intuition spring 2013

InTuition

Benefi tsStatusVoice

Issue 12 Spring 2013

The journal for professional teachers and trainers in the further education and skills sector

The professionalsHow QTLS changed the lives of two former TAs InPractice p24

Lifelong learning champion Helena Kennedy QC is IfL’s newest patronInterview p10

How to address FE’s disappointing Ofsted reports?Features p12

Professional teachers and trainers hold the key to Scottish reforms CPD Matters p18

Go easy on grades: learners thrive on medals and missionsGeoff Petty p30

www.ifl .ac.uk

Please give us your feedback on our new issue – see page 3

Now available

Digitally

1_Cover.indd 3 08/03/2013 12:24

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INT.03.13.002.indd 2 12/03/2013 15:22

InTuition Issue 12 | Spring 2013 3

It will come as no surprise that the

feedback we receive from members,

via surveys and consultations, on the

phone, or in person, regularly returns

to the common themes of the desire for greater recognition, a

need for support in professional practice and the ambition to

achieve the best possible outcome for learners. This edition

covers many of these issues, as well as hopefully stimulating

further debate and discussion among members.

In our interview on page 10, Helena Kennedy QC emphasises

the importance of a professionalised practitioner workforce.

As IfL’s newest patron, Baroness Kennedy will be an advocate

for teachers and trainers and their status within the sector.

The professional status of Qualifi ed Teacher Learning and

Skills (QTLS) is important to many members. In our cover

story, former teaching assistants Kathy Callaghan and Angela

Wellington talk about how QTLS has helped their careers.

As the professional body for teachers and trainers, IfL also

seeks to discuss the diffi cult issues in FE. And issues do not

come much more awkward than last year’s highly critical report

on learning and skills from the chief inspector of Ofsted. Nick

Reinis explores this charged debate on pages 12-14.

A year on from the re-launch of InTuition to include more of

the news, views and practical information you wanted, we are

continuing to develop new benefi ts and services for members.

As part of this I am pleased to announce the launch of IfL’s new

jobs board. Tailored to the needs of teachers and trainers in FE

and skills, the service aims to support you in your career. Take a

look at www.ifl .ac.uk/jobs and let us know what you think.

As your independent professional body, IfL is only as strong

and infl uential as the support you give it. We welcome your

thoughts on how IfL could be of greater support to you as a

member. Contact us at editor@ifl .ac.uk or tweet us at @IfL_

Members #IfL_InTuition. And, if you have not done so already,

please don’t forget to renew your IfL membership by 1 April.

Thank you for your continued support.

Marie AshtonManaging Editor

Spring clean your

career with support

and services from IfL

Contents

News 4

Letters 6Your views on the last issue

Opinion 8Aff ordable IfL membership Interview 10IfL patron Helena Kennedy QC

Feature 12Responding to Ofsted

CPD Matters 15Numerically speakingScotland’s FE reformEmbedding e-learning

InFocus 23Entrepreneurship lessons InPractice 24From TA to teacher

InSight 26Vocational masterclass

Training 29Preparing for 14-16 growth

Geoff Petty 30Why grading degrades

Books 32

Research 34

Noticeboard 35

Welcome

Contacts

EDITORIALeditor@ifl .ac.ukInTuition,

Institute for Learning,

49 – 51 East Road,

London, N1 6AH

www.ifl .ac.uk/intuition

Managing Editor: Marie Ashton

Editor CPD Matters:

Jean Kelly

Writer: Annette West

Editorial support:

Michelle Charles

Publishing and Editorial Adviser: Alan Thomson

ADVERTISING

Divisional Sales Director: Steve Grice

Sales Executive :

Edward Taylor

020 7880 6200

SUBSCRIPTIONSInTuition and CPD Matters

are sent to all current

members of the Institute

for Learning (IfL)

and are also available

on subscription to

non-members.

For non-member

subscription enquiries,

or to purchase single

copies, contact IfL on

0844 815 3202 or

email editor@ifl .ac.uk

Annual subscription

rate for four issues:

£50 (UK);

£60 (rest of the world).

IfL is a not-for-profi t

company limited by

guarantee. Registered

in England and Wales

No. 4346361.

The views expressed in

this publication are not

necessarily those of IfL

or members of the

editorial board.

Registered offi ce:

First Floor, 49 – 51 East

Road, London N1 6AH

Published: April 2013

ISSN: 2050-8950

Give us your feedback on our latest issue

InTuition

For more information visitwww.ifl .ac.uk

Or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Editorial boardJohn Gannon, The Skills and

Development Agency; Dr Maggie Gregson, University of Sunderland;

Professor Yvonne Hillier, University

of Brighton; Jacquie Higgs-Howson,

Barnet College; Professor Ann Hodgson, Institute of Education;

Ian Nash, Nash & Jones Partnership;

Gemma Painter, National Union of

Students; Marion Plant OBE, North

Warwickshire and Hinckley College and

South Leicestershire College; James Noble Rogers, Universities’ Council for

the Education of Teachers; Geoff rey Stanton, Educational Consultant;

Sheila Thorpe, Chichester College;

Bobby Singh Upple, EMFEC;

John Webber, Sussex Downs

College; Tom Wilson, Unionlearn

3_Welcome.indd 3 13/03/2013 12:33

4 Issue 12 | Spring 2013 InTuition

News

By Staff Reporters

Teachers and trainers fear their professional interests may confl ict with some of the priorities of an employer-led further education guild, according to an IfL member consultation.

While supportive of the proposed guild for FE, there were concerns among IfL members around some of the aims proposed for the guild in the consultation document, produced by the Guild Development Project Team.

The consultation closed on 22 February and IfL’s member consultation informed the institute’s response. The guild is due to launch in August.

IfL members agreed broadly with the top-level aims, including “To make the sector an attractive place to work so that it can recruit and

retain the best staff .” But IfL members questioned how this aim could be realised in practice.

To explore the issue further, IfL asked members to prioritise the things that they felt would make the sector a better place to work.

The top eight were:• Better pay and conditions

• Better employment security• A clear career progression

pathway• Less bureaucracy• An entitlement to continuing

professional development • Accessible initial teacher

training• Improved careers support• Better sense of community

It was felt that, although admirable, the guild’s aim of making FE a better place to work was diffi cult to achieve given the often unpopular decisions around pay and staffi ng made by the employers who will lead the guild.

Members also noted that, while pay and conditions are the number one priority for practitioners, it is proposed that the guild will have no role in negotiating staff pay and conditions.

Seven out of 10 of the 621 IfL respondents, who

generously gave their time to inform the IfL response, said that the guild should be for all staff and members felt strongly that bodies such as IfL and trade unions should be able to hold the guild to account in a constructive partnership. Members agreed with the fi ve qualities of professionalism outlined in the guild consultation.

However, it was felt that the list of qualities might be expanded to include: practitioners being granted the respect, trust and freedoms to exercise their professional judgement; clear and accessible career progression pathways; and a commitment to a collective base of ethical values underpinning professional practice.

For more details, visit: http://www.ifl .ac.uk/feguild

IfL reveals results of member consultation on guild proposals Majority agree broadly with top-level aims proposed in the consultation

IfL at a glance

IfL members by membership grades

For more information see: http://www.ifl .ac.uk/

membergrades

● Member● Affi liate ● Associate ● Fellow ● Companion

FE sector ‘needs national centre of excellence for vocational teaching’A national centre of excellence for vocational teaching and learning should be created to help support practitioners in further education, a report has recommended.

The centre would help underpin and advance theories of vocational pedagogy that could be used to support the practice of teachers and trainers in FE, the report from the City and Guilds Centre for Skills Development argues.

The report, How to teach

vocational education: a

theory of vocational pedagogy was produced to feed into the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and

Learning (CAVTL) and the Richard Review of Apprenticeships.

It says that the only way to improve vocational education is to develop a theory of vocational pedagogy, based on the outcomes desired by learners and employers.

“Specifi cally, we need to understand more precisely how you best engage particular kinds of learners to undertake the particular kind of learning on which they are embarked to achieve whatever vocational outcomes are desired,” the report says.

The report proposes a defi nition of vocational learning

by giving it a theoretical orientation, mapping generic desired outcomes and highlighting teaching methods which existing research suggests work well across a range of vocational contexts.

The fi nal report of CAVTL, which is chaired by Frank McLoughlin, principal of City and Islington College, was due to be published as InTuition went to press.

Read the City and Guilds report at http://bit.ly/Ye9fLL

A House of Lords debate, featuring IfL patron Baroness Sharp of Guildford, on the report can be read at http://bit.ly/Z6xvOQ

59%

21.6%

0.7%

17.1%

1.6%

AN

DR

EW

BIR

CH

4_5_News.indd 4 13/03/2013 14:22

www.ifl .ac.uk


IfL members will inform the priorities of a new national research centre for further education and skills established jointly by IfL and the University of Wolverhampton.

Members will also benefi t from new professional development opportunities thanks to the work of the new Centre for Research and Development in Lifelong Education (Cradle) which is based at the university’s renowned School for Education Futures (SEF).

The centre, headed by

Denis Gleeson, emeritus professor of education at the University of Warwick, will be an important hub and repository for initial teacher training, early years of practice and knowledge transfer in FE.

Announcing the launch of the centre, which opens offi cially in May, Wolverhampton’s vice-chancellor Professor Geoff Layer said: “We are very pleased to have a formal partnership with IfL, as we share its values and its commitment to teachers and

trainers in FE and skills being trained and supported to be world-class professionals.

“IfL members will help inform Cradle’s priorities and benefi t from new professional development opportunities.

“By working with the university, IfL will continue to help raise the status and skills of teachers and trainers in FE.”

Wolverhampton is one of the UK’s leading centres for initial teacher training in further education and continuing professional development, as well as research into post-compulsory teaching and learning.

The aim of the new centre is to feed research fi ndings back into practice to support the work and careers of FE teachers and trainers. The centre has a particular emphasis on those in their early years of practice, but it will also incorporate postgraduate research and development activity for more experienced practitioners.

Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of IfL, said: “The new centre will add to the university’s distinguished body of knowledge and research-based teaching and training practice.

“Learners and employers rightly expect the practice of teaching, training and learning to be based on sound and ground-breaking research and evidence, rivalling the very best in the world.”

IfL’s new Cradle for teaching

Making lesson observation work for you

The place of ethics in initial teacher training

Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences

on these or any other issues by emailing editor@ifl .ac.uk

Next issue

Honours for IfL members

By Annette West

Congratulations to Carol Taylor, director of development and research at the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) who was awarded an OBE for services to adult learning, and to Stephen Christie, a technical adviser for media studies at Wigan & Leigh College, who was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to further education in the New Year honours.

Carol secured national and international acclaim as the former director of Derbyshire’s innovative literacy initiative ‘Read On Write Away!’, launched in 1997.

She oversaw the merger of the Basic Skills Agency in London with NIACE in 2007 and has spoken nationally and internationally on the impact of poverty on education and community-focused learning.

She said she was amazed to receive the honour: “I am delighted for everyone I have worked with and for in adult learning. I am also delighted for the recognition of women in leadership roles,” she said.

What for Stephen began as a hobby with electronics, progressed to a career change from motor mechanic into working in adult education, advising and demonstrating audio and visual systems.

Stephen uses his 30 years of volunteering and working in hospital, local and BBC radio to pass on practical knowledge and skills to learners. He also uses his contacts with local organisations and charities to help college students gain work experience.

“I realise my work forms only part of a great team eff ort here at Wigan & Leigh College and I consider it a special honour to have been nominated,” he said.

Carol Taylor, OBE

Stephen Christie, BEM

Web poll

Which source of information do you use the most for career advice? 35%

40%25%

● Websites and social media ● Colleagues or mentors● Professional bodies or trade

organisations

The centre aims

to feed research

fi ndings back

into practice to

support the work

of FE practitioners

For more information see: http://

www.ifl .ac.uk/careerstoolkit

4_5_News.indd 5 13/03/2013 16:20


News & Views

Your digital InTuition

• Your views

The paper version arrived which is ideal for me. Please don’t stop producing this!Louise Bond

Editor’s note: I am happy to say

that print copies of InTuition

will continue to be sent to IfL

members as well as being

available in PDF format and

digitally.

I’m sorry, but I don’t like the online edition at all. I found it diffi cult to read, even when magnifi ed, and, as I couldn’t see any way of saving it, if I want to re-read anything I have to fi nd the original email again. Frankly, I much prefer a PDF. Well, you did ask!Angela Fuller

Employment opportunitiesAs a member of IfL, I am proud of the way we are developing/maintaining our professional status and a good specialist journal goes a long way in developing that image. The one thing InTuition lacks is a recruitment section. I would appreciate an area where I might be able to see good reliable work opportunities rather than some of the supposed ‘excellent placement opportunities’ off ered by some websites and agencies.Tina Campbell

Please see below.

New technologies for teachers can be exciting,

powerful and, dare I say it, ‘cool’ for our own

professional development, as well as for

engaging learners and accelerating their

learning. So it was with particular interest that

I met with two technology giants recently.

I was lucky enough to receive an invitation from Google’s head of education, Europe, to join their ‘Google School’ in order to see what more they could do to support teachers in further education. I was also able to invite two IfL members to the Google School in February and I had a productive conversation with one member, who works in a local authority, exploring what Google could off er FE teachers.

However, as so often is the case with very large companies, they tend to work with schools and universities globally. So, I got thinking about how a giant like Google could work with IfL to produce something useful for FE teachers – something that IfL could create in partnership with Google.

