The Opportunities and Challenges of Working With Students

As we move towards an ageing population, quality education and lifelong learning for all has been acknowledged as being a key element in UNESCO's mission (2008-2013). Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO (2014, p4) further stated that; '...Global Citizenship Education must also be considered crucial elements for well-rounded educational systems.' Over a billion people are annually on the move globally, with approximately 40 million being refugees or internally displaced (UNHCR, 2014 cited in UNESCO, 2014). Therefore there are challenges in that all educational institutions need to assist the immigrants in the integration process and in facilitating the acceptance of the immigrants by the population of the host countries. Higher Education has a key role to play in this process. The concepts of citizenship and employability can be included in the programmes, but it can be challenging for students who may feel that citizenship has no relevance to their programme of study. But as stated previously, we are living in a global society and students are required to have transferrable skills and citizenship is key to global participation. This paper proposes that the inclusion of citizenship and employability can augment the learner experience, especially when embedded in the students' own disciplines. In the 20th century, the adult learning experience focussed on face to face contact, but in the 21st century learners want and expect pedagogical approaches that encourage interaction using blended learning. These approaches can assist in engaging the learner in critical thinking that enhances citizenship and employability. The paper will demonstrate how lifelong learning has adapted to the meet the learning needs of students in the 21st century; including citizenship and employability and focuses on the blended learning approaches to explain how these enhance and seek to develop the students' learning experience by encouraging critical thinking and independent learning. The paper considers a case study that demonstrates the inclusion of teaching about citizenship and inclusion among students in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Glasgow Caledonian University. The interventions employed recognise that the students are digitally engaged and the Real World is one that affects their learning in the 21st Century.