Past collaborations

With the aim of expanding our understanding of the latest challenges affecting education, engagement and academic teams have collaborated with partners on a wide range of projects, including scholarship and research. 

Partners have included the Scottish Government, the Scottish Social Services Council and education unions, as well as schools and other organisations from Scotland, the UK and around the globe. 

Our projects have included:

Online module - Scottish Government and Scottish Social Services Council

Working closely with the Scottish Government, we supported the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) sector in Scotland to produce the free online module Identifying and supporting additional support needs in early learning and childcare. 

The module ran 18 times with over 4000 enrolments between March 2020 and April 2023. A Badged Open Course, over 1100 badges were awarded. 

It was a finalist in the Nursery World Awards 2022 in the Inclusive Practice category.

Professional learning - Dumfries and Galloway Council

We introduced the Understanding autism badged online course via workshops to a wide range of teaching and non-teaching staff in Dumfries and Galloway Council to contribute to their professional learning.

The course provides a good general grounding about the autistic spectrum, and challenges traditional views and stereotypes.

Practitioner enquiry - Sandbank Primary School, Dunoon 

We worked in partnership to support teachers' professional learning through practitioner enquiry: 

• Teachers researched an aspect of their professional practice, receiving individual support on research methods from an OU tutor.  
• Workshops included literature review; ethics, fieldwork and data analysis. 
• Findings were presented to council area colleagues, plus other practitioners and stakeholders, at professional learning and development meetings.

Resources for Africa 

Between 2007 and 2024, the OU worked with World Vision and the Ministry of General Education in Zambia to improve the quality of teaching. Find out more about our Scottish Government funded ZEST project (Zambian Education School-based Training), including technology used by teachers and ministry officials. 

Our open educational resource, Active teaching and learning for Africa: ZEST, is relevant to teachers and those who support teachers across the continent. 600 teachers and district officials from Zambia’s Central Province input to its development as part of our ZEST project. 

This school-based continuing professional development programme is designed to support a learner-centred approach to active teaching and learning, and can be adapted as needed. It includes reflective practice and resources to support literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. 

OU research relating to ZEST is on-going. Central to this project are principles of partnerships, high quality learning materials, plus access and inclusion. 

• Photo: Scottish Government