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Staff DevelopmentAnnual Report2013-2014

The University forWorld-Class Professionals

Staff Development Annual Report 32 Staff Development Annual Report

ContentsWelcome

Welcome to the annual Staff Development ReportThis report gives an overview of the University’s staff development activities and achievements during the 2013/14 academic year.

The Academic Vision to be in the top 50 by 2020 in both Teaching, and Research and Knowledge

Exchange provided the focus for the University’s staff development activity in 2013/14. It was

recognised that investment in staff development would be critical to the achievement of the

vision. New programmes aimed at supporting the vision were developed. Amongst these is the

Future Research and Knowledge Exchange Leaders programme, designed to support excellent

researchers to a position where they are not only excellent in their own right but also lead high

quality research and knowledge exchange teams and activities.

In addition to the centrally delivered programmes and courses there are many examples of exciting

and innovative local staff development activities that took place across the University during the

year which are testament to the importance that the whole institution and local managers put on

developing our staff. This level of engagement is a real stand-out feature of MMU and played an

important part in our achievement of Investors in People Gold and will no doubt be highlighted

when we are reassessed, against the new IiP Standard, in May 2015.

Looking forward to 2014-15 the main focus will continue to be on staff development to support

the Academic Vision with the introduction of the Framework to Support Academic Practice and

Excellence and more programmes and initiatives coming on stream.

Josie Elson

Associate Director, Valuing and Engaging People

Welcome 3

Summary of Actions/Achievements to Support 4 the University’s Staff Development Priorities for 2013/14

•Student Experience and Satisfaction 4

•Excellence in learning and teaching 8

•Transformation, flexibility and adaptability 11

•Research and Knowledge Exchange 14

Recognising Staff Success and Contributions 16

Local Priorities 20

Staff Development Priorities 2014/15 22

Review of PDR Completions 24

Statistics on Centrally Delivered Training Courses 25

Course Evaluation 35

4 Staff Development Annual Report Staff Development Annual Report 5

Summary of actions/achievements to support the University’s Staff Development priorities for 2013/14

Student experience and satisfaction

Engagement and involvement of staff in the International Strategy and the E3 Strategy

The introduction of the University’s

International Strategy provided an opportunity

to bring together different staff groups to reflect

on internationalising both the student and staff

experience. Throughout this event, there was

a real drive to work together to think about how

to operationalise the strategy. Groups focused

on each of the strands of the new strategy to

formulate plans and to share understanding of

the barriers to success.

Stephen Parkin, Director of MMU International,

commented:

“Organisation Development and Training played

a key role in being able to kick start and generate

cross institution buy-in for the new MMU

Internationalisation Strategy. I wanted to run

two workshops to be able to understand views

on internationalisation across the university and

another to help develop a framework for the

strategy. Both were for a large number of staff

from faculties and across central services. Debs

Snell (ODT Officer) offered excellent support

throughout the process. This included helping

us to clarify our aims and objectives and what we

needed from the workshops, to then designing a

bespoke programme.”

The launch of the E3 (Employability,

Employment and Enterprise) Strategy bought a

similar opportunity to engage and involve staff.

Myszka Guzkowska (Deputy Vice Chancellor)

opened the event with an explanation of the E3

brand before Jackie Njoroge (Head of Strategic

Planning and Management Information)

provided an insight into the external

environment and MMU performance. Sharon

Handley (Dean of HLSS) reflected on what the

strategy means for her faculty. Organisation

Development and Training then facilitated

staff reflections on the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats for E3 across the

University. The event also provided a space for

visioning what the future could look like.

Support for the Strategy for Learning, Teaching and Assessment

The focus of the second phase of EQAL was

the embedding of cultural change to have a

discernible impact on the quality of teaching,

learning and assessment: central to this is

the supported provided by the Centre of

Excellence for Learning and Teaching (CELT)

to ensure the Strategy for Learning, Teaching

and Assessment is embedded in course design

and development. Across the last year, this

has led to a number of departments focusing

on a review of their portfolio, their assessment

design and levels of student engagement

through focused audits and evaluations.

Dealing with Changing Student Expectations in Library Services

Changing student expectations within Library

Services had given rise to a number of situations

which Library staff members found particularly

challenging to deal with. Following a needs

analysis, the Service worked with Organisation

Development and Training to produce a series

of short, stimulating and interactive training

sessions to support staff when managing

challenging situations.

Colleagues from across Library Services took

the opportunity to participate in the sessions,

looking at developing resilience, transactional

analysis and interactive role play sessions using

actors where participants applied their learning

to real life library situations. Comments from

immediate post training evaluation included:

“Really enjoyed the format and structure –

changes of pace, collaborative and discursive

throughout.”

“…a really useful insight into our behaviour”

A detailed analysis of the intervention, taking

place several months after the training sessions,

has given the Library management team an

opportunity to gather the views of colleagues

from across the Service to support a review of

their policies and procedures.

Supporting Learning for professional colleagues involved in supporting the student learning experience

The Centre of Excellence for Learning and

Teaching (CELT) has developed a new CPD

provision called Supporting Learning for

professional colleagues involved in supporting

the student learning experience at MMU.

This was developed in response to and in

collaboration with heads of professional

services, who identified a gap in the academic

related CPD provision available to their staff.

Supporting Learning is a programme of five

two-hour workshops. Colleagues from different

services work together in multi-professional

groups to share perspectives and practices.

Building the Law School Executive Team

One priority for development providers this

year was bespoke development to support

local student experience objectives. Within the

Law School, this saw a focus on building the

Executive Team. The Executive Team wanted

to ensure understanding and buy in from all

staff for the strategic plan. They recognised

the start of this as ensuring that they, as

the Executive, took a team approach to the

planning and roll out of the strategy.

A number of events were facilitated by

Organisation Development and Training,

starting with the Executive Team utilising the

High Performance Team Development Tool

(ASTA 9) to assess how they were performing

as a team. Sessions covered leadership

and management competencies, project

management and the culture within the Law

School.

