Learning from Langland: theo-poetic resources for the post-Hind ...

As new modes of knowledge production and distribution have developed, universities have
faced competition from other providers of knowledge and training, and have responded to
market forces by diversifying their own provision. 25 One consequence of this has been that
HEI’s have been encouraged to develop collaborative partnerships with other training
providers, including courses providing ministerial education. This has had some interesting
consequences for theological education. Ministerial training courses have often been
required to adapt their language of self-description to conform to prevailing funding trends,
and as smaller partners, have needed considerable agility to manage their relationship with
the larger institution of which they are an expendable part. 26 On the other hand, there are
potential benefits (not least financial) to partnerships with those HEI’s which encourage
vocational learning and which enable more praxis-based models of theological education to
and suggests that relevance no longer equates with the ‘application’ of knowledge to the
workplace, but instead, the workplace itself is seen as a site of learning, knowledge and
knowledge production.’ Lyn Brennan, ‘Integrating Work-based Learning into HE’,
University Vocational Awards Council website,
http://www.uvac.ac.uk/downloads/0401_publications/int_wbl.pdf. p8. Accessed on
15.3.2011.
25 Evidence of the importance of the knowledge economy is widespread in policy
documents over the last ten years. Part of the agenda is to do with how best to ‘cluster’
‘knowledge capital activities’, and regional planning is one of these, with a vision for
universities acting as focal points for a range of dispersed learning within their part of the
country. The OECD document of 2001 ‘Cities and Regions in the New Learning Economy’
and ‘Universities and Regional Development: A Overview’ are just two examples at the
policy level of this trend. It is interesting that Hind has also picked up on the notion of
regionalisation.
26 One example would be the relationship between the University of Gloucestershire and
the West of England Ministerial Training Course. Because the University’s foundation
deeds emphasise its Christian roots and the need to provide Christian teaching, it has been
deemed advantageous for it to keep WEMTC within its structures. In 2008, the possibility
of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for an
employer co-funded Foundation Degree in Theology and Christian Ministry moved the
relationship into a new phase, with WEMTC staff becoming part-employed by the
University. The HE cuts and cap on student numbers in the academic year 2009-10 led to
the University reversing the decision, making the staff formally redundant, and returning
the WEMTC course to ‘Collaborative Partner’ status.
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