InTuition Spring 2023

Issue 51 Spring 2023

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

set.et-foundation.co.uk

GET UP TO SPEED

Why you need to prepare for the new Digital Functional Skills Qualifications

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24

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Active learning through experiential education

Catch up on the delayed SET22 Conference

Developing core and character skills

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APPLICATION WINDOW OPENS 1 APRIL FOR AN OCTOBER 2023 START

DEMONSTRATE YOUR MASTERY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING WITH ATS Your route to becoming a Chartered Teacher Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) is the badge of advanced professionalism and mastery in further education and training.

Undertaking ATS allows you to focus on your personal and SURIHVVLRQDO GHYHORSPHQW JDLQ FRQͤ GHQFH LQ \RXU WHDFKLQJ skills, improve learner outcomes, and advance your career.

Apply for ATS from 1 April 2023: set.etfoundation.co.uk/ats 6HH 6(7 ZHEVLWH IRU IXOO GHWDLOV RI $76 HOLJLELOLW\ FULWHULD ZKLFK LQFOXGHV KROGLQJ D PLQLPXP RI D /HYHO WHDFKLQJ TXDOLͤ FDWLRQ The Society for Education (SET) is part of the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

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CONTENTS

SPRING 2023

UPFRONT

THE KNOWLEDGE

05 NEWS

26 STAYING UP TO SPEED

Recognising apprenticeship achievements, New Year Honours list for further education colleagues, and new online SEND CPD modules are launched

Sam Jones outlines the findings from her research into how industrial knowledge can struggle to make it into the classroom

30 TANGIBLE IMPACT Maggie Gregson and Paul Kessell-Holland look at the difference the ETF’s Practitioner Research Programme has made

08 OPINION Views from Katerina Kolyva, new CEO of the ETF, and Martine࣢Ellis FSET ATS

12 ADVICE How experiental education helps people to become more actively engaged in࣢the࣢learning process

33 CLOSE THE GAP Lynette Leith looks at how developing core and character skills can help tackle the socio-economic education gap

12

MEMBERS’ CORNER

It’s time to preprare for the introduction of Digital Functional Skills Qualifications (DFSQs) for over-16s

36 THE FORUM

17 TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF FE

News about the SET22 Conference, membership renewal and requirements for CPD in 2023/24

What’s inspiring people to work in the sector?

Daniel Jones on coming from a teaching family and making a difference to learners’ lives

Redactive Publishing Ltd +44 (0)20 7880 6200 redactive.co.uk

FEATURES 14 GET TECHNICAL

38 MY LIFE IN TEACHING

InTuition is published on behalf of the Society for Education and Training

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EDITOR: Nick Martindale

DIRECTOR: Martin Reid

LEAD DESIGNER: David Twardawa

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: Aurélie Leroy

SUB-EDITORS: James Hundleby, Amy Beveridge PICTURE RESEARCHER: Claire Echavarry PRODUCTION: Jane Easterman jane.easterman@redactive.co.uk +44 (0)20 7880 6248

21 VIRTUOUS CIRCLE How inter-sectoral working is equipping learners with࣢the right insight and soft skills to transition into࣢industry following the end of their studies

24 A DAY TO REMEMBER The grand return of the SET22 Conference in Birmingham

ETF DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Paul Kessell-Holland PRINTED BY Precision Colour Printing, Telford

157-197 Buckingham Palace Road London, SW1W 9SP membership.enquiries@ etfoundation.co.uk set.et-foundation.co.uk

While every care has been taken in the compilation of this magazine, errors or omissions are not the responsibility of the publishers. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial staff, the Society for Education and Training or the Education and Training Foundation.

All rights reserved. Unless specifically stated, goods or services mentioned are not formally endorsed by the Society for Education and Training or the Education and Training Foundation, which do not guarantee or endorse or accept any liability for any goods and/ or services featured in this publication.

ISSN: 2050-8980

SPRING 2023 INTUITION 3

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WELCOME

FIRST WORDS

MARTIN REID

Up close and personal The SET22 Conference proved a welcome opportunity for those in the sector to reconnect. It also underlined how important it is to find the time to share our achievements and celebrate success ow wonderful it was to meet so many of you in person – and reconnect with some familiar faces – at the SET22 Conference in January. You’ll recall it was pushed back because of train strikes, but it was worth the wait as we were all able to mingle for the first time since 2019.

