InTuition - issue 25, Autumn 2016

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InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn2016

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

The college in the park Capel Manor College delivers education and opportunity in London’s parks InPractice p22

Welcoming your feedback on this edition – see page 3

QTLS is better than ever and now’s the time to apply News p4

InTuition to get a new look and content Opinion p8

Bumper resources to support you with STEM teaching Feature p12

Helping learners make sense of maths – that’s all there is to it!

Geoff Petty p30

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Welcome Many exciting changes are on the horizon

InTuition is also available in digital and PDF formats For more information, visit set.et-foundation.co.uk

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Contents

It has been a busy summer at the Society as, in addition to planning new membership events and content, we’ve been working hard to revamp your professional journal InTuition in time for its relaunch in December.

We have been surveying and consulting members, including those on our Practitioner Advisory Group, on developing a more engaging and accessible design and on improvements to the content.

From feedback we know that you value the informative and easily digested research content and so we are proposing to expand the research section from the next issue. We are also planning to introduce more news about, and written by, members and practitioners; dedicated sections on maths, English and learning technologies; an overseas element and much more.

We are continuing our consultation this autumn and we welcome your thoughts on InTuition. If you would like to feed in your views, please e-mail membership.communications@etfoundation.co.uk For more details of the redesign, please turn to page 8.

You also might already have heard that we have introduced a new, enriched Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS), making this professional status even more useful and valuable to members.

Registrations for the new QTLS close on 31 October. Read about the improvements on page 4.

We have continued this summer to make improvements to the SET website to help you record CPD and your self-assessment, and you can now book for SET network events using the Education and Training Foundation’s improved online booking system. Look out also for the forthcoming SET webinars on SEND, please see details on page 7.

As the professional body for teachers and trainers, as you know we are guided by you, our members, in everything we do.

Communications and feedback, whether on specific matters like the redesign of InTuition or improvements in QTLS, or on more general issues around membership and professionalism, are the lifeblood of our organisation. To this end, I would urge you to complete our annual members’ survey. The survey is open until 11 October. To complete it, go to goo.gl/Bp0l7m In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this issue of InTuition - and look forward to welcoming you to our new-look journal in December.

Tim Weiss Director of the Society for Education and Training

InTuition contacts EDITORIAL membership.communications@ etfoundation.co.uk The Society for Education and Training, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP. Editor: Alan Thomson alan@createpublishing.uk.com

Cover image: Peter Searle

PUBLISHING InTuition is produced and published on behalf of The Society for Education and Training by Create Publishing Ltd, Anerley Business Centre, Anerley Road, London SE20 8BD Advertising: Alan Thomson 020 8676 5608 Printed by: PCP Ltd, Telford

CORPORATE The Society for Education and Training is the membership service of The Education and Training Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity (charity number 1153859) and a company limited by guarantee (company number 08540597). www.et-foundation.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS InTuition is sent to all members of The Society for Education and Training and is available on subscription to non-members.

For non-member subscriptions enquiries, or to purchase single copies telephone 0844 815 3202 or email membership.communications@ etfoundation.co.uk. Annual subscription rate for four issues: £50 (UK); £60 (rest of the world).

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Education and Training Foundation or the Society for Education and Training.

News 4 Improved and enriched QTLS; Research conference awaits duo; Ursula wins Enthuse Award News 6 Ear to the Ground Policy watch News in brief Opinion 8 A sneak-preview of December’s new-look InTuition magazine People 10 Wolff-Michael Roth is a leading authority on co-teaching Feature 12 Resources for STEM are not so scarce, finds Alan Thomson Practitioners 15 Me and my tutor: India Ratcliffe Research 16 Dr Richard Sargeant, SarahJane Crowson, Jay Derrick & Paul Grainger, Susan Wallace Research digest 20 The ETF’s Practitioner Research Conference InPractice 22 Capel Manor College is a real working environment in the heart of London InSight 24 National Colleges are just the job, says Sarah Simons Leading learning 26 The Post-16 Skills Plan; Fancy setting up a member network?

This is how to do it Resources 29 Information and resources relating to Prevent duty Geoff Petty 30 Exploring the benefits of peer-to-peer discussion and whole-class dialogue Books 32 Principles and Practices of Assessment; Teacher-Led Research Forum 34 Pedagogue My Story Noticeboard 35 Professional development events through to December

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 3

News

News Improved and enriched QTLS Extensive consultation with SET members has led to the professional formation process being more forward-looking with more opportunities to demonstrate progression Registration is open for a new round of professional formation, now a significantly improved and enriched process leading to sought-after Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status.

The new QTLS has been strengthened and further developed as a high-status, highvalue professional designation following extensive consultation with members of the Society for Education and Training (SET).

The professional formation process is now more forwardlooking and developmental, with more opportunities to demonstrate progression.

Improvements will help teachers consolidate their existing practice as well as develop new skills and knowledge. By developing an e-portfolio that will form the basis of their continuing professional development (CPD), applicants will be able to develop their digital skills and demonstrate to their employer and colleagues the positive impact of the process on their practice, as well as their learners.

Improvements include: • The opportunity to plan and record CPD activity, drawing on educational theory and research;

• Opportunities for applicants to critically reflect throughout the process and to show the difference this development activity is having on their practice and learners; • The opportunity for applicants to focus on how they will continue to develop, once they have completed professional formation.

Integral to the new QTLS is enhanced collaborative working between an applicant’s supporter and their colleagues.

SET strongly recommends that applicants nominate their supporter at the beginning

of the professional formation process so the supporter can provide guidance and feedback throughout. To help supporters develop their mentoring skills, an online introduction to mentoring programme will be provided from later this year.

SET has also commissioned a new resource that will highlight relevant reading and audio clips designed to help busy teachers and trainers access relevant educational theory and research in relation to their chosen development areas.

QTLS is awarded to 1,800 teachers and trainers each year.

Two learning mentors from The Sheffield College are among a select few chosen to present a paper to a prestigious European conference in November.

Francesca Devlin and Celia Clarke (pictured right) will attend the European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning (EAPRIL) conference in Porto. The conference, run annually since 2006, brings together practitioner researchers and academics from across Europe.

This year’s theme is Challenges of the Digital Era for Education, Learning and Working.

For information about the practitioner research support offered by ETF and to watch a video of Celia and Francesca talking about the experiences visit goo.gl/t7vBTG More about the EAPRIL conference at goo.gl/9bb2jA Research Conference report, pages 20-21.

Both Celia and Francesca admit to having butterflies at the prospect; as well they might, since before joining the Research Development Fellowship (RDF) programme, which is run by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and the University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT), neither had any research experience.

Celia, a tutorial mentor at The Sheffield College, said: “We are going to be extremely nervous, but we both deliver to teenage learners so I’d expect the EAPRIL audience to be more sympathetic at least.

“Neither of us had undertaken research before we joined the programme, so the past year has been a steep learning curve.

“We’d never have been able to carry out our research without the support from ETF and SUNCETT. It really has been an eye-opener.”

Francesca, a tutorial mentor

4 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

and safeguarding and wellbeing officer at the college, said: “Initially, we found it challenging to narrow down and focus our project, but the support has been amazing.

“EAPRIL will be a fantastic experience and the RDF has given us so much. We’re both considering masters degrees.”

Celia’s and Francesca’s research examined the college’s use of learner-voice feedback to improve teaching, learning and assessment. They interviewed colleagues engaged in the feedback process and also at learner groups up to Level 3.

They found learners need to be better prepared for the feedback process so that all can engage fully. Their work also underlined the power of the college’s learner voice process in developing students’ higher thinking skills.

Celia said: “Since we completed the research, the college want us to help relaunch the learner voice process.”

ETF

Research conference awaits duo

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QTLS to continue to have QTS parity

The government has confirmed the ongoing parity between QTLS and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) during the redevelopment of the latter award. The decision to replace QTS with a stronger, more challenging accreditation was announced in the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper published in March.

The White Paper made it clear that current holders of QTS will retain their status once the new accreditation is introduced.

Similarly, current QTLS holders, and those who gain QTLS status between now and the new system’s introduction (and who are SET members), will continue to be eligible to work in schools on the same terms as teachers with QTS, both before and after the new schools system is in place.

The Department for Education is working closely with the Education and Training Foundation to explore how the new accreditation can develop the current equivalence between QTS and QTLS. The changes recently introduced to QTLS are already increasing the similarity with the anticipated principles behind the new accreditation and status for schools.

More information goo.gl/sfVx0X For more information about the new QTLS visit goo.gl/34iOjf Registration for QTLS closes on 31 October.

SET online improved September saw the release of several new features on the SET website. As promised, we have continued to develop the My SET dashboard. You can now save a copy of your self-assessment within the dashboard for download and print as required.

A Professional Development planning tool has also been added. So, following your self-assessment and your decision about which of the professional standards you would like to develop, the planning tool enables you to list your objectives and state how and when you will undertake the CPD activity.

We have also streamlined the member login process and made it easier for lapsed members to re-join SET online using their previous membership login at set.et-foundation.co.uk And check out the ETF’s new online booking system at booking.etfoundation.co.uk

Ursula is FE winner in 2016’s Enthuse Awards Congratulations to Ursula Lowe, of Cambridge Regional College, who won this year’s Further Education College Science Enthuse Award (pictured).

Ursula was one of seven category winners in the 2016 Enthuse Awards, which recognise outstanding teachers and teaching initiatives at individual and organisational level. It was the first year that FE-specific awards were made.

City and Islington College won the FE College Science Enthuse Award, with David Swinscoe, director of the college’s Centre for Applied Sciences, receiving the award on behalf of the college at the ceremony in July.

Ursula is a chemistry and science lecturer at the college, teaching across a range of courses and levels including access to higher education programmes and careerdeveloping BTEC Diplomas to day release students.

She uses several approaches to keep her knowledge and practice up to speed within her busy teaching schedule, which is soon to include 14 to 16-yearolds at the college’s academy.

“It’s important to be a lifelong learner. I’m lucky to be in Cambridge as the university has so many external lectures,” Ursula said.

Ursula, who attends meetings of the Royal Society of Chemistry and mentors those new to teaching, spent time last year in Cambridge University’s biochemistry department as part

of a placement scheme run by STEM Learning.

“It was an incredible experience. A colleague was placed in the zoology department so we were able to learn together,” she said.

City and Islington College’s award recognised the provider’s excellence in STEM education underpinned by heavy investment in various models of staff development, including collaborating with institutions to arrange meetings between STEM specialists.

The Education and Training Foundation championed the FE Enthuse Awards this year.

Paul Kessell-Holland, the ETF’s head of partnerships, said: “The focus on the need for a STEM-literate, high skilled workforce to strengthen our economy is something we welcome, and we are working with a range of organisations to deliver the teachers we need.”

Read Ursula Lowe’s blog at goo.gl/rMssUw

17,000 enthused by bursary scheme

The winning teachers and technicians took part in professional development at the National STEM Learning Centre with support from an Enthuse Award bursary. Since 2008, Project Enthuse has given more than 17,000 bursaries to teachers and technicians working in state-maintained schools and colleges in the UK to support their professional development.

For more information, visit goo.gl/0ZkKNl

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 5

Views & News

Views The government has abolished the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which led on FE and skills. All of further and higher education policy has now been moved into the Department for Education (DfE).

This mirrors the position we had from 2001 to 2007, when we had the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). So what? As someone who worked in so many departments – DfEE, DfES, DIUS, DCSF and DfE – without actually ever moving department, I can offer some insights.

FE has definitely suffered from being split between two departments. Most of FE funding over the past decade came from DfE (to fund 16-19 education beyond schools), as did most of the policy changes that have really mattered since 2010. But BIS was the ‘sponsor department’ for FE. This meant that vital matters sometimes fell between two stools.

The biggest example was FE workforce policy. DfE policy drove very significant new requirements, for example in maths

ETF

Ear to the ground David Russell Department wars: episode (one thousand and) four – a new hope

and English teaching, in apprenticeships reform, in study programmes and in qualification reform.

But while they spent hundreds of millions of pounds each year on school teacher recruitment and training, the DfE saw the FE workforce as largely a responsibility for BIS. BIS meanwhile – a department with less money – pursued a policy of autonomy and deregulation in FE. Not necessarily a bad idea, but the combined effect was of considerable new pressures on the FE profession and a, frankly, underpowered delivery plan with

insufficient investment to make those new policies play through successfully.

With a single, joined-up department, new ministers will step right back and look at the disparities between how government supports and challenges the quality of education through all phases, early years to HE. It is also able, for the first time in a decade, to consider teaching as a single profession, albeit one that manifests very differently in different contexts.

I believe both of these stock-takes can only be good news for FE. The Education and Training Foundation will be working with DfE, Ofsted and others to ensure FE gets the support needed to be the autonomous, excellent and self-improving profession we all want to be a part of.

