Prentis Hub

This programme began its life as the Changemaker Curriculum’. The word ‘Prentis’ is Welsh for ‘apprentice’, and was chosen because at the heart of this programme is an invitation for students to “apprentice yourself to a cause you believe in”. 

Made up of different modules, the programme teaches students how to design and take impactful, needs-based action. It introduces them to the Prentis framework as a way of doing this.  This approach, and the hard and soft skills it promotes, form the foundation for students to build upon for the rest of their lives, long after they have left UWC Atlantic.  

Each Prentis module culminates in a ‘deliverable’, where students are able to take authentic, real-world, high-stakes action.

The Prentis framework is the guiding philosophy and approach of each of the modules in our programme. It consists of four elements:

• Selflessness and bridge building to identify a need and build a team to work with others to take action. This might include approaches such as intentional team building, active listening, building an awareness of the social change ecosystem or building sustainable relationships.
• Designing for impact centred on need so that once the need has been identified, impactful action can be taken.  This might include approaches such as humanity/human-centred design, life-centred design or the Theory U approach.
• Managing impactful action so that students can intentionally work to address the needs that they have identified and designed to impact.  This is likely to include project management and impact evaluation.
• Joyful activism means institutionally and intentionally embedding joy, hope and celebration in our work, so that our work is energising, rewarding, motivated and sustainable.

Prentis Framework

Prentis is the CAS arm of the Systems Transformation Pathway. Made up of different modules, it provides students who are not involved in the Systems Transformation Pathway a chance to experience some of that approach and for students both inside and outside the pathway to work together. Some modules have a direct link to the pathway; others are wider, but all are exciting and focused on identifying need and trying to make an authentic difference