And what a day it was! For those who couldn’t make it – or would like a recap – don’t miss our conference coverage on pages 24-25.

One of the reasons events such as these are essential is they provide the opportunity to take time away from the pressures of our day jobs to ponder the bigger issues that face both ourselves and the sector as a whole. One topic we will be hearing more about in the next few months is that of the new Digital Functional Skills Qualifications, being introduced in August. These build on the established Essential Digital Skills Qualifications, but effectively widen the remit to include 16- to 18-year-olds, and will have implications for course content and the digital skills of teachers. You can find out more about this in our cover story.

At a time when many in the further education (FE) and training sector are under significant pressure, it’s also worth reminding ourselves just why we do it. Late last year, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) undertook a survey into the rewards and challenges facing those working in the sector, and found that 82 per cent say the most

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rewarding aspect of their role is inspiring students, changing lives and making a difference. You can find out more about this – and some of the excellent work being done in this area – on page 17.

One trend making an impact on FE and training is inter-sectoral working: sharing knowledge with employers and other bodies – including the armed forces – to ensure those coming out of education have the industry knowledge and soft skills they need to succeed. You can read more on page 21.

Don’t miss our Knowledge section either, which looks at attempts to ensure vocational lecturers maintain their industrial knowledge, the importance of developing core and character skills, and the impact of the ETF’s Practitioner Research Programme. You’ll also find bound into this issue of inTuition our Membership Review, presenting some of the highlights of 2022 and giving a taste of what you can look forward to over the coming year.

Finally, keep an eye out for our upcoming reader survey, giving you the opportunity to tell us what you think about inTuition and what you would like to see more of. An email should land in your inbox soon!

82 PER CENT SAY THE MOST REWARDING ASPECT OF THEIR ROLE IS INSPIRING STUDENTS, CHANGING LIVES AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE

MARTIN REID, director of professionalism and customer experience, Education and Training Foundation

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LATEST UPDATES FROM SET AND THE ETF

NEWS

WEBSITE

set.et-foundation.co.uk

T WIT TER

@SocietyET

FACEBOOK

SocEducationTraining

HAVE YOUR SAY

#SETinTuition

NEW YEAR HONOURS FOR FE COLLEAGUES

One key part of the sector training needs analysis was a survey conducted in November and December 2022.

Anyone involved in apprenticeship delivery was invited to complete the survey. During National Apprenticeship Week, it was announced that the survey received more than 1,400 responses in just over two weeks.

The results of the survey are being reviewed as part of a broader process of training needs analysis, involving focus groups, sector research and the expert knowledge of all delivery partners.

These activities will develop CPD that will respond to the needs of all those delivering apprenticeships.

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is delighted to congratulate the 23 further education (FE) and training sector colleagues honoured in the 2023 New Year Honours List.

Five people across the sector received OBEs (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) and seven were made MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire), while three were recognised with the British Empire Medal (BEM).

Two DBEs (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) were awarded, including to one of the ETF’s much-valued trustees Sally Dicketts, who was recognised for services to࣢education.

Dr Shaid Mahmood, chair of Leeds City College Group and the Association of Colleges, which is one of the ETF’s founding members, received an MBE for services to FE in Leeds.

Colleagues within the Society for Education and Training Corporate Partner organisations also received recognition, with Jatinder Sharma (principal, Walsall College) and Lesley Davies (chair, Hull College) both receiving an OBE for services to FE.

Stay up to date with the latest and upcoming AWD resources at et-foundation.co.uk/ professional-development/apprenticeships

For more details, visit et-foundation. co.uk/news/the-etf-congratulates-thoserecognised-in-2023-new-year-honours

AW D P R O G R A M M E

RECOGNISING APPRENTICESHIP ACHIEVEMENTS uring National Apprenticeship Week (6 to 12 February), the Education and Training Foundation, alongside delivery partners the Association of Colleges, Association of Employment and Learning Providers, Strategic Development Network and University Vocational Awards Council, extended its warmest thanks to all those who have been helping to shape the Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) programme.

Funded by the Department for Education, AWD initially launched in 2021 to support staff at all levels and roles delivering apprenticeships across further and higher education settings.

The second phase of AWD is now under way, with an analysis of apprenticeship workforce training informing the development of new CPD.