David Russell is chief executive of the Education and Training Foundation.

David is a qualified teacher and a former senior civil servant responsible for a range of policy area including: academies, adult skills strategy and apprenticeships.

Party conference season is upon us again and, for lobbyists like me, it is a critical time in the political calendar: providing less formal opportunities in which to set out your stall to key influencers.

You get used to the looks you receive when you buttonhole an adviser or a minister about adult learning while they’re taking their morning coffee or when you fire a complicated further education policy question at them at an event at 10pm.

This year is particularly interesting, with a new Conservative administration finding its feet and the result of the leadership contest having kicked off the Labour Party’s annual conference.

Theresa May has not wasted any time in setting out her agenda as prime minister, referring consistently to the remarks she made on the steps of Downing Street upon her return from Buckingham Palace.

Mrs May stated that she wants to make Britain “a country that works for everyone” and is seeking to continue to out-manoeuvre a somewhat chaotic Labour Party in positioning the Conservatives 6 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

ETF

Policy watch Shane Chowen Are there enough ideas for FE beyond apprenticeships?

as the party for working people.

Her new minister for skills, Robert Halfon MP, is the first Conservative minister for further education since John Hayes’ appointment in 2010 who already enjoys a reasonable profile within the sector.

Mr Halfon has championed skills and apprenticeships from the backbenches, was the first MP to recruit an apprentice for

his office and used his maiden speech to promote the life-changing opportunities that technical and vocational training provides.

For the Conservatives to make any significant progress on their social mobility and life chances agenda before the next general election, FE is a sensible place to focus their energies. Yet, so far, the government seems fixated by apprenticeships and I worry that other areas of the sector, ones that can make an equal (if not stronger) contribution to social justice, may be ignored.

Issues like the UK’s alarming basic skills deficits in literacy, numeracy and digital skills; community learning and ESOL; and adequate funding for adult education beyond the apprenticeship levy.

I have no doubt you will be hearing much more about ‘life chances’ during and following the party conferences. The question, though, is does this new government have enough ideas beyond apprenticeships?

Shane Chowen is head of policy and public affairs at the Learning and Work Institute

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Apprenticeships report Questions over the quality and overall impact of the government’s apprenticeship reforms are among the issues raised in a report by the public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO).

While employers are satisfied with the training offered, apprentices are less clear on the quality of delivery, according to the NAO report, Delivering value through the apprenticeships programme.

However, the report highlighted Ofsted’s suggestion that around a fifth of training providers need to improve quality.

The report said that government has still to define what success will look like for apprentices, employers and the economy in terms of the impact

on skills, addressing skills gaps and raising achievement rates.

The report also said that, while the intention had been for all apprenticeships to start on the new standards by 2017, as of April this year, only 2,600 people had started training under the new standards.

The government has set a target of three million new apprenticeship starts between 2015 and 2020. Standards for the new apprenticeships are being set by employers working in trailblazer groups.

Read the report: goo.gl/2raa0z

ETF

Welcome Sir Frank Sir Frank McLoughlin, CBE, (pictured below) who chaired the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) has been appointed associate director for leadership by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

Sir Frank’s work on the influential 2013 CAVTL report helped reaffirm the importance of vocational education’s “clear line of sight” to industry and employment. The report was one of the foundations on which ETF was built.

Sir Frank, a former principal of City and Islington College, said: “As I move out of the organisational leadership phase of my career I believe I have a major contribution to make to system wide leadership development.”

David Russell, ETF’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted to welcome Sir Frank to the team.

It shows how far the ETF has come in a short time that we are able to attract a national figure of Frank’s calibre to lead these vital aspects of our work.”

Sir Frank will oversee the ETF’s work on leadership and governance, a role previously held by Olivia Dorricott. He will also oversee the Foundation’s work on localism and the response to the Sainsbury Review. The appointment is on a part-time basis.

CAVTL: goo.gl/BKi8qV

WorldSkills UK

News in brief

SEND webinars A series of webinars on special educational needs and disabilities will be run by the SET this autumn.

Webinars will be held on: 13 October 1-2pm; 19 October, 4-5pm; 3 November, 4-5pm; and 15 November, 4-5pm. The first of these will provide an overview of SEND policy and practice, with exact titles still to be confirmed for the others.

A webinar ‘Everything you wanted to know about the new and enriched QTLS’ will be replayed from 4-5pm on 6 October. To register go to goo. gl/Jzr7J6. Dates and times may change so please watch out for emails and follow #SocietyET on Twitter. Keep an eye on the website: goo.gl/E9A6JC and

access the QTLS webinar at goo.gl/KdVLJ8

Walsall’s gangs project An innovative college project to support youth workers and those working to reduce the impact of gangs and crime in the Midlands has reported on its work.

The Walsall College EUGANGS 90-hour VET programme was piloted between April 2015 and February 2016. It consisted of 26, three-hour face-to-face sessions, plus online activities and individual mentoring support.

Participants in the EU-funded programme listed a number of benefits, including gaining a better understanding of: young people’s motivation to join gangs and engage in criminal activity; ‘how the brain works’ and interpersonal communication, including specific approaches, such as motivational interviewing.

Visit the EUGANGS site at: goo.gl/ghfw4J Student case studies and further descriptions of practice: goo.gl/TUATqi Teens unsure on apprenticeships Just eight per cent of GCSE students would consider an apprenticeship as their preferred route into work, according to a survey published

by Santander bank.

Just over two fifths of 15- to 16-year-olds reported being familiar with the wide range of apprenticeships available, according to a survey carried out by YouthSight for the bank in August. This compared with two thirds who were familiar with college and university as education and training options.

The most frequent reason given by those dismissing the apprenticeship route was that they felt that they needed A-levels and/or a degree to pursue their chosen career.

Read more at: goo.gl/ Z9s6Vm

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 7

Views

Opinion A new and improved InTuition is on its way InTuition, the UK’s leading magazine for professional teachers and trainers working in further education and skills settings, is changing for the better, reports editor Alan Thomson The publishers and the staff at the Society for Education and Training (SET) know from members’ feedback that you value your InTuition as a source of information, advice, research, shared good practice and news that helps support your teaching and professional development.

So, the InTuition editorial team has set about improving your magazine so that it offers more of the material you tell us you want and enjoy reading.

We are in the process of surveying SET members on InTuition, we have also consulted the Practitioner Advisory Group (PAG) and late in the autumn will be consulting members in a series of focus group events around the country.

The new-look InTuition will land on your doormats in December and the first thing you will notice is a bold new look. We are working hard to ensure that the new design is fresh and modern while also imparting a greater sense of professional authority.

Above all, we believe that the new design

will be more engaging for all, delivering an InTuition that presents articles in more dynamic and visually exciting ways, while also improving reader navigation and signposting throughout.

These design changes are complemented by significant improvements in content.

Most noticeably, you will see that we have increased the size of the research section, up from six pages to eight, giving it a stronger identity within the magazine.

InTuition’s mission is to make relevant research accessible to busy teachers and trainers. And we will go further by introducing articles offering information, support and inspiration for those engaged

These design changes are complemented by significant improvements in content. Most noticeably, you will see that we have increased the size of the research section, up from six pages to eight, giving it a stronger identity within the magazine

A taster of your new-look InTuition

8 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

in or considering a research project: the ‘how to’ of research, as it were.

We are also introducing specific sections for information and news relating to maths and English teaching and a new section on learning technologies.

There are several other changes planned, which we believe will further improve InTuition, making it an integral and indispensable part of your professional life. But don’t worry, we won’t be losing favourites such as our top columnist Geoff Petty with his wonderfully practical advice on teaching, learning and assessment.

While most of you love your printed copies of InTuition, we are also offering

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While most of you love your printed copies of InTuition, we are also offering a significantly enhanced digital edition, which will allow you to read the magazine on your smartphone, tablet or computer a significantly enhanced digital edition, which will allow you to read the magazine on your smartphone, tablet or computer.

We will be adding further value to many of the articles carried in InTuition by offering exclusive, online video content to members; all easily accessed on-the-go or from the comfort of your home or work computer.

The second edition of the InTuition Research Supplement, first produced in February this year, will be published in February 2017 with added content, and there are plans for an InTuition Teaching Supplement later next year too.

Having consulted many SET members as part of the redesign process, we in the production team firmly believe the newlook InTuition will deliver much more of the useful and engaging material you expect from your professional magazine.

And it will do so with a new sense of style, energy and gravitas, as befits your professional status.

Accessibility The charity Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) estimates that more than two million people in the UK live with sight loss and visual impairment.

With this in mind the editorial team is working hard to accommodate the RNIB’s advice for both print and online media.

By improving InTuition’s digital interface, members will be able to make use of the magnification and highlighting options available.

We are hopeful that these innovations will make your new InTuition easier to read both in print and digital.

Sustainability InTuition is printed on paper that comes from sustainable FSC-accredited sources.

In addition, the magazine’s printer, Precision Colour Printing Ltd, employs a range of new technologies to minimise the environmental impact of its operation.

These include heat exchange and reclamation systems to heat the printing plant and the latest production technologies to minimise the use of chemicals, alcohol and solvents.

A dynamic magazine for members InTuition has established itself over the past four years as the only journal specifically aimed at practitioners working in the FE and skills sector.

We know that this is one of the most highly-valued parts of Society for Education and Training (SET) membership – but we also feel that now is the time to review its content and design to make sure it is delivering exactly what members want from their magazine, and that it matches our overall aspirations and vision for SET. It needs to provide practical support for our members to develop their expertise and careers in teaching and training, and engage them in using and creating research for effective practice. It needs to be a cornerstone of our professional community of members, sharing knowledge through our networks. And it needs to involve members at every turn in contributing to new teaching and development initiatives.

These aims need a serious and informative, but accessible and interesting publication; that complements print with online; that’s easy to pick up and dip into, but that’s also a respected forum for new debate and ideas.

It is with these goals in mind that we’ve set out on our consultation around the new InTuition – and we’re really excited about the potential for a dynamic magazine at the very heart of SET membership.

Tim Weiss is director of the Society for Education and Training

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 9

People

Co-piloting a new teaching strategy Would your students benefit if you invited one, or more, of your colleagues to teach them alongside you?

Wolff-Michael Roth, a leading authority on co-teaching, argues that they would, and so would your professional development as a teacher. Peter Rook reports

10 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

we saw greater advances in questioning techniques by teachers involved in co-teaching,” he says.

“We used it at the University of Philadelphia. Teachers had to teach one class per day in co-teaching, and the next day on their own. On the third day they had a choice whether to co-teach or teach on their own. The majority chose to co-teach.”

Although not adopted enthusiastically in the UK, Roth says that Northern Ireland has followed up on the co-teaching idea.

Arguably, the biggest barrier to its implementation in FE and skills is cost: why have two or three teachers running a session when one is standard? Roth acknowledges it can be hard to sell to budget holders, but he suggests that this is short-sighted.

He says co-teaching can be applied in the form of staff development and he suggests colleges “could try it out for a year and try to assess it”.

He adds: “Some northern European countries, such as Germany for example, have moved from a 40-hour working week for teachers to a 34-hour week and educational standards there are among the best in the world.”

“They are more productive because they are less stressed. A lot of teachers suffer burn-out having to cope with students on their own all of the time.

“The cost of absenteeism in education is high and the cost of substitute teachers to cover absent teachers is also high. With co-teaching, absenteeism would go down and therefore less money would be spent on substitute teachers.”

Roth argues that institutional unwillingness to embrace the practice may also be symptomatic of a tendency to marginalise the voice of teaching staff.

“In teaching we have one of the most

Griffith University

“Co-teaching should be like two pilots being responsible for the plane,” says Professor Wolff-Michael Roth. It is a fitting analogy since Roth reveals he has been working with airlines on the value of what he calls ‘working at each other’s elbows’.

He continues: “Co-teaching is different from ‘team teaching’, where one teacher is standing up and organising and the other teacher is more passive. In co-teaching, sitting on the periphery is not an option.

They can both learn from each other and maximise teaching in the classroom.”

Roth says co-teaching brings two or more teachers together to “improve what they can offer to the students they teach”.

He says it also provides opportunities for the teachers to learn more about their teaching practices.

Roth, who taught science in schools for many years, is Lansdowne Professor of Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Victoria in Canada and is the co-author, with Kenneth Tobin, of At the Elbow of Another: Learning to teach by co-teaching, in which he lays out the foundation of the approach.

His research, much of it focusing on mathematics and science teaching, has found that co-teaching helps induct new teachers, supervise new and practising teachers, and assists teachers in their own development. “We have even done it with up to six teachers at a time,” says Roth.

Aside from the physical difficulties of accommodating so many teachers in one room, I suggest that the logistics of planning with so many practitioners and defining roles would be a huge challenge, but Roth is adamant that co-teaching does not require any more planning than a ‘normal’ lesson.