So here goes: IfL is looking for up to 10 volunteers to help. We will off er a supported route to becoming formally recognised for your expertise in using Google apps in teaching, training or assessing. This will off er three things: fi rst, a good overview of the range of Google products and services that can be used

eff ectively for teaching in FE, which is good professional development in itself; second, a unique opportunity to get a formal status to add to your CV; and third, the chance to explore whether becoming a certifi ed Google trainer might be useful for your context. Our intention is to make this new continuing professional development and status more widely available to members, assuming we can create something useful and valuable to you. Please email editor@ifl .ac.uk before 10 April if you are interested in being a volunteer.

My second encounter with a global leader in technology occurred at the launch of the new IBM ‘Classroom in the Cloud’ at Birmingham Metropolitan College (http://ibm.co/15kuRJf).

IBM has thousands of leading-edge software engineers based in the UK and it is keen to work with IfL to support new technologies for teaching in FE. We are looking at creating professional development shadowing and placement opportunities with IBM as part of professional updating for teachers and trainers in various vocational areas. We hope to have further information on this soon.

• Ear to the ground : Toni Fazaeli, IfL chief executive

IfL jobs board launchedNew for 2013: IfL has created a job seeking service tailored to the needs of teachers and trainers in FE and skills.

In response to member feedback, IfL is developing benefits and services to support you in your career journey.

Pictured left to right: Chris Davies, Birmingham

Metropolitan College; Toni Fazaeli, IfL; Karen

Manuel, Birmingham Metropolitan College

IfL teams up with tech leaders Google and IBM

6_7_News_Letters_newer.indd 6 13/03/2013 16:06

www.ifl .ac.uk


Masterclass support online

A new online module designed to support innovation in teaching and learning is available to members who have attended IfL Vocational Masterclass programmes.

The vocational updating module allows teachers and trainers to demonstrate what they learned during the masterclasses and to support the development and implementation of new approaches to teaching and learning.

The module is part of a suite of resources being developed to support the Vocational Masterclass Programme. The resources will comprise a variety of materials including ‘How to’ guides, competition briefs, videos, case studies and exemplars.

Resources are designed to enhance professional development for individuals and organisations and to allow providers to demonstrate eff ective examples of positive impact on teaching and learning, which can be useful for external inspections.

Masterclasses are off ered in partnership with WorldSkills UK and sponsored by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). Diff erent events are available to suit providers’ needs. Further information on

masterclasses can be found

at http://bit.ly/13CfkWP

or email worldskills@ifl .

ac.uk

Professionalising

school teaching

A national teaching institute should be established to run professional development for school teachers, a lobby group of leading educationalists has proposed.

Among the possible roles for a proposed National Institute for Teacher Development in England would be: recommending the curriculum for in-service teacher training; establishing a framework of accredited and non-accredited teacher development programmes; and creating a national teacher development portfolio owned by teachers.

A paper from the New Visions for Education Group says: “We strongly believe that a teaching profession that is demonstrably up to date, conversant with new knowledge and skills, and confi dent about the evidence on which practice was based

would be signifi cantly strengthened.”Full report: http://bit.ly/

XoDPRp

Opinion, page 9

Employer perspective

Less than a third of employers seeking external training for their employees engage publicly funded providers such as further and higher education institutions, according to a recent report from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

By contrast, 85 per cent of those looking for external training reported engaging the services of private or third sector training providers, although many employers seeking outside help with training will engage both public sector and private training providers.

Less than half (47 per cent) of all employers look externally for training solutions, with most preferring to train internally. Many of these employers cite a lack of relevant external courses, according to the UKCES Employer’s Perspectives Survey 2012. Full report: http://bit.ly/

Wh9gS1

Earnings premiums

Learners who gained their vocational qualifi cations through work were likely to see their earnings rise faster and higher than those who achieved the

same qualifi cations through the classroom route, government research has discovered.

Those who gained level 3 qualifi cations through the workplace saw their earnings rise on average by between 7 per cent and 8 per cent compared with those who failed to complete the qualifi cation.

This premium rises to around 17 per cent six or seven years after qualifi cation.

By comparison, those gaining a level 3 via the classroom route are unlikely to reap the benefi t of their qualifi cation until four years after gaining it, according to research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.Full report: http://bit.

ly/15PPuOH

News in Brief

Email us at editor@ifl .ac.uk

or tweet us at twitter.com/

IfL_Members #IfL_InTuition.

Please note that letters may

be edited for publication.

Send us your views

Lou Northern @TeachNorthern

Some really good stuff in

@IFL_Members InTuition

this season, I’ll be tweeting

highlights #ncerts #ncptlls

Pick of the Tweets

Visit www.ifl.ac.uk/jobs to get the most out of your IfL membership

6_7_News_Letters_newer.indd 7 13/03/2013 12:46


News & Views

Opinion

I ought to start by saying that I am not in mainstream education, although I have worked in training since 1990, delivering a diff ering skills set to a range of candidates from basic job training through to supervisory and management.

I took my fi rst steps as trainer because no one else in the company volunteered to take the role. At this time my only guidance came through my industry’s sector skills council which ran a fi ve-day ‘train the trainer’ programme. This enabled me to train in my particular sector but gave no real support in career development.

So why am I a member of IfL?I joined because it covers those in the

training industry as well as teachers. There is really no other organisation that off ers support to trainers who are outside mainstream education. IfL is a vehicle for me to take my career forward with the knowledge that I can contact members too if I need any assistance. Equally, I would readily help member colleagues, particularly if information was needed within my subject area.

The information that the organisation provides either through this publication, its e-newsletters, or via the website, is invaluable to those in the industry; providing current teaching trends and views of the government. Content on the website includes Geoff Petty’s ‘Ask Geoff ’ tips and advice, which I fi nd indispensable.

With many sector skills councils and awarding bodies asking trainers to produce evidence of professional development, IfL provides a perfect vehicle through its online REfl ECT’ system that allows members to keep an up-to-date record of their CPD activities with many facilities, such as the ability to upload certifi cates. This allows me, as a busy member, to produce a professional print out to send to anyone who wishes to see it and it costs members nothing extra.

There are many other benefi ts and

IfL is our professional body and by supporting it we benefit ourselves as educators, but can it support us in all the ways we need when membership fees are just £41.50 a year?

What price professional independence?

By Chris Hobson

discounts that you can gain by membership but, to me, the overall benefi t of IfL is that it is a great system for gaining knowledge and support in what I wish to achieve in my career.

Value for money?In these straightened times, a vital question for me and many others is whether IfL is providing value for money? And, let’s face it, if we’re being honest, the answer is: “yes, outstanding value.” IfL’s basic £41.50 a year membership fee is in some cases around a fi fth of the standard rates of comparable bodies, for instance the Royal College of Nursing at £194 a year, and the British Institute of Facilities Management at £178 a year.

Increasingly, I fi nd myself asking another question: “Is £41.50 a year enough to sustain my professional body?” Can IfL deliver the levels of support I have become used to, let alone improve its member services and benefi ts? Can we expect to have an organisation that is the ‘industry voice’ of all further education teachers and trainers putting our case at the highest levels of government all for just over £40 a year?

I have no doubt that we, as educators in FE, need a platform where our voice as professionals can be heard and promoted collectively. Do I object to an increase in IfL fees in order to secure this for myself and my colleagues? Most defi nitely not.

Much has been said and written about IfL of late but, when all is said and done, IfL is our professional body: it can be a great vehicle for us to use. We must support it and ensure, as its members, that we move it forward and ourselves with it and this means being prepared to fund it.

Chris Hobson is group training manager

for the Oltec Group.

8_9_Opinion.indd 8 12/03/2013 14:13

www.ifl .ac.uk

Opinion

A lot is changing in education. Most people, whatever their political persuasion, believe the system has not been working well for a long time and is in need of reform. Yet it is diffi cult to think of a profession, other than school teaching, that has so little say in its own fi eld of expertise.

All the most important decisions are taken behind closed doors by politicians in consultation with a small cabal of advisers, who have been hand-picked to tell the ministers what they want to hear. Fundamental changes to the exam system, the curriculum, criteria for inspections and teacher’s pay and conditions are announced (or leaked) without reference or regard to those who are most aff ected and have the greatest insight.

However, it would be too easy to blame those in power. The truth is, for too long, we have allowed our profession to be disparaged and undermined by those who think they are experts in education because they once went to school. Whether it is a lack of professional self-confi dence or a natural consequence of a complex process that resists easy solutions, we have allowed politicians to set the agenda and make decisions based on ideology and political expediency, when we should have been demanding that they stop making decisions about things they have little understanding of.

The result is a shattered teaching profession with morale at an all-time low and an education system being ripped apart by a political ideologue who seems to operate without limits. Some might see the school teaching unions as the natural defenders of the teaching profession and opposition to government, but the unions have several weaknesses that make them easy for the secretary of state to manipulate and exploit.

The fi rst is they do not speak in a single voice, being divided on political and ideological grounds. The second is their

An independent professional body would allow school teachers to speak with a single voice on issues relating to pedagogy, the curriculum and assessment

A view from schools: why school teachers need a professional bodyBy Tim Taylor

lack of purpose and resolve. Take for example the boycott of key stage 2 Sats in 2010. Many schools, including my own, took great risks to enforce the boycott (in opposition to many of our parents and the local authority) and yet the next year, when the boycott should have continued, the unions took a politically expedient decision to drop it. Since then, other issues: teacher pay, pensions and working conditions, have become a priority.

We need a professional bodyAs a result, for some teachers the unions have become almost an embarrassment, seen as apologists for a failing system and for putting the working rights of teachers above the welfare and interests of students. I do not agree with this argument, but it is asking too much of the unions to defend teacher’s working conditions and to represent our professional opinion on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Many teachers now believe this job would be better done by a professional body, organised and run by teachers for teachers, independent of the unions and with a mandate to remain outside of politics. Such an organisation could speak on our behalf with a single voice and represent our views in consultation with the government, in changes to Ofsted inspection procedures and in dealings with the press. This would not guarantee our voices would be heard, but it would make it harder for those in power to operate without notice or regard to our professional expertise and opinions.

Tim Taylor is an advanced skills

teacher in Norwich, a visiting lecturer

at Newcastle University and a teaching

and learning consultant for Mantle of

the Expert. He edits and writes for

www.mantleoftheexpert.com and

www.imaginative-inquiry.co.uk


Stop press

IfL’s advice is being sought currently

by a high-level group looking to

create a professional body for school

teachers. When created, the new

body will be a sister body to IfL.

8_9_Opinion.indd 9 12/03/2013 14:13


Interview

The fi ght for justice goes on

Baroness Helena Kennedy, QC, a lifelong learning champion, is renewing her fi ght for equity and opportunity in education as IfL’s newest patron. Alan Thomson asks her why she’s putting on the gloves again

It is 16 years since Helena Kennedy’s ground-breaking report Learning Works

put fi re in the bellies of those campaigning to make the UK’s education system more equitable and eff ective.

The report’s stark message: “If at fi rst you don’t succeed… you don’t succeed” is still relevant; perhaps more so as we wonder how, as a society, we reach out to almost one million often demoralised and occasionally demonised young people not in employment, education or training. There are also millions of adults who lack the basic skills, or who would like to improve their existing skills, to meet the challenges of a fast-changing world.

Those born when Learning Works

was published turn 16 this year and will be making important decisions about their futures. These decisions and the opportunities that exist for adult learners owe a lot to Baroness Kennedy’s report, which put widening participation on the education map and did much to establish lifelong learning as an empowering and overarching educational concept.

The report’s call to arms resonates still: “In our view, public policy for post-compulsory learning must be dramatically, systematically and consistently redirected towards widening – rather than simply increasing – participation and achievement. A much wider cross-section of the population needs to be involved than now.”

Baroness Kennedy’s report, published in June 1997, was driven forward enthusiastically by the new Labour government and heralded further signifi cant growth in higher education numbers over the following decade, due in part by a rise in the numbers of learners from non-traditional – generally

and mentoring it off ers its learners. Many who have achieved success in their careers and lives with the help of the foundation off er to be mentors to the next generation.

Economic circumstances mean it is harder than it used to be to secure the donations needed to fund the work of the foundation, but Baroness Kennedy’s belief in the transformative power of education and training is stronger than ever.

Her decision recently to accept the invitation to become a patron of the Institute for Learning marks a return to the educational fray at a national, strategic level.

“I still feel that the FE sector is not being championed enough. Becoming a patron of IfL is about what I can do to help address this problem. I want to be engaged more in the debates again,” she says.

“I especially want to look at the connection between learner opportunity and great teaching. There is a mutual benefi t as professional teachers and trainers improve their skills and then the learners benefi t.

“But we are seeing people threatened with deprofessionalisation in education.

meaning poorer – backgrounds. The report also led to the government

establishing Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) which, although fl awed and ultimately sunk by fraud, paved the way for the much-praised Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and, arguably, their more controversial bursary replacements.

And yet, despite the successes, Baroness Kennedy is concerned, disappointed and more than a little frustrated that a generation on from her report, so much of what she identifi ed as being wrong in education, is still wrong and, in some cases, more wrong than it was before.

“I think we have gone backwards in some cases,” she says. “The machinery rolled forward in the area of higher education but there has been some rolling backwards in further education and we are now paying the price with a lack of skilled people.

“There are fewer options available now for the most disadvantaged young people. We are not investing as we should in FE and we are not doing enough to encourage employers to take on young people and train them.”

