Confronting difficulty in leading curriculum change: Creating coherent pathways through Politics and International Relations degree programmes

This teaching note presents a case study of how the author used a collaborative approach to develop a set of intellectually and narratively coherent pathways through undergraduate degree programmes in Politics and International Relations. It contributes to the symposium’s focus on dealing with difficulty through its confrontation with the difficulty of defining and pursuing ‘coherence’, both in the abstract, and through engagement with institutional policies, staff interests and disciplinary norms. It models the use of open communication, participation and genuine collaboration as methods to achieve good outcomes, but also identifies shortcomings with how the specific project played out.