“It can work with small groups just as well as large ones. In this environment

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highly educated workforces but they are treated like technicians,” he says.

The challenge is convincing the administrators that co-teaching is not a soft option for teachers and that it adds value to the learner experience.

“Students and teachers learn from each other, often without realising that this is happening,” he says.

His research work has also examined the barriers to learning caused by the disconnection between many students and the, mainly, middle-class language and world views of their teachers.

Roth says he had a “very different trajectory into teaching from most teachers” having grown up “in extreme poverty”. He grasped intuitively the importance of being able to develop a relationship with learners.

“You can’t get them to move forward unless you figure out where they are,” he says. “With co-teaching we found experienced teachers in particular reflected on how they interacted with their students.”

But would experienced teachers be open to the idea of sharing their teaching sessions with, perhaps, a less experienced colleague? Roth recalls how he met up with an experienced teacher who had been introduced to co-teaching three years earlier.

“He told me that he had hated coming to my class. He was resistant to the idea at the time but he said he looked back on it and gained a lot from the experience.

“Young teachers are more open to co-teaching, but even those who initially resist can see the value in it.”

Peter Rook is a freelance journalist and journalism lecturer at University Centre Peterborough, part of Peterborough Regional College.

For information on the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers visit goo.gl/EQMoL2

Further reading • Roth, W.-M., & Tobin, K. G. (2002). At the elbow of another: Learning to teach by co-teaching. New York: P. Lang.

• Roth, W.-M. (1998). Teaching and learning as everyday activity. International handbook of science education (pp. 169-181)

by K. Tobin & B. Fraser (Ed.). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

• Roth, W.-M., & Boyd, N. (1999). Co-teaching, as co-learning, in practice. Research in Science Education, 29, 51-67.

• Tobin, K., & Roth, W.-M. (2006). Teaching to learn: A view from the field. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

• Beninghof, A. M. (2012) Co-teaching that works: Structures and strategies for maximizing student learning. Jossey-Bass.

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 11

Feature

Not so scarce resources There may be a sector-wide shortage of continuing professional development for teachers of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), but support is available, finds Alan Thomson Most countries are concerned about the health of their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education and student outcomes. And understandably so.

In fields such as engineering, science (including medicine), manufacturing and design, digital technology is changing fundamentally the way we live and work. As a result, the education and training that we need to underpin and advance our social and economic activity must also change.

If you’re a teacher or trainer, the challenge is to get up to speed with STEM, particularly the maths element, and to continue to refresh your knowledge and skills to keep pace with ever-changing requirements.

Official figures show that around twofifths of pupils fail in England to achieve grades A*-C in maths (and English) by age 16 and of those pupils, almost all (90 per cent) fail to achieve those grades by the time they reach 19.

Since August 2014, all students who failed to gain the required passes in GCSE maths and English by 16, have had to continue to work towards these qualifications or an approved steppingstone qualification. This change has required further education and training providers to expand rapidly the number of teachers proficient in teaching maths and English at GCSE and interim levels.

While FE is responding to this significant challenge, ongoing budget constraints are hardly helping. A report by the Royal Academy of Engineering, The UK STEM Education Landscape, released in May, said: “There is a particularly strong need for FE lecturers teaching vocational, practical qualifications for the future technician workforce, to have [continuing] professional development (CPD).

12 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

“However, with little funding for CPD in the FE sector, few organisations offer any subjectspecific support for advancing teaching and learning.”

An evaluation of the STEM Improvement Programme, funded by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and carried out by engineering skills body SEMTA, said that STEM practitioners only undertake an average of five days professional development per year and only 10 per cent of providers reported staff undertaking employer work placements.

set.et-foundation.co.uk

istock

The importance of maths resilience

The ETF report also said that FE colleges spent an estimated £65m on agency staff in 2011, with agencies charging three times the cost of directly employing staff. With STEM teachers comprising 13 per cent of all FE staff, this implies an estimated spend of £8.5m on STEM agency staff in England.

At the same time, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has reported that two out of five employers experience difficulties recruiting STEM-proficient staff. Employers are reported as being concerned that there is a gap between what is delivered in STEM education and what is required by industry.

In seeking to further address the issues around STEM and English education, the government’s Post-16 Skills Plan,

published earlier this year, accepted all the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, chaired by Lord Sainsbury. Among its recommendations was a single set of minimum maths and English ‘exit’ requirements for college-based technical education and apprenticeships. These requirements would be raised as learner outcomes improve.

Of course, this will require education and training providers and practitioners to raise their maths and English provision to a still higher level. Fortunately, support is at hand.

Alan Thomson is editor of InTuition Resources on p14

By Steve Pardoe Many people have difficulties learning mathematics for all kinds of reasons. Even people who are otherwise successful learners can find mathematical tasks difficult, to the point that they exhibit a high level of anxiety towards studying the subject or avoid it altogether.

The requirement to achieve a GCSE grade C, or study maths until the age of 19, has brought this issue to the fore and provides a major challenge to colleges and training providers, which need to re-engage and motivate their learners to study maths.

West Midlands Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (WMCETT), based at the University of Warwick, has been working with ideas of mathematical resilience – a positive approach to maths that allows people to overcome affective barriers when learning the subject.

Research suggests that mathematical resilience can be developed by anyone, but that changing the individual’s emotional reactions and beliefs about maths – and how it is learned and experienced – is vital.

Learners who develop mathematical resilience will continue despite feeling ‘stuck’.

They will have a growth mindset and know that they can learn more maths, provided they find the support they need.

With support from the ETF, WMCETT has developed a successful, one-day professional development module, Introduction to Mathematical Resilience, which is available through the ETFs’ Maths and English Pipeline.

A three-day follow up course, which develops the coaching approaches for teachers, is currently being developed. WMCETT is also producing parallel continuing professional development modules to help learners develop resilience in studying English. The new modules will be available to the sector at ETFsubsidised rates from autumn 2016.

For details visit: goo.gl/u624yL

References • J ohnston-Wilder, S. and Lee, C. 2010.

Mathematical Resilience, Mathematics Teaching, 218: 38-41.

•D weck, C. 2000. Self Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development.

Lillington NC, Psychology Press.

• J ohnston-Wilder, S. Lee, C., Garton, E., Goodall, S., Brindley, J. 2013 Developing Coaches for Mathematical Resilience, ICERI Seville.

Steve Pardoe is the ETF regional support lead for maths in the West Midlands, and lead developer of the mathematical resilience CPD modules.

InTuition Issue 24 | Autumn 2016 13

Feature

RESOURCES Resources

Draft maths and English subject content has been published as part of the ETF’s ongoing review of Functional Skills. Members of the Society for Education and Training (SET) were invited to comment on the draft content over the summer with consultation closing on 12 September.

The draft content contains proposed learning aims and outcomes for maths teaching from entry Level 1 to functional maths Level 2 (see link below). The guiding principle is that they are clear and straightforward.

To support staff teaching Functional Maths at all levels, ETF will produce a new exemplar curriculum in Spring 2017.

You can download the ETF’s Functional Skills draft maths subject content here: goo.gl/Wf2rkV. The ETF also offers a growing range of maths resources and training opportunities for members and non-members, many provided in partnership with other sector organisations.

The ETF supports the STEM Exchange, which was developed as part of the STEM Alliance. The exchange has successfully recruited more than a thousand STEM employers who are willing to offer CPD to teaching staff in their area. Several hundred exchanges and visits have now taken place.

To access the exchange visit goo.gl/qIKYfZ.

The ETF also runs short and enhanced courses for maths (and English) teachers through its maths and English pipeline.

Short courses include: • Motivating and engaging maths learners • Improving formative assessment in maths • Maths vocational revitalisers • Introduction to mathematical resilience (see Steve Pardoe’s article on the previous page) Enhanced courses (3 days +) include: • CPD modules (Level 5) for teachers of maths GCSE re-sits • Maths Enhancement Programme (MEP) • Coaching skills for developing maths resilience For details visit goo.gl/GB8DnH

Foundation Online links

Other useful links

Additionally, there is the ETF’s core maths training support programme: goo.gl/aUyFsY STEM recruitment and retention guide for HR staff: goo.gl/OTjXlS For help and information on STEM work experience visit: goo.gl/8PU0df Resources are available on the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics: goo.gl/VW75R4 Future Apprenticeships exists to support those delivering apprenticeships: goo.gl/KeJzJd

Learning modules (more will be available next year): goo.gl/XCrwyJ

Download the Future Apprenticeships toolkit here: goo.gl/w0SiYX

Excellence Gateway links

SEMTA: goo.gl/SCOVfm

The many resources include a guide to supporting vocational maths in the post-16 sector: goo.gl/a9YNSF Strategic guide for the delivery of GCSE English and maths to the 16-19 cohort: goo.gl/zNS907 Video clips of those supporting GCSE maths in the post-16 sector: goo.gl/RH9ldd

The Association for Science Education: goo.gl/zk1lkP The Engineering Council: goo.gl/USzvvX For more information on all of these and more, please contact your regional specialist maths lead. Details of your contacts can be found on the ETF website at: goo.gl/XPlEJG

AoC

Everything you always wanted to know about GCSE changes…

By Catherine Sezen Education is in a time of change. There is a new secretary of state, a new Post-16 Skills Plan, Area Reviews, new-look apprenticeships, linear A Levels and new GCSEs. At this stage it is difficult to say which of these will have the most impact, but the changes to GCSEs will affect nearly all teenagers moving into years 10 and 11 over the next few years.

Those students who have just completed their GCSEs were the last year group to receive all A* to G grades. In May and June 2017, year 11s will take GCSEs graded 9 to 1 in English language, English literature and maths. Over the following two years, all GCSEs will move over to the new grading system, where 9 is the highest grade and 1 the lowest.

The highest grades of A* and A (achieved by approximately 20 per cent of students in any given subject) will be replaced by 7 to 9, making it easier to differentiate between the highest achievers.

Grades B and C will be replaced by 4 to 6. The current grade C ‘pass’ becomes a 5: not exactly the same as a C but equivalent to a high C or lower grade B, more of which below.

The move to numbers rather than letters is accompanied by changes to the content and exams too. In the 9-1 GCSE English there are no longer controlled assessments taken in class. Instead, there

14 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

will be two final exams in place of the current one.

In maths, there will be more content with greater challenge.

The government believes that these more stretching GCSEs will improve standards and boost achievement.

However, the additional grades have been introduced to distinguish achievement at the higher, rather than lower, levels. Currently, 40 per cent of young people don’t achieve an A*- C at age 16. But as the new ‘pass’ is a 5, equivalent to a high C or low B, up to 20 per more may not achieve this watershed grade.

As the exams get harder and the grading system almost works against lower achievers, we risk disengaging more young people from education, which is frustrating for teachers and demoralising for students.

There is a clear correlation between achievement in Sats taken at the end of year six and achievement in GCSEs, yet there is a five-year time gap between the two. Investment in earlier intervention, at age 11 or before, to support pupils who are already struggling, could help many more students achieve at 16.

This would mean colleges and other providers could focus on their key strength and purpose, which is the teaching of technical skills to create the workforce of the future.

Catherine Sezen is senior policy manager for 14-19 and curriculum for the Association of Colleges (AoC)

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Practitioners

City & Guilds

Me&my

tutor

NLTG apprentice India Ratcliffe was named apprentice of the year in July’s City & Guilds Lion Awards for her outstanding achievements in professional and technical education.

Along with her tutor Lee Keller, she reveals the secrets of a successful apprenticeship India I left school early after being bullied. It was nine years ago and my self-confidence was very low. I struggled with depression and anxiety, but with help from my mum, I completed my GCSEs at home and started to build up my confidence again.

As a result, winning this title means a lot to me. To be able to stand up and make a speech in front on hundreds of people seems a million miles away from my past. It just goes to show, if you work hard and believe in yourself you can do anything!

I chose an apprenticeship because it not only offers a qualification, but also key workplace experience which many companies look for in prospective employees.

But, without Lee’s instruction, I quite simply would not have completed my apprenticeship. He helped me with the academic portion and supported me to carry on to level 3.

It’s incredibly important to build a strong learning relationship between tutor and learner. I always admired Lee’s approach to a lesson: he would make sure I was relaxed and happy by telling a few jokes. Then we would get our head down and do the work.

It also helps to see that your tutor genuinely cares about their job and learners. This is something I could always tell about Lee. I have already encouraged a lot of people to re-train through an apprenticeship – including my husband. Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to get into your dream career. The key element to a good apprenticeship is a happy and stable working environment.

India Ratcliffe studied at North Lancs Training Group and is an apprentice at Loungy Upholstery, in the Lake District, which specialises in classic car interiors and high end furniture.