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NEWS

SECTOR UPDATE

TECHNICAL TEACHING FELLOWSHIPS ANNOUNCED FOR 2023-24

IBE SUBSCRSLETTERS W E from TO ETF N ular updates ted

upda e reg Receiv on new and rces as F ou T s E re the as. s and ourse pic are CPD c selected to s p at well a Sign u .co.uk/ tion a d n u et-fo tters newsle

The recipients of the prestigious Education and Training Foundation–Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Technical Teaching Fellowships have been announced.

The awards went to: Paul Gartside, security and data analytics curriculum developer and digital coach at South Central Institute of Technology/ MK College (Milton Keynes College) Amy Hollier, director of blended and online learning at Heart of Worcestershire College Bradley Collier and Kumaran Rajarathinam, teachers in mechanical and electrical engineering at Blackburn College Kevin Pollard, training transformation faculty manager at MKC Training (MidKent Training) Fellows are expected to develop knowledge transfer and exchange activities, sharing effective practice at national and regional conferences and via networks, facilitating CPD and contributing to thought leadership through an established technical community of practice.

Each receives a financial award to support their activity and guarantee remission time and is allocated a mentor to support them for the duration of the programme. The awards were formally presented at the Royal Society in London on 3 March.

The programme will be expanded, with up to six fellowships to be awarded annually from the 2024-25 academic year.

P R O F E S S I O N A L S TA N D A R D S

SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL TAKES OFF WITH TEACHERS y early January, more than 3,500 teachers had already accessed the Education and Training Foundation’s (ETF’s) self-assessment tool, which helps teaching staff assess their values, understanding and skills against the sector’s updated set of 20 Professional Standards.

The tool allows teachers to identify which aspects of their practice they may need to develop to work towards these aspirational standards, supporting them on their professional development journey.

Teaching staff can also access the ETF’s CPD mapping tool, which maps professional development

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opportunities and resources onto each of the Professional Standards. It can be used alongside the self-assessment tool to understand which resources will help staff meet specific standards and fill knowledge and skills gaps.

A series of audio interviews has also been released, explaining the underpinning meaning of each standard to aid understanding and application. These interviews complement our popular guide to the use of the Professional Standards.

For more information, visit et-foundation.co.uk/news/more-than3500-teachers-access-self-assessmenttool-for-new-professional-standards

TECHNICAL WORKSHOPS FOR SENIOR AND STRATEGIC LEADERS Booking remains open for the final events in the series of Education and Training Foundation technical workshops for strategic and senior leaders. The sessions cover a range of different topics and specialist

areas and are designed to encourage discussion and the generation of ideas.

The last of three sessions focuses on education for sustainable development – ‘Developing a culture of engagement with ESD

across your staff and learner community’ – and takes place online on Tuesday 21 March at 10-11am.

An all-day, face-to-face session focusing on culture takes place in Birmingham on Thursday 30 March.

There is no charge to attend the sessions. To book your place, please visit the ETF course booking site: booking. etfoundation.co.uk/course/ details/1585/TechnicalWorkshops-for-Strategic-andSenior-Leaders-inFE?sh=2705189&ci_id=7446

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SECTOR UPDATE

NEWS

CPD

NEWSINNUMBERS

NEW ONLINE SEND MODULES AVAILABLE

4%

ive new modules in the Universal SEND Services (USS) programme offering are now available. USS is the new joined-up CPD offer, bringing further education and school professionals together to create a seamless education and training experience for our children and young people.

The latest modules include: ‘An introduction to speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)’, which looks at the impact on life chances for learners whose speech, language and communication skills do not develop as expected ‘Identifying and supporting speech, language and communication needs’, which introduces the use of developmental checklists to assess and monitor learners’ language and communications skills ‘Creating a learning environment that supports speech, language and communication’, which considers the ethos and environment in a setting All units are free to access and take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Users must be logged in to their free nasen or Whole School SEND account to access them.

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Visit wholeschoolsend.org.uk/page/online-cpd-units for more information

NEW ETF SAFEGUARDING AND PREVENT WORKSHOPS The Education and Training Foundation’s new in-depth Learning Room Safeguarding and Prevent training workshops, addressing some of the most challenging issues, are now available online.

The Learning Room series covers hot topics such as trauma-informed practice, youth violence, exploitation, and conflict resolution. The Values in Action workshops focus on teaching British Values in࣢practice.

