Planning to Practice: Developing Partnership-Building Skills Across the Curriculum

Abstract

Working in partnership with individuals, communities, and governments has been a core principle in health promotion and environmental health, and public health more broadly, since the development of the Ottawa Charter in 1986 and its subsequent declarations (Scriven, 2012). Competency in partnerships is a core professional skill internationally (Environmental Health Australia, 2014; International Union for Health Promotion and Education, 2016). The ability to form partnerships and collaborate with key business and industry and community partners is essential in public health. Teamwork and the ability to work collaboratively, across sectors, among various types of organizations, and in diverse settings, is a highly desired skill for entry-level health promotion or environmental health graduates (Hart Research Associates, 2010). It is surprising, therefore, that teaching teamwork and partnership building skills is not more evident in the literature. The skill set required to work in partnership is extensive and cannot reasonably be taught to students in a single course or two (Coleman & Lang, 2012). Partnership skill development occurs over time through opportunities to experience, reflect, and plan future action (Coleman & Lang, 2012. This article outlines an Australian undergraduate curriculum in public health that scaffolds partnership building across the entirety of the 3-year program delivered in mixed mode (distance and on campus). We first examine the benefits and challenges of teamwork and partnership building in an online environment. We then present the curriculum model we use to guide embedding partnership building across the program and to provide examples of how this is accomplished. Throughout this article, we argue that partnership building skills and knowledge need to be scaffolded over time to enable students to graduate and practice with confidence in initiating and nurturing effective public health partnerships. Literature Review Developing partnership skills and knowledge within a university context is primarily based on group work (collaborative learning) within individual courses. Many 776675P HPXXX10.

Wikis in Micro-Communities: A Collaborative and Relational Learning Tool for Health Promotion

“…Situating learning as a social process requires intention to foster relations between and amongst teachers and students, and can facilitate 'coming-to-know' ourselves, our perspectives and our taught content (Lave & Wenger, 1991). As a discipline that desires social change and requires practice-oriented competencies, moving beyond objective and surface-level knowledge production is desirable, and we require pedagogical tools that facilitate relational and embodied ontologies to emerge from health promotion learning (Madsen et al, 2019;Sendall, 2021).…”

“…There is little point trying to pursue collaboration without a relationship because of the underlying trust that is required. Given the pivotal role of relational skills for health promotion globally, and in particular for working locally in Aotearoa New Zealand, there remains a gap in practical tools and pedagogies in building these relational skills, and consequent collaboration, amongst health promotion students (Madsen et al, 2019).…”

Preparing Public Health Professionals to Address Social Injustices Through Critical Service-Learning

“…Understanding deeply the context and history of any given public health issue is often taught alongside fundamental health practice with little expectation for exploring the implications of how history may exacerbate injustice (Fleming, 2020). And while internships and practicum are vital to launching into professional practice, they are not always scaffolded to guide students in effective communication or critical reflection that draws together experience with public health theories in praxis (Madsen et al, 2019). The kind of high-level critical thinking, planning, and collaboration it takes to address the social determinants of health with justice-based implementation requires a critical pedagogy that embodies the praxis necessary to address health equity in public health interventions (Ford & Airhihenbuwa, 2010; Freire, 1972).…”