The company is looking to take on a second apprentice who India will help to train.

Lee India has excelled in her apprenticeship because she is selfmotivated, very quick to learn, showed interest in the trade and has great attention to detail.

Good communication is key to motivating learners as is being able to relate to issues through my own personal experiences.

I ask open questions and give time for apprentices to respond.

If they can’t answer I get them to research it, then I challenge them on what they’ve learned.

I also think it’s important to discuss with apprentices where they want their careers to lead to and give examples of students, like India, that are progressing through the trade, including setting up their own businesses.

I’ve helped to deliver apprenticeships for the past 10 years and have been able to see the benefits to both learners and employers.

It’ll be interesting to see where the current reforms take us.

I am a fully skilled upholsterer and cabinet maker and have been in the trade for more than 25 years. At North Lancs Training Group we are fully expected to be experienced and qualified and while working here I’ve achieved assessor qualifications in A1 and verifier award V1 along with PTLLS and CTLLS (level 4) and Advice and Guidance (level 4).

I am a member of a curriculum group within our company that meets each month to discuss best practices and research resources that could be used to improve the way our training officers deliver the qualifications to their learners. I also keep up with trade developments by visiting companies and attending trade shows.

Lee Keller is a training officer at North Lancs Training Group.

He tutored India in her Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Upholstery and Soft Furnishings

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 15

Research

How has marketisation affected the professional identities of black educators in FE?

By Dr Richard Sargeant There is an ‘almost total neglect of issues’ regarding black educators in FE – a situation that calls for greater accountability in relation to governance and management This article describes and interprets the manner in which marketisation has produced, reproduced and transformed the professional identities of black educators working within UK further education.

In so doing, it presents an original typology of black professional identification and outlines some of the consequences of taking up particular identity positions. It draws on data from a doctoral study (Sargeant, 2007), which examined the impact of marketisation on the professional lives and identities of black practitioners within FE. Background The passage of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act laid the basis for the emergence of a body of research literature that sought to engage with the implementation effects of these reforms on the FE workforce (Ainley and Bailey, 1997).

That said, issues around race and ethnicity were largely ignored within this research.

One of the strongest themes running through these studies is that, whereas many senior and middle managers embraced market ideology, the responses of most teachers and trainers have been hostile and oppositional (Taubman, 2015).

So it paints a picture of bifurcation in terms of white professional identity.

My research kept open the possibility that black educators might take up their identities in a different way to their white counterparts and, even when they appear to make similar choices, the underlying reasoning might be different. This position is based on the recognition that racism and discrimination shape the lived experience of black educators in a highly distinctive manner which could have an impact on the way in which they took up their identities.

Findings Having analysed and interpreted the personal narratives, a new typology of 16 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

black professional identification emerged.

These were: black strategic conformists, black survivors, black outsiders and black collectivists. These four analytical categories enabled me to make sense of the trends and patterns within the data.

Black strategic conformists were very positive about market ideology and the idea that the new entrepreneurial FE was better than the old with its embrace of public sector values. Their narratives revealed that they were careerists who viewed the needs of students as, at best, a second order issue. They were in denial in relation to the impact of racism and discrimination on the lived experience of black professionals and learners.

Black survivors adopted an instrumental approach to their working lives and sought satisfaction in black communal activities outside the workplace. They were aware of race and racism but felt that it would be futile to challenge these attitudes and practices since change was impossible.

Black outsiders had completed most of their education in their countries of origin and displayed a relatively uninformed understanding of the specificity of issues around race and racism in the UK. They were disposed to blaming themselves when they were the objects of racialised practices.

Black collectivists had a very strong subject identity and were committed to their community of origin. They had a nuanced understanding of race and racism and were prepared to challenge racialised and other forms of injustice, whatever the professional and personal costs.

The Commission for Black Staff in Further Education (2002) reported that black staff were more vulnerable than their white counterparts in the context of mergers, restructures and redundancies.

My findings highlighted that in this context, black collectivists were even more vulnerable than the other black identity positions. Yet this sub-group is key to raising challenges in relation to the structures and relations of race which are essential if FE is to realise a greater measure of racial equality and diversity.

What is striking is the almost total neglect of issues regarding the presence and future of black educators within the FE sector in terms of policy initiatives, the media and among the public more generally.

This situation cries out for much greater accountability in relation to the governance and management of FE colleges.

References • Ainley, P. and Bailey, B. (1997) The Business of Learning, London: Cassell • Commission for Black Staff in Further Education (2002) Challenging Racism: Further education leading the way, London: Commission for Black Staff in Further Education • Sargeant, R. (2007) The Impact of Marketisation on the Professional Lives and Identities of Black Educators within UK Further Education, University of Sheffield: Doctoral thesis • Taubman, D. (2015) Reframing Professionalism and Reclaiming the Dance in Daley, M., Orr, K. and Petrie.

J. (eds), Further Education and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, London: Institute of Education Press

Dr Richard Sargeant is a freelance educational consultant and researcher.

Richard has worked in further and higher education for 30 years.

Members wishing to share their professional experiences in relation to issues raised in this article are welcome to email Richard at richardsargeant2@gmail.com

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Supporting our practice by developing a ‘research mindset’

By Sarah-Jane Crowson Undertaking a research project can be daunting, but becoming a researcher-practitioner can be a transformative experience – it’s an opportunity that , as a sector, we should seize As educators, we must prepare our learners for a work environment that is fluid, dynamic and constantly in flux (Barnett and Coate, 2005). We must also ensure they have up-to-date professional skills and the personal qualities to cope in an ever-moving employment market.

What, then, does this mean for the dual professional working within a further education environment? The emphasis on technical and vocational learning demands that we embrace shifting new pedagogies while keeping our specialist skills up to date. We must develop our own ‘competencies and capabilities’ (Blaschke, 2012) as well as those of our learners.

It is no coincidence that research skills, research projects and research as continuing professional development (CPD) are increasingly embedded in the landscape of FE. Within our diverse sector, a research project provides a broad framework for individuals and organisations to pursue areas of interest and addresses CPD needs in a way that is manageable.

However, undertaking a research project can be daunting. Research has connotations of ivory-tower academia and many practitioners (myself included) drag behind them memories of a hierarchical grammar school/secondary modern system of education that streamed for a vocational or academic pathway. If I had been asked about research three years ago, I would have replied that research is for academics, not educators.

Now, I would argue research is necessary for everyone in a world that requires us to become participative researchers and critical questioners of our professional contexts. We teach in a digital age where information is increasingly open-access and a library is a place of social learning, not a repository of fixed knowledge that one can take out occasionally and, if it’s on the reading list, ‘known to be reliable’.

If we look at ideas of research, we can unpick what it might mean for the practitioner. At a baseline level, research sounds simple – the finding of facts or evidence; something that will be useful to anyone wishing to keep up to date with new trends or technologies in their specialism. However, it is what we do with our researched facts and evidence that is important.

Research is a process, but it is also part of a wider dialogue. If we undertake a small research project of our own and disseminate it through a presentation or publication, then we have a voice in a wider community. We become part of a process that might inform the practice of others and have a social impact – an active process with meaning.

So, research is translated as an activity – a living, breathing thing that works within – and informs our practice. In the process, we re-invent ourselves as triple practitionerresearcher-specialists, increasing our subject knowledge, our teaching knowledge and our underlying skillset.

Research also empowers and enables – the dissemination aspect of research supports dialogue, action, and evaluation from a range of perspectives. Events such as the Education and Training Foundation’s annual research conference and its research fellowship programme afford educators a chance to meet and find out about good practice across the sector.

Context is everything – research in practice opens up social and professional worlds that then inform the classroom. Alongside this runs reading – an integral part of research that supports contexualistation of the practical project within wider ideas of social change and pedagogic practice.

In the end, all dimensions begin to inform each other and, importantly, can re-invigorate creative practice on the ground as our learners realise they are

participants and co-creators of knowledge in a context beyond their institution, perhaps part of a partnership learning community (Eaton, 2016).

Although beginning a research project seems daunting, becoming a researcherpractitioner can be a transformative experience – one that gives you and your learners a voice that is heard beyond your institution. We have no set paradigms for research in our contexts and the floor is open. As a sector, let’s develop a research mindset and use this opportunity to support ourselves and our learners as an integral part of our practice.

References • Barnett, R. & Coate, K. (2005) Engaging the Curriculum in Higher Education.

Maidenhead: SRHE/Open University Press • Blaschke, L. (2012:) Heutagogy and Lifelong Learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning, available at www.irrodl.org/ index.php/irrodl/article/view/1076/2087 [accessed 6/7/16] • Eaton, J. (2016) Partnership Learning Communities: A guide for college-based higher education, available at: www. heacademy.ac.uk/resource/partnershiplearning-communities-guide-collegebased-higher-education [accessed 6/7/16] • Whiteman, M. & Oliver, N. (2008) Engaging with the Research Methods Curriculum.

Available at: www.reflectingeducation. net/index.php/reflecting/article/ viewFile/56/62 [accessed 6/7/2016]

Sarah-Jane Crowson is scholarship development manager at Hereford College of Arts. Her introduction to research was through the 2014/15 Education and Training Foundation’s Practitioner-led Research Programme, supported by emCETT. Find out more about Sarah-Jane’s work at goo.gl/HMCjzD

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 17

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Overcoming the stale theory-practice divide

By Jay Derrick and Paul Grainger Are collaborative partnerships between industry practitioners and teachers for the co-design and delivery of vocational education and training (VET) programmes the answer?

Our lecture to the London Conference on Employer Engagement in Education and Training focused on collaborative partnership working between industry practitioners and teachers based in further education colleges and/or other training providers. It was aimed at updating and improving vocational training programmes.

plans for vocational training in any occupational sector must prepare learners for the continuous development, often including radical disruption, of work processes.

Therefore, learning needs to be an integral element of occupational expertise. This approach to VET development is also aligned with three other key theoretical ideas.

The promise of these partnerships in the co-design and delivery of vocational education and training (VET) programmes is not only that employers will recruit higher quality new employees, and that individual learners will be able to find jobs more easily and be better prepared for them, but also that such programmes will incorporate the latest technological developments in the workplace.

It is also anticipated that teachers and industry practitioners involved in such collaborative work will have their skills developed and expanded.

First, that previously acquired knowledge and expertise always need to be re-fashioned for new and/or changing work contexts or situations, in a continuous process of ‘recontextualisation’ (Guile 2014).

Furthermore, over time, such collaborative partnership working can create the trust needed for wider collaboration within which innovation can take place, and thus support and enrich the development and sustainability of local and regional economic and skillsystem ‘clusters’ and ‘eco-systems’.

Evidence from wider literature suggests that clusters and eco-systems can help companies survive, flourish and innovate in the highly dynamic and volatile contexts in which they are operating at the present time.

The relationship between vocational training and work practice has always been problematic, involving varying degrees of separation between: the workplace and the location of training programmes; between industry practitioners and vocational teachers; between practical work processes, therefore, and academic ‘subject knowledge’.

This debate in practice used to be limited to a logistical argument about how best to organise training, because the relationship between theory and practice was seen as static and unchanging. Nowadays, realistic 18 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

• Working across boundaries creates fertile conditions for innovation; and • Better use of local resources and facilities.

Collaborative partnership working between industry practitioners and FE providers can help to overcome the stale theory-practice divide, but they can also create the conditions for innovation and the enrichment of local and regional skills systems.

References

• CAVTL (2013). It’s about work: excellent adult vocational teaching and learning. London: Learning and Skills Improvement Service Second, research suggests that working • Education and Training Foundation (2016): across the boundaries is strongly associated resources for Teach Too, accessed 14-07-16 at with learning and with innovation (see, for goo.gl/ZlcnKa example, Guile et al 2016). These might be • Education and Training Foundation. organisational boundaries, or between formal A Framework for Developing Occupational qualifications and the needs of specific Expertise in the 21st Century. London: ETF and workplaces, between theoretical content and UCL Centre for Post 14 Education and Work practical know-how or, for learners, the • Guile, D. (2014). Professional knowledge boundary between their pre-vocational and professional practice as continuous identities and their potential identity as an recontextualisation. In Young, M. and employed occupational specialist.

Muller, J. (eds), Knowledge, Expertise and the Professions. London: Routledge Third, this approach is aligned well with the • Guile D., Kersh N. and Tiris, M. (2016). emphasis in research on the use of ‘artefacts’ Enhancing SET teaching at Level 3. London: in collaborative working, as the focus of UCL Centre for Engineering Education, UCL common purpose, as working drafts in Centre for Post 14 Education and Work development shared between the partnership, • Hoyles C., Noss R., Kent P. and Bakker A. and as the final product of the work (for (2010). Improving Mathematics at Work: example CAVTL 2013, Hoyles et al 2010).

The need for techno-mathematical literacies.

