What is a learning partner?

A blog by Jo Kennedy & Dr Emily Whyte

You might have heard the term “learning partner” but not be entirely sure what the role involves. So, we wanted to share some insight into what being a learning partner means to us.

At its simplest, a learning partner works alongside people to help them understand what is happening, notice what is changing and decide what to do next.

The phrase “grow as we go” coined by our friend and colleague Cathy Sharp at Research for Real captures it well.

Rather than waiting until the end of an intervention to look back and assess what happened, learning takes place while the work is still happening. We create opportunities for people to pause, reflect together and explore what is working, what is not working and what might need to change. 

That means the learning can influence the work as it develops. In her research with others exploring Collective Leadership, Cathy developed 24 Provocative Propositions as a resource for learning together. You can access them here. 

Learning together 

Being a learning partner is a collaborative process. We are not standing outside the work, observing people from a distance and delivering a judgement at the end.

We begin by getting to know the people involved. Depending on the work, that might include community members, practitioners, strategic leaders, and funders. Each person sees the work from a different position and brings a different kind of knowledge.

Our role is to create spaces where those perspectives can be heard and explored together and we can come up with individual and collective indicators of progress. 

They do not always align neatly, and we do not expect them to. A community member may describe success very differently from a strategic leader. They may use different language or focus on different experiences. Those differences are not something to tidy away. They can help us understand what is really happening across a complex system. And we write these up in a learning framework which becomes a reference point we can reflect back on at regular intervals in the life of the work, using it to explore what is changing over time, and updating it as new insights emerge about what better looks like.

Bringing people together

People with different perspectives can learn a lot from one another. One of our roles is to bring people together facilitating spaces in which they can share what they see and know standing in their different places in a community, and develop ideas together about how to build on what is working and improve what isn’t. In our recent work in Dundee we called these Café Conversations, and the local authority has adopted them as a new way of doing local planning. You can find out more about it here. 

Working with people, not doing to them

A lot of traditional research and evaluation can feel extractive, even when it is carried out with good intentions.

People are asked questions, their information is taken away and somebody else decides what it means. A report is then written for people elsewhere in the system to learn from.

Learning partnership takes a different approach. We recognise people as experts in their own experiences. We listen, reflect their stories back to them, and make sure they see themselves in what has been captured. They know how their experiences will be used and can help shape the learning that comes from them. 

It is about doing the work with people, rather than to them.

One example is Debbie’s first-person story, developed collaboratively with Emily in her role as learning partner. It captures how Debbie turned her ideas into action and the conditions that helped make this possible. Her story has since been shared across the public service system, helping others understand the difference people can make when they are listened to, supported and given the space to lead change.

You can read Debbie’s story here.

Working with complexity

Listening to and honouring different perspectives means that there are different versions of how change happens. This can feel messy – but humans are messy, and communities are complex. Change rarely follows a simple path from one action to one predictable outcome. Sometimes something works, sometimes it does not, and sometimes something entirely unexpected happens.

Instead of forcing that complexity into a tidy explanation, we ask: why is this happening, what is getting in the way and what might need to shift?

Turning stories into learning

Stories are an important part of this process.

We gather them through informal conversations after taking time to build relationships and trust. They help people describe what has changed for them, what has made a difference and what remains difficult. They are not simply polished case studies created to demonstrate that a programme has succeeded.

Those stories can then become a starting point for wider conversations. We bring people together to reflect on them, consider what they reveal and ask what they mean for the work ahead.

But gathering someone’s story is not enough. People should know how it will be used, be able to recognise themselves in what has been captured and remain connected to the learning that follows.

Otherwise, there is a risk that we listen to people without giving them any real influence over what happens next. Their voice has been heard, but they have no agency.

A learning partner tries to move beyond the familiar idea of “You said, we did.” Instead, the question becomes: “You said. What can we do together as a result?”

This helps people feel that what they have shared means something and that their experiences can contribute to what happens next. One example of this is the Wee Night In in Charleston, where a group of local mothers went on to help run a supportive weekly space for families and create new opportunities for community-led activity. Watch a short clip about the initiative here.

Holding up a mirror

A learning partner holds up a mirror to a group or a piece of work. 

We reflect back what we are seeing and hearing so that people can pause and look at the work as a whole rather than just seeing their own perspective. But the mirror needs to be held up while there is still time to act on what it shows.

Being external helps us to notice what is changing, because we are not so involved in the work, and to ask questions which might feel challenging, because there is not so much at stake for us. 

But we know the approach is taking root when practitioners begin hosting their own reflective conversations, asking more open and curious questions and creating spaces where people can think together without a fixed agenda.

A learning partner does not arrive with all the answers. We listen, ask questions and learn alongside everyone else.

Together, we create enough space to understand what is happening, and enough momentum to decide what happens next.

What others say

To offer another perspective, we asked one of our funders to reflect on what working with a learning partner has meant for them:

A learning partner helps us as a funder gather evidence and insights from communities in real time which ensures that our strategy is based on real-world learning rather than assumptions. It has been your ability to synthesize data into actionable insights, making it easier for us to pivot or double down where it matters. It has also meant we can share this in a more accessible way with those who hold power. 

You have strengthened our internal capacity to reflect, adapt, and integrate learning practices which has built a “learning culture” inside our team.