This focus has led to the Team planning more

activities to engage staff. For example, the

Executive are planning a staff celebration social

event and are assigning £15,000 to work on the

Atrium of the Law School to help establish the

identity of the School.

Reflecting on their successes since the start of

this project, the Executive identified a “greater

sense of team and collegiality” and “more

strategic thinking and planning”.

Training Academics to Enhance Student Recruitment & Admissions

Recruitment and Admissions led a project to

make MMU the largest paperless admissions

provider in the UK, earning the R&A team a

third nomination for the THE ‘Outstanding

R&A Team’ in as many years.


As part of this project, the team redesigned all

of their business processes to ensure the best

fit with the new software and trained more

than 200 academic and support staff to use it.

Neil Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing,

welcomed the new paperless system, saying

said:

“The new system has particularly enhanced

communication for nursing recruitment and in

turn enabled us to respond much quicker to

candidates throughout the admissions process.”

Social media training

Recruitment and Admissions also delivered

social media good practice training to 80

student peer mentors as part of the induction

and welcome programme for new first year

students. The training fitted into a pilot of using

an online platform as a forum for new students

to meet current students to better prepare them

for starting university at MMU. The training

included awareness of the impact of social

media with practical do’s and don’ts, etiquette,

tips on good posts and how best to use precise

language to communicate interesting content.

Given the success of this project, this is now

going to be built into the team’s standard

training portfolio moving forward.

Connect and Protect Clinics

During this year, the IT Training team organised

and delivered 15 student-facing Connect &

Protect clinics, aimed to support new and

existing students. The main objectives were to

get students connected, increase awareness of

IT support available and promote the service’s

free services.

The Team managed to engage and support a

large number of students. The feedback has

been highly positive with many participants

commenting on the wide range of useful

services that IT provide.


Excellence in learning and teaching

The FLEX Scheme

In January 2014 the Centre for Excellence in

Learning and Teaching (CELT) introduced

the FLEX Scheme, a practice-based CPD

opportunity for colleagues who teach or support

learning. The Scheme incorporates formal and

informal pathways. Two optional FLEX units

have been developed and approved as part of

the PgCert and the MA in Academic Practice

to enable colleagues to use their practice-based

CPD and work towards credits. Colleagues

commented that they found this way of

development particularly useful as it enabled

them to self-select CPD activities which were

most valuable for them and their practice and

carry these out in their own time while also

being supported by a FLEX coordinator. FLEX

can also be used in preparation for Professional

Recognition via the MMU PSF scheme.

A range of FLEX initiatives have been

developed, including the following:

The Greenhouse Initiative for Innovative

Learning and Teaching

57 staff have engaged in the Greenhouse

initiative, a community to connect with

colleagues from across MMU and discuss

and experiment with innovative teaching and

learning approaches, support and collaborate.

The Greenhouse has led to a number of

collaborations which include joint conference

presentations, publications, inter-disciplinary

working and participation of colleagues in open

education activities and collaborative resources

development and joint staff development

workshops. The Greenhouse is linked to the

Creativity in Development project led by Prof

Norman Jackson and enables the group to

disseminate their innovative work through a

related book publication.

Teaching and Learning Conversations

In March, a monthly webinar series Teaching

and Learning Conversations started, an

informal collaboration among MMU, Sheffield

Hallam University, University Campus Suffolk

and the University of Surrey. Colleagues from all

collaborating institutions have the opportunity

to share their good practice linked to learning

and teaching and pedagogical research. All

TLC webinars are recorded and made available

for further viewing, re-use and re-purposing

for academic development activities and some

of them have already been linked to CELT

resources. Already, over 150 participants have

engaged with this series.

Devices for Learning

Bring your own Devices for Learning (BYOD4L)

is an open course developed by CELT with

Sheffield Hallam to create opportunities

for development of academics and other

professionals who teach or support learning in

HE to develop their understanding of how they

can use smart technologies for learning and

teaching. Students are also welcome to join the

course. In January 2014, 11 facilitators from 9

institutions worked with 26 participants from

26 countries. This was followed by a week-

long BYOD4L in July 2014, where 16 facilitators,

including 5 from MMU supported participants

from 23 countries. Overall, the BYOD4L

Wordpress site has had 18,808 hits.

Openness in Education

A facilitated version of the OER (Open

Educational Resources) course Openness in

Education was offered during Open Education

Week 2014 in collaboration with the North-

West OER Network. The course provided an

opportunity to colleagues at MMU to develop a

better understanding about Open Educational

Resources and Open Educational Practices and

learn together with colleagues and facilitators

from around the world. This initiative was

also valuable as it developed closer working

relationships with the NW OER Network which

is led by a colleague from MMU.

The MMU Professional Standards Framework (PSF)

The MMU Professional Standards Framework

(PSF) was successfully launched in September

2013 and during its first year focused on

developing the scheme’s capacity. Senior

academics were encouraged to gain Senior

Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy

with the dual purpose of increasing mentoring

and panel capacity and most importantly to

raise the profile of the MMU PSF.

There were 46 successful applicants awarded

MMU/HEA Fellowships between September

2013 and July 2014 as follows:

Principal Fellow: 4

Senior Fellow: 26

Fellow: 14

Associate Fellow: 2

To keep up with demand, CELT will be

supporting the piloting of Faculty Panels for

Associate Fellow and Fellow applicants.

Peer Support for Teaching

The Peer Support for Teaching Scheme was

reviewed in consultation with representatives

from each faculty and, as a result, was updated

to provide a clearer focus on enhancement

and a clearer link to the University scheme

for Professional Recognition via the HEA

Professional Standards Framework. Resources

designed to support observation of teaching

and feedback on academic practice have been

developed.

Good Practice Exchange

This year saw the launch of the Good Practice

Exchange which is a collection of learning and

teaching video clips that share and showcase

Good Practice across MMU. The collection is

organised in categories linked to the Learning,

Teaching and Assessment Strategy and

has become a useful and growing resources

for academic development activities, self-

organised CPD and in some cases as unit and

course promotion.