Find out more and book your place at et-foundation.co.uk/professionaldevelopment/safeguarding-prevent/ safeguarding-and-prevent-training

ETF SECURES BEST COMPANIES ACCOLADE The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is delighted to announce that it has achieved a position in three of the 2023 Best Companies Q1 league tables.

It was ranked number 23 in the Best Mid-Sized Company to Work For, number six in the regional league table for London, and number two in the Best Companies To Work For In The Not For Profit Body Sector list.

The ETF has also been certified

by Best Companies and recognised as ‘very good’ in its approach to workplace engagement with a sought-after industry accolade.

The award sees the ETF move from a ‘one to watch’ category; the result of numerous initiatives implemented, including help during the cost-of-living crisis and an improved working environment.

The increase in the number of adult education learners in the first quarter of this academic year

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The additional amount per head that post-16 providers will receive from August 2023, a rise of 2.2 per cent, says the Department for Education

20,000 The rise in the number of ESOL learners in the first quarter of the 2022-23 academic year, according to government data

122,290

The number of apprenticeship starts in England between August and October 2022, down 6 per cent from the previous year

£75m The amount of government funding earmarked for further education projects in England as part of the Levelling Up initiative

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OPINION

KATERINA KOLYVA

S E T T I N G T H E S TA N D A R D

Connected professionalism Professionalism is now at the heart of the further education and training sector, and this increasingly means building networks and engaging in reflective practice, says Katerina Kolyva am delighted to join the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) as its new CEO at such a pivotal time for the sector. Ten years on from the deregulation of further education qualifications in England, and just a few months from the publication of our newly updated Professional Standards, this seems a good moment for me to share some thoughts on the identity of professionalism, a topic close to my heart.

Just 40 years ago, professionalism was seen by many as a promotion of self-interest in terms of status and a protective occupational environment seeking to safeguard boundaries.

We have moved on. Although professionalism still depends on individuals’ capabilities and behaviours, it is also better connected to the wider system to which professionals belong.

Professionalism is now recognised as constantly evolving to meet system needs. Professionals do not exist just as individuals but are connected to networks and impacted by the wider environment in which they work. They are co-creators of their professional standards and take ownership and responsibility for their ongoing development and learning.

That is why it is so heartening to see how the ETF’s Professional Standards have been so warmly welcomed by practitioners and have stimulated engagement and discussion on what this means for the sector.

The connected professionals of today recognise and reflect on their own competences and behaviours, and continue to develop and evolve over time. They are open to change and recognise the

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THE CONNECTED PROFESSIONALS OF TODAY RECOGNISE AND REFLECT ON THEIR OWN COMPETENCES AND BEHAVIOURS evolution of the sector around them. They zoom out rather than being zoomed out.

They look to the wider context in which they work and seek to understand their own social impact and influence rather than being focused solely on their day-to-day teaching and training.

They connect with and respond to their changing environment and are part of networks for their own development and learning.

The current global context in teaching and training offers opportunities for our sector to zoom out in three key areas: metaverse, sustainability and inclusion.

As we progress from blended learning to artificial intelligence and augmented reality, there are exciting opportunities for teachers, trainers and leaders to embed new teaching methods and concepts, and to look elsewhere in other sectors to see how these are already forming part of everyday practice.

Sustainability in its wider sense, beyond climate crisis and including environmental, economic and social

dimensions, prompts us to reflect on the wider professional culture of a sustainable teaching and training workforce and to consider an economically viable model for the sector and our environmental impact.

Inclusion calls for open spaces and open minds where equitable interaction and development can thrive. Embedding inclusive practice opens up opportunities for the whole sector, offering access to networks and supporting progression for all.

Looking to the future, this is also a chance for us here at the ETF to reflect on how we maintain an agile view of the external context and of global changes, to ensure that our offer of professional development, member engagement and sector influencing is aligned to what is happening within and beyond our sector, in the UK and internationally.

I commit to you all that I will ensure our offer in the future meets the needs of the connected professional. I wish to see the ETF becoming a catalyst for strategic insight in workforce development, a convenor of the sector to support workforce sustainability across the plethora and richness of the teaching and training organisations and practitioners we serve, and an active listener to teachers, trainers and leaders of further education.