Artefacts might include a scheme of work London: Routledge for a new apprenticeship or a new set of procedures for assessing work skills.

Jay Derrick is director of postcompulsory teacher education, UCL Our recent research projects (ETF 2016, Guile Institute of Education et al 2016) suggest that among the potential Paul Grainger is co-director UCL benefits for employers of collaborative Institute of Education Centre for Post 14 co-design and delivery partnerships are: Education and Work •N ew recruits better trained and prepared for realities of employment; • Enhanced professional identity and expertise This article was adapted from a lecture of staff through mentoring and teaching; given at the London Conference on •V ET provision more adaptive to changes in Employer Engagement in Education workplaces; and Training in July. Find out more at: • I ncreased engagement of employers in local goo.gl/akQt5Y skill systems;

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Raising motivation and improving behaviour

By Susan Wallace Fear, boredom, previous negative experiences and loss of hope are the four main triggers for negative behaviour. Fortunately, there are several strategies that you can employ When I first began teaching in further education as a keen part-timer many years ago, my initial experience was slightly perturbing. Called in at short notice to cover for an absent teacher, I was gleefully told by the head of department that the class I was about to meet had “hung the last chap out of the window by his feet”.

I very much doubt whether this was true, but it’s indicative of the unfair image that people still have of FE learners. However, teachers are now reporting increasing problems with learner motivation and behaviour, perhaps attributable, in part, to factors such as the current requirement for English and maths.

A survey of FE learner attitudes suggests that disengaged or negative behaviour has four main causes: fear, boredom, previous negative experience and loss of hope. So let’s look at some practical ways teachers can defuse or deal with these.

Fear This may include fear of failure; fear of ridicule by other learners; or fear of you, the teacher. The way out is simply not to engage with learning at all. So here are some strategies to defuse the fear.

• Be approachable.

• Show your sense of humour.

• Never expose the weakness of any individual in front of the class.

• Never embarrass anyone.

• Plan carefully so that you don’t set learners up to fail.

Boredom Learners might be bored because they find the work too easy or too difficult. They may lose interest if their lessons are constantly interrupted by the disruptive behaviour of a minority.

They may experience the teaching methods as tedious or too teachercentred, with not enough built-in activity.

Perhaps the time designated for a topic or activity exceeds their attention span – which may be anywhere between five and 20 minutes. It may even be that the course they’re on is not one they’d have freely chosen.

But here are some practical strategies to counteract boredom.

• Build in differentiation that strikes a balance between challenge and attainability.

• Review your teaching strategies. Aim for maximum impact. Surprise them!

• Include plenty of learner activity.

• Plan frequent changes of activity so that you don’t exceed their attention span.

• Use the learners’ interests as a starting point.

Previous negative experience School may have taught learners a sense of failure, or that learning is a painful process offering no expectation of enjoyment. They may feel they have to live up to a reputation as ‘trouble-maker’.

Their previous experience of teachers may lead them to see you as The Enemy; and they may have discovered that disrupting a lesson is an easier option than knuckling down to work.

Previous negative experience is a hard one to deal with because you can’t undo the past. But you may find the following strategies helpful.

• Make the learning as enjoyable as possible.

• Find ways to give learners a taste of success – perhaps by breaking down goals into smaller, easily attainable tasks which offer them a repeated sense of achievement and give you an opportunity to repeatedly praise them.

• Don’t react. Don’t allow yourself to be antagonised. Model the respectful behaviour you want to encourage in the learner. Use humour where possible.

• Explain learning as a team effort that is

achieved by the teacher and learner working together. There are no ‘sides’ and therefore there is no need for conflict or blame.

Loss of hope Learners are unlikely to feel motivated to learn if they believe they have no hope of succeeding at the task, the qualification or their long-term ambitions.

They may also have abandoned hope of earning praise or respect from their teacher, or of experiencing enjoyment from learning. Try the following approach to boosting their confidence.

• Behave as though you enjoy teaching them.

• Break tasks down into steps they can hope to manage.

• Create opportunities to give praise.

• Treat learners with respect.

In summary, we can make a difference by how we behave, as teachers. As a rookie part-timer, I didn’t know any of this.

But, luckily, I did avoid being dangled out of that window.

This article is based on the chapter, ‘Four big de-motivators and how to beat them’ in Susan Wallace’s book, Motivating unwilling learners in FE: The key to improving behaviour, to be published by Bloomsbury in 2017.

You can read more about the research in: Wallace, S. (2014) ‘When you’re smiling: exploring how teachers motivate and engage learners in the FE sector’ in the Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol 38, No 3, 346-360.

Professor Susan Wallace is emeritus professor of education at Nottingham Trent University. She is an author and has taught in FE for a number of years.

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 19

ResearchDigest

The 2016 Education and Training Foundation’s Practitioner Research Conference was held in London on 7 July.

ETF head of research Sheila Kearney reports The focus of this year’s oneday research conference was to give practitioner-researchers the opportunity to present and discuss their research.

All had been supported by the ETF and the University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT) during 2015-16.

In addition, 13 researchers had received additional bursaries as Society for Education and Training (SET) members to support their participation.

This year we also welcomed contributions from projects supported in 2016 by Department for Education’s Shared Learning Grants to improve the teaching of maths and English.

During the morning plenary, following an introduction from the SUNCETT team, we heard some of this year’s participants (Gail Lydon of Selby College, Helen Irish of Stockton Riverside College and Celia Clarke and Francesca Devlin, both of Sheffield College) tell their own stories of “Becoming a Practitioner Researcher - A Shared Journey”.

Their presentations were followed by a longer term perspective from Dr Sam Broadhead, Leeds College of

Art, whose journey started with our Research Development Fellowship (RDF) programme in 2010-11 and who has this year has been awarded her PhD from the University of Sunderland.

During the rest of the day,

20 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

ETF

It’s about making good ideas become good practice through practitioner-research

we were able to learn in detail about the individual projects undertaken during 2015-16, in workshop presentations and also through the display of research posters.

We were delighted that AnnMarie Bathmaker, professor

of vocational and higher education at the University of Birmingham, was able to join us for the day; introducing the conference and also reflecting on the day at its conclusion.

Anne-Marie encouraged us all to take an expansive approach to practitioner research that involves scholarly, knowledge-building communities of practice; that is inclusive rather than exclusive; provides opportunities to develop a critical view that may challenge the status quo; and develops capacities to ask and pursue difficult questions.

She described the foundations of an expansive approach as: • Doing the background reading/research on previous research in your field; • Engaging with ‘theory’ – concepts, ideas, models, meta-analyses and discussions; • Conducting robust research that is clear about its methods and methodological basis; and • Writing – seeking to clarify and articulate your ideas to see if they ‘make sense’, and are communicated to others.

Anne-Marie concluded the day by commenting on what

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Research conference resources More than 20 papers were submitted to this year’s research conference, the culmination of work undertaken by practitioner-researchers on the practitioner research programme in 2015-16.

Papers examined a wide range of topics including: teaching and learning in prison education; addressing barriers to functional English; improving maths GCSE outcomes and mathematics teaching in vocational settings; and promoting British values in teaching and learning.

Members are welcome to browse through the abstracts to

24 papers on the SET website.

This will help those considering their own practitioner research to get a much clearer idea of the sorts of projects undertaken by colleagues.

The 2015-16 papers will be assessed by the University of Sunderland’s exam board in the autumn, as all participants are eligible for MA credits from the university. We will be seeking to publish the papers in full at a later date.

To read the abstracts please go to: goo.gl/0pL1wg

Research opportunities

she had learned from the work presented, and that she would take away with her the critical depth and vibrancy of the projects and the energy generated by the presenters and all the other delegates.

Abstracts of all the projects presented can be found in the conference booklet: do keep an eye out for articles about

their research in this and future editions of InTuition.

You can also see some of this year’s delegates talking about their projects on the page promotoing our 2016-17 practitioner research opportunities at goo.gl/LUVtnW Sheila Kearney is the ETF’s head of research

Has reading about our latest ETF research conference sparked your interest in undertaking some applied research to improve practice within your organisation? Have you got a good research idea but need some support and some thinking time to make it happen?

Applications are open for the ETF’s Practitioner Research Programme, through which practitioners undertake a supported action research project through 2016-17.

For the second year, SET is offering additional bursaries to support members who successfully apply for a place on the practitioner research programme. For information visit: goo.gl/7O8c81 There are two types of opportunity available this year.

Both programmes will accept applications from any region of England, any type of provider and any type of practitioner role: 1) The Research Development Fellowship (RDF) Programme which has been running since 2009 and delivered in

partnership with SUNCETT. 2) The Exploratory Research in maths and English Programme, intended for practitioners who would like the opportunity to further develop their research idea focused on maths and English teaching.

This will also be delivered in partnership with SUNCETT. Applications may be from individual practitioners or from co-applicants who are a pair of practitioners who wish to work together on the same project.

Co-applicants may be from the same institution or from two different institutions, for example a supported provider may wish to work with their lead provider. Paired applications that involve a manager and a practitioner working together to bring about institutional change will be particularly welcomed.

The deadline for applications is Monday, 3 October.

For information and to apply go to: goo.gl/V37zcu

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 21

Peter Searle

InPractice

A real working environment in the heart of London Capel Manor College takes education and training into the heart of London’s urban communities with innovative centres based in city parks. Alan Thomson reports

22 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

In a corner of Crystal Palace Park, deep in south-east London, sits an oasis of learning where young people from the local area and beyond learn practical skills that will lead to jobs and higher education.

The Crystal Palace Centre is one of five sites run by Capel Manor College, four of which are located in London parks – Crystal Palace Park, Regents Park, Gunnersbury Park and Skeltons Lane Park, Leyton.

The college has traditional classrooms within the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, a modernist grade II listed complex boasting a stadium and sports centre, and a separate teaching facility, Croft Farm, a short walk away through the public park.

set.et-foundation.co.uk

PRACTICAL SKILLS

Students Courteney Anne Jacob, Polly Robson-Halil and Dylan Richardson practise grooming Entering Croft Farm is just like walking into a farmyard. Given its name, this shouldn’t really be a surprise, but it is. This is south London and ponies, sheep, goats and chickens are not a common sight.

There are more than a dozen city farms spread across London but few, other than Capel Manor’s other centres, offer the learning opportunities provided by the Crystal Palace set-up.

And, surely, none also sits above a man-made lagoon populated by surreal model dinosaurs built by Victorians as part of the attractions that once surrounded the astonishing glass and iron structure that gave this area of London its name.

“It’s a special place,” says centre director

Andrew Smith, a former military instructor, “we are very much part of the community.

“A lot of our students are local and many don’t necessarily want the traditional academic route to employment: they like being outside or working with their hands.

“We offer that here, as well as all the theory. Crucially, we also offer a real working environment for the learners.”

Just over 200 learners currently study animal care, horticulture, arboriculture and garden design at Levels 1-3, depending on subject. The centre also offers access to land-based courses for 14- to 16-year old pupils from local schools.

Bromley Council, which runs the park, contracts the college to carry out work including planting, tree felling and surgery.

“Last year our students felled 120 trees to prepare the ground for a new skate park,” Andrew says.

“It’s all real. If our students plant a tree, they’re not pulling it up again a few minutes later so some other students can plant it. It stays planted.

“And, because a lot of our students tend to be local, they also come here at weekends with their family and friends and they can point out things they’ve done around the park.”

Students and teachers also volunteer their time at the weekend to run events at the farm, dog shows for example, which help with the running costs of the centre, including animal care.

Croft Farm is also open to the public every day, apart from Wednesdays, which not only provides a resource to the local community, but involves staff and students in demonstrations and talks; activities that contribute to their learning and professional development.

It’s fair to say it’s all a bit different to Andrew’s time in Royal Artillery where, after gaining his first stripe, he took an aircraft-recognition course and promptly caught the learning bug.

“Every time a new weapons system came in, I would do the course,” Andrew says. “I also did IT, maths and English.

“I did an instructor teaching course, joined the Army’s training wing and did my Cert Ed before I left. I applied for the job here and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I try to bring some of the military ethos to bear on our work with the students, such as the motivational aspects and having a respect for other people and their surroundings.”

It certainly seems to work, with most centre learners progressing into work or higher education courses, run at the college’s main Enfield site.

Alan Thomson is editor of InTuition

Parize Cody, practical instructor “I look after the small animals at the farm – rabbits, chinchillas etc – and help with the students’ training in everything from feeding to handling and administering medication.

“I’ve worked in a range of places including pet shops, grooming parlours, on a farm and at Battersea Park Children’s Zoo. “Working at the centre gives me a chance to develop my knowledge. The professional development is great. You put in a proposal to managers – what you’d like to do and how it will benefit you, the students and the college – and if it’s approved then off you go and arrange it. I’ve also just done my PTLLS [now the Award in Education and Training], so, while I’m learning about the practical aspects of animal care, I’m also learning how to teach that to others.”

