Research Further project announces first scholars on

Landmark Research Further project announces first 11 scholars

At the end of January, the Association of Colleges (AoC) in partnership with NCFE announced two staff from the Group within a total of 11 successful scholars to undertake funded research into areas of post-16 teaching practice and policy that have little to no data available currently.

This is great progress towards the Group’s ‘Educational Leadership’ strategic objective.

Research Further is a scholarship programme supporting practitioners to carry out Masters or doctorate level study. There are a range of topics being researched and successful scholars will be given time to carry out their work and supported by the advisory board, consisting of representatives from government, awarding organisations, funders, and sector leaders from across the UK.

Our successful scholars are:

Catherine Lloyd, Director of Land Based Studies, who will research the delivery of courses at a time of significant change in the wider agricultural sector. Patricia Jones, Executive Director of Finance, whose research will look at achieving sustainable financial health for the FE sector.

Photo (above) shows Pat Jones

Work will be tracked through a webinar series hosted by AoC and NCFE, and new knowledge on pedagogy or policy will be shared with the sector through think-pieces, reports, articles and blogs.

As founding members of The Research College Group, we are well aware of the shortfall of truly practitioner-led research. This programme aims to address this and enable those within the Group to have a huge role to play in the future of FE.

Job Opportunities

Associate Student Support Assistant

Location: Bedford and Shuttleworth Salary: £8.91 per hour Application closing date: 28/02/2022

Centre Administrator

Location: Kettering Salary: £18,350 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 28/02/2022

Associate - Invigilators

Location: Multiple campuses Salary: £8.91 per hour Application closing date: 02/03/2022

Centre Administrator

Location: Corby Salary: £18,350 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 03/03/2022

Lecturer in Maths

Location: Northamptonshire Salary: £25,500 - £32,000 per annum, pro rata, depending on experience Application closing date: 03/03/2022

Personal Achievement Tutor

Location: Bedfordshire Salary: £22,000 per annum Application closing date: 03/03/2022

Teacher of English

Location: Bedford Salary: £28,000 - £36,000 per annum, depending on experience Application closing date: 04/03/2022

Assistant Manager

Location: Bedford Salary: £21,000 - £24,500 per annum Application closing date: 08/03/2022

Lecturer in Health and Social Care

Location: Bedford Salary: £26,000 - £32,640 per annum, pro rata, depending on qualifications and experience Application closing date: 08/03/2022

Teaching Assistant

Location: Bedfordshire Salary: £18,188 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 09/03/2022

Account Manager (Recoveries)

Location: Bedford Salary: £33,000 per annum Application closing date: 10/03/2022

Connect Course Manager - Technical and Modern Construction

Location: Bedford Salary: Circa £38,000 per annum Application closing date: 17/03/2022

Welcome to the Group

Hannah Beards

Learning Facilitator

Martin Bonham

Lecturer in Uniformed Public Services

Ollie Brown HR Advisor

James Clayson

Course Manager in Uniformed Public Services

Megan Folbigg

Work Placement Coordinator

Kris Hughes

Associate Lecturer in Music

Millie Loader

Associate Lecturer in Media

Nusabya Modak

Teaching Assistant

Deepak Parmar

Tuiton Fund Administrative Coordinator

Andrew Peaks

Learning Support Assistant

Olesya Poulton

Libraries and Learning Resources Support Assistant

Hafizur Rahman

Teaching Assistant

Rohan Raja

Information Systems and Data Returns Admin

Oliver Roberts

Trainee Lecturer in Plumbing

Stephanie Standish

Student Experience Advisor

Sophie Stopps

Executive Assistant

Shalane Stoute

Service Accountant (Projects)

Hayley Walsh

Admissions and Conversion Administrator (FTC)

Risk It! in conversation with Kay Almond

Each month Professional Development hold a spotlight on a Risk It! activity that is taking place across the Group. This month, Natalie met with Kay Almond, a Learning Support Assistant based in the Foundation Learning department at Cauldwell Street.

Risk It! Strand - Somewhere between Risk It! and Research

Natalie: Good morning! Thank you so much for agreeing to chat through your Risk It! with me. I have heard lots of good things about it. Can you fill me in?

Kay: Absolutely. The background for this is, each week the Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) have 3 hours of teaching/cover. One of the objectives is to help Teaching Assistants (TAs) with resources and I also have an objective to create a ‘lesson in a box’ for LSAs who are covering lessons. I decided to combine these as my Risk It!