In total, 57 videos have been produced or are

currently in production since September 2013:

Business & Law (14), Manchester School of Art

(8), Cheshire (6), Science & Engineering(10),

Hollings (8), Education (3), HLSS (5), Health,

Psychology & Social Care (3).

The Good Practice Exchange has enabled

CELT to connect with innovative academics

and other professionals who support learning

at MMU to recognise excellence in teaching,

build confidence and inspire others to become

more innovative in their teaching. Good

Practice Exchange clips have been linked to

CELT Learning and Teaching Resources and

are also shared via social media channels to

increase engagement.


Information Literacy and Collaboration

Library staff from the Library’s InfoSkills Team

(MMU’s Information Literacy team) organised

a day’s sharing of experience on Collaboration

and Information Literacy in the summer. Held

at MMU Business School, the day’s exchange

of experience on collaborative ventures was run

jointly with the NoWAL Consortium (North West

Academic Libraries) and the CILIP IL Group

(Chartered Institute of Library and Information

Professionals: Information Literacy group).

The event gave participants an opportunity to

learn from the good practice of the presenters

who have innovated and developed their

practice by working collaboratively with other

partners within their institutions. Participants

gained a greater understanding of how to

develop integrated approaches to information

and digital literacy practice with a focus on

how collaborative practice can raise the profile

of IL beyond the library and enable services to

work more efficiently with stronger outcomes.

The event was attended by 21 library staff

from the North West, with 100% saying they’d

recommend the session to others. Typical

comments were:

“Networking with a range of people from other

institutions was extremely valuable. Sharing/

learning about good practice”

“Interesting, informative and as always good to

hear about what’s going on at other institutions”

Planning days for the LLB Programme

Organisation Development and Training

facilitated a number of planning days for the

Manchester Law School’s LLB Programme.

The purpose was to review and evaluate the

delivery of the LLB at levels 4 and 5 since the

implementation of EQAL programmes.

Nick Dearden, Programme Leader, wanted

to ensure team ownership of delivery of the

programme so the team started by identifying

their vision, mission and values. This enabled a

more focused approach to their action planning

and the development of the skills content of the

programme. Nick commented that:

“The key to success of our internal development

events is that we are able to draw on knowledge,

expertise and skills of Organisation Development

and Training. Alison Laithwaite (ODT Officer),

as ever, was extremely helpful and we are

enormously grateful to her for her time and

support.”

Introduction of the online resource Lynda.com

The IT Training Team have introduced Lynda.

com, an online learning resource to enhance

Digital Literacy for staff and students. Lynda.

com provides courses on a wide range of

subjects, including Microsoft’s full suite of

software, Adobe Creative Suite, CAD, video

production and even business skills.

This resource provides staff and students with

24/7 access to online video tutorials. MMU

staff and students are be able to keep up-to-

date on the latest technological developments,

as Lynda.com release new courses every week

which is very beneficial for staff Continuous

professional development (CPD).

Transformation, flexibility and adaptability

Development to support the roll out of myHR

Across HR, there has been a drive to provide

flexibility in the services we deliver to staff with

the introduction of myHR, a web-based self-

service portal. MyHR allows both managers

and staff greater control over systems and

processes at all stages of the employee life

cycle.

This has resulted in large-scale development

support for staff across the University. Support

has included on-line training guides, podcasts,

telephone help and walk through sessions. The

team have also provided 1:1 support for regular

users of the system.

There has been particular support for those

who use the system that sits behind myHR,

with one user commenting:

“The SAP back-end interface is a complex tool,

which I found intimidating during the initial

group training session. However, Organisation

Development and Training really have been

superb in their subsequent support. I had an

extended one-to-one session with Paul Walsh,

during which we explored and I documented all

the functionality of myTraining which CASQE

will require, and this has proved invaluable.

Since then, Paul and Sarah have provided

prompt and accurate assistance by phone and

email whenever I have required it.”

Supporting the move to Birley Fields

The 2013-14 priorities also included support

for staff who were moving work location

and adapting to new ways of working.

For academic colleagues in the Faculty of

Education, the Organisation Development and

Training team worked with Melanie Fasciato

(Principal Lecturer and Project Manager) and

Martin Needham to run a range of Getting to

know Birley events. This included a series of

days touring the Birley site for 100 academic

staff. These featured tours of the Birley site

and facilitated discussions on thinking about

how to make the most of the space. This was

supported by Jane McKeating, Associate Head

in Art and Design, who provided an insight into

the move into the Art and Design School.

Feedback on the days was extremely positive,

with some comments from participants below.

“Can I please offer my thanks to everybody who

facilitated the extremely positive day... I went

initially with much trepidation but left feeling

very positive. The day allayed any fears that I

had and I already feeling quite excited about the

new possibilities… The feeling of collegiality is

already strong before we even begin to pack.

I will certainly be telling those who could not

attend that they have nothing to fear.”

“It was also really good to have a day that was

focussed on how we could make the move work

in the best possible way for all of us, and some

really interesting discussions were had.”

The Organisation Development and Training

team has also provided transition support for

a range of teams involved in the move. For

example, development has been provided for

managers in FSAS administration working on


projects to develop a “One team approach” as

teams are bought together from Didsbury and

Elizabeth Gaskell. Technical Services teams

from the two campuses took part in a Birley

orientation event to support their planning for

the move to Birley. In July, the University’s

Change Academy worked with Library Services

to set up a Birley Networking Event – an

opportunity to meet colleagues from teams

across the University who will be supporting

students at the Birley campus.

Change Academy Virtual Network and Events

The MMU Change Academy continued to

support a range of transformation initiatives

across the University. The Change Academy

was re-launched with an enhanced offer for

network members, featuring the creation of a

virtual network and series of monthly network

events featuring internal and external speakers.

