What is ScoPPES?

ScoPPES is responding to the Wellcome Trust’s Informal Science Learning Review of 2012 and we want to do this in partnership with the public engagement / informal learning sector. We’ll be hosting three workshops across the South West of England in Penryn, Exeter and Bristol. If you can’t make that we’ll happily give you a ring for a chat.

ScoPPES is based in the South West, mostly for pragmatic reasons. We’re not being exclusive – just trying to be practical – if you’re not from the South West but want to contribute you’d be most welcome to join in the discussions and workshops.

The Informal Science Learning Review highlighted a number of features of the informal learning / public engagement sector that appear to limit the sector’s capacity to advance as quickly as could be expected from such a well-­‐established field. The authors suggested that professionalization could be a useful step for the sector and the ScoPPES project is exploring this idea.

What did the report say?

The authors found that the sector is diverse but converges on two broad areas: “making science enjoyable and interesting” and “inspiring and generating interest in science” (p21).

Two of the issues the authors identified related to the knowledge of informal learning that practitioners drew on and the public groups / audiences reached by practitioners:

“There appears to be no programme of training that would enable new entrants [to the informal learning sector] to acquire a basic set of professional knowledge on which they could build.” (p55).

The report describes how the majority of informal learning providers reach children and/or families, they note that very young children (under 5) and adults are underserved relative to their numbers in the UK population. The authors also described Hidi and Renninger’s model of how interest develops. The model suggests that interest is both triggered and sustained, resulting in changing behaviour as individuals progress from a triggered interest to having a more sustained and enduring interest. The review notes that the majority of providers operate in the early stages of interest development: triggering and situational interest. In presenting these findings the authors note that:

“Currently there are no system-wide mechanisms that would support individual learners’ abilities to draw on and visit multiple sectors across the system.” (p54)

They conclude that there is merit in:

“Exploring ways of offering certification and professional development of individuals working in this field.” (Recommendation 5e p7)

In Wellcome’s response to the report, Matterson and Holman agree with this last sentiment and called for a “self-­‐learning community” to further enhance, develop and deepen the sector: “We believe that it is essential for the community itself to develop its own sense of ‘profession’ that is valuable and appropriate to practitioners.” ScoPPES is an opportunity for us to consider exactly this prospect.

Some questions we’re thinking about

•  Do you agree with the central issues? Is there a ‘problem’ with the sector?
• Professionalisation is one response, and could involve: describing a shared knowledge base, agreeing values or principles, accreditation of training / professional development and practice, keeping up to date with the latest knowledge / insight relating to PE… What issues arise from this? For examples: Who would this be relevant for? Who accredits training? Who would pay? Could professionalization work for a sector which has few clear career pathways? Could professionalization really work for such a diverse sector?
• How do we bring the public voice into public engagement and into the professionalization process?
• How does the business of public engagement affect this situation?
• What changes to the system, other than professionalization, could help the sector?

Get involved

What other questions or issues do you want to discuss? Share your ideas in a workshop or by telephone / Skype conversation. Workshop information will be announced soon.

If you can’t make either of these then get in touch by email. You can send me your thoughts or we can arrange a telephone / Skype call.