Tom Davis, practical instructor “I helped set up a rare breed farm at Hatfield House before I came here. I’ve also worked on a number of London city farms.

“The PTLLS course was excellent and we were very lucky to have a great teacher at Bromley College. It was a 12-week course and hard work, especially as teaching took place in the evenings after we finished work here.

“The course reminded me of the importance of structure in learning and the need for different perspectives. It is good to refresh yourself. We are always learning here.

“I couldn’t work indoors at a desk. This facility suits me perfectly and the students too get the best of both worlds with the practical, work-related instruction and the theory to back it up.

“And when I’m not doing this I’m also a rare-breed sheep judge – not bad for a lad from Battersea!”

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 23

InSight

National colleges are just the job The specialisms of five new national colleges are linked closely to current national skills gaps. They will also operate at a level similar to universities, reports Sarah Simons

In May this year the government ringfenced £80m to support the creation of five national colleges. These new organisations will work closely with industry to focus on a specific, higher-level skillset that meets the needs of the employment market.

It could be argued that a similar remit already exists within general further education colleges, however national college leaders suggest that a key difference surrounds curriculum design.

Rather than a course designed by educators with the jobs market in mind, national colleges are employer-led and those partner employers remain heavily involved throughout course delivery, offering a clear pathway into employment.

The specialisms of the five new national colleges are linked to current national skills gaps and it is hoped that, by working exclusively at higher levels, this will encourage people to see these education and training organisations as operating at university level.

The first two national colleges opening in autumn 2016 are the National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries, and Ada, the National College for Digital Skills (named after the British computing pioneer Ada Lovelace).

Both are based in the south east of England and Ada’s London location is linked directly to the roles that national colleges have in filling skills gaps.

Mark Smith, chief executive of Ada, explains: “Fifty per cent of the digital sector is based in London and 25,000-plus companies deliver digital services in the capital and therefore it’s the right place for us to start.”

The Tottenham Hale provision, which will run as both a sixth-form college and Higher-Level Apprenticeship training hub, is attracting students from the greater London area. It will offer financial support by way of a travel bursary programme courtesy of a donation from a tech entrepreneur.

24 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

Smith continues: “Our ambition is that any student who wants to come to study at the college should be able to.”

The sixth form is free for students to attend and apprentices earn and learn, receiving a salary of £16,000-£22,000 per annum while studying towards a foundation degree, without paying tuition fees.

The inclusive nature is afforded by funding from founding industry partners IBM, King Games, Deloitte and the Bank of America. Support extends to student resources and each student is provided with a laptop. This will allow collaborative teaching and learning, on the platform Google Apps for Education, to take place outside the classroom.

Other digital resources such as an internal assessment process, based on digital badges to recognise students’ competencies, will be utilised. The curriculum focuses on technical, entrepreneurial and creative skills and the badges will help students compile online portfolios that they will be able to use when seeking employment or as part of university applications.

Plans for the use of technology as a collaborative tool extend to the development of cross-sector continuing professional development.

Smith says: “That is very much in line with our three main goals: to be a centre of excellence for teaching and learning in advanced digital skills, to be an aspirational alternative to university and to be a beacon of best practice in employment-focused provision.”

Although the courses have significant input from industry partners, all of the computer science teachers for the Computing BTEC (the college’s core qualification) are dual professionals.

In addition there are specialist teachers for A-level subjects.

The college opened in September with an initial cohort of 65 16-19 year-old students. A Higher Level Apprenticeship

cohort of 65 apprentices will start in spring 2017. For the first few years of operation the college will be based in a refurbished space, but in 2018 it will move into a £31m new-build, which can accommodate up to 1,500 students. The new premises are being funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (£13.4m) and the Greater London Authority/London Enterprise Panel.

By rooting Ada’s facilities in the local community, it is hoped that local young people will benefit from wider opportunities in the digital field, moving the London Borough of Haringey towards becoming a centre for digital skills in London.

The National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries will be run in a different way, on a ‘hub and spoke’ model, managed on behalf of a group of employers and

Creative and Cultural Skills

set.et-foundation.co.uk

industry partners including the Royal Opera House, National Theatre, BBC and Live Nation.

The college’s ‘hub’ will be a rehearsal and production venue, ‘The Backstage Centre’ located in Purfleet, Essex. Elements of the core qualification, the Level 4 Professional Diploma in Technical and Production, as well as training for apprentices, will take place at the site, but the majority of the course content will be in the workplace, which are the ‘spokes’ in this model.

Jane Button, the college’s principal, offers an example of what a creative and cultural workplace looks like.

“Currently, we are in early discussions with Matthew Bourne’s ‘New Adventures’ dance company, with a view to them rehearsing at The Backstage,” she says.

This will mean that students will have access to industry standard work on site

and those that are considered work-ready may gain further opportunities.

Button continues: “Students who are successful will get on to placements with that company and go as far as going on tour with them.”

Button, a qualified teacher, will be returning to the classroom in the first year. Ensuring that staff have teaching qualifications is important to the organisation, but not to the exclusion of experts in the field.

“Industry specialists will come in and present to groups of students on specific subjects, but that will always need to be in a wraparound curriculum which has been outlined by teachers,” Button says.

The Diploma, open to people aged 18 and over with five GCSEs at A* to C and a Level 3 qualification, is a one-year

course with a fee of £5,000. Student loans are available to cover tuition fees for those who require financial support.

The college is aiming to recruit around 100 apprentices and 40 Level 4 students in the first year and build numbers once the college is established.

Students have been recruited via social media, school, college and industry networks, however as the model is national, the college has contacts across the country, so there is potential for swift expansion in partnership with employers.

A further three national colleges specialising in skills relating to High Speed Rail, Nuclear, and Onshore Oil and Gas are scheduled to open in September 2017.

Sarah Simons is a writer and lecturer and runs ukfechat.com

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 25

Leading Learning

Post-16: ‘This time it must be different’

Lord Sainsbury: chaired the Indpendent Panel on Technical Education

“Too often, governments have changed their plans before they could take root, disrupting implementation and undermining the commitment of employers, colleges and training providers.

This time, it must be different.”

So concludes the government’s Post-16 Skills Plan, published in July.

The aim is laudable and reveals an understanding of one of the underlying and long-standing problems with further education and training policy in England: its susceptibility to near-continual, and – let’s be honest – historically not always joined-up, reform.

Time will tell how these admirable intentions translate into practice, and how durable these ambitious new reforms will be.

The Post-16 Skills Plan accepts the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, chaired by Lord Sainsbury.

The recommendations of the plan are,

therefore, those of the Sainsbury report which are summarised in the panel below.

In setting out the case for reform, the Post-16 Skills Plan noted the following: • Standards and qualifications are not always set by actual employers; they are often set by a confusing mixture of awarding organisations and intermediary bodies, which have not provided an effective voice for business.

• There are too many overlapping and often low-value qualifications that fail to provide a clear line of sight to the world of work.

• Too few apprenticeship opportunities to meet the needs of young people and the demands of the economy.

• Too little dedicated technical education at higher levels and programmes do not always deliver what is needed to move to skilled employment.

• The current network of colleges and other training providers is

Policy Exchange

The Post-16 Skills Plan and Lord Sainsbury’s Independent Panel on Technical Education are well intentioned, but will they have a chance to make a difference? By Alan Thomson

financially unsustainable.

• The new technical education routes will be phased in. ‘Pathfinder’ routes are to begin developing standards this year, for first delivery in September 2019.

Additional routes will become available between 2020 and 2022.

• New legislation in the current parliamentary session will expand the remit of the Institute for Apprenticeships

Lord Sainsbury’s recommendations The Post-16 Skills Plan accepts all the recommendations from the Sainsbury review on technical education.

These are just some of the recommendations from the Sainsbury review.

To read the full report and the Post-16 Skills Plan please go to goo.gl/9SOOjy Technical routes • The two modes of technical education should be employer-based (typically an apprenticeship with at least 20 per cent off-the-job learning in college or with an independent training provider) and collegebased (typically a two-year, full-time study programme including work placements).

• Creation of a framework of 15 technical routes for all employer-based and college-based training, proposed as: agriculture, environmental and animal care; business and administrative; catering and hospitality; childcare and education; construction; creative and design; digital; engineering and manufacturing; hair and beauty; health and science; legal, finance and accounting; protective services;

26 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

sales, marketing and procurement; social care; transport and logistics.

• Development of short, flexible bridging courses that will allow people to move between technical and academic education.

A common core • All two-year, college-based routes must include a common core, aligned to apprenticeships.

• A single set of maths and English ‘exit’ requirements will govern all college-based technical education and apprenticeships.

Work placement • High quality, structured work- placements for all 16- to 18-year-olds on a two-year technical education college programme. Completion of this will be required for certification.

• Additional funding per student will be required to support work placements.

Institute of Apprenticeships • The Institute of Apprenticeships

to maintain a common framework of technical education standards, qualifications and quality assurance. Panels of experts convened to advise on these standards.

• Standards must not be specific to any particular employer.

• The institute should conduct a review to ensure the standards do not overlap.

• The Institute for Apprenticeships should publish guidance on the use of common assessment strategies for college-based technical education.

Qualifications • Any Level 2/3 technical qualification should be offered by a single awarding body or consortium, following an open competition.

• A single, nationally recognised certificate for each Level 2 and 3 technical route.

• The Institute for Apprenticeships should maintain a register of approved technical qualifications at Levels 4/5. Only those on the register should be eligible for public funding.

• Government to undertake further work

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Local member networks SET to get off the ground Members of the Society for Education and Training (SET) are being supported to create local networking groups where people meet to promote and facilitate a positive culture for practitioner-led professional development. Two members, Bob West and Jacqui Lawrence, are about to set up the first

Alan Thomson is editor of InTuition

to ensure clear progression routes from Levels 4/ 5 to Levels 6/7 including degree apprenticeships.

• Preparatory, transition years should be offered to young people not ready to embark on 16-to-18 study.

• Government should adopt the Gatsby benchmarks for careers education and guidance and ensure that young people fully understand their options in technical education.

Public funding • Public funding should be restricted to providers that meet clear criteria of quality, stability and the capacity to maintain up-to-date equipment and infrastructure.

• Government should review what constitutes sufficient funding for technical education, benchmarked against other countries, and set appropriate funding levels for technical education.

• Public funding will be restricted to qualifications approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships.

Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status?

Would you like to hear more about the range of professional development, mentoring, guidance and research available as part of your SET subscription?

How about telling us what continuing professional development we do well and what events we could develop? Or have you got a great idea for widening the reach of QTLS? Would you like to meet enthusiastic and like-minded colleagues?

If the answer to some, or all, of these, is ‘yes’ then please come and help us create a local network.

The inaugural meeting is open to all SET members and the venue has been kindly provided by the Workers’ Education Association in Portsmouth.

Please join us on Thursday 20 October 2016 at 5:30pm at the WEA Centre, Omega Street, Portsmouth, PO5 4LP. The centre is a short walk from Portsmouth and Southsea railway station and there is plenty of parking if you are coming by car.

To book please go to SET’s new online booking system at goo.gl/bOirpD

iStock

and the institute will be fully operational

by April 2017.

• Action to place FE on a better financial footing focuses on the Area Reviews.

The process will be complete in 2017 and the government expects all recommendations from the reviews to be implemented by 2019.

We are two fellows of the Society of Education and Training who want to support you to share and promote your thoughts, views and concerns about the further education and skills sector.

Based in Portsmouth, we are experienced educators who, like you, are committed to the post-16 education sector in all its forms and arenas.

We recognise that the sector faces unprecedented challenges and change.

But we are proud that, even in unsettled times, there are thousands of education professionals like us who are committed to ensuring outstanding outcomes and fabulous learning experiences for their students.

With the help of SET, we are setting up the first local members’ network in the Portsmouth area.

Would you like to develop specialist subject and interest groups on current themes and topics, and have a forum in which to identify and highlight the challenges in the modern teaching and learning environment?

Have you got examples of excellent practice that you would really like to share with others? Would you like the opportunity to find out more about the benefits of gaining

How to set up a local network

If you are interested in setting up a group in your area, please email us your name, membership number and the area where you’d like to set up a group to: membership.communications@etfoundation.co.uk You can find out more about local networking groups and future events as they grow on our website at goo.gl/5TeKa4

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 27

In need of Prevent training tailored to the needs of your organisation?

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) can support your organisation to implement the Prevent duty. In addition to our free online training modules and resources, ETF also provides in depth training on different aspects of the Prevent duty.

ETF Prevent courses are on the Home Office approved list, so you can be confident that your organisation will be comprehensively equipped to demonstrate compliance with the Prevent duty.