The network sessions provide an opportunity

for network members to share their experiences

of change at MMU and to learn new ideas

around the management of change. Over 200

colleagues have attended the eight sessions,

featuring subjects as diverse as Transformation

at the School of Art, Perspectives on change

from coaching and meditation and Sharing

tools for collaboration at the University. One of

the most positive outcomes from the events has

been the opportunity for teams (SPMI, BSSG,

BIT, Libraries, School of Art) to share their work

and ideas with a wider audience. For example,

as a result of January’s session, the Business

Improvement Team has established an MMU

Project Management Community of Practice.

The virtual network features a dedicated

website updated and expanded to incorporate

profiles of MMU’s “Change Champions”, details

of past and forthcoming events, case studies

and toolkits to support managers and staff with

all aspects of change.

In an end of year evaluation of the network, one

of the network members described it as…

“…a really useful enterprise that provides excellent

networking opportunities. I have recommended

all my staff especially those with management

and supervisory duties to get involved.”

The T50@MMU Programme

The T50@MMU programme has provided

focused sessions for Deans, Heads and

Associate Deans and programme leaders.

Early discussions shaped the institutional

understanding of what it means to be ‘Top 50’

for teaching and the Curriculum, later events

set out to inspire and inform programme leaders

and for them to feel supported in their roles as

they are guided to discuss institutional priorities

with their programme teams, set programme

objectives for the short and medium term and

know what staff development opportunities

will be available to them in the future.

IT Aspiring Leaders Programme

The 2013-14 staff development priorities

included a commitment to build capacity for

teams and individuals to respond flexibly to

challenges and adapt to new situations and

contexts. IT Services responded to this with

the introduction of the new Aspiring Leaders

Programme. The Aspiring Leaders Development

Programme brings together participants from

all levels and parts of the service as a team

and empowers them to identify and develop

projects that will make a real difference to the

service delivered to students and staff.

The Programme took a blended approach,

aiming to provide the greatest stretch for those

involved within a supportive environment. The

blend included using a 360 diagnostic at the

start and end of the programme, the TMSDI

team management profile and 11 sessions,

each linked to the University’s Leadership

and Management Competency Framework.

Managers from the IT Executive Team

sponsored each session, which firmly placed

the theories candidates were looking at into the

strategies and direction of IT services.

The participants identified and then built the

business case for a number of projects. They

had to do a range of presentations to very senior

staff about these projects, including presenting

four projects to a panel including the Vice

Chancellor, a Dean and a Head of Services.

Initially, this panel was to identify one project

for this group to take forward. However, the

panel took the decision that all four projects

should run.

“I had the pleasure of listening to the

presentations, along with my other panellists.

These projects show a good understanding

of University needs, offering real potential for

development and transformation.”

John Brooks, University Vice Chancellor

As well as these projects having been completed

or currently underway, there have been personal

successes for participants including three of

the ten participants being promoted during or

following the programme.


Research and knowledge exchange

REF 2014

The REF Manager, Associate Director Valuing

and Engaging People and the Equality and

Diversity Manager delivered a range of

development sessions to support Research

Institute Directors and coordinators and

other staff involved in the preparations for

the REF submission. The training focussed

on understanding the REF process, how to

apply the University’s Code of Practice and in

particular how the ‘Individual Circumstances’

of individual members of staff would be taken

into account. The Director of RKE and the

REF manager also delivered a number of REF

‘roadshows’ to academic staff.

Development for Research and Knowledge Exchange

The RKE Office have delivered a diverse

programme of staff development which has

included professional development workshops

for Knowledge Exchange practitioners,

sessions on how to engage stakeholders in

Research and Knowledge Exchange. The RKE

Office have also introduced a programme of

RKE Socials, held on the last Friday of the every

working month these networking events have a

different theme each month.

Early Career Researcher Workshop

The workshop was held in March and

delivered as a collaboration between Valuing

and Engaging People and the RKE Office.

The workshop provided ECRs with a clear

understanding of what is expected of them as

well as information on the support available.

The programme included sessions on bidding

and publications and KTP and conference

research. During the day ECRs were assisted

to identify career goals and to create personal

development plans.

Future RKE Leaders programme

Introduced in 2014 as a joint initiative by the

Associate Director Valuing and Engaging

People and the Director of Research and

Knowledge Exchange , this programme is

primarily aimed at senior lecturers with an

emerging or increasing track record in RKE who

are leading or who aspire to lead a research

team. The aim being that those with potential

will, by the end of the programme, have been

supported to a point where they would be able

to generate significant considerable RKE income

and contribute to the improvement of the

University’s RKE performance. 12 aspiring RKE

leaders were selected through a competitive

process to take part in the first cohort of what

is a programme of five years duration. The first

year of the programme provides a broad and

comprehensive programme of development

and includes the Leadership Foundation for

Higher Education (LFHE) Research Team

Leadership (RTL) Programme, sessions on

project management, networking and resilience

delivered by Inkling training, and additional

MMU specific modules built on. The aim of

the first year will be to provide the participants

with a good understanding of the internal and

external RKE context.

All the participants have been provided with

Mentors who provide additional support and

guidance.


Recognising staff success and contributions

The IDEA team receiving their award.


Staff Celebration Awards

Around 500 staff celebrated with colleagues at the second Staff Celebration Awards. Professor John Brooks said the turn-

out was fitting to recognise the efforts, commitment and creativity of those who had gone “the extra mile” for students and

colleagues and was moved to describe “the MMU family” as growing in strength and togetherness.

There were 700 nominations in 11 categories, these are the winners and highly commended:

Exceptional Team Member WINNER:

Helen Malarky, Project Manager,

Institute of Humanities and Social

Science Research.

Highly-Commended:

Sarah Marsland, Assistant Facilities

Manager, Campus Services,

Duncan Misell, Mail Messenger,

Campus Services.