IfL patronageA signifi cant legacy of Learning Works has been the Helena Kennedy Foundation. The body, founded by educationist and entrepreneur Dr Ann Limb, off ers fi nancial bursaries, mentoring and support to disadvantaged students in the further and adult education sectors, enabling them to continue with their studies.

The foundation has a 97 per cent success rate thanks largely to the support

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I do not think there is enough respect for the teaching and learning that is done in FE.

“Perhaps it is because people have become more educated that they think ‘I could teach’, ‘I could stand up in front of a class’. But it is not about standing in front of a class. Most people simply do not understand the complexities of teaching and learning.”

In addition to fears about current policy regarding teaching professionalism, Baroness Kennedy thinks that the teaching profession ‘made a mistake’ in the 1960s and 70s when it opted for representation by trade unions and not by professional bodies.

“As a result, teachers are seen in a diff erent way to other professionals,”

she says. “There has to be more creative thinking around professionalism and, to some extent, unions have to be a part of that inventiveness as well as the professional bodies.

“IfL plays a vital role in that it recognises that those who want to teach want to do it well and they want to keep honing their own skills.

“Professional recognition is important to people. It is a way of countering any attempts to deprofessionalise people in education and across the public sector as a whole. Together we need to reclaim that professionalism.”

A power for goodFor Baroness Kennedy, FE is an exceptional power for good in promoting the social justice that permeates and underpins everything she does in her legal practice and her wider public life.

As principal of Mansfi eld College at the University of Oxford, she is pushing widely for better access to the university for those applying from FE and other non-school routes.

Teachers and trainers in FE are, she feels, enablers of learning and agents of social change where the ethical and moral dimensions to their roles are part of what defi nes them as professionals.

“One of the things that made me fall in love with FE was going around the country seeing the incredible work that is being done by educators every day of the week,” she says.

“Further education is my sector. I love it and see it as one I am bound to.”

Alan Thomson is publishing and editorial

adviser at IfL.

HELENA KENNEDY

• Helena Kennedy was born in Glasgow in 1950

• Before studying law at London’s Council of Legal Education, she wanted to be a

teacher and, for a brief time, a nun

• She was called to the bar in 1972 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1991

• She practises out of Doughty Street Chambers, a London-based legal practice

committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and civil liberties

• She was a commissioner on the National Commission for Education 1991 to 1993

and then chaired the Further Education Commission into Widening Participation

which produced the Learning Works report

• She was appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour peer in 1997

• Baroness Kennedy is a trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation and acting chair

of the Media Standards Trust. She is a vice-president of the Haldane Society of

Socialist Lawyers and a patron of the human rights champions Liberty

• Baroness Kennedy was elected principal of Mansfi eld College, Oxford, in 2011

• She presented the discussion show After Dark, infamous for the episode where

actor Oliver Reed was asked to leave after forcing a drunken kiss on fellow guest

Kate Millett during a discussion on masculine stereotypes and violence to women

“I still feel that the

FE sector is not

being championed

enough. Becoming

patron of IfL is about

what I can do to

address the problem”

10_11_Interview.indd 11 12/03/2013 14:14


Feature

What should teachers and trainers make of Ofsted’s recent criticisms of the quality of teaching and learning in further education? Nick Reinis reports

‘Must try harder’ was once a common phrase in school reports, and the sentiment still taints much of the language used about teaching and education.

Ofsted’s annual report on the learning and skills sector, published in November 2012, eff ectively told the FE sector it must try much harder. Not one of the 320 further education learning providers, including 70 FE colleges, inspected in 2011-12 was judged to have outstanding teaching and learning, for the second year running. Over a third (35 per cent) of colleges were judged inadequate or satisfactory for their provision overall – the highest proportion in three years.

The report said: “This year, inspectors left approximately half of providers with a recommendation to improve the quality of their teaching and learning, especially through more eff ective monitoring of sessions and training for staff . This included providers judged to be ‘good’ for the quality of provision overall.”

FE has been trying to make sense of the fi ndings, which made painful reading for a sector that prides itself on a commitment to learning that makes a material diff erence to people’s lives.

Broadly, there are two, by no means mutually exclusive, strands to the ongoing debate. The fi rst focuses on the Ofsted inspection process and whether it is fair to FE. The second accepts that teaching and learning must improve and asks how this is best achieved.

FE leaders, stung by the criticisms, have directed their fi re at Ofsted, arguing that the annual reports do not represent the true state of FE. The argument centres on whether the Ofsted inspection processes, designed for schools and relying on the sampling of a few lessons, can accurately refl ect the overall state of teaching and learning in FE colleges, which tend to be far larger with more varied provision.

In addition, some 44 per cent of colleges inspected by Ofsted had pre-determined issues, such as poor performance, and so the sample is skewed, say sector leaders.

“Whereas an Ofsted team may be able to observe a substantial quantity of the teaching that goes on within a school, when an inspection team goes to see a medium-sized college they only observe a small proportion of teaching,” says Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC). “How you extrapolate from that to come up with an overall assessment of teaching and learning is something we’ve got to grapple with. And, I don’t minimise the challenge to Ofsted in all this.”

The 157 Group, which represents 27 of England’s leading colleges, has raised similar issues with Ofsted. Andy Gannon, the group’s director of policy, said that successful colleges measure themselves not just on the inspected provision, but a variety of other aspects.

There is some academic support too. Paul Grainger, co-director of the Centre for Post-14 Research and Innovation at the Institute of Education (IoE), said: “It’s hard for Ofsted to encompass all of the experience necessary to make a valid judgement of the range of FE provision.”

Mr Doel feels that a reconfi guration of inspection regimes could prove benefi cial: “I think there’s an underlying question as to whether colleges should be inspected as big schools, or small universities. If you look at how the Quality Assurance Agency [QAA] for higher education works, they check on processes in place to ensure quality, rather than a direct observation inspection,” he says.

“In my opinion, 16-18 year olds should be inspected under Ofsted, and adult provision should be overseen by something like the QAA.”

Questions over qualityWhile the FE sector has hit back at the inspection process and its suitability, it cannot aff ord to ignore the teaching quality issues raised in the chief inspector’s report. A key question is how to improve the quality of teaching and learning: what parts of the process ought to be examined and improved?

“The bad news”, says Geoff Petty, author and IfL patron, “is that improving teaching in FE is incredibly hard and that most strategies that learning providers are likely to attempt won’t work – and this includes teaching methods.”

Mr Petty, author of Teaching Today and Evidence-based Teaching, says: “In a school, you have to get 60 to 70 teachers right, but in a college you might be talking about hundreds of teachers. Some of the bigger colleges have a tremendously varied curriculum, with variety in level and scope. It’s a much larger organism, so it’s tremendously hard to get it all really good.

“The good news is there is a strategy

AL

AM

Y

FE sector fi ghts back over Ofsted

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is how teachers are taught. He believes that initial teacher training (ITT) in FE does not pay suffi cient attention to the issues that have the biggest impact on learning. This analysis is echoed by Ofsted, which found that the rate of improvement to the quality of initial teacher education remains slower in FE than in the maintained schools sector.

Ofsted found that in the best provision, teachers take modules related to their area of specialism, alongside a generic teaching qualifi cation, to directly address this ‘dual professionalism’.

Mr Petty says: “There is little in ITT courses to do with teaching methodology. It’s there, but it’s a minority of the course, whereas it’s the majority of the impact the teacher will eventually have.

“We know which methods have the biggest impact, but there’s no expectation that people learn about it during ITT, which I think is madness. Paradoxically, it’s continuing professional development (CPD) that has to make up the shortfall.”

that works incredibly well and that’s what I call supported experiments; what some people might call teacher learning communities or communities of practice.

“This involves teachers experimenting with their teaching, changing something that they think is important and meeting with colleagues to share what they have been experimenting with to get advice from each other.”

The problem is making time for this, not only by the institutions, but also teachers among their busy schedules. The latter is a particular concern for Mr Petty.

“The teaching load has increased substantially due to the recent cuts,”

he says. “We’re often asked to rise to the standards that one sees in Finland, Taiwan or other countries that do exceptionally well, such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

“But when you look closely at what goes on in those countries, they have teachers who have 14-16 hours of classroom contact a week. We have 24 hours of contact time a week. For every one hour of contact, you have one hour less for preparation, marking and monitoring and improving your teaching.

“It’s asking a lot for teachers to improve further when their teaching load is being increased at the same time.”

An additional problem, says Mr Petty,

“I think there’s an underlying question as

to whether colleges should be inspected

as big schools or small universities”

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Feature

John Hattie, the renowned academic and author of Visible Learning for Teachers:

Maximizing Impact on Learning, agrees. “I am writing a paper on this at the moment and the premise is the bankruptcy of traditional teacher education programmes,” he says.

Among Professor Hattie’s criticisms of ITT is its tendency to reproduce what is already out there rather than innovate; its reluctance to emphasise collaborative impact with the other teachers; and the lack of a systematic evidence base to show teacher education has an impact on the students.

“It is not the teaching, it is the impact of the teaching. Know thy impact needs to be at the core of teaching and learning,” he says.

“I have read the recent Ofsted report and worry about the sticks and carrots in the current debate. Too often the whiff of accountability kills formative development. Too often the plea for change snuff s out excellence.

“We need to build from a coalition of success and there is already plenty of success in our FE system. Success is related to having an impact – and about the things that matter – the learner and the delivery of worthwhile success in learning.”

What is ‘outstanding’ teaching?Many practitioners, supported by IfL, are responding to the challenges through CPD and many engage with and facilitate the sort of outcomes-focused teaching communities of practice that Professor Hattie and Mr Petty talk about.

IfL has pioneered a new practitioner research programme in partnership with the ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (Skope) at the University of Oxford to help teachers and trainers be rigorous researchers so that they are equipped to research.

Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of IfL, said: “IfL evaluates the kinds of professional development that work and this has resulted in uncomfortable fi ndings for some colleges and providers who have invested in methods shown to be unlikely to lead to improved practice.

“Wise investment puts teachers and trainers in the driving seat allowing them to defi ne and lead their own CPD and collaborate with other teachers and trainers both within and beyond the provider, backed by leaders and managers.

“There are also too few opportunities for teachers to keep up to date with their specialist subject or vocational area, yet this is vital to being an expert dual professional.”

Ian Ashman, the principal of Hackney Community College, embraces the idea that good teaching and learning is founded on enabling teachers to identify and shape their own professional development requirements. Mr Ashman chairs the AoC’s Urban Colleges Portfolio Group which works alongside Ofsted to identify ‘outstanding’ practice.

At his own college, Mr Ashman has been seeking improvements through a piece of work titled ‘Boosts and Blocks’, which looks at the elements which can improve teaching and learning and those which get in the way.

“What we found was a strong degree of consensus about what outstanding teaching is, and we put together our own document in the college for what outstanding teaching and learning looks like. It’s a statement of professional standards,” he says. “The important thing about it is that we’re relying on the teachers themselves to identify [the boosts and blocks]. We are trying to tackle them systematically and to make sure leaders and managers are aware of them.”

The role of leadership and management in supporting and improving teaching and learning is highlighted by Ofsted. It said that weak accountability, leadership

and governance are common failings in poor provision.

Leadership of learning has been the focus of work by the IfL and partner organisations such as the 157 Group and the Institute of Education1, drawing on examples of progressive leadership practices from around the sector.

Lambeth College has put in place a range of measures to tackle teaching and learning, which had been graded ‘satisfactory’ in an overall ‘inadequate’ report, following an Ofsted visit in February last year. Inspectors revisited the college in October to fi nd “signifi cant improvements” in teaching and learning.

Linnia Khemdoudi, assistant principal for learning and improvement, says: “Our staff got bogged down in thinking that if they had a really good lesson plan and really good paperwork, then by de facto they must be a good teacher.

“Moving away from that and on to the learner was a huge learning curve, saying ‘it’s not about you at the front of the class, but it’s actually your impact on the learners in front of you’.”

The latest Ofsted report may – as many in the sector believe – have been harsh on FE and discussions will continue on inspection criteria and methodologies.

But the response by teachers and trainers – and their supporters – continues to be positive and proactive, ensuring that the ongoing drive to improve teaching and learning remains in the hands of professional educators, where it belongs.

1 Leading learning in FE, CFBT Education Trust, 157 Group and IfL (2011) http://bit.ly/YSJcJ4

Leading learning and letting go: building expansive

learning environments in FE: IfL, Institute of Education and 157 Group (2012) http://bit.ly/WFX5IY

Nick Reinis is a journalism lecturer and

former deputy editor of FE Week.

“It is not the teaching,

it is the impact of the

teaching. ‘Know thy

impact’ needs

to be at the core of

teaching and learning”

AL

AM

Y

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CPDMatters Issue 7 | Spring 2013 15

CPDMatters

Benefi tsStatusVoice

Issue 7 Spring 2013

Promoting ideas to teachers and trainers in the further education and skills sector

If you would like to contribute to or ask a question

for a future edition of CPD Matters, please email

us at [email protected] for further details

Change should off er theprospect of improvement

The theme this edition will be no surprise

to anyone working in the FE and skills

sector: change. Life thrives and prospers

on change, but constant turmoil in the

areas of curriculum, technology and

professional support can be dispiriting

instead of uplifting. The writers of

these three pieces for CPD Matters are

energised by the need for change and

I hope that you can take something from

one or more that will make changes to

your thinking or your practice worthwhile.

