The value and effectiveness of Self-Organised Learning has been demonstrated through over 50 years of action research by the Centre for the Study of Human Learning and the work of the Centre’s 40 post graduate students, and through the work undertaken by the college itself.
Action research by the Centre for the Study of Human Learning
As they say in their book ‘Learning Conversations’, Sheila Harri Augstein and Laurie Thomas:
“… have conducted Learning Conversations on the shop floor and in the board room, on a frigate, on a rugby field and a skating rink, in schools, polytechnics and universities, in a bank, the post offices, and in a chain of shoe shops as well as in a number of research and development establishments.
We have run short courses for officers of the Royal Navy, educational psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors, foremen of Clarks Shoes, Managers of Dunlop, Shell, ICI and Kelloggs. Supervisors and managers of the Post Office, as well as teachers and other higher education staff as far a field as Madras, Mexico, Sydney and Singapore, and nearer home in Paris, Berne, Strasbourg, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Limerick and Milton Keynes.
We have worked with factory managers and production teams, quality assurance and personnel staff, with sales managers and their customers. We have acted as advisors to general practitioners, architects, athletics coaches, teacher trainers, family counsellors, marriage guidance counsellors and prison governors.”