Outstanding Contribution to the University’s ValuesWINNER:

Dr Carmen Corral, Quality

Administrator, Faculty SAS (Science

& Engineering),

Mona Patel, Equality & Diversity

Officer, Human Resources.

Service ExcellenceWINNER:

Professor Mark Stubbs,

Head of Learning & Research

Technologies.

Highly-Commended:

Priya Patel, Assistant Residential

Facilities Manager, Residential

Services.

Exceptional Contribution to the Student ExperienceWINNER:

Helen Davenport, Senior Lecturer,

Professional and ELM Studies

Highly-Commended:

Fereshte Goshtasbpour, Tutor,

Department of Languages &

Information Communications.

Rising StarWINNER:

John Earnshaw, Tutor, Apparel,

Dr Amir Keshmiri, Lecturer,

School of Engineering.

Highly-Commended:

Catherine McManamon, Assistant

Librarian, Library Services.

Outstanding LeadershipWINNER:

Fran Collett, Student Billings Manager,

Financial & Legal Services

Highly-Commended:

Professor Ruth Ashford, Dean and

Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of

Business & Law

Unsung HeroWINNER

Moyth Campbell, Facilities Assistant,

Campus Services,

Andrew Winfield, Technical Officer,

Faculty SAS.

Highly-Commended:

Alison Bailey, Programmes Officer,

Faculty SAS (Cheshire),

Betty Buckley, Programmes Officer,

Faculty SAS (Cheshire).

Outstanding Innovation in TeachingWINNER

Kirsten Jack, Senior Lecturer,

Department of Nursing.

Outstanding Student SupportWINNER

Amy Brooks, Student Experience

Support Tutor, Department of

Psychology.

Highly-Commended:

Julia Owen, Research Fellow,

Department of Sociology,

Garry Pheasey, Technical Team Leader,

Faculty SAS (Cheshire campus).

Best TeamWINNER

IDEA (Initiatives and Development:

External Activities) Humanities,

Languages and Social Science.

Highly-Commended:

Service Desk (IT Helpline), IT Services.

Outstanding Innovation in Research/K nowledge ExchangeWINNER

Dr Lucy Burke, Principal Lecturer,

Department of English

Highly-Commended:

Alice Kettle, Senior Research Fellow,

MIRIAD

MMU’s Learner of the Year Award

Over 100 academic, technical,

administrative and facilities staff were

recognised with national qualifications

gained through the Institute of

Leadership and Management (ILM)

and other professional bodies during

2013-14. These staff were recognised

at the Annual Learner at Work

Awards ceremony, hosted by the Vice

Chancellor.

This year’s Annual Learner of the Year

was Gareth Smith, who has worked for

four years at the Sports Development

Unit within Exercise and Sport Science

in Cheshire. Gareth, a part-time coach

at Stoke City Football Club, was

recognised for applying techniques

used on his ILM course to improve

taster days and mentoring schemes for

school and college pupils aiming for

University.

Lecturers awarded National Teaching Fellowships

This year three of our academics

were awarded National Teaching

Fellowships – the most prestigious

award for excellence in higher

education teaching – by the Higher

Education Academy (HEA).

Dr Nicola Whitton, from the Faculty of

Education, Kirsten Jack from Heath,

Psychology and Social Care and Dr

Mark Langan, from the School of

Science and the Environment, were

among just 55 academics to receive the

annual honour.

The award winners were chosen from

more than 300 nominations submitted

by higher education institutions across

England, Northern Ireland and Wales.


Ownership of Professional Development in the Faculty of Education

The Faculty of Education is committed to the

professional development of its staff. Four

cross-Faculty staff development days are

scheduled into the academic year with a fifth

being linked to the CELT Conference in the

summer term. These days are in addition to

three partnership/programme development

days provided each term.

Val Butcher, the Faculty lead for professional

development, stated:

“As a Faculty, we felt it was important that staff

had ownership of their professional development:

that staff development was not something ‘done’

to staff but something in which the individual

took an active role. To bring about a chance

in perception and ethos, we introduced the

following cross-Faculty days 2013/14:

• a movement away from whole-staff gathering

in a lecture theatre. This type of gathering

had led to a perception of staff development

as a passive, receptive activity.

• thematic workshops covering university/

Faculty objectives delivered by colleagues

within the Faculty or associated colleagues/

partners

• additional sessions designed in response to

PDR training needs, for example, specific IT

training; research and knowledge exchange.

• staff briefings were separated from staff

development sessions

We aim to continue with this format into 2014-

15.”

Local priorities

Responding to the requirement for PhDs within the Faculty of Education

For the Faculty of Education, the introduction

of the PhD/Doctoral requirement in 2014 was

significant for existing staff in terms of future

career development. Reviewers discussed

with staff higher degree qualifications and their

contribution to RKE as part of the dialogue

concerning University and Faculty objectives.

The outcome of these discussions can be seen,

in part, in the recruitment data for the Doctor

of Education Programme 2014. There were 35

applicants including 17 MMU staff.

Research and Knowledge Exchange Development in HPSC

Within HPSC, a range of development

interventions to support research and

knowledge exchange were carried out this

year. Knowledge Exchange Staff Development

Workshops were held, with additional drop in

sessions for staff; 2 writing retreats were held

for staff to prepare papers for publication; and

RIHSC research capacity building seminars

took place. Further support was offered

by department research co-ordinators who

provided individual mentoring, particularly for

staff new to the University.

Communication Days in the School of Art

The School of Art continued with its pattern of

calling all staff communication days throughout

the year. These events followed strategic

University policies, including topics such as

departmental identity, integrating teaching

and research, strategic planning for RKE and

consultation on research strategy and EQAL

review.

Curriculum enhancement in HLSS

Within HLSS, the Faculty developed a

programme of participatory staff workshops

under the general thematic heading of

‘curriculum enhancement’. This programme of

cross-faculty staff development activities gave

an opportunity to share

existing good practice, inspiring colleagues

to reflect and innovate in key areas of their

programme design and learning and teaching

delivery.

