively in engaging with the material in both online and face-to-face contexts.
Within the design and delivery of the named award, practice should model an inclusive approach which enables all participants to access the learning opportunities available. Opportunities to explore how the diversity of the participant group can be celebrated and valued should be considered. For example in the exercises and activities and readings that exemplify values and diversity.
Opportunities for participants to benchmark their initial aims and goals and to revisit them throughout the named award can help meet this value. A final opportunity to reflect upon their development through the course adds further evidence of continued professional development. As they progress through the outcomes they will need to consider how they can support others and the processes they are involved with.
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