Jane Kay is thinking about a change

in our attitudes and approaches to

the core numeracy element in teacher

education programmes. She says

that the concept of numeracy as ‘just

numbers or arithmetic’ has to shift as it

makes teachers and trainers think of it as

a bolt-on part of their training that must

be ticked-off and this misinterpretation

(even resentment) is then passed on

to learners. She advocates a more

naturalistic approach which imbues

numeracy with the sense of pleasure

gained from working things out.

For Pip McDonald turning e-learning

from an end in itself to a part of a sound

pedagogical approach is also a change

that needs to happen. Her frustration

lies in the use of e-learning as tokenistic

practice rather than an integral part of

the excitement and emotion of learning

itself. There are practical hints and tips

in this piece but overall a rallying cry to

teachers and trainers everywhere: ‘digital

lives should be enjoyed intuitively’.

Kenneth Allen says radical change is

underway in Scottish FE and examines

where teachers and learners fi t into the

upheavals. He raises doubts about the

wisdom of abolishing the GTC in England

(for schools) and changes to the statutory

registration of FE teachers and trainers

in England. He concludes that only by

supporting and promoting professionalism

and professional development will Scottish

FE fl ourish. His comment on change could

sum up this section; ‘change should off er

the prospect of improvement and, in such

a process, care should be taken to address

the core purpose of our endeavours’.

The CPD Matters section off ers IfL members a selection of scholarly and accessible articles, aimed at supporting and enhancing professional knowledge and practice. Articles are not refereed.

Dr Jean KellyDirector of professional development

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16 Issue 7 | Spring 2013 CPDMatters

2006). This resentment and misinterpretation of core numeracy is transmitted through a cyclical process (Swartz, 2004) as trainee teachers pass on negative attitudes and perceptions towards numeracy to their own students.

Several higher education institutions emphasise the literacy or English requirement, but not the numeracy or mathematics elements when describing their entry criteria for teacher training. One presentation of entry criteria for the PGCE course in an online 2012 prospectus is: “Students must have GCSE English or equivalent on entry to the course and mathematics on exit of the programme.”

The need for a secondary level of English on entry to a PGCE course is not in dispute, but the requirement for mathematics to be completed by the end of the course presents this part of the entry criteria as lacking in relevance. Numeracy and mathematics are not presented as necessary for success on the course.

The poor entry-level numeracy of many trainees was highlighted as a concern by Ofsted in its examination of initial training of further education teachers (2009). The situation hadn’t improved by the following year when Ofsted examined core implementation in teacher training again. It found: “Four fi fths of the providers visited had made too little progress in ensuring that all teachers met the minimum levels of skill in literacy and numeracy.” Four fi fths of providers falling short on numeracy skills for trainee teachers is a damning indictment.

By 2011, the situation on the ground

Time to maximise the core of numeracyBy Jane Kay, IfL Fellow

The minimum core of numeracy in teacher training for further education is undervalued and more thought is required in how to show evidence of numerical-thinking skills

I want to turn your attention to the

minimum core of numeracy required

in programmes of teacher training for

further education and look at how this

has been misinterpreted as simply

‘numbers’ or ‘arithmetic’. This has led

to numeracy being undervalued and

perceived in a negative way. I want

to make you think about ways that

evidence of minimum core numeracy

skills could be shown more

naturalistically alongside ‘the numbers’.

As part of post-compulsory teacher training, student teachers must provide evidence to show they have completed a minimum core of literacy, language, information communication technology (ICT) and also numeracy and information skills. This was introduced by the now obsolete Further Education National Training Organisation (Fento), later becoming part of LLUK.

Of the four minimum core elements, student teachers (and their teacher educators) struggle most with numeracy and information. This is a struggle that is also experienced by the population at large (Handley, 2003). Demonstrating the other requirements is relatively easy, but where do you start with numeracy? The diffi culty experienced when trying to demonstrate profi ciency makes numeracy the source of much frustration and has left it suff ering from a very negative image.

The perception of numeracy is a real problem, with some involved in teaching and learning viewing the subject as no more than overt calculation or the passing of level 2 qualifi cations. There may also be some resentment towards minimum core numeracy as an element perceived as ‘forced’ into teacher education programmes (Schlöglmann,

for trainees still hadn’t improved... “I was observed last week and when I was given the feedback, the observer said that I hadn’t covered the minimum core because I didn’t have any numeracy in the session,” said one trainee teacher in the post-compulsory sector. “I was doing personal health and the observer suggested that I could have stated the price of condoms or found some other way to include numbers or prices. This seems a bit pointless, just to get the numbers in. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”

Although there is a clear requirement for the overt use of calculation skills, this doesn’t have to mean the spurious insertion of numbers. Gardner (2006) identifi ed mathematical-logical intelligence in his theory of multiple intelligences, attributing skills including problem solving, critical thinking, predicting and experimenting to this type of intelligence. Tammet (2009) examines the usefulness of numerical thinking for everyday use from his own unique perspective on the autistic continuum. Mathematical or numerical thinking is a foundation to other, transferable cognitive skills: Tammet’s examples include deduction, induction and reasoning.

Numerical skills are vital to the cognitive development that is required to teach. Evidence of the minimum core numeracy elements can be shown by demonstrating skills that are underpinned by numeracy, similar to those skills described by both Gardner and Tammet.

The main point of numeracy is missed by many students and some teachers; the pleasure of being able to work things out is overlooked in favour of trying to pass a test or tick a box. Sudoku puzzles, which

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run in many UK daily newspapers, have enjoyed worldwide popularity (La Monica, 2005) even in the face of their number content. Sudoku is not based on arithmetic, but on a demonstration of numeracy underpinning problem solving and logic. People enjoy trying to get the numbers in the right place and work out the solution. Just getting student teachers to tick boxes as evidence that they are profi cient in numeracy is doing them a serious disservice, denying them the real nature of numerical learning: to help fi nd an answer and work out a solution.

Diff erent types of numeracy skills

Teachers in the FE sector genuinely need to have well-developed numeracy across all subjects, not because they use mathematics daily, although this is likely, and not because they suddenly have to teach long division, although that is also a possibility, but because numeracy underpins so many other competencies required of an eff ective teacher.

Examples include:• Analysing• Arranging information in

chronological order• Being on time • Cognitive agility• Conceptualisation • Dissecting a subject area• Following a procedure or process• Organising• Planning eff ectively• Presenting information in a

list or hierarchy • Prioritising• Questioning• Simplifying complex instructions • Solving a problem• Supporting students in developing

their own numerical skills• Thinking critically• Thinking logically• Thinking sequentially

These descriptions of teacher abilities are abstract in nature and are numerically

Jane Kay Jane is programme leader for skills for

life adult education at Accrington and

Rossendale College in Lancashire. She

gained one of the UK’s fi rst Master’s

degrees in basic skills numeracy

education policy and practice from

the University of Bolton. She is now

halfway through a PhD at Bolton,

researching minimum core numeracy

and teacher perceptions of numeracy.

Jane is a Fellow of IfL

based cognitive skills that rely on several diff erent factors (familiarity of task or experience for instance). What is essential to the eff ective development of these skills and abilities is a foundation in numeracy. As such, the demonstration of these skills being used eff ectively in an observed teaching session provides some evidence of numerical competence.

Where a trainee teacher has produced a session with a clear sequential order – that is, a beginning, middle and end – they have demonstrated the application of a numerical skills base, since they are able to think sequentially. Writing a session plan that eff ectively caters for learners at diff erent levels, and with diff erent preferred styles of learning, requires the application of organisational skills and problem solving, regardless of the subject that the plan is addressing.

Although student teachers do need to demonstrate actual number work, some elements are naturalistic, appearing without being forced into a subject. It just takes slightly more thought than ‘doing something to include numbers’.

The minimum core of numeracy has not been embraced, due partly to the perceived diffi culty in providing evidence of its requirements. Many elements appear naturalistically, with numeracy skills as their foundation, and can be shown as evidence alongside ‘numbers’.

Every trainee teacher who struggles with numeracy will ultimately struggle with every other aspect of their course, because numeracy underpins so many of the other skills that are required. This appears controversial at fi rst glance. However, if it had just been suggested that an illiterate trainee teacher would struggle with every other element of their course, there would be no argument. We would all unequivocally agree with that.

References • Further Education National Training

Organisation (Fento, 2003) cited in (Fento,

2004). Including language, literacy and

numeracy learning in all post-16 education,

guidance on curriculum and methodology

for generic initial teacher education

programmes. Nottingham: DfES publications.

• Gardner H. (2006) Multiple intelligences,

new horizons. USA: Basic books (Perseus).

• Handley B. (2003). Secret skills for quick

calculation - speed mathematics. North

Carolina: John Wiley and Sons Inc.

• La Monica. PR. (2005) 20/9/2005.

Much ado about Sudoku, can the popular

Japanese number puzzle save newspapers

or is it just a passing fad? USA: CNN Money

• Ofsted (2009) The initial training of

FE Teachers. Reference no: 080243.

Available at www.ofsted.gov.uk

Last accessed 30/5/2010.

• Ofsted (2010). Progress in implementing

reforms in the accreditation and continuing

professional development of teachers in

further education. Ref; 00268 [online]

Manchester. Available at www.ofsted.gov.uk

Last accessed 26/11/10.

• Schlöglmann W. (2006). ‘Lifelong

mathematics learning - a thread or an

opportunity?’ Contained in; Taylor (eds)

(2006) ALM International journal, Volume 2

(1) pp6-17.

• Swartz E. (2004) ‘Casing the self: a study

of pedagogy and critical thinking’. Teacher

development. Volume 8. No 1. P 45-66.

• Tammet. D. (2009) Embracing the wide sky,

a tour across the horizons of the mind. New

York: Free press, Simon and Schuster Inc.

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The landscape of further education

(FE) provision in Scotland is changing,

just as it is for our counterparts in

England. Change, whether planned or

imposed, off ers a combination of

challenges and opportunities for the

FE professional. In order to fully

appreciate where we fi nd ourselves,

it is important to examine the nature

of Scotland’s FE sector and be

conscious of what lies ahead.

Since 1993, Scottish colleges have enjoyed incorporated status, removing them from local authority funding and control. Boards of management took over strategic and fi nancial accountability for individual colleges, and a newly formed body, The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) now allocates funds to the 43 colleges on the basis of their measured share of student activity. The funding is based on Student Units of Measurement, which equate to approximately 40 hours of study, weighted to refl ect the diff erent costs of running a variety of courses.

However, funding cuts, which the whole UK has experienced, have forced the Scottish government to exercise its devolved educational powers and introduce reform. A recent controversial stand-off in the Scottish Parliament eventually confi rmed that the SFC revenue budget for colleges will continue to fall by 1.5 per cent from fi nancial year 2012/13 to 2013/14 and a further 11.6 per cent the year after.

Michael Russell, cabinet secretary for education and lifelong learning, wants to introduce what he believes is much needed reform. He indicated that he wanted to see improvement in:• how our colleges are funded

agreements is a complex one, with colleges being asked to negotiate targets in several signifi cant areas.

However, there are fi ve strategic priority areas:• Effi cient regional structures: deliver

effi cient regional structures to meet the needs of the region

• Right learning in the right place: contribute to meeting the national guarantee for young people, the demands of the region and, where appropriate, the nation

• High quality and effi cient learning: ensure that learners are qualifi ed to progress through the system an effi cient and fl exible manner

• A developed workforce: ensure that learners are qualifi ed and prepared for work, and improve and adapt the skills of the regional workforce

• Sustainable institutions: secure well-managed and fi nancially and environmentally sustainable colleges

A measurement framework, intended as a tool to inform and support regional negotiations, includes many indicators that may have a potential impact on the FE professional. For example, although not necessarily unique to this reform, performance will be measured on aspects such as effi ciency savings gained from regionalisation, opportunities for all (age demographic of learners), curriculum provision, retention and achievement, employer engagement, and so on.

Scotland’s inspectorate, Education Scotland, will continue to monitor the eff ectiveness of Scotland’s colleges through an oft-criticised inspection process. Regrettably, these cyclical reviews come with extensive notice

• how the sector is structured• the type of educational and training

opportunities colleges provide• the quality of that provision• colleges’ accountability

Thus, we are now faced with radical change that, in many ways, is specifi cally designed to deal with the aforementioned fi scal situation. But will this really improve our FE provision? And, most importantly, will it really put our learners at the centre?

Colleges will, at the end of this academic year, shrink in number from 43 to approximately 13 regional structures. A further government consultation on college governance, the Griggs Report

1, has recommended

an overhaul of the way in which college management boards are appointed and a tightening up of their responsibility and accountability.

In broad terms, college boards will:• enter into a regional outcome

agreement with the SFC and decide how funding received within the region should be distributed and how effi ciencies should be secured

• plan college provision strategically across the region

• provide a focal point for engagement with regional partners

• be held to account by the SFC for delivering the regional outcome agreement

Funding will be directly linked to agreed outcomes, with about 70 per cent targeted specifi cally at young people aged 16 to 24, which is in line with government policy.

The development of outcome

Call for a more eff ective developmental framework for Scotland’s FE practitioners

An international perspective by Kenneth Allen, IfL Member

Further education provision in Scotland is undergoing major change, but with change should come improvement. Care should be taken to ensure that learners benefit from teaching and learning based on an ethos of continuous improvement

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and inspectors rarely see a realistic refl ection of the quality of teaching and learning taking place in the classroom. Full reviews and subject specifi c reviews have tended to be seen as perfunctory and very little actual change takes place.