Faculty co-ordinators for Quality, Employability

and Learning and Teaching also led three

staff workshops which specifically reflected

the current core university priorities of

internationalisation, sustainability and

employability.

Library’s role in supporting research

Library Services responded to the research

and knowledge exchange priority with several

training sessions on the Library’s role in

supporting research. This covered research

in general, and also a large section on Open

Access to help Library Teams to support

academic staff. The new Lib-Guide on Open

Access released in the summer of 2014 brings

together all the information in one place for both

library staff and academics. As a result of the

development, staff are much better informed of

the range of resources available and are able

to provide a better service to staff, students,

external students, associate staff and alumni.

Facilities Leaders’ Development Programme

Following last year’s successful programme

designed to enhance the capability of Assistant

Facilities Managers, a follow-up scheme was

launched in January 2014 aimed at team

leaders and supervisors across Estates and

Facilities. The year-long programme sees the

group meeting up once a month to tackle a

range of subjects including Quality Standards,

Giving Feedback, Presentation Skills and HR

topics with a view to identifying and delivering

a group project to address a work-based issue.

The project will ensure a consistency of

approach from team leaders when managing

their teams – from developing clear process

maps, producing a suite of standard letters,

to agreeing the suggested protocols with HR.

The project is sponsored by a senior manager

who is on hand to offer help and support to the

group. Representatives from the Project Group

are then tasked with presenting their final

project proposal to senior managers for sign off

prior to implementation across all teams.


University staff development priorities 2014/15

The University faces a challenging but exciting

future as it balances its long-term strategic

goal of achieving Top 50 teaching and research

excellence with short and medium-term

operational demands. Our staff development

priorities in the coming months and years will

ensure that the staff development strategy

underpins and enhances the University’s ability

to meet its ambitious targets.

The University staff development priorities for

2014/15 are:

Excellence in learning and teaching

Improving the quality of teaching is a central

strand of the academic vision. The focus of this

staff development priority is on:

Q promoting qualifications that underpin high

quality teaching, scholarship and research;

Q staff engaging in continuous academic and

professional development and recognition;

Q observing, evaluating and developing

teaching and assessment practices.

In the summer term, the Framework to support

Academic Excellence will be introduced. The

framework sets out the processes and activities

that support the development and performance

of teaching staff, from when they take up

appointment and sets out the arrangements for

observation of teaching.

Research and knowledge exchange

The focus of this priority is on:

Q developing outstanding research and

knowledge exchange leaders who

complement and reinforce existing multi-

disciplinary research strengths;

Q establishing a mentoring culture led by

senior research staff to support early and

mid-career researchers and knowledge

exchange practitioners;

Q managing and monitoring RKE activity

through the PDR. Setting RKE specific goals

and targets for individual members of staff;

Q supporting the achievement of doctoral level

qualifications by academic staff;

Q increasing the proportion of academic staff

that produce internationally excellent and

world leading outputs;

Q increasing the number and percentage of

staff who submit grant applications;

Q extending and enhance the

entrepreneurialism of MMU staff

in order to increase our knowledge

exchange and enterprise performance.

Transformation, flexibility and adaptability

This priority has a number of aspects to it. Staff

development activity and resources should be

prioritised to:

Q build capacity within teams and individuals

to respond flexibly to challenges and adapt

to new situations and contexts;

Q support staff who are moving work location,

and adapting to new ways of working

and included using new technology and

equipment;

Q develop abilities to work across disciplines

and faculties in order to create inter-

disciplinary and inter-faculty academic

programmes (the technical staff group

in particular will be affected by the new

requirements of academic programme

delivery and resource will be focused to

support them to adopt and adapt to new

working methods and approaches);

Q support cross-university working and break

down silo mentality and working practices;

Q develop staff so that they are able to

operate effectively in an international

market and deliver the University’s new

Internationalisation strategy.

The MMU Change Academy residential

programme, introduced in July 2014, will bring

together cross-institutional teams and give

them the time and space to think creatively and

develop a change initiative.

The staff survey results also confirmed that

staff, particularly academic staff, feel they have

had to put in a lot of extra time in the last 12

months to meet the demands of their workload,

and they often worry about work outside their

working hours. There will be staff development

support in the form of podcasts and guides to

assist staff to manage competing demands.

Student experience

For 2014/15, the foci of this priority are improving

the student experience and employability.

Every staff group contributes to the student

experience, either directly or indirectly. It

is vitally important that we ensure that our

students are well supported, academically and

pastorally. All central training providers will

prioritise resource for activities that support

improvement of the student experience.

Particular priority will be given to those

academic programmes taking part in Targeted

Programme Improvement (TPI).

The University’s Staff Development Programme

will include leadership and management

development designed to give managers

the capability and confidence to address the

issues that adversely impact on the student

experience and to tackle under-performance.

A new programme for academic HoDs will be

introduced in 2014.

The University has a new Employability

strategy. Global citizenship will become the

unifying theme for employability- related

content within and alongside the curriculum.

Work will be carried out to consider how

enterprise and entrepreneurship education

might be developed as part of the unifying

theme of global citizenship and how existing

expertise within the University could be used

to enable and support such development.

Appropriate staff development provision will be

developed once this work has been done.


Review of PDR CompletionsThe data provided by the organisation shows the following PDR completion rates, with 92% of

staff reported as having had a PDR. This breaks down as follows:

Area Number of Staff

No. of reported

PDRs

Reported PDRs as a %

Art & Design 168 150 89.29

Business School 254 229 90.16

Central SAS 63 63 100.00

Cheshire 121 100 82.64

Facilities 688 652 94.77

Faculty of Education 146 135 92.47

Faculty SAS 341 332 97.36

Financial & Legal Services 95 90 94.74

HLSS 198 170 85.86

Hollings 117 110 94.02

HPSC 177 166 93.79

HR 46 41 89.13

LRIS 323 280 86.69

Marketing and Communications 46 44 95.65

MMU International 18 18 100.00

Recruitment and Admissions 69 64 92.75

Research and Knowledge Exchange 29 28 96.55

Science & Engineering 281 246 87.54

SPMI 10 8 80.00

Student Services 74 74 100.00

Technical Services 187 184 98.40

Vice Chancellor’s Office 9 6 66.67

Total 3,451 3,184 92.2

This list excludes sessional staff but includes staff who are on maternity leave or long term sick

in the number of staff.