Ofsted has raised concerns about the Prevent duty in some quarters of further education. A specific recommendation from the report is that providers should be better aware of the support The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) can offer.

The report said: ‘some providers viewed the duty as a list of conditions just to comply with and have adopted a ‘tick-box’ approach. This goes against the spirit of the government’s guidance, which seeks to promote meaningful ways to reduce the specific risks of radicalisation and extremism for learners and the local community.’

‘There was a tendency to be over-reliant on online training packages. These packages provided only a basic awareness and understanding of ‘Prevent’. Little thought was given to extra or bespoke training for staff.’

‘Providers now must work more quickly to ensure that learners are protected against the threats of radicalisation and extremism.’

Ofsted Report: How well are further education and skills providers implementing the ‘Prevent’ duty?

– July 2016, No. 160041

To book your training email prevent@etfoundation.co.uk

Resources

set.et-foundation.co.uk

FEATURED RESOURCES

istock

Support in delivering apprenticeships

Implementation of Prevent duty is patchy, says Ofsted Half of further education providers may be unaware of the full range of support available to help them carry out their duties under the Prevent strategy to protect learners from extremism and radicalisation, according to a new report from Ofsted.

Ofsted’s How well are further education and skills providers implementing the ‘Prevent’ duty? reported that a third of the 37 education and training providers, inspected between November 2015 and May 2016, needed to improve their staff training.

Ofsted said that providers should adapt the resources and training available from partners, like the Education and Training Foundation, and the inspectorate also called on government to do more to promote the support available from ETF. The inspectorate did find that 22 providers out of the 37 had implemented their Prevent duties well, saying that general FE colleges and sixth form colleges were the most successful of those inspected.

But 13 providers were judged to have been slow in implementing their duties and two of the eight independent learning providers visited had yet to implement any aspect of Prevent.

Independent learning providers typically lacked the staff and expertise to develop

robust protocols for sharing information with partners or external agencies.

A quarter of the 37 providers visited failed to properly vet and monitor external speakers before being allowed to address learners. Risk assessment processes were poor in 11 providers. In addition, senior managers in some providers failed to communicate effectively with the middle managers responsible for implementing the Prevent duties. Ofsted also found that several local authorities were not fulfilling their responsibilities in developing multiagency arrangements and did not work closely enough with providers. It said that providers had to develop stronger links with partners, including local authorities, and develop “stringent information-sharing protocols” and share intelligence. Providers must also ensure that learners have a good understanding of British values and the risks and threats of radicalisation and extremism.

The report, published in July, said that Ofsted would raise its expectation that providers implement all aspects of their Prevent duty from September this year.

Since September last year, all FE and skills providers in England must have due regard to the need to ‘Prevent’ people from being drawn into terrorism.

The ETF offers a range of resources and information relating to Prevent and safeguarding, which is available at goo.gl/BLEjMe Free Prevent courses are available from Foundation Online Learning goo.gl/YP7V0q Read Ofsted’s report here goo.gl/sR7MhB

Tailored courses are available to support practitioners delivering against specific apprenticeship standards.

Courses are available for adult care, customer service, digital, employer engagement and business development, financial services, hospitality and retail.

There are also courses to help providers plan for delivery of the apprenticeship standards, including a crash course on apprenticeship policy.

‘Everything you need to know about apprenticeships’ courses will be run by the Education and Training Foundation on 5 October in Sheffield, 12 October in Taunton and 13 October in Birmingham.

Further events will be held in November and December. There are also courses on financial services in London on 10 October; hospitality, on 12 October in Birmingham; adult care in Leeds on 18 October.

An online seminar on improving employer support and partnership in the development of apprentices’ maths and English skills is planned for 14 October.

For details of all ETF courses visit the new ETF booking system: booking. etfoundation.co.uk Additional support is available via the Future Apprenticeships website: goo.gl/8o3EN6

Excellence Gateway

Don’t forget, you can find thousands of free resources to support your teaching and professional development on the Excellence Gateway portal. The site allows users to search, browse or discover resources. You can create an account allowing you to save resources in a My Collection feature.

Featured resources include ‘A strategic guide for the delivery of GCSE English and maths to the 16-19 cohort’ and ‘How to’ guides linked to the professional standards for teachers and trainers in England. Explore the Gateway at goo.gl/B4DJ6Z

Learning tech support

Support is still available on the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning through the Education and Training Foundation. Among the benefits is the Learning Futures staff support programme which includes resources from 17 providerled projects. There are also links to nine useful reports, including the ETF’s ‘Strategic consultation on technology in teaching and learning’. Visit goo.gl/JgTuvV

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 29

Geoff Petty

Teaching students to speak maths (and other subjects) Peer-to-peer dialogue and whole-class discussion can really get your students thinking says Geoff Petty.

Geoff is the author of Teaching Today and Evidence Based Teaching and has trained staff in more than 300 colleges and schools.

Teachers begin their career worried about what they will do in the lesson. Later, they worry what their students will do. If they become good teachers, they worry what the lesson will make their students think about.

One answer is to get students into a dialogue where they can correct many of each other’s errors. Another is to get students arguing about alternative solutions in a whole-class discussion. In each case, it’s by arguing about maths that they learn how to make sense of it. And making sense of maths, is all there is to learning maths.

Managed well, peer-to-peer dialogue and whole-class discussion are greatly enjoyed by students. They get everyone curious, arguing, thinking, learning and understanding. Remember that students are much more interested in each other’s mathematical ideas than they are in yours.

It doesn’t matter that these ideas could be right, wrong or just plain odd, it will make students puzzled and curious. Not knowing makes them think.

Here are two methods to try. As ever, try them for a short time and try them often. Do this at least five times, making improvements each time, by then you’ll know whether the methods can work well for you and how.

Snowballing solution

Further reading

Why Don’t Students Like School?

By Dan Willingham, Jossey-Bass (2009) Improving Student Achievement in Mathematics. By Douglas A. Grouws and Kristin J. Cebulla, IAE (2000).

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In recent studies* with underachieving youngsters in low-performing schools, this method greatly increased students’ interest and enjoyment of maths, and improved their average standardised test results from 45 per cent to 79 per cent.

Interestingly, this degree of improvement took time – approximately six years – as teachers developed their facilitation skills, but you can expect some improvement quite quickly.

Explain your no-blame ground-rules, then give students a challenging maths question: one they can attempt or get started on, but which they often won’t be able to finish by themselves. Then…

1. Individuals write down their own answer, or their attempt, working alone.

2. Students pair up and show each other their work. They give constructive criticism to each other, and decide on their best method.

3. Pairs form fours, which look at each pair’s method and again give pros and cons and decide on the best method. Leave time for this dialogue.

4. The teacher chooses individuals by name from each, or at least some of the groups, to present their group’s solution/work to the class, and to justify it to the class.

5. The class as a whole now scrutinises the work presented, and decides which method(s) is/are best and why.

6. Only when discussion has finished do you give your views.

Student demonstration

This method is used after a teacher has demonstrated how to do a certain type of maths problem. The aim is to check and correct understanding of a skill before all students practise it alone. It is initially daunting for students but they will enjoy the method if you insist on a blame-free ethos.

Use snowballing (above) first, as this prepares them for student demonstration.

Begin by asking for volunteers to show their solutions, then nominate those who will show their answers. Give them fair warning if you are going to nominate.

The basic procedure for student demonstration – and it works for all subjects – is as follows.

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1.

You set a task: “Working in pairs, factorise 6x2 - 6x - 8.”

“Okay, in pairs, punctuate this paragraph.”

“Working by yourself this time, can you see any personification or metaphors in the third or fourth verse of the poem?”

2. Students work on the task. This can be done in pairs initially, but after a bit of practice they do tasks individually, perhaps checking each other’s completed answers in pairs.

They strive to get the answer, with any justification such as necessary reasoning or working etc. If students are in pairs they make sure that either of them can provide this justification.

3. You monitor the work. You check attention to task and occasionally ask: “Can everyone do this one?”

“Can you all explain your answer?”

Students who can’t answer the question are required to own up and get help at this stage, otherwise they are ‘fair game’ for the next stage.

4. You choose a student to demonstrate their answer to the rest of the class.

If students are in pairs you choose one student at random to give the pair’s answer. The student gives their answer

on the board, explaining each step and its justification to the class. You ask questions to clarify, but do not yet evaluate the answer.

“Why didn’t you use six and one as the factors of six?”

“Why did you choose a full stop and not a comma?”

“So how did you choose between personification and metaphor?”

5. You ask for a ‘class answer’. You ask the class if they agree with the student’s answer and its justification, or whether either could be improved. The aim is not to criticise the student’s answer, but for the class to agree a ‘class answer’.

The student who did the demonstration becomes the class scribe, writing up any changes the class agrees to. You again facilitate without evaluating the answers or the arguments.

“Why do you think it should be plus four and not minus?”

“How many think it should be a comma?

Why is that?”

“So why exactly is it not a metaphor?”

6. You comment on the class answer.

Praise any useful contributions and confirm any correct reasoning, and correct any weak reasoning.

7. The process is repeated with another task; after sufficient practice the students can do stage 2 as individuals rather than in pairs.

Students are often initially resistant to doing a demonstration to their classmates if they are not used to it. So you could make use of volunteers to begin with, but try to move on to students nominated by you as soon as you can. They will be more confident of answers that they have produced in pairs than answers produced in isolation, so when you first start nominating students do it after pair work.

The best maths teaching, according to a systematic review of research** can be summarised by 10 principles. Here are two of them: • Effective teachers use a range of assessment practices to make students’ thinking visible and to support students’ learning; • Effective teachers are able to facilitate classroom dialogue that is focused on mathematical argumentation. * Maths and underachievers in lowperforming schools: goo.gl/5JsEjE ** Effective pedagogy in mathematics.

By Glenda Anthony and Margaret Walshaw, IAE (2009) InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 31

Books

Editor’s pick

All the requirements of the work-based assessor are met Excerpt: Principles and Practices of Assessment: a guide for assessors in the FE and skills sector (third edition) Chapter 3 – The use of technology in assessment (page 68).

You need to establish what technology is available for your use and also your learners’ use. Also, what support is available. ‘Bring your own device’ is the term for learners using their own devices for learning and assessment (ground rules should be established).

Activity: create a new resource for your subject using ICT. This could be an activity for learners to collaborate on via cloud computing. Use the activity with your learners and then evaluate how effective it was. What changes would you make?

Principles and Practices of Assessment: a guide for assessors in the FE and skills sector

By Ann Gravells Sage Publications: paperback 978-1-4739-3938-7

I reviewed this book as an experienced classroom-based teacher, with a DTLLS award, who is moving into the workbased learning and assessment sector. My conclusion is that Gravells has pitched this book just about spot on.

Other New Publications Mathematical Mindsets

By Jo Boaler Jossey-Bass: paperback 978-0-4708-9452 Jo Boaler, professor of mathematics education at Stanford University and a former maths teacher, torpedoes the idea that some people are innately good at maths while

As someone experienced in assessing in the classroom but not in the work place, this book provides all the information I need to refresh my knowledge and develop it to meet the distinct requirements of the work-based assessor.

As with all Gravells’ books, the text is easy to understand and well set out. There is a logical flow, guiding assessors through the steps they need to consider when approaching work-based assessment from beginning to conclusion.

This format makes the content appropriate for readers of all experiences, offering the opportunity to work through from front cover to back, or ‘cherry pick’ sections that may be relevant to those wishing to refresh their knowledge.

Gravells combines theory with examples and practical others, who lack that ‘gift’, are condemned to failure.

By focusing on the 5Cs of mathematics engagement – curiosity, connection making, challenge, creativity and collaboration – teachers can help learners replace fixed mindsets, whereby they believe they are either clever (at maths) or not, with a growth mindset which allows them to remain engaged and resilient so that they learn from their mistakes.

Teachers are encouraged throughout the book to help

32 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

extension tasks to accelerate learning and put the theory to practical use. Additionally, she encourages self-assessment of these activities to further progress learning.

She also pays particular attention to those aspects of work in which experienced assessors could become complacent, such as in relation to new technology and social media. The book promotes good practice throughout and covers the principles of assessment; planning for assessment; assessment practice; recording progress and achievement; and the quality assurance of assessment.

The final chapter on evaluation and continuing professional development is invaluable. It provides tasks and references suitable for assessors of all career stages, learners explore the beauty in maths rather than fixate on memorising and recalling mathematical rules and formulae.

Chapter 5 and appendix A are full of useful and creative maths exercises.

MEMBER OFFER To receive a 20 per cent discount on the RRP for this title use the code MMI20 when ordering from goo.gl/93E751 Offer is valid until 31 December 2016.

supporting them in reviewing and developing their own professional practice, including the need for keeping pace with continual change in the workplaced assessment sector.

