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History

5

Self Managed Learning College

History

In 1978 Dr Ian Cunningham had been merging a number of different approaches to learning and development in organisations. Working with his late wife, Caroline, they had established a process which drew upon a range of approaches which included action learning, self-development, independent study, learner centred education, open learning and self-directed education. In searching the literature, they were able to identify that no one had used the term Self Managed Learning before and so they adopted that label for the approach that they had developed. Since 1978, the Self Managed Learning (SML) approach has been used by a wide range of organisations (1,2,3,4) and since 2001 with young people as well, including in Self Managed Learning College.

Usage and evaluation in organisations

The Self Managed Learning (SML) approach has been used and positively evaluated in a wide range of organisations both in the public sector and the commercial sector. Some examples of published material, including large-scale evaluations, are as follows:

Sainsbury’s (5, 6); Shell (7) Ericsson (8); Finland Post and the S Group, Finland (9); Arun District Council, England (10); PPP Healthcare (part of the AXA Insurance Group) (11); Cable and Wireless (12); Reigate and Banstead District Council, England (13); Amersham International (14); Barclays Bank (14); C T Bowring (14); EMI (14); Ladbroke Group(14); Norwich Union Insurance (14); Hiram Walker Group(15); Anglian Regional Management Centre(16); BBC (17); British Airways (17); ICL (18); London Borough of Lewisham (19); NOP Research (20)

Centre for Self Managed Learning

The Centre for Self Managed Learning was created in 1994 by Ian Cunningham and colleagues to develop the use of the approach. In 2000 Ian Cunningham was invited to introduce Self Managed Learning into democratic schools in Israel (21). As a result of this he established the South Downs Learning Centre as a programme outside school for 11-16 year olds in Brighton and as a project within the Centre for Self Managed Learning. Programmes were also created in schools (22). In a move into new premises the Centre changed its name to Self Managed Learning College and also extended the programme to cover the 9-16 age group.

During this period Brighton and Hove City Council took a real interest in the approach. This included the then Director of Education establishing a working group to explore the use of SML in the City’s schools. This resulted in programmes in two schools as well as the Council praising the approach in its Strategic Plan as a model of what schools might move towards. In East Sussex County Council the College was recognised (and inspected) as an external provider for the County and this included programmes in three schools. As a result of these success other local authorities took an interest in SML including programmes for primary schools in the London Borough of Harringey, secondary schools in Portsmouth, Cambridge and Jersey. A collaboration with a charity in Dorset saw in-school SML programmes for three schools.

International

The College has helped with the development of SML in Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, Israel, Puerto Rico, Spain and Sweden. Visitors to the College to learn about our approach have come from Australia, Chile, Greece, Hungary, Korea and USA.

Usage in qualification programs

Self Managed Learning has been used for a number of post-graduate programmes in the UK including for Sussex University, University of East London and Sheffield Business School. Dawes (23) discusses its use in such contexts.

Notes

  1. Cunningham, I. (1999) The Wisdom of Strategic Learning: the Self Managed Learning Solution. 2nd Aldershot, Hants.: Gower Press
  2. Bennett, B. (2000) ‘Self Managed Learning in Organisations’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  3. Vallely, I. (1993) ‘Grow your people to grow your business’ in Works Management (August) 2-4
  4. Foy, N. (1980) The Yin and Yang of Organisations. London: Grant McIntyre
  5. Broome, N. and Evans, J. (2000) ‘Developing the personnel function using Self Managed Learning – organizational change in a major retail company’. in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  6. Evans, J. (1997) ‘Key skills for tomorrow’s world’ in Capability, Vol. 3(2) 11-13
  7. Broscombe, T. (1994) ‘Induction and change through Self Managed Learning’ in Purchasing and Supply Management. (March) 35-38
  8. Lines, R. (2000) ‘Lifelong Learning and Self Managed Learning in Ericsson.’’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  9. Lillia, T. (2000) ‘Self Managed Learning – experiences from Finland’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  10. Fellows, M. (2000) ‘Responding to change in local government – Self Managed Learning in Around District Council’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  11. Serpis, R., Aspinall, M. and Shorrick, R. (2000) ‘Organizational change through Self Managed Learning – the case of PPP Heathcare’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and 23,24,25Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  12. Webster, J. (1995) ‘Self Managed Learning in Cable and Wireless’ in Croner HRM Professionals Briefing, Issue 6.
  13. Bennett, B. (2000) ‘ Self Managed Learning – cases of action’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  14. Bennett, B. (2000) ‘Senior Management Development – the evaluation of a consortium programme.’ in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press
  15. Hurley, B. and Cunningham, I. (1993) ‘Imbibing a new way of learning’ in Personnel Management (March) 42-45
  16. Atkins, L. (1983) ‘Self Managed Learning at the Anglian Regional Management Centre’ in Group Relations (Winter) 7-11
  17. Trapp, R. (1992) ‘Managers being made to order’ in The Independent on Sunday newspaper (26 April) 7
  18. Guy, R., Holden, F. and Dickinson, P. (1994) ‘ICL Learning about Self Managed Learning’ in Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 6 (4) 8-10
  19. Jackson, S. (1993) ‘Learning to learn in Lewisham’ in Organisations and People Vol. 1(4) 22-24.
  20. Bard, M. and Moore, E. (2000) ‘Mentoring and Self Managed Learning: professional development for the market research industry.’ In International Journal of Market Research (Summer-Autumn) Vol. 42 (3) 252-279 (Paper won Best Presented Paper, Market Research Society Conference, 2000.)
  21. Hecht, Y. (2010) Democratic Education. New York: AERO
  22. Hazeldine, A. (2006) ‘ “This is the best thing in school”: Self Managed Learning at Uckfield Community Technology College’ in Specialist Schools Journal (May) 18-25
  23. Dawes, G. (2000) ‘Self Managed Learning and qualification programmes’, in Cunningham, I., Bennett, B. and Dawes, G. (eds.) Self Managed Learning in Action. Aldershot, Hants: Gower Press

References

Boldero, N. (1981) ‘Self Managed Learning: a personal view’ in The Training Officer (October) 292

Corrall, S. (1992) ‘Self Managed Learning : the key to professional personal development’ in Foreman, L. (ed.) Developing Professionals in Information Work. Circle of State Librarians, London: HMSO

Cunningham, I. (1981) ‘Self Managed Learning and Independent Study’ in Boydell, T. and Pedler, M. (eds.) Management Self Development: Concepts and Practices. Aldershot, Hants.: Gower Press

Cunningham, I. (1988) ‘Open Learning and learning to learn’ in Hodgson, V., Mann, S. and Snell, R. Beyond Distance Teaching : Towards Open Learning, Milton Keynes; Open University Press

Cunningham, I. (1991)'Self Managed Learning' in Mumford, A (ed) Handbook of Management Development, Farnborough, Hants: Gower Press (3rd Edn) (Also in Prior, J (ed) Handbook of Training and Development - also Gower)

Cunningham, I. (1995) Getting the Best Out of Self Managed Learning, London: Cabinet Office, HMSO

Cunningham, I. (2019), ‘A new educational paradigm for the 21st century’, Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 34 (2) 5-7. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-10-2019-0253

Maher, P. (1984) ‘SML: it changed my life’ in ARMC Newsletter (February) 5-8

Skilton, M. (1982) ‘Self Managed Learning- a manager’s report on his management course’ in LGTB Training Newsletter (Nov./Dec.) 4-5