Learning and teaching for the future

When such far-reaching changes are made to our structures – management and, most signifi cantly, our funding – the teaching professional and, ultimately, the learner, are often regarded as subordinate in favour of the more pressing fi scal imperative. There is no doubt that these new outcome agreements focus on important economic and social priorities. However, can FE practitioners have confi dence that they, at the chalk face, will be equipped with the requisite skills and organisational support to deliver on such aspirations? Ambitions for improvement in the quality of provision are laudable, but without proper investment and planning, success in this regard would appear unlikely.

There is no mandatory requirement for FE professionals to be appropriately pedagogically qualifi ed, although most (75 per cent in 2010/11 data: source Scottish Funding Council) hold the Teaching Qualifi cation in Further Education (TQFE) which is a Scottish Qualifi cations Framework level 9 qualifi cation, namely degree level. The qualifi cation conforms to the Professional Standards for Lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges

2. These standards, refreshed

through consultation in 2012, highlighted four common themes that emerged in response to the question: what do lecturers, teachers and tutors need to do to prepare for their role in 2020?

These themes were:• Learners• ICT• Professional standards and CPD• Teaching practice and refl ection

Recommendations have been made that these themes should be given due consideration when planning courses and continuing professional development (CPD) for college lecturers in the future. Particular emphasis is placed on the need for lecturers to be ‘digital practitioners’.

Colleges Scotland and the

College Development Network

Colleges Scotland, formerly Scotland’s Colleges, has recently re-branded and now has two distinct roles:• ‘Colleges Scotland’ will support the

FE sector by attempting to infl uence policy, funding and media representation;

• ‘College Development Network’ will support the sector by providing CPD opportunities, developing learning networks, sharing resources and recognising achievement.

A major concern is that, despite this rebranding exercise, this body is providing nothing new to the sector and, until now, is widely believed to have failed as a support mechanism for the practitioner. One reason for this perceived failure stems from weak college interaction with this body. If colleges did not recognise quality CPD as part of their strategic and cultural identity, then staff simply did not benefi t from the opportunities on off er.

Furthermore, many argue that endless seminars, network events and similar initiatives off ered to the sector as CPD, do little to improve our practice.

Moreover, the Scottish Qualifi cations Authority, Scotland’s monopolistic awarding body, provides support for the delivery and assessment of its products and this often confl icts with more pedagogical off erings that may be available.

Many staff (myself included) who recognise the importance of CPD, rely on their own personal learning networks (PLNs) such as Twitter, and have joined up with other like-minded teachers to further their development needs. Networks such as www.pedagoo.org have enabled practitioners to share good practice, openly discuss contemporary issues, and develop relationships to promote professional enquiry. In many ways such networks are an indictment of what surely should be ingrained into the fabric of our schools and colleges.

Scotland has retained a General Teaching Council (GTCS

3) and further

education professionals holding the TQFE are entitled to register on a voluntary basis. A consultation on the need for a professional body for staff in Scotland’s colleges (2004)

4 stated that:

“it is diffi cult avoid the implication (from the responses) that there is a general willingness in the sector to explore the idea of a professional body further”.

Additionally, there was support for a mandatory, recorded CPD process. Unfortunately, further exploration did not occur and resistance to mandatory registration mainly emanated from college principals who were anxious that registration would interfere with their freedom to employ and deploy staff in a way that they deemed appropriate. However, this reluctance

“Many staff (myself included) who recognise the

importance of CPD, rely on their own personal

learning networks, such as Twitter and Pedagoo”



“Engagement can only become a reality if

our colleagues truly embrace development

in the way we press our learners to do so”

schools and colleges. Recent developments in both Ireland and Wales will require FE professionals to be registered with their respective teaching councils and it is this consistency in standards across sectors that should infl uence the future direction for Scotland.

Change should off er the prospect of improvement and, in such a process, care should be taken to address the core purpose of our endeavours: exercising our professional practice in such a way that our learners acquire a desire for knowledge and appreciate the benefi ts that a quality education has to off er.

Ultimately, engagement is the key to the future of our learning and teaching approaches. Such engagement can only become a reality if our colleges truly embrace development in the way that we continually press our learners to do so. The desire for pedagogical improvement must be manifestly at the centre of everything we do, driven by our values, and led assiduously by senior staff .

I feel I am in danger of providing the reader with nothing more than an educational polemic, and to avoid such allegations I would like to proff er some suggestions for a more eff ective developmental framework for Scotland’s FE practitioners.

Registration with the GTCS should become mandatory and, with the cooperation of the College Development Network and the Scottish Qualifi cations Authority, a uniform and non-fragmented strategy should be devised to ensure that our learners benefi t from teaching and learning predicated on an ethos of continuous improvement.

I am convinced that building quality into a process will achieve the results that we, as a nation, are so passionately committed to.

References 1 www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/

Education/UniversitiesColleges/17135/

CollegeGovernanceReview/

FEGovernanceReport

2 www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/

03/6519

3 www.gtcs.org.uk/home/home.aspx

4 www.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/Download-

document/2638-The-Need-for-a-

Professional-Body.html

5 www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2011/215/

contents/made

6 www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/

2011/01/13092132/0

Kenneth Allen Kenneth has worked in Scotland’s

FE sector since 1998. He is

employed in a substantive post with

James Watt College as a business

education lecturer. In his wider

professional role, he is the elected

FE representative with the General

Teaching Council for Scotland

(GTCS), and an experienced external

verifi er and development consultant

with Scotland’s awarding body, the

Scottish Qualifi cations Authority

(SQA). He is an IfL Member.

to standardise professional competence and conduct has led to learners being taught by unqualifi ed and/or inappropriately qualifi ed staff .

The council continues to encourage registration and is currently reviewing the support that is off ered to the FE professional. But while the GTCS operates a mandatory register for the compulsory education sector, registration remains voluntary for those teaching in post-compulsory education and training. The GTCS does ensure that all those registered are appropriately qualifi ed, fi t to teach and adhere to their standards of conduct.

Additionally, as set out in Public Services Reform (GTC Scotland) Order 2011

5

and subsequently endorsed by the Donaldson report, Teaching Scotland’s

Future: a review of teacher education

in Scotland 6, there is a mandatory

requirement for registered teachers to record and declare their CPD through a system called ‘Professional Update’ on a fi ve-year cycle. In 2013, there will be participation by the college sector in the piloting of this scheme.

But too many colleges have failed to ensure that their learners are taught by teachers who conform to the rightly demanding standards set by the GTCS. Although no empirical evidence exists, anecdotally, social science graduates teach English, learners with special educational needs (SEN) are taught by unqualifi ed mainstream teachers and accountants teach geography, for example. Colleges have, therefore, sometimes been guilty of putting their commercial and structural priorities before the needs of their learners.

In England, the abolition of its General Teaching Council and a reversal of policy on the mandatory registration for FE professionals with IfL will only serve to diminish public confi dence in England’s


www.ifl .ac.uk


Let’s take an e-learning leap of faith and embed it from planning to deliveryBy Pip McDonald, IfL Member

Technology is the present and the future, said IfL in 2010, so it’s time to start enjoying it by committing to it fully and applying a checklist to ensure that it is eff ective

The National Foundation for Educational

Research (NFER) suggested that:

“Lecturers’ use of e-learning was

associated more with their own attitudes

and confi dence than with their personal

background characteristics or the

context of their institution,” (Golden,

McCrone, Walker & Rudd, 2006, p9).

This article both identifi es and discusses

why lecturers can feel more assured,

confi dent and secure about embedding

e-learning both eff ectively, effi ciently and

successfully into the majority of learning

contexts from planning to delivery.

Ultimately, this article advocates that an overarching digital commitment is benefi cial for both lecturers and learners. Let’s take an e-leap of faith. It is imperative to acknowledge that e-learning cannot be used in a tokenistic way. An outcome of research into e-learning in case study colleges was that the “use of ILT was only eff ective when deployed within a sound pedagogic approach, where the teaching style was highly interactive,” (Finlayson, Maxwell, Caillau & Tomalin, 2006, p11).

Ultimately, the acid test to measure the eff ectiveness of any learning resource independent of its format lies in both the asking and answering of the critical question: ‘is learning really happening?’ It seems important to acknowledge that using an e-resource is not a suffi cient condition of eff ective learning and e-learning is not a guarantee of either real or meaningful learning. A great deal needs to be successfully unpacked before we can decide whether using e-learning is eff ective. As a result, a suggested e-checklist is proposed:

Planning for e-learning (P4E)

It is possible to question the ways in

is important that e-learning is not being used in tokenistic capacity which would ultimately undermine pedagogic value.

Notwithstanding, it has been argued that “If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it’s within your reach” (Smith & Wozniak, 2006, p327). Daring yourself to go beyond PowerPoint and trying Prezi (www.prezi.com) can be a constructive e-leap of faith. Encouraging learners to evaluate their digital journey will increase their voice: what did they enjoy and what they did not enjoy in addition to what they feel they learned?

A new taxonomy of learning:

higher order fun (HoF)

It’s about “an emotional feeling – a feeling of fun,” (Smith & Wozniak, 2006, p326). It is fundamental to acknowledge the variety, depth and intensity of learning experiences a learner can have by engaging with e-learning.

For example, Apple advocates that both discovery and experiential learning are fundamental to enjoying how to learn how to use their products for themselves. A prerequisite to working for Apple is a “passion for education and ability to instruct in a ‘hands-off ’ manner, letting users learn by doing. Ability to teach small groups and coach multiple customers simultaneously. Tenacity to work with users until they truly become independent and able to create on their own,” (Apple, 2012).

Embedding e-learning into functional

skills and vocational contexts

Taking our cue from our learners, we must ask ourselves what is the vocational context of the main programme of study of the learner? The majority of vocational contexts will involve digital capabilities or digital literacy: for example, visual

which planning for e-learning diff ers from planning traditional resources. In practical terms, one of the major factors can be ensuring both a reliable and secure internet connection in addition to obtaining the network password if necessary. Furthermore, it is benefi cial to check the projector is working. Finally, many online learning tools necessitate the use of the latest version of Adobe Flash. Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is only eff ective when the basics are put in place.

A digital commitment to learning

Pedagogically, an important question for teachers to ask is how will e-learning be made explicit in the lesson plan, particularly relating to working towards what the e-learning aims and outcomes could be and assessment.

Perhaps, it would be possible to clarify e-learning aims and outcomes to give both teacher and learner clarity in terms of expectations for the learning session. What would an e-learning lesson plan (ELP) and e-scheme of work (ESoW) look like?

There are a variety of suggested e-plans available to download online for example Planaboard for teachers (www.planboardapp.com). E-learning can be argued to be commensurate with Kolb’s learning cycle so we can work towards an e-learning cyclical model (Lewin in Kolb, 1984, p21).

E-learner centeredness

It may be constructive to fi nd out if learners have tried e-learning before and what they thought of engaging in this way. We could go further and attempt to identify and discuss the motivation both teacher and learner have to ‘technology’. Attitudes to e-learning can infl uence the extent to which learning can happen for both teacher and learner. It



arts included Photoshop and business courses will involve writing reports and delivering presentations.

E-ground rules

Mobile phones ARE allowed. ‘M’ or mobile learning is a dynamic way to increase both digital engagement and digital inclusion across learning contexts. A variety of student response tools to facilitate debating are available such as Poll Everywhere (www.polleverywhere.com) which helps to encourage a community of enquiry and group discussion.

Furthermore, e-learning is intrinsically valuable in terms of the opportunity for learners to engage with collaborative learning. Online mind mapping and notice boards help learners share ideas. Web links and a variety of media creating an online speaking avatar using Voki (www.voki.com) can help with speaking and listening skills in addition to using Glogster (www.glogster.com) to create an online interactive poster.

A related ‘rule’ is the promotion of ‘Appiness’ – mobile phone applications can help learners. For example, Eductecher (www.edutecher.net) lists all the major online learning tools and apps. Similarly, another rule should be ‘don’t be afraid of the Big Bad VLE’. Making the most of the virtual learning environment to promote digital engagement can be an eff ective way to encourage learners to work remotely.

E is for also for employability

It has been argued that improving digital literacy helps our learners increase ownership of their own employability. This goes back to what do we really want our learners to be able to do in the long term: “Our kids’ futures will require them to be:• Networked – they’ll need an

‘outboard brain’ • More collaborative – they are going

to need to work closely with people to co-create information

• More globally aware – those collaborators may be anywhere in the world,” (Richardson, 2008)

Digital commitment can also be constructively employed across vocational areas in addition to being embedded into functional skills areas.

References• Apple (2012) ‘Jobs’ (Online) Available

at: https://jobs.apple.com/uk/

search?job=UKCR#&openJobId=UKCR

[Accessed 28 December 2012]

• Coe, M, A (2001) ‘Inquiry Learning’

(Online) http://faculty.mwsu.edu/west/

maryann.coe/coe/inquire/inquiry.htm


• Digitally Speaking (2011) (Online) Available

at: http://digitallyspeaking.pbworks.com/w/

page/17791568/FrontPage


• Finlayson, H Maxwell, B, Caillau, I &

Tomalin, J (2006) e-learning in Further

Education: the impact on student

intermediate and end-point outcomes,

Sheffi eld Hallam University, Centre for

Education Research (Online) Available at:

http://www.shu.ac.uk/_assets/pdf/ceir-

elearning-FE-DfES2006.pdf

[Accessed: 10 January 2013]

• Golden, S, McCrone, T, Walker, M & Rudd,

P (2006) Impact of e-learning in Further

Education: Survey of Scale and Breadth

National Foundation for Educational

Research, DfES (Online). Available at:

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/

eOrderingDownload/RR745.pdf


• Graham, L (2008) ‘Teachers are digikids

too: the digital histories and digital lives

of young teachers in English primary

schools’ in Literacy (Volume 42, Issue 1,

7 March 2008) (Online) Available at: http://

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-

9345.2008.00476.x/abstractpp10-18


• Institute for Learning (IfL) ‘Boost Your

E-confi dence’ in InTuition (Issue 1)

Available at: www.ifl .ac.uk


• Kolb D.A. (1984) ‘Experiential Learning

experience as a source of learning and

development’, New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Planaboardapp (no date) (Online) Available

at: http://www.planboardapp.com/


• Richardson, W (2008) ‘What do we know

about our kids’ futures? Really’ (Online)

http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/what-do-we-

know-about-our-kids-futures-really/


• Smith, G & Wozniak, S (2006) IWoz

(London: Headline)

Pip McDonald Pip has taught in both further

and higher education contexts.