Statistics on centrally delivered training courses, recorded from

September 2013 to August 2014

Number of individuals attending at least one training course 1762

Number of training courses run 467

Total number of attendees across all training courses 3934

Attendance on Statutory and Mandatory training courses 927

Attendance on Leadership and Management Development courses including

management essentials and ILM programmes390

Attendance on Professional Development and soft skills courses 2617

Attendance on training undertaken by central training provider recorded centrally

Training Provider Number of training courses

Number of attendances

Centre for Academic Standards and Quality

Enhancement (CASQE) 11 244

Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

(CELT) 65 588

Facilities 27 200

Financial and Legal Services 2 6

Health and Safety Training 48 272

Information Technology Services 83 478

Library Services 95 735

Organisation Development Training and Diversity 123 1255

Research and Knowledge Exchange 13 156

Total 467 3934


Number of Staff attending training across all courses by Faculty or Department

Faculty of Art and Design 81

Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care 170

Hollings Faculty 152

Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Science 120

Faculty of Education 104

Schools of Business and Law 247

MMU Cheshire 161

Faculty of Science and Engineering 306

Services Group 30

Facilities Business Administration 30

Cares (Trading & Non Trading) 339

Prompt 139

Security Services 35

Learning and Research Information Services 3

Library Services 624

Learning and Research Technology 21

Information Technology Services 125

Environmental Sustainability 19

Academic Standards & Quality Enhancement 17

Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching 43

Collaborative Partnerships Office 18

Director of Faculty and Campus SAS Office 33

Governance & Secretariat 8

Registrar’s Office 2

Student Services 102

Faculty SAS All Saints Central 120

Faculty SAS All Saints North 140

Faculty SAS All Saints South 104

Faculty SAS Didsbury & Gaskell 113

Faculty SAS MMU Cheshire 62

Technical Services (A&D/MMUCH) 46

Technical Services ( Hollings/Faculty of Education/HPSC) 45

Technical Services (Science & Engineering) 96

Financial and Legal Services 52

Marketing, Communication & Development 45

Human Resources 75

Research and Knowledge Exchange 27

MMU International 13

Strategic Planning and Management Information 17

Recruitment and Admissions 37

Vice Chancellor and DVC’s Offices 10

North West Universities Association 3

Total 3934

Staff demographics of attendance at University training courses as a proportion of all University staff

The following tables include staff in post on 1 December 2013 who have attended at least one

training event in the reporting period of 1st September 2013 to 31st August 2014. This means staff

who have attended more than one training event are only included once.

Table 1 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Staff Group

Staff Group Total number of

staff

% of total staff

population

Number of staff by group

who have attended training

% of staff group


Academic Staff 1307 27.9 597 45.7

Senior Academic Staff 125 2.7 38 30.4

Support Staff 3199 68.5 1055 33

Senior Support Staff 42 0.9 15 35.7

Not known 57

Total 4673 1762

Chart 1 - Trend data by Staff Group

Table 2 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Gender

Gender Total number of staff

employed by gender

% of total staff by gender

Number of staff by gender who have attended

training

% of staff by gender who have attended

training

Female 2600 55.6 1034 39.8

Male 2073 44.4 728 35.1

Total 4673 1762


Table 3 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Full-time and Part-time

