Developing Relational Competence: design and results of a course for higher education faculty 

The presentation reports experiences from a course on relation competence designed for faculty at Stockholm university, delivered for the first time during 2019. Encompassing 7,5 ECTS, the course activities and meetings were spread over one year, with five course meetings in the spring semester and three in the autumn semester. All of the participants were taking the course in their spare time, and on a voluntarily basis, i e not as a part of the 15 ECTS university pedagogy that is mandatory in order for faculty to teach at Stockholm university.  

The teaching-learning-activities employed in the course were chosen from diverse sources that suggests content and methods for developing dimensions of relational competence. The content elaborated on in the course was chosen from both Swedish and international sources (e g Aspelin 2017; 2018; Bingham & Sidorkin 2004; Frelin 2010; Jons 2008a; b; 2009; 2011; 2012; 2015; 2016; Ljungblad 2016). In addition, the participants’ experience from educational practices was emphasized as an important source of content in the teaching learning activities employed. 

The methods chosen consisted of video analysis as suggested by Jonas Aspelin and colleagues (2018), critical friends shadowing as suggested by Dahlgren and colleagues (2006), core reflection as suggested by Korthagen and colleagues (2005; 2013), critical incident analyses  as suggested by Green Lister and Crisp (2007), drama exercises as suggested by Berg, Höglund Arveklev, Larsson, and Lepp (2016) and reflective learning logs as suggested by Moon (2004; 2006). 

The final course examination allowed for a choice of either developing a course module or a collegial professional development plan in relational competence, or alternatively, a Self-study (Buck & Akerson 2016; Loughran et al 2004) focusing their own development during the course

In the presentation, these activities will be detailed, methods and content related to one another, followed by an account of the results of a small survey among the participants after finishing the course as regards to three questions: 1) What were your incentives for taking the course?, 2) What have you learned during the course?, and, 3) How did you learn what you learned in the course?