She has recently published an article

in the Research & Practice in Adult

Literacy (RaPAL) Open Edition

exploring potential benefi ts of digital

storytelling on learning. She is

currently a functional skills lecturer

and is an IfL Member.

Think outside the box and the E-box

As educators we need to keep learning and challenging ourselves to play a signifi cant part in the digital commitment to learning. It can be the case that learners can now know more about online tools than teachers. This does not necessarily need to be a negative phenomenon. The transformation lies in the teacher’s willingness to take another ‘e-leap of faith’ to engage with ‘reverse mentoring’ to allow learners to teach you what they know and fi nd useful. Continuing professional development (CPD) can play a role in this process. Perhaps there is room for IfL to create a repository of e-learning tools whereby members can post, share and review tools.

Be gone with E-fear

E-learning is not yet a replacement for paper-based resources, nor does it preclude robust planning, preparation, assessment and feedback. But developing confi dence in using e-learning can help to make the learning journey more fun, interactive, meaningful, learner-centred and engaging at a variety of diff erent levels.

E-learning and paper based resources are not mutually exclusive. They can complement each other to make learning happen. We don’t want digital exclusion or exclusion of any kind. Digital lives should be enjoyed intuitively: “Teachers are digikids too, we all have digital histories and digital lives,” (Graham, 2008).

In an article entitled ‘Boost Your E-confi dence’, IfL argued that “technology is the present and the future” (IfL, 2010). If this is true, we had better start thoroughly enjoying it.


InFocus


Neil Merrick fi nds out how the Gazelle Group is making the learning experience more commercial at FE colleges

A realwindowof opportunityConstruction students at Warwickshire College are used to practising carpentry in workshops, but when it came to maintaining and repairing sash windows, they were able to demonstrate their skills on an old stable-block owned by the college.

Not only was the group of 20 students able to prepare a quote for the work, and estimate how long the job would take, but they liaised with the administrators who work in the building to ensure they had easy access to the windows.

While no money changed hands, head of construction Mark Bonham says the project instilled students with confi dence that should allow them to venture into commercial work later. “It was like being in a company,” he says. “They loved it.”

Likewise, when Josh Massey left school he wanted more than just go to college. He wanted to be an entrepreneur. Now 17, he is putting the fi nishing stages to his plans for an online company selling English wine and hard-to-fi nd vintage wines from around the world. Josh is also well on the way to gain a level 3 BTEC diploma in enterprise and entrepreneurship at North Hertfordshire College.

Josh is no stranger to entrepreneurialism. While at school, he ran showcase events in Hitchin to promote small businesses and was able to turn a profi t. But he doesn’t believe that people are born entrepreneurs. “You can be made into

an entrepreneur if you have the right mindset,” he says.

Josh is a student at the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, part of North Hertfordshire College. According to course leader Sarah Lee, teaching entrepreneurship involves taking students on a journey of self-discovery so they develop the necessary skills and aptitudes for employment, including possible self-employment (see box below). “It’s not about me telling them what I know about business planning,” she says. “It’s about students going through the process and discovering the highs and lows.”

Much of the drive to teach entrepreneurship in FE comes from the Gazelle Group, set up by fi ve colleges in 2011 and now boasting 20 members. Membership involves being committed to transforming the curriculum to encourage

an entrepreneurial mindset in students. Unlike in some traditional college enterprises, such as hairdressing salons and restaurants, students from diff erent courses are encouraged to work together so that initiatives encompass skills such as fi nance and marketing.

The college experience must be ‘T-shaped’, with greater breadth as well as the depth usually sought by awarding bodies, says Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue, also chief executive of North Hertfordshire. “If students are going to keep changing jobs, their learning experience has to be more commercial and more applied.”

An example of this came in Portsmouth, where Highbury College Productions was set up last September by media students. Its fi rst major project is to make a promotional video for a local construction fi rm and, if all goes well, rewards could include money for students, as well as an opportunity to work with professionals and use the best equipment. Eventually, Highbury hopes to establish up to 50 learning companies encompassing virtually everything taught at the college.

Nicola Phipps, head of media and digital communications, says students need to learn that success can depend on working longer hours if a task is not completed. “The frame of mind is about being the sort of person who takes risks and is prepared to be brave,” she adds.• www.thegazellegroup.com

www.ifl .ac.uk

An entrepreneurial mindset

According to teachers, teaching entrepreneurship is about helping students to develop the right mindset:● Enhanced self-confi dence● A willingness to take risks● Picking yourself up if things go wrong● Working to a budget● Not leaving college or work until a

task is complete

23_infocus.indd Sec1:23 12/03/2013 14:17


InPractice

Former teaching assistants Angela Wellington and Kathy Callaghan tell Sarah Simons how professional recognition through IfL has brought them parity with their school colleagues

Gaining Qualifi ed Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status is a milestone in the career of many educators, but for two former teaching assistants (TA) working at a Pupil Referral Unit in Croydon, it granted them the professional recognition to which they had long aspired.

Angela Wellington (pictured, left) and Kathy Callaghan (right) started to work at Moving On, a provision for excluded year 11 students, shortly after its conception 10 years ago. Since those early days as a small independent project, the provision has grown from a service located in a temporary classroom into an invaluable resource for 49 students and 19 staff , housed in an impressively equipped facility on Croydon High Street.

Working with students who have a history of extremely challenging behaviour was Angela’s fi rst post in the sector, while Kathy had a long career as a TA in both mainstream and special education prior to working at Moving On.

Kathy says that she has found her niche at Moving On, working with young people who have lost their way in education. She feels that as a child she didn’t fi t the norms herself and that she knows from her own experience how perceptions of young people can sometimes be unfair.

The pair share a passion to off er the

best possible outcomes for the students with the help of professional development and improvement. As a result, it feels like these warm, vibrant teachers would just glide through classroom incidents that might leave most of us fraught with panic. This easy expertise has, of course, been developed through a commitment to learning.

Angela explains: “As TAs, we’d done extensive training, attended numerous inset days, taken behaviour and attendance qualifi cations. We’d worked our way up to Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA) at Level 4. Where else were we going to go?”

The prospect of teaching rather than providing a supporting role in the classroom did not seem like a great leap for either of them: it had become a source of frustration that they were occasionally having greater success with learners than some teachers.

“We’d been teaching in the guise of a TA and on the pay scale of a TA. It was second nature to us and the students warmed to us because we had a diff erent approach,” Kathy says.

With young people coming to Moving On for the fi nal nine months of their school lives, fi nding a strategy to engage them was of some urgency and it also involved a deliberate move away

Want to apply for QTLS?

For information on how to apply for

QTLS please visit: www.ifl .ac.uk/pf

Moving on up in our careers

24_25_In_Practice.indd 24 13/03/2013 12:54

www.ifl .ac.uk


from strategies used in school.“What would be the point in replicating

what went wrong? We had to be diff erent,” laughs Kathy. Their approach centres on building strong bonds of trust with the young people, getting to know them as individuals on a mutually respectful basis. This is an aspect of pastoral care that one would assume is off ered in schools as part of their pre-exclusion processes, however with classes of 32 in mainstream, as opposed to eight to 10 at Moving On, it is often diffi cult for mainstream educators to provide this level of attention.

Kathy and Angela’s kindness and belief in their students is powerful, however neither are “softies”, as Kathy puts it, nor are they apologists for their students’ transgressions. They maintain that learners must take responsibility for their actions and behaviour in order to progress and develop a more positive approach.

They will not give up on any young person that comes to them, no matter how diffi cult the circumstances or how long it takes. Working with students to develop a strengthened social conscience and to enhance positive behaviour is a priority.

Angela attributes this as the key to improving learning outcomes: “A lot of our students have been excluded from school because of their behaviour, rather than their attainment or intellect, but if there isn’t a certain level of behaviour in the classroom then there is no learning.”

In spite of their dedication and success with the learners, they felt that their status as TAs was holding them back from being allowed to contribute fully.

“We knew we could make a diff erence as HLTAs, but we could make a bigger diff erence as a teacher,” says Kathy.

Determined to develop their teaching skills further and with great support from Sue Welling, Moving On’s head teacher,

Kathy and Angela searched for teaching courses. As mature students in their 40s, a four-year degree would not sit well with work and family life, instead the answer came from their local FE college. Angela says: “We heard about the Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (DTLLS) course at Croydon College, so we researched the qualifi cation and went to meet the team, who were very welcoming.”

They began their two-year qualifi cation with the intention of following it up by working towards their QTLS status through the IfL. Though their initial aim was to teach Key Stage 4, they had resigned themselves to the fact that the course would qualify them to teach in the post-compulsory lifelong learning sector rather than in their current provision.

“Then, the best thing happened to us,” says Angela. “During the fi rst year of our DTLLS course the Wolf Report came out and with that IfL’s campaign for QTLS and QTS parity was won.”

For Angela and Kathy, IfL’s successful campaign was more than just a notional parity of esteem; it meant they could remain in the place of work where they had found their home. “We’d gathered all the evidence we needed for QTLS and sent it to IfL. When it all went through, well, they were glory days for us.” beams Angela.

Kathy continues: “That was our moment. It changed everything. It altered out status, it altered our earning capacity. Everything improved from that point.”

Acquiring recognised professional parity has had a massive impact on how the women feel they are perceived by colleagues and has allowed them to redefi ne themselves as professionals with renewed thirst for professional learning and development.

“It carries enormous weight.” Angela says. “In meetings, when big decisions are being made, we are listened to and respected as education professionals rather than TAs. This was all via doing our QTLS. It gave us that extra edge.”

Kathy agrees: “It’s been very valuable in that respect and because we’ve had such a great experience, other Moving On staff are now taking the same route with IfL. We can’t encourage them enough.”

Kathy and Angela are long-term educators with a wealth of experience, but gaining QTLS status has granted them not only an increased level of professional standing, but an invigorated outlook on their working life. For them, it feels like a new start.

Sarah Simons is a writer and lecturer

and is a Member of IfL

TOM

HO

WA

RD

“That was our moment. It changed

everything. It altered our status,

it altered our earning capacity.

Everything improved from that point”

24_25_In_Practice.indd 25 12/03/2013 14:18


InSight

To get the best out of learners you need to draw out what they know and can do, and encourage them to aim high and be independent. And one eff ective way tutors can encourage more independent learning is through competitions.

Some subject areas – such as hair, beauty and catering – are accustomed to competition; others less so. Competitions can boost learner focus, confi dence, motivation and performance. They can also be fun. The Institute for Learning (IfL) has been funded by the National Apprenticeship Service to run Vocational Masterclass Programmes to help teachers, trainers and tutors improve their coaching skills and engage learners in competition.

The masterclasses have been designed by IfL, based on best coaching practice for WorldSkills. Every two years, the UK competes in the international WorldSkills competition in many vocational areas. In London in 2011, the UK team won fi ve gold, two silver and seven bronze medals to come fi fth in the world. Team UK will be looking to improve on that in this summer’s competition in Leipzig, Germany. Could one or more of your students be in the UK squad in Brazil in 2015?

FE providers can apply to IfL to host a vocational masterclass on their campus. Masterclasses provide a day of competition, using modifi ed WorldSkills competition briefs and assessment criteria, adjusted to

Competitive spirit drives development

accommodate the experience and competencies of the learners involved. Host organisations and their teachers and trainers work with the IfL team and WorldSkills UK trainers and coaches to develop the details of the programme.

Masterclasses are backed by a short online module on vocational updating, which provides staff and employers with evidence of the impact on their teaching and learning and helps inform professional development in participating organisations.

Raising standardsOne institution that is trying to raise standards of learning and teaching through taking part in competitions is East Kent

IfL has teamed up with WorldSkills UK to off er a method of professional development that draws its inspiration from the cut and thrust of competition. Joe Harkin reports

Students from East Kent

College took part in painting and

decorating (right) and carpentry

competitions (far right) under

the watchful eye of one

participant’s guide dog (left)

26_27_Insight.indd 26 13/03/2013 12:32

www.ifl .ac.uk


leading members of the Institute of Carpenters and the Dulux Assessors’ group. The students toured the workshop to view each other’s work, give feedback and judge for themselves how well each participant had done.

East Kent College principal Graham Razey presented the awards and said the students could be proud of their achievements and the way in which the event had boosted their confi dence.

After the event, the students, with their tutors, were able to study the detailed feedback sheets from the judges and to review videos made of the event. The aim is that learning continues as the tutors and students return to ‘normal’ practice, taking with them techniques learned and the enthusiasm generated in the masterclass.

In evaluating the event, teachers and trainers said they wanted to learn more about coaching techniques and East Kent College is now keen to host further masterclasses, including events in vocational areas that have not traditionally taken part in competitions.

