Creating Space to Reflect: What Hosting the PRME i5 Workshop Taught Me

This blog by Dr Anjana Basnet of Salford Business School offers a timely reflection on this theme. Drawing on a recent PRME UK and Ireland i5 workshop, it highlights the value of stepping back from the pace of academic life to engage in meaningful dialogue, shared learning and creative exploration with colleagues.

The i5 framework, which underpins PRME’s approach to innovative pedagogy, encourages learning that is meaningful, active, socially engaging, joyful and iterative. As this piece demonstrates, these principles are not abstract ideals but are already present in many of our classrooms. What matters is creating the space to recognise, connect and further develop these practices together.

At its heart, this blog reminds us that advancing responsible management education depends on community. Through reflection, collaboration and a shared commitment to continuous improvement, educators can build learning environments that not only inform, but inspire and empower the next generation of responsible leaders.

If you would like to publish a blog for the PRME UK & Ireland Blog Series and our PRME Knowledge Exchange Hub, please email PRME@bcu.ac.uk 

Creating space to reflect

By: Dr Anjana Basnet, Lecturer in International Business and Strategy and PRME Coordinator, Salford Business School, University of Salford, a.basnet@salford.ac.uk

As academics, we spend so much time creating learning experiences for others that we rarely stop to reflect on our own.

Earlier this month, Salford Business School welcomed 38 colleagues from across the School to a PRME UK and Ireland i5 Workshop, facilitated by Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, Chair of the PRME UK and Ireland Chapter, and Sarah Williams, member of the PRME UK and Ireland Steering Committee and Co Lead of the North West and North Wales Local Network.

As PRME Coordinator for Salford Business School, it was a privilege to help organise the workshop. Looking back, what stood out most was not simply engaging with the i5 framework, but the opportunity to pause, reflect and learn with and from colleagues.

In higher education, our calendars are often filled with teaching, marking, meetings, research and deadlines. Much of our attention is focused on the learning experiences we design for students, yet we rarely create the same space for ourselves as educators. This workshop reminded me that structured opportunities for reflection are not a luxury. They are essential to sustaining and developing our practice.

 

Grounding the workshop in institutional purpose

The afternoon began by grounding the discussion in Salford’s institutional context. Ruth Hudson, Subject Group Head for Marketing, Digital Business and Information Systems, introduced the University’s commitment to sustainability and responsible management education, linking the session to our wider strategic direction, Innovating to Enrich Lives.

This was an important starting point. The strategy challenges us to prepare graduates who can create positive social, environmental and economic impact. As educators, this requires us to go beyond knowledge delivery and focus on developing curiosity, critical thinking and the ability to respond to complex global challenges.

Listening to this introduction, it became clear that embedding sustainability is not about adding something extra to already full curricula. It is about rethinking learning itself, and the kinds of graduates we are working to develop.

Responsible management education, in this sense, is as much about how we teach as it is about what we teach.

From PRME to the i5 framework

Recognising the varied levels of familiarity with PRME across colleagues, Natascha and Sarah introduced the Principles for Responsible Management Education before guiding us into the i5 framework.

What I appreciated most was that the workshop did not feel like another initiative competing for our attention. Instead, it showed how the i5 framework provides a practical way of bringing our existing teaching practices to life. Learning should be meaningful, active, socially engaging, joyful and iterative. These five ideas quickly generated rich conversations throughout the afternoon.

As colleagues reflected on each element, examples quickly emerged from across the Business School. Simulations, authentic assessments, collaborative projects, reflective activities, community engagement were all being used to create meaningful learning experiences.

One of the most reassuring moments for me was realising that many colleagues were already embedding the principles of i5 within their teaching, often without recognising it.

The workshop did not ask us to start again. Instead, it gave us a shared language to recognise, celebrate and further develop practices that were already making a positive difference across the Business School.

Learning through creativity

A highlight of the afternoon was the LEGO activity. I was curious to see how colleagues would respond, but within minutes the atmosphere in the room had shifted completely.

There was energy, curiosity and laughter as colleagues used LEGO models to express ideas about teaching and learning.

What made this powerful was not the activity itself, but what it enabled. It created a different kind of space where conversation felt more open, ideas flowed more freely and colleagues engaged with each other in unexpected ways.

It was a reminder that meaningful learning does not always emerge from formal or structured approaches. Sometimes, stepping outside of familiar formats allows deeper conversations to surface.

Building a community of practice

Perhaps my most significant reflection from the afternoon is that responsible management education is not something that can be delivered through individual effort alone. It grows through relationships, shared practice and ongoing dialogue.

No single workshop or framework is sufficient to transform teaching. What matters is creating spaces where educators can come together to think, question and develop their practice collectively.

One unexpected outcome was how the conversations continued beyond the workshop itself. In the days that followed, colleagues reached out to share ideas, explore potential collaborations and consider how the i5 principles might be embedded more intentionally within their teaching. This ongoing dialogue has been one of the clearest indicators of impact.

The workshop did not end when people left the room. It marked the beginning of new conversations.

Reflections on impact and what comes next

I am very grateful to Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas and Sarah Williams for facilitating such an engaging and thought-provoking workshop. Most importantly, thank you to all colleagues at Salford Business School, who attended and contributed so openly and

generously throughout the afternoon.

Responsible management education is not built through individual initiatives or one-off workshops. It develops through conversation, collaboration and a shared commitment to reflecting on and evolving our teaching practice.

Earlier this month, we created that space at Salford Business School. And judging by the conversations that continue to emerge from it, it is a space that is still having an impact.