Working Hours

Part-time/ Full-time

Total number of staff by

hours of work

% of total staff by hours of

work

Number of staff by hours

of work who have attended

training

% of staff by hours of

work who have attended

training

Full-time 2573 55.1 1423 55.3

Part-time 2100 44.9 338 16.2

Total 4673 1762

Table 4 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Disability

Disability Total number of

staff by disability

% of total staff by

disability

Number of staff by disability who have attended training

% of staff by disability


Declared Disabled 335 7.2 82 24.5

Not known to be Disabled 4338 92.8 1680 38.7

Total 4673 1762

Table 5 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Age

Age Total number of staff by age

% of total staff by age

Number of staff by age who have attended training

% of staff by age who

have attended training

16 to 20 12 0.25 2 16.7

21 to 25 281 6.01 48 17

26 to 30 460 9.85 101 22

31 to 35 545 11.66 218 40

36 to 40 500 10.69 199 39.8

41 to 45 626 13.39 216 34.5

46 to 50 694 14.85 277 39.9

51 to 55 634 13.59 258 40.7

56 to 60 539 11.54 208 38.6

61 to 65 323 6.91 113 35

66 or older 59 1.26 13 22

Not known 109

Total 4673 1762

Chart 2 - Trend data by full and part-time working hours

Chart 3 - Trend data by Age


Table 6 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Ethnicity

Ethnicity Sub-categories Total number of

staff by ethnicity

% of total staff by

ethnicity

Number of staff by

ethnicity who have attended

training

% of staff by

ethnicity who have attended training

Asian or Asian British -

Bangladeshi 19 0.41 9 47.4

Asian or Asian British - Indian 58 1.24 27 46.5

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 51 1.10 15 29.4

Black or Black British - African 69 1.47 18 26

Black or Black British - Caribbean 76 1.62 24 31.8

Chinese 58 1.24 15 25.9

Mixed - White and Asian 17 0.36 6 35.3

Mixed - White and Black African 6 0.12 0 0

Mixed - White and Black

Caribbean 15 0.32 4 26.7

Other Asian Background 47 1.00 11 23.40

Other Black Background 14 0.30 3 21.4

Other Ethnic Background 57 1.22 14 24.56

Other Mixed Background 25 0.53 7 28

Other White Background 271 5.79 68 25

White - British 3567 76.3 1279 27.37

White - Irish 99 2.19 39 39.4

Refused or Not Known 224 4.79 223 99.5

Total 4673 1762

Staff attendance on Statutory and Mandatory Courses

Table 7 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Staff Group

Staff Group Male FT Male PT Female FT Female PT

Academic 273 107 11 125 30

Senior Academic staff 10 6 2 2

Support Staff 613 304 29 180 100

Senior Support staff 2 2

Staff Group not known 29 12 17

Sub-Total 429 42 326 130

Totals 927 471 456

Table 8 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Disability

Staff Group Declared Disabled

Not Known to be Disabled

Information Not Provided

Academic 273 15 233 25


Support Staff 597 22 516 59


Not known 45 45

Sub-Total 38 758 131

Totals 927

Table 9 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by Age

Age Number of Staff

16 to 20 1

21 to 25 23

26 to 30 63

31 to 35 107

36 to 40 114

41 to 45 138

46 to 50 126

51 to 55 129

56 to 60 88

61 to 65 70

66 or older 6

Not known 62

Total 927

Information on Statutory and Mandatory training courses is available in the Staff Development Programme April 2013 to March 2014

Table 10 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Training by

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group Number of Staff

Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi 5

Asian or Asian British - Indian 11

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 7

Black or Black British - African 16

Black or Black British - Caribbean 14

Chinese 7

Mixed - White and Asian 1

Mixed - White and Black African 0

Mixed - White and Black Caribbean 2

Other Asian Background 4

Other Black Background 2

Other Ethnic Background 5

Other Mixed Background 3

Other White Background 24

White - British 666

White - Irish 19

Refused or not known 141

Total 927


Staff attendance on Leadership and Management Development courses including management essentials and Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) programmes

Table 11 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Leadership and Management

Development by Gender and Working Hours

Staff Group Male PT Male FT Female PT Female FT

Academic 78 2 27 9 40

Senior Academic staff 1 1

Support Staff 292 5 118 17 152

Senior Support staff 6 3 3

Not known 13 1 12

Sub-Total 7 149 26 195

Totals 390 157 233

Table 12 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Leadership and Management Development

by Disability




Academic 78 5 69 4

Senior Academic staff 1 1



Not known 13 13

Sub-Total 19 312 59

Totals 390

Table 13 Numbers of Staff who have attended Leadership and Management Development by Age

Age Number of Staff

16 to 20

21 to 25 5

26 to 30 25

31 to 35 69

36 to 40 38

41 to 45 40

46 to 50 65

51 to 55 51

56 to 60 54

61 to 65 14

66 or older 1

Not known 28

Total 390

Table 14 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Leadership and Management Development by Ethnicity







Chinese 3


Mixed - White and Black African 0







White - British 299

White - Irish 8


Total 390

Staff attendance on Professional Development Courses

Table 15 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Professional Development Courses by Staff

Group

Staff Group Male PT Male FT Female PT Female FT

Academic 828 22 275 91 440


Support Staff 1643 44 454 305 840


Not known 61 1 23 2 35

Sub-Total 68 783 398 1368

Totals 2617 851 1766

Information on Leadership and Management Development courses including Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) programmes is available in the Staff Development Programme April 2013 to March 2014.

Staff Development Annual Report 3534 Staff Development Annual Report

Table 17

Numbers of Staff

who have attended

Professional Development

Courses by Age

Age Number of Staff

16 to 20 1

21 to 25 61

26 to 30 158

31 to 35 325

36 to 40 291

41 to 45 357

46 to 50 428

51 to 55 373

56 to 60 327

61 to 65 142

66 or older 21

Not known 133

Total 2617

Table 18 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Professional

Development Courses by Ethnicity







Chinese 24


Mixed - White and Black African







White - British 1917

White - Irish 76


Total 2617

Table 16 - Numbers of Staff who have attended Professional Development Courses by

Disability




Academic 828 27 736 65




Not known 61 61

Sub-Total 114 2214 289

Totals 2617

Course EvaluationEvaluation Data from Courses delivered by Organisation Development and

Training from 1st September 2013 - 31st August 2014

Poor Fair Good Excellent Total

Event administration/joining instructions 4 43 272 292 611

% 1 42 45 33

Trainer/facilitator - presentation skills 0 7 181 423 611

% 0 1 30 69

Content - design & topics 1 26 250 334 611

% 0 4 41 55

Exercises & Activities 8 69 225 309 611

% 1 11 37 51

Your own contribution/participation 8 119 336 148 611

% 1 13 55 24

Will areas covered help you improve /change your current working practice?

Yes No Not Said Total

458 33 120 611

% 75 5 20

Knowledge perception of group as a whole

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Total Points

A) Before Course 39 160 197 175 40 0

Points Score 3200 7880 10500 3200 24780

B) After Course 1 7 19 118 391 75

Points Score 140 760 7080 31280 46760

Points Difference (B_A) 21,980

% Increase 89%

Analysis of numbers showing how perceived knowledge increases

0% + 20% +40% +60% +80% Total

17 247 197 127 23 611

% of Total above 3% 40% 32% 21% 4% 100%

Information on Professional Development training courses is available in the Staff Development

Programme April 2013 to March 2014.

9761-KS

This report is available online at:

www.mmu.ac.uk/humanresources

You can give us feedback on the report by sending an email to: [email protected]

We welcome and look forward to reading your comments.

Josie Elson

Associate Director, Valuing and Engaging People

E: [email protected] | T: 0161 247 6496

Helen Vaughan

Secretary to Associate Director, Valuing and Engaging People


Organisation Development and Training Team

Kate Rowland

Organisation Development and Training Manager


Deborah Snell

Organisation Development and Training Officer


Alison Laithwaite



Paul Walsh



Sophie Chivers

Development and Training Assistant/Course Bookings


www.mmu.ac.uk/humanresources

This publication is available in alternative formats.Please telephone +44 (0)161 247 6298.

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