For more details on hosting an IfL

Vocational Masterclass at your

institution visit www.ifl .ac.uk/worldskills

For information on WorldSkills see http://

worldskillsuk.apprenticeships.org.uk

Dr Joe Harkin is director of Education

Research and Development Ltd and a

fellow of Oxford Brookes University.

of asking open questions and listening with intent to understand, as distinct from listening to give feedback or instructions.

One of the key messages for tutors was to pull more, push less: stand back a little, let your learners draw on their skills and intelligence to become confi dent and independent.

Skills and attitudesLater in the morning, the tutors put some of these techniques to good use as they helped students to focus on the skills and the attitudes they would need for the competition in the afternoon. They also helped them cope with mistakes – to put these behind them, learn from them and move on.

After lunch, students donned their East Kent College IfL WorldSkills T-shirts and settled down to compete, using the briefs prepared by college and IfL staff .

In the painting and decorating workshop, six level 1 learners worked against the clock to paint a decorative panel, while the level 2 students each painted a logo design for the college. In the carpentry workshop, 11 students worked intently to interpret drawings, set out, prepare and assemble a set of rafters, including a partially sighted learner whose guide dog lay under a bench throughout the competition.

As in the actual WorldSkills competitions, the talents being demonstrated by the students were not extraordinary, but ordinary skills being used to the highest standards the students could achieve.

When time was up the judges began their deliberations, using their experience as

College in Broadstairs. The college’s construction trades manager Kim Gallagher worked with IfL to set up a one-day masterclass with the aim of raising standards and boosting students’ confi dence and motivation.

Five tutors and 22 learner volunteers from painting, decorating and carpentry took part, some of whom had needed to be gently encouraged by their tutors to participate. One of the students said he had volunteered to gain experience and new skills and increase his confi dence.

Leading WorldSkills coach Salvatore Circelli led a session for the tutors on coaching techniques, emphasising the importance of building rapport with learners,

26_27_Insight.indd 27 13/03/2013 12:32

Find out more at www.ifl.ac.uk Contact us anytime on 0844 815 3202 or at [email protected]

Visit our website at

www.ifl.ac.uk/benefits

to get the most out of your IfL membership

With you every step of the way in your career journeyBelonging to a professional body enhances your status within your field of expertise and IfL can support you as an individual throughout your career.

By combining some of IfL’s benefits and services, you can derive greater benefit from your membership.

Online continuing professional development (CPD) modules, offered in conjunction with EduCare, at a vastly reduced cost of just £19.99 (ex VAT), exclusively for IfL members

Access to the highly regarded system of professional formation, leading to both Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) and Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS) status

Recognition routes to QTLS for IfL members with substantial teaching experience

The opportunity to be listed on IfL’s professional status register.

INT.03.13.028.indd 28 13/03/2013 08:27

Training


From September, further education providers can enrol students aged 14 to 16 directly. Gethyn Williams, from the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, has some advice

Is your organisation ready to welcome younger learners?

As radical new education pathways open up for 14 to 16-year-olds, colleges and their staff need to review their skills and policies to ensure they are ready to accommodate this new cohort of students.

Fortunately, there is an enormous bank of skills, experience and resources available through working with voluntary youth organisations – which is where the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) can help.

NCVYS is a trade association for youth charities across England. We work with and on behalf of our 300 members, who in turn support the personal and social development of young people, complementing formal education by helping them with their wider transition to adulthood. These organisations have a distinct, value-led approach, which incorporates both academic disciplines and practical methodologies.

Though many FE providers already work with 14 to 16-year-olds, their staff do not always have the necessary skills to engage with young people or manage behaviour.

In response, one college recently engaged confl ict resolution trainer provider LEAP Confronting Confl ict (www.leapconfrontingconfl ict.org.uk) to develop a holistic approach to confl ict resolution. Feedback was excellent. Staff reported increased awareness of their roles, a better understanding of confl ict triggers and improved organisational strategies, for which the buy-in of the college’s leadership team was essential.

Good practice in the youth sector is often cited by Ofsted as vital to boost young people’s employability, self-esteem,

self-suffi ciency and communication skills – all attributes that employers value.

It is often hard to focus on individuals when delivering a crowded curriculum, so developing partnerships with established

and trusted specialist organisations can make a real diff erence.

As well as support on improving practice, providers and practitioners could also benefi t from stronger relationships with youth sector training providers. NCVYS has a wealth of proven relationships here, many of which link into apprenticeship and traineeship programmes, which could help colleges to broker new supply chains as their business evolves or expands.

NCVYS is now providing bespoke consultancy and brokerage services to FE providers wishing to develop their strategic thinking and skills around working with young people. All of our work is supported by a network of mentors and assessors engaging with their Local Safeguarding Children Boards, helping you to ensure you meet local standards and expectations.

Gethyn Williams is director of workforce

development at the NCVYS. For more

information contact Isabelle King at

[email protected]

www.ifl .ac.uk

GET

TY

Safeguarding checklist

• Do all your staff understand the diff erence in safeguarding with the younger 14-16 age group?

• Do you provide your workforce with appropriate opportunities to explore personal, social and health education (PSHE)?

• Have you considered the need to explore diff erent motivational techniques with young people?

• Have you a simple but robust structure for managing volunteering and safe recruitment and selection?

Case study: UK Youth and Youth Achievement Foundations

The charity UK Youth delivers innovative, non-formal learning to young people. Youth Achievement Foundations (YAFs) are small independent schools that use UK Youth’s non-formal curriculum to cater to the needs of young people excluded or at risk of exclusion. YAFs re-engage students through small group work and one-to-one teaching. This approach reduces risky behaviour, builds self-esteem and improves attendance – average attendance rates rise from 30 per cent to 80 per cent in the foundation environment. The outcomes achieved by students have been evidenced and analysed by Teesside University. Read the report at:http://bit.ly/13IsRwu

29_Training.indd Sec1:29 13/03/2013 16:06


Geoff Petty

Are you grading too much? Why grading degrades learning

I call this ‘medal and mission’ feedback. In order to learn at the maximum rate students need to know what they have done well (a medal) and what they need to improve (a mission). If learning is like rolling a rock up a slope, students need to know how far they have rolled their rock, and where to roll next.

Students also need to know which way is up – the goals for the task. The most powerful way to do this is to give students clear goals, assessment criteria, success criteria, and to show them what good work looks like.

And don’t forget that students must act on the feedback. It helps to ask them to put targets from their last piece of work on the top of their next. For more on this, see ‘Learning loops’ in my books Teaching

complacency

reduced eff ort

coasting

The problem with grading(Butler, 1988)

‘You can’t fatten a pig by weighing it’Old Chinese proverb

Most people reckon that grades motivate, creating healthy competition and something to aim for. But one of the surprises from educational research is that grading has a negative eff ect on at least half of students.

The students most at risk are those in the top and bottom quarters. Why is this? Weaker students get a string of poor grades and their interest and motivation is reduced. So they work less hard, produce even poorer work and a vicious cycle results.

Able students, meanwhile, get a string of good grades and become complacent. They don’t bother to read your helpful comments, as they don’t see a need to improve. They may even reduce their eff ort feeling that a merit is good enough.

Psychology has established some subtle responses to grading. It tends to make students nervous and vulnerable, so they play safe and recoil from risks – the opposite of what we want, as students learn most by taking risks outside their comfort-zone.

Grading tends to make students adopt quick fi xes, like copying or learning without understanding. It makes mistakes seem shameful, rather than opportunities to learn. It teaches some students they ‘can’t do it’.

Ironically, even if weak students overcome these tendencies and improve greatly, their classmates have improved as much. So they are still at the bottom of the pile. Grades tend not to recognise improvement over time, so they make ability seem fi xed rather than due to eff ort to learn. Minimum target grades may be an exception, though, if the emphasis is on beating your personal best, not everybody else’s.

The alternative to grading of course is to give students informative feedback.

despair

giving up

reduced interestWeak

Able

30_31_Ask_Geoff.indd 3030_31_Ask_Geoff.indd 30 12/03/2013 14:1812/03/2013 14:18

www.ifl .ac.uk


Medal

Mission

Today or Evidence-based Teaching.Of course, we do need to grade work

sometimes, as students need to know how well they’re doing. But how often? Once a term? Twice a term?

I have spoken about this at various conferences for decades. A few years ago somebody approached me and said he had introduced medal and mission feedback on an underperforming A-level philosophy course. He gave no grades at all, just comments. He found the weaker students strived much more, and able students were more stretched.

After two years he was struggling to fi nd missions for his top students, their work was so good, so he got them reading undergraduate textbooks.

He was pleased and confi dent when they took their fi nal exam. But his confi dence turned to mush months later when he found a letter on his desk from the examining board and a ‘see me’ from the head of department. He opened it with trepidation – what had he done wrong?

It was an invitation to an awards ceremony – two of his students were in the top fi ve for the whole country.

We are no diff erent to our students in this respect. How would you feel if your boss tapped you on the shoulder and said: “Your teaching isn’t as good as everybody else’s, you know.” And how long would you remain motivated if he or she did this every other day? Yet we eff ectively do the same when we grade our students.

But be careful: comparative comments like ‘excellent work’ or ‘rather weak’ have the same negative eff ect as grades. Students need to know how to improve, not how they compare.

I think we need to be much more cautious about grading. And I was

delighted to hear from Pippa Francis HMI at the recent Association of Colleges conference that the ‘assessment’ in ‘teaching learning and assessment’ should be seen as formative, not summative, which she thought most colleges did well.

So, Ofsted wants medals and missions too. Because what really helps students is information about what they’ve done well, information about what they need to work on, and a clear understanding of the goals, the success criteria, and the nature of excellent work.

Finally, let’s not forget that we teachers and trainers are graded too. Do our

lesson observation grades make us complacent or despairing? Do graded observations lead us to adopt sham strategies that we don’t believe in? Even though we’re grown-ups? I will look at this in more detail in my next piece.

How would you feel if every other day your boss said ‘your teaching isn’t as good as everybody else’s?’ asks Geoff Petty, the author of Teaching Today and Evidence-based Teaching. Geoff is a patron of IfL

What are the goals?

How far have I got in the direction of the goals? (medal)

How can I close the gap? (mission)

Medal and mission feedback

Goals

Peer assessment

Medal and mission feedback – and

clarity about goals – can be achieved

without the teacher being involved.

For example, students can peer-

assess or self-assess. See Geoff ’s

earlier articles for more details: http://

www.ifl .ac.uk/membership/intuition

30_31_Ask_Geoff.indd 31 13/03/2013 14:22

Books

A three-pronged approach to building creativity in students and organisations

• Editor’s pick

• Other new publications

Action Research: The challenges of understanding and changing practice.Andrew Townsend (2013)Open University Press,

a division of McGraw-Hill

Education: paperback

978-0-3352-4443-0

“Research which produces nothing but books will not

suffi ce,” is a statement borrowed by Andrew Townsend as part of the introduction to his thorough and stimulating book on the hows, whys and wherefores of action research.

By quoting the line above from Kurt Lewin’s 1946 paper, Action research and minority

problems, Dr Townsend encapsulates his belief in

the power and necessity of action research as a way of underpinning professional and wider communities and their practices.

It may be a slim volume, running to just over 140 pages, but Dr Townsend, associate professor in educational leadership in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, talks readers

a creative attitude to teaching.The authors have identifi ed

four diff erent categories of creative teaching: the process of creative thinking; creative teaching techniques; creativity in community and employer engagement; creative and innovative use of technology in teaching. They argue that creative teaching engages learners in the learning process more eff ectively, as well as giving them transferable skills relevant in the workplace.

The book is divided into three main sections. The fi rst, The Individual, considers the characteristics of a creative teacher and how teachers can build their confi dence to develop their creative skills, with some useful activities.

The second, The Group Perspective, considers a

Creative Teaching Approaches in the Lifelong Learning Sector

Brendon Harvey and

Josie Harvey (2012)

Open University Press,



978-0-3352-4630-4

As a teacher educator, it can be diffi cult to encourage new teachers to be creative in their approach to teaching: they fear losing control of the learners; that they will not really be ‘teaching’ if the learners are doing the work; or perhaps they don’t feel confi dent with using new technology. Equally, with the pressure of observations and inspections, many experienced teachers like to ‘play safe’ rather than take risks by being creative.

Hence this book is a very welcome addition for both experienced and new teachers, to help generate or regenerate

Excerpt: Creative Teaching Approaches

A new group is about to start a programme

where it is important that learners mix with

others. Each new member of the group is

issued with a lollipop stick. On one side they

write their name. On the other side they

write down an interest or something that the

others will probably not know about them.

All the sticks are then placed in a bag.

To form sub-groups, one member of the

whole group is asked to take a stick out

of the bag. They read the name and that

learner joins them and is given their stick.

As they do this, they pick another stick

and that person joins them and so on until

the last person picks the stick for the fi rst

member of the second sub-group.

Once in their sub-groups, the aim is to

match the interests on the sticks to people.

When matched correctly, each learner then

contributes something about their interest.

Each sub-group then builds a model

– using all the sticks and other materials

– that symbolises their group name. The

completed models form the ‘centrepiece’

for each group’s table for as long as they

work together.

A creative beginning: lollipop sticks to centrepiece activity

wide range of practical activities including classroom management, engaging learners, and planning sessions. This is the most valuable part of the book, giving practical ideas and using examples from the authors’ own experience.

The fi nal section, The Organisational Context, looks at how the creative teacher can collaborate, and also emphasises the importance of looking after the creative

teacher to avoid burnout. This is a book that is of value to management too as it emphasises the importance of creative teachers to an organisation.