The book is completed by a comprehensive appendix of acronyms and abbreviations that are common throughout the sector.

Sue Bakajsa is a business skills trainer assessor at Access Training East Midlands

MEMBER OFFER SET members are eligible for a 20 per cent discount on the RRP for this title.

To order visit goo.gl/qt31Rv and use discount code UK16AUTHOR2. This offer is valid until 31 December 2016.

The Confident Teacher.

Developing successful habits of mind, body and pedagogy

By Alex Quigley Routledge: paperback 978-1-1388-3234-3 “The fundamental cause of the trouble,” said philosopher Bertrand Russell in his essay ‘The Triumph of Stupidity’, “is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”

Alex Quigley, director of

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Editor’s pick

The book that gives teachers the keys to the kingdom of research Excerpt: Teacher-Led Research: designing and implementing randomised controlled trials and other forms of experimental research Chapter 1, page 4 Until recently we have tended to take an observational approach in education, without intervention or comparing to something else at the same time (such as a control condition) – a practice that generally means we have never been entirely sure whether the change might have happened anyway.

Teacher-Led Research

By Richard Churches and Eleanor Dommett Crown House Publishing: paperback 978-1-8459-0990-1 Debates about education generate a lot of passion, and give rise to methods of the moment that can be seen as magic bullets. In such an ideologically charged environment, teacher-led research gives practitioners the opportunity to study the efficacy of their practice in as objective a way as possible.

Richard Churches and Eleanor Dommett have written a practical guide that covers teaching and learning at Huntington School, in York, quotes Russell to emphasise his point that even the most brilliant of teachers can doubt their ability to teach well.

He talks readers through selfefficacy – which he differentiates from the “sugar-coated self-help gurus who tout the power of confidence” – which is a person’s belief in their own ability to achieve a specific task. He poses questions and offers solutions.

Quigley also covers everything from pedagogic

the slipperiest of research issues in a methodical way.

I have recently carried out an Education and Training Foundation practitioner research programme. If I had read this book while designing and carrying out the research, I would have felt much better equipped.

The authors outline the value of experimental research in education, equipping teachers with a practical understanding of the scientific method. Assuming no prior knowledge, the authors take each stage of the research journey and explain the hazards and opportunities.

Although the book reads easily, the complexity, concepts and vocabulary make it invaluable throughout the research process, from initial design to write up.

While the main text covers techniques to body language, presentational approaches and ways to combat stress, even offering dietary advice.

The book is down to earth and reads very much as though you’re in conversation with an experienced friend and colleague. It’s full of advice but never judgemental or nagging.

MEMBER OFFER SET members can claim 20 per cent off the RRP for this book by ordering direct from Routledge at

a knot of concepts and vocabulary, the Learning Zone boxes guide the reader through the tricky task of untangling their ideas to create effective research.

Brain Boxes offer practical help in designing and writing up experimental research. They offer help in conceptualising ideas and provide the vocabulary to communicate them, allowing the teacherresearcher to present their findings in a polished and persuasive way.

Even if you are not planning to do your own research any time soon, an understanding of experimental research design is an invaluable tool in judging the claims made by researchers for educational techniques and approaches.

Teacher-led research is powerful and important.

Practitioners who allow goo.gl/KM1O0Q and using code INT16. Offer is valid until 31 March 2017.

Teachers’ Strangest Tales Introduction by Iain Spragg Portico: paperback 978-1-9102-3298-9 This light-hearted and sometimes hair-raising stockingfiller of a book will make most readers feel that things aren’t that bad after all.

Full of cautionary tales and

evidence to inform their practice and play a role in research themselves, help to shape the direction of educational innovation and consolidation. This book give teachers the keys to the kingdom of research.

Rachel Twort is a family learning tutor for Bradford Council.

MEMBER OFFER SET members are eligible for a 20 per cent discount on Teacher-Led Research when ordering from Crown House Publishing at goo.gl/UnFd7O. Please use the discount code InTuition20 when prompted. This offer is valid until 31 October 2016.

a good dose of the plain absurd, such as the teacher who had a camera surgically attached to the back of his skull so he could check what students were doing behind his back… as you do.

MEMBER OFFER Members can claim 20 per cent off RRP direct from the publisher at goo.gl/IETR5C. Use code CH1986 when prompted. Offer ends 31 December 2016.

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 33

set.et-foundation.co.uk

Forum

A space for practitioners to air their views. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Society for Education and Training

PEDAGOGUE I love it when we have a plan

you’ve had a chance to read the helpful summary on page 26 of this issue – this is a cracking plan, waxing lyrical about creating true parity between academic and vocational education; super-duper specialised colleges; full-on careers advice in schools etc.

Oh, wait a minute; look at page 11. It says: “the current network of colleges and other training providers is financially unsustainable”.

Then, on page 33 it tells a disturbing story, one that is littered with words and phrases to make everyone shudder. They include: Area Reviews, greater collaboration, efficiencies, restructuring and mergers.

The sun barely seems to have set on the reports that were to shape government policy on our sector for decades to come, when another dawns.

Despite the combined force of the Wolf Report, the Richards Review and the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning, the then skills minister, Nick Boles, roped in Lord Sainsbury to produce another and, based on the Sainsbury panel’s work, the government has delivered a Post-16 Skills Plan. You can’t beat having a plan.

To the uninitiated – although hopefully

SET member Rob Demott’s journey from police detective, to prison educator and now PhD student, examining the effectiveness of offender learning, has been motivated by a deeply held desire to use education to help people break the cycle of reoffending

Rob Demott is a former detective who served on the National Crime Squad.

He retired from the police after 33 years’ service in 2002, before taking a masters in criminology at the University of Portsmouth.

Having completed his masters, Rob was considering lecturing opportunities at the university when someone suggested that he might be interested in a job teaching in a prison on the Isle of Wight.

Rob recalls: “I was tempted because I used to help some of the guys I’d arrested to complete the official forms. So many of them could barely read or write. I’d see the same people time and time again and many of them were not well educated. There was a clear connection.”

“The offender learning job sounded like it might be enjoyable so I applied and, to my surprise, I got the job,” Rob says.

“I taught for 10 years and in that time I had the pleasure of teaching some very high achievers.

“The majority of the people who come into your classroom want to be there. They want to advance themselves with a view to getting a better job when they come out.”

Rob delivered maths, English, business studies and access to higher education courses. But for every success story, too many offenders were not making the educational progress they hoped for.

“One of the worst things would be if a person was about to sit their exams and they would be moved to another prison,”

34 Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 InTuition

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My story

We are all experienced enough to know that the axe is about to swing again, while vocational education is dressed in a new set of clothes in a political attempt to cover up any mess they are creating underneath.

Interestingly, when government commissioned Wolf, Richards and CAVTL it was the last of these that stood out as the report by the sector, for the sector: researched and compiled by a representative of the sector, Sir Frank McLoughlin, and submitted on behalf of the sector. Guess which one of the three doesn’t get enough of a look-in in the new plan?

says Rob. “They should have picked up where they left off at their next prison but, in practice, it often didn’t work like that.

“Frequently, they would have to start from scratch at a new prison and with a new provider delivering the education there.”

Rob found he was increasingly interested in what prisoners and prison educators thought was wrong with the current offender learning system and how it might be improved. He tells InTuition: “I was teaching in prison for 10 years and, in the whole of that time, no one ever asked me what I thought about our work.”

But it was hard to combine his research interests with a full-time teaching load and its accompanying and ever-increasing paperwork, so he stopped teaching and

began his doctoral research at Portsmouth in 2014. His research is based on dozens of submissions, many anonymised by necessity, from prisoners and prison educators.

“One of the things to come from the research is that prisoners feel the courses are not tailored to them. It’s all very well teaching basic skills but they will have to compete in the workplace against younger people, with no criminal records who have higher level qualifications.

“There isn’t enough vocational training today, either. Previously, there were bricklaying and plumbing courses, which gave people practical skills. But these are now considered too expensive to run.

“As an educator it can also be difficult to get away on professional updating and development courses, especially for sessional teachers.”

Rob is now pulling together his research with a view to submitting his thesis in May next year. He is keen to hear from more teachers and tutors working in the secure estate. This material may feed into his current research or feed into future research.

Want to contribute to Rob’s research?

Email robert.demott@port.ac.uk Or write to: Rob Demott, c/o University of Portsmouth ICJS, St George’s Building 141 High Street, Portsmouth PO1 2HY

set.et-foundation.co.uk

NoticeBoard CALENDAR

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

10

13

14

19

20

1

3

15-17

15

17-19

13

14

15

Education and Training Foundation Area Reviews conference (see news below)

AELP Autumn Conference (see below)

28

Capita’s Vocational Education Conference Reforming Functional Skills, London (see below)

DECEMBER

ETF conference to focus on Area Reviews

With all Area Reviews expected by government to be completed by next March, the Education and Training Foundation’s conference promises a well-timed look at the process and a look ahead at the merger and federation implications for providers.

Run as part of the ETF support programme and in conjunction with the Association of Colleges, this free event will discuss the due diligence and implementation guidance documents that are expected soon from the Department for Education.

Case studies will provide examples of post-review work, such as managing transitional arrangements, the role of a restructuring director and due diligence. The conference will be held in Birmingham on 10 October. goo.gl/0BR4b8

AELP conference

Independent training providers can look forward to a busy autumn conference covering a range of issues including the new apprenticeship levy,

Society for Education and Training webinar on SEND goo.gl/E9A6JC

Society for Education and Training webinar on SEND goo.gl/E9A6JC

AoC Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference (see below)

the review of traineeships, the national living wage, youth obligation and much more.

Conference organisers say that the reform programmes indicate growth opportunities for providers, although spending restraints will present challenges. The one-day conference will identify what matters the most to help members of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers update their strategic business planning.

The conference will be held in Manchester on 1 November. goo.gl/dQKhtt

AOC’s annual conference

The Association of Colleges holds its 20th annual conference this year. The theme ‘Colleges mean business’ reflects the determination to rise to the challenges and opportunities presented by Area Reviews and technical education and apprenticeship reform.

Guest speakers include head of the technical education review Lord Sainsbury, schools commissioner Sir David Carter, scientist and broadcaster

AoC Data Performance and Accountability Conference, London goo.gl/ebSrrm

Society for Education and Training webinar on SEND goo.gl/E9A6JC

AoC Annual Society for Conference and Education Exhibition (see below) and Training webinar on SEND goo.gl/E9A6JC

AoC SEND Conference, London goo.gl/D65kOh

Portsmouth local member network meeting goo.gl/bOirpD (see page 26)

The Skills Show (see below)

AELP Workshop on self-assessment and quality improvement under the common inspection framework, Birmingham goo.gl/Vd8iiC

Baroness Greenfield, the new AoC chief executive David Hughes and cognitive therapist, comedian, author and lecturer Ruby Wax. The conference runs 15-17 November in Birmingham. goo.gl/qlWtbL

Skills on show

The Skills Show 2016 offers the chance to see the latest in technology and learning techniques. Running 17-19 November, The Skills Show showcases education and training across five skills sectors: engineering and technology; media and creative; IT and enterprise; hospitality and lifestyle; construction and infrastructure.

The show is useful for teachers and trainers looking to keep abreast of latest developments by networking with other practitioners and employers. goo.gl/lt5Crv

Functional Skills reform

Sue Southwood, head of maths and English for the ETF, is guest speaker at Capita’s one-day conference on Functional Skills.

The conference will discuss

the recommendations from the Sainsbury review; implementing the revised frameworks for both Key Stage 4 and post16; new apprenticeships and traineeships; effective employer engagement; Tech Levels, Tech Bacc, the Applied General Qualification, Technical certificates, Technical Awards and essential skills.

The conference will be held in London on 28 November. goo.gl/E0Uf0U

Discussing TLA

Teachers, trainers and learning managers will gain valuable information from this one-day teaching, learning and assessment conference in London on 13 December. The Association of Colleges’ conference promises techniques for working towards achieving an outstanding Ofsted; strategies for developing students into confident and autonomous learners; tactics for classroom management and motivation; case studies for engaging students in English and maths and embedding British values. goo.gl/l3Uu3l

InTuition Issue 25 | Autumn 2016 35

Gain QTLS:

Enhance your professional status, advance your career A new enriched QTLS available from September 2016 The new QTLS is a richer developmental experience enabling you to demonstrate to your employer and colleagues the positive impact of this professional formation process on your practice and your learners.

The benefits of QTLS 路 Career progression 路 Recognition of your status as a professional teacher or trainer 路 Both new and current QTLS hold legal parity with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) 路 Members with QTLS can use these initials as a designation

Apply for QTLS before: 31 October 2016* https://set.et-foundation.co.uk/qtls

* To be eligible to apply for QTLS, you need to be a member of the Society for Education and Training (SET).