Natalie: I am so pleased to hear this. Risk It! definitely does not need to be in addition to your other work. In fact, it shouldn’t be. It should be part of your work.

Kay: Exactly. I could see the benefit in combining these and decided to take them further than my objectives for my Risk It! I wanted to make resources more accessible so originally we started sharing resources on a page on Teams. This quickly grew so I have now moved it all onto the I-drive. It has now become like a catalogue. A one-stop-shop for my colleagues and myself to access resources for teaching/covering

Natalie: This sounds like a really valuable use of your time that has the potential to have an impact on your colleagues.

Kay: That’s what I thought. To check this, I sent a questionnaire to them. This has given me loads of information to take this further and to evidence the impact that my work has had. I am looking forward to discussing this with Debbie (my Knowledgeable Other) so I can use this to plan next steps. Natalie: This is so exciting! This is exactly what Risk It! is designed to be - taking something from your practice and being intentional about reflecting on it/developing it/assessing the impact. Have you had any thoughts about your next steps with this?

Kay: Yes, I would like to carry this on further. I am three quarters of the way through what I have planned for the i-drive. I am in the process of adding a website directory at the moment.

Natalie: Which Risk It! strand would you say you are working on?

Kay: I think I am somewhere between Risk It! and Research. I haven’t started writing this up as research yet but I am interested in discussing it.

Teams: Kay Almond

Email: kalmond@bedford.ac.uk

Risk It! doesn’t need to be huge or time consuming! For more information about the process or different strands of Risk It! get in touch with Natalie Morris via Teams or email nmorris@ bedford.ac.uk

Do you have a Risk It! worth hearing about? Contact Natalie Morris (nmorris@bedford.ac.uk) to be included in a future edition of Connect.

Photo shows Kay Almond being interviewed by Natalie Morris

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Update

The Group are delighted to be working in partnership with Moulton College on an EDI project, ‘Inclusive Leadership’. This week governors and senior leaders from both colleges attended a training session on ‘Inclusion, Diversity and Social Inclusion Matters’. Activities included: • Creating courageous learning environments • Creating courageous conversations • Traits for inclusive leadership We will be presenting a one-day seminar to external organisations, promoting EDI in Further Education on Wednesday 23 March. This will include sharing good practice from The Bedford College Group on the impact of EDI staff forums, EDI curriculum standards and EDI Ambassadors. Key note speakers include Jeff Greenage, Diversity Officer from the AOC and Basingstoke College, sharing their experiences on Eradicating Racism. If you would like further information please contact Karen Campbell kcampbell@bedord.ac.uk

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS IN MARCH

Tuesday 1 March - St David’s Day (Christian)

Tuesday 1 March - Shrove Tuesday (Christian)

Tuesday 1 March - The Prophet’s Night Journey and Ascent (Muslim)

Wednesday 2 March - Ash Wednesday (Christian) Wednesday 2 March / Monday 7 March - First Day of Lent / The Great Fast (Christian Orthodox)

Wednesday 2 March - Friday 15 April - Lent (Christian)

Thursday 3 March - LOSAR (Buddhist) Thursday 3 March - Hinamatsuri / Dolls’ Festival (Japanese)

Friday 4 March - Woman’s World Day of Prayer (Christian)

Friday 11 March - Saturday 20 March -

Fravardigan/Muktad Zoroastrian (Iranian)

Thursday 17 March - St Patrick’s Day (Christian) Thursday 17 / Friday 18 March - Holi (Hindu) Thursday 17 March - Purim (Jewish)

Monday 21 March - Shunbun No Hi (Japanese)

Friday 18 March - Sunday 20 March - Hola Mahalla (Sikh)

Saturday 19 March - The Night of Forgiveness (Muslim)

Sunday 20 March - Spring Equinox (Pagan) and Vernal Equinox (Druid)

Sunday 27 March - Mothering Sunday (Christian)

Lynsey Travers

HR Manager - Human Resources STAFF PERKS

Fashion for less

River Island – Save 10% John Lewis – Save 4.5%

Technology for less

Currys – Save 7% Argos – Save 7% Philips – Earn 5%

Dine out for less

Just Eat – Earn 25% Bella Italia – Save 10% Caffe Nero – Save 10%

You can still shop online and access lots of discounts through cashback and instant vouchers! Please visit our dedicated Rewards page on Connect to find out about other benefits available at The Bedford College Group by clicking here