It is all written in an accessible style with useful links to help teachers fi nd what they need. It should enthuse and motivate all teachers, regardless of their experience.

Caroline Harvey, a Fellow

of IfL, has been involved

in teaching initial teacher

education for more than

20 years, working in both

the further and higher

education sectors. Caroline

is currently teaching in two

FE colleges as well as acting

as external examiner for two

universities. She is unrelated

to the authors of this book.


“It emphasises

the importance of

creative teachers

to an organisation”

32_33_Books.indd 3232_33_Books.indd 32 13/03/2013 12:4813/03/2013 12:48

www.ifl .ac.uk

encyclopaedia which allows the reader to dip in and out of it at any time. I particularly liked the fact that references are contained at the end of each paragraph, making further research easier.

If, however, you are looking for a book that tells you exactly what to do in situation X or Y then this is probably not the book for you. The book is a mixture of theoretical knowledge and practical activities, which asks the reader to refl ect on either their own practice or a given

Understanding Behaviour 14+

Vicky Duckworth, Karen

Flanagan, Karen McCormack

and Jonathan Tummons




978-03352-3789-0

This, readers, is my fi rst book review and I am slightly nervous because it is evaluating work that people have worked hard to produce.

I found that I enjoyed the process, writing notes in the margins and constantly stopping and refl ecting upon my own practice and how the information I had just digested fi tted into my teaching practice.

It helped that the book is well written and fl ows easily. It comprises six chapters that take the reader on a journey that is well researched and referenced. In essence, the book is a sort of mini-

scenario, some of which are then followed up with a case study to emphasis the point.

The book is heavily reliant on psychological principles, such as the behaviourist and cognitive approaches. As a psychology teacher I found these highly relevant and feel that fellow teachers will gain some valuable insights into human behaviour.

I would, however, have liked to have seen a chapter on working memory, which is extremely important within a learning environment. Poor

Gain valuable insights into human behaviour from the age of 14 upwards

Excerpt: Understanding Behaviour 14+

Establishing a positive learning environment

Consider the strategies you can put in place to establish

a positive learning environment.

• Increase your knowledge and experience of interacting

with students

• Know and demonstrate knowledge about individual

students’ backgrounds, interests, emotional strengths

and academic levels

• Express warm, positive and enthusiastic responses as

you interact with your students

• Be attentive to your students’ learning needs

• Show your pleasure and enjoyment of students

• Interact in a responsive and respectful manner

“In essence, the book is a sort of

mini-encyclopaedia which allows

the reader to dip in and out of it”

working memory has been shown to have an eff ect on behaviour (see Gathercole S. and Alloway T.P. 2008. Working Memory and Learning:

A Practical Guide for Teachers, London: Sage).

For me, the book suddenly came to an end and I would really have valued a summary chapter, which drew together all the previous chapters into a coherent and concise overview. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and thoroughly recommend it.

Nigel Cannar is a psychology

teacher at The Richard Rose

Central Academy in Carlisle

and an IfL Member. After

serving 22 years in the Royal

Electrical and Mechanical

Engineers he decided to take

up a new role in education.

Since leaving the army he

has undertaken roles in both

the private and public sector.

He fi nds this second career

even more rewarding and

challenging than his time

in the army.

Member off erIfL members qualify for a

20 per cent discount on all

McGraw-Hill books featured

on these pages. The off er

is valid until 31 December

2013. When ordering online

at www.openup.co.uk

enter the promotional

code EDUCATION13

when prompted.

through the processes, principles, management and evaluation associated with action research in some detail.

Dr Townsend’s background as a teacher and teacher educator means the book is well suited to further education and skills practitioners seeking to carry out research as part of their professional development.

Bad Education: Debunking Myths in EducationEdited by Philip Adey

and Justin Dillon (2012)




978-0-3352-4601-4

With a chapter titled ‘Is vocational education for the less able?’ you know, as an FE

practitioner, that it’s a book you’ll want to read. And while it largely targets mythology in the schools sector there is much in here for those working in FE and training. It has top-notch contributors too, including Dylan Wiliam and Frank Coffi eld.

Just for the record, the conclusion to Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas’s chapter: ‘Is vocational education for the

less able?’ is, broadly speaking: ‘No. And it is worthy of far greater esteem.’• It was with great sadness that IfL learned of the death of Philip Adey at the end of January. Professor Adey, who trained and worked as a teacher before entering academe, will be sorely missed in education. Our sympathies are with his family.


32_33_Books.indd 3332_33_Books.indd 33 13/03/2013 16:0713/03/2013 16:07

Innovative and controversial ideas for improving the educational and career options for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are proposed in a book from the United States.

The core argument of Paul Tough’s new book, How Children

Succeed: grit,

curiosity and

the hidden

power of

character, is that success in education is, to a signifi cant extent, determined by a person’s resilience, optimism, perseverance and focus. These qualities can be taught and improved, even in adulthood, and IQ is deemed a relatively unimportant factor.

Tough argues that academic reforms, such as higher standards and more eff ective teaching, can only be part of the answer to improving outcomes and opportunities.

How children succeed: grit,

curiosity and the hidden power

of character, by Paul Tough, is published by Random House 978-1-8479-4711-6.


CPD Exchange

Don’t forget, if you want

help with your own

academic or action

research, or to share

information and data with

fellow IfL members, you

can post online at http://

www.ifl .ac.uk/cpdexchange

By Stephen Gorard

There is international concern that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and some ethnic groups are less likely to continue in education or training after compulsory schooling. Also, that they are subsequently less likely to follow the highest-status and most prestigious routes. But what can be done about this situation in practice?

A systematic review of the available research evidence from 1996 to 2011 was carried out. It focused on interventions intended to encourage participation and retention in post-compulsory education for disadvantaged ethnic minority groups.

The search yielded more than 12,000 research reports in 10 electronic databases, of which only 14 were relevant intervention studies with a reasonably robust evaluation. This is presumably one reason why practitioners fi nd it so hard to engage with research evidence. Well-written

research, describing studies of at least medium quality, is out there, but it is masked and heavily outnumbered by the rest, most of which can be quite poor.

The 14 studies all had a control or comparison group and provided clear descriptions of the relevant intervention. Of these, the most promising approaches were the use of direct fi nancial incentives for behaviour and attendance (three studies). There was also some promise in encouraging the close personal engagement of

adult mentors (fi ve studies), although the evidence here was less convincing.

Given limitations of funding for research and practice, the other approaches uncovered should be abandoned for the present, if their sole purpose is to improve participation. These approaches include providing a supportive personalised environment and motivational and attitude training.• Promoting post-16 participation

of ethnic minority students from

disadvantaged backgrounds: a

systematic review of the most

promising interventions, by

See, BH., Torgerson, C. and Gorard, S. (2012). Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 17, 4, 409-422 (http://bit.

ly/15JHsa9).

A fuller discussion of the issues can be found in the forthcoming book: Overcoming

disadvantage in education by Gorard, S. and See, BH (2013). London: Routledge. 978-0-415-53690-5 (http://bit.ly/125MdvI).

Stephen Gorard is professor

of education research at the

University of Birmingham.

How to encourage disadvantaged ethnic minority groups to stay in FE

Add grit for success in education

ResearchDigest

IFL

University-led ITT is threatenedThe increased cost of university tuition and a potential shift back to voluntary qualifi cations in FE threaten the continued health of initial teacher education and training (ITT), according to new research.

The aim of the study, by the Huddersfi eld University Distributed Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (HUDCETT), was to ascertain the views of teachers and teacher educators on the comparative ‘market value’ of

diff erent forms of ITT in the lifelong learning sector.

Researchers found that those undertaking programmes led by higher education (HE), valued the status associated with university credentials and the labour-market advantage it brought. They also found that teachers and teacher educators believe it off ers greater intellectual rigour and criticality compared with some other courses off ering practical and useful skills.

The researchers said:

“Universities enjoy a privileged position. Their provision is well-regarded by teachers and teacher educators, but its viability appears to be increasingly precarious.”• Teacher training qualifi cations

for the lifelong learning sector

– a comparison of higher

education institution and

awarding body, by Simmons, R. and Walker, M. (http://eprints.

hud.ac.uk/16562/1/simmons.

pdf). It appears in Teaching

in Lifelong Learning (http://

eprints.hud.ac.uk/journal/till/).

34_Research_new.indd 34 13/03/2013 14:23

www.ifl .ac.uk


*IfL runs regular cycles for QTLS and ALTS, from expressions of interest to application and conferral

NoticeBoardIfL Calendar

IfL Rewards launch IfL has teamed up with Reward Compass to bring a new membership benefi t – your one-stop shop for a range of lifestyle discounts and cash-back off ers.

We are reducing the usual annual charge of £17 to £14 if you choose to join IfL Rewards at the same time as you renew your membership. IfL Rewards will give you access to over 6,000 off ers and discounts at high street retailers and on your supermarket shopping.

Find out more at www.ifl .ac.uk/ifl rewards

QTLS and ATLS statusIfL members will be able to express their intention to apply for Qualifi ed Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) or Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS) in the next window (winter 2013), which opens on 1 April 2013.

QTLS and ATLS are off ered as benefi ts designed to enhance members’ careers. Following the removal of government funding, IfL now needs to charge £485 for professional formation to cover the cost of the process.

To help members, payment can be made in two instalments of £100 and £385.

We have worked hard to keep the price down, and considering the value and recognition that QTLS brings we believe this off ers good value to members. Find out more and apply via IfL’s website at www.ifl .ac.uk/pf

Professional status listMembers with QTLS or ATLS, who have remained in good standing can benefi t by being listed on IfL’s professional status register.

Professional registers are a mark of up-to-date, experienced professionals, benefi ting the individual and

the FE and skills sector as a whole. This benefi t is free to members. See http://www.

ifl .ac.uk/psregister

Annual CPD review The fourth IfL review of CPD is now available. The Review

of CPD 2011-2012: Making

professional learning work aims to give members detailed insight into the sort of professional development that makes a positive diff erence to teaching and learning.

The report is available at www.ifl .ac.uk/cpdreview

Nominate for VQ Day VQ Day is a national celebration of vocational qualifi cations for students,

teachers and trainers, and employers. The sixth annual VQ Day will take place on Wednesday 5 June and the VQ awards are now open for entries.

If you know someone who has recently gained a vocational qualifi cation and deserves to be recognised, you can nominate them for a VQ Award.

The closing date is 3 May. Nomination forms are available at www.vqday.org.uk

As a supporter of VQ Day, IfL pays tribute to teachers and trainers who help learners to gain the skills, experience, qualifi cations they need to get ahead. We’d like to hear your success stories. Contact editor@ifl .ac.uk

Renew your IfL membership

We hope that you have found your IfL membership useful this year. You can now renew for the year ending 31 March 2014 or 31 March 2015 in order to continue to take advantage of the benefi ts of IfL membership, including our professional journal InTuition.

Our standard annual membership fee equates to only £3.45 per month, with concessions available for members on lower incomes.

All we ask is that you complete your membership renewal for the coming year by Sunday 31 March 2013.

To renew please go to: www.ifl .ac.uk/renew

MARCH

25 Launch of report from Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning which IfL and LSIS have supported

25-27 ATL conference, Liverpool (including a fringe event with IfL and Recourse on 26 March)

28 Queen’s Anniversary prize nominations close

31 Deadline to renew your membership until 31 March 2014 or 31 March 2015

APRIL

1 Opening date for expressions of intent for QTLS and ATLS*

30 IfL conferral of QTLS and ATLS status* for those who completed their professional formation this winter

MAY

5 FE college policy in England - challenges and opportunities, Westminster Education Forum. Sue Crowley, IfL chair will be speaking

Queen’s birthday honours announced, hopefully recognising many more teachers and trainers

18-24 Adult Learners’ Week, coordinated by Niace

23National Learning at Work Day

31 Closing date for expressions of intent for QTLS and ATLS* JUNE

5 VQ Day, when IfL will join celebrations of teachers’ and trainers’ successes in vocational education

30 Application deadline for QTLS and ATLS* for those who declared their intent between 1 December and 31 January

Stop press: jobs board

Be sure to check out IfL’s brand new jobs board, bringing you the latest vacancies from across the learning and skills system. IfL, the UK’s independent professional body for FE teachers and trainers,brings you the latest jobs at www.ifl .ac.uk/jobs

35_Noticeboard.indd Sec1:3535_Noticeboard.indd Sec1:35 12/03/2013 15:0912/03/2013 15:09

Find out more at www.ifl.ac.uk Contact us anytime on 0844 815 3202 or at [email protected]

Visit our website at

www.ifl.ac.uk/benefits

to get the most out of your IfL membership

Providing resources to support brilliant teachers and trainersContinuing professional development (CPD) improves and enhances your skills and knowledge for the benefit of your learners.

By combining some of IfL’s benefits and services, you can derive greater benefit from your membership.

Help in organising and managing your CPD via REfLECT, IfL’s onlline personal learning space and portfolio

The latest information through our professional journal InTuition and regular e-newsletters featuring policy updates, links to CPD resources, and the latest sector news

Geoff Petty, IfL patron, answers your questions on teaching and training in his regular ‘Ask Geoff’ column

A growing online library of resources including IfL reviews of CPD and research on effective teaching and training.

INT.03.13.036.indd 36 13/03/2013 08:28

intuition spring 2013

Documents

new home tuition teachers

needs of teachers

home tuition fits

home withcan

skills qtls

homelingua teacher

new issue

professional body