KATERINA KOLYVA is chief executive of the Education and Training Foundation

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MARTINE ELLIS

NEURODIVERSIT Y

All-encompassing Organisations need to be aware of the large numbers of teaching staff who are neurodivergent, and take steps to ensure they can thrive, says Martine Ellis FSET ATS eing a neurodivergent teacher can be exhausting, challenging and frustrating.

It can also be surprising and rewarding. You might know or suspect you are neurodivergent, or you might be confidently neurotypical. Either way, alongside your gloriously neurodivergent learners, you definitely have neurodivergent colleagues. Yet very few people seem to be talking about it.

According to Bertilsdotter Rosqvist et al (2020), neurodiversity can be defined as “perceived variations seen in cognitive, affectual, and sensory functioning differing from the majority of the general population or ‘predominant neurotype’, more usually known as the ‘neurotypical’ population”. Examples of neurodiversity include but are not limited to autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and Tourette’s syndrome.

I’ve been teaching in further education (FE) for 14 years; I’m a teacher trainer and head of professional development for my organisation. I was diagnosed with autism last year, aged 43. My diagnosis did not surprise me, but others were shocked. “You don’t look autistic” and “You can’t be autistic – you’re too normal” sound like compliments – believe me, they aren’t.

I am aware that, after over 40 years of autistic masking, I present as relatively neurotypical. This was one of the reasons I sought a diagnosis.

However, it is important to understand that a private diagnosis is costly and therefore a privilege not available to all. Self-diagnosis is also valid.

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My biggest challenges as an autistic teacher and leader are managing my energy levels (operating in a world designed for neurotypicals is exhausting), sensory issues and anxiety.

Teaching might not seem like the best profession for someone who is neurodivergent – the environment can be stressful and intense. The FE sector, in particular, appears to be in a constant state of change.

However, if you reframe neurodiversity as the ability to think differently, the fit is better. Many neurodivergent people love routine, so the timetabled day helps them thrive. Neurodivergent teachers can be incredible role models for their learners.

My autistic ability to hyperfocus, spot patterns, think in systems and focus on detail has helped, not hindered, my career. My struggle to fit into the neurotypical world has made me energetically inclusive, and I maximise my opportunity to influence others to be the same.

Many of the neurodivergent teachers I have spoken to shared experiences of debilitating self-doubt and imposter syndrome, often not feeling ‘good enough’ to be in charge of a class of learners. Some shared a fear of discrimination that prevented them from disclosing their needs to their employer, meaning they could not seek simple, reasonable adjustments.

Burnout A common theme, and certainly one I have experienced, is exhaustion. Left unchecked, this can result in burnout.

OPINION

Jie Fung and Chin (2022) describe burnout as “a psychological state caused by prolonged stress from a job”. Our current understanding of burnout is that it is socially situated – in other words, it is an issue with the situation rather than the person.

Neurodivergent burnout may present similarly to neurotypical burnout. However, much of the stress experienced comes from the neurodivergent person expending significant physical and mental energy in an effort to function in a world designed for neurotypical people.

This is why the work environment must be inclusive and reasonable adjustments made available. We can all contribute to this. Most organisations work hard to ensure their diverse population of learners is seen and included. It’s time to think about the staff (all staff – those who teach and those who support).

If you are neurodivergent (or think you might be), talk with colleagues who have similar lived experiences.

Finally, if you are neurotypical, do the work to become an ally to your neurodivergent colleagues. Ask your colleagues what you need to do to make the world better for them – don’t assume – and when they tell you, listen.

MARTINE ELLIS FSET ATS is a teacher, writer and lifelong learner @MartineGuernsey

References Bertilsdotter Rosqvist H, Chown N and Stenning A. (eds) (2020) Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm.

Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge (Routledge advances in sociology) Jie Fung G and Chin C. (2022) Burnout Guide: Symptoms, causes, and prevention, Commoncog. Commoncog. Available at: commoncog.com/g/burnout/

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SURVEY

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

CHALLENGING LANDSCAPE The vocational and education training system is changing, but some all-too-familiar obstacles remain. Researchers at Young Lives, Young Futures sought to identify just what these are.

Dr࣢Charlotte McPherson outlines the early findings his article summarises early findings from a major five-year national study, Young Lives, Young Futures, investigating how the English vocational and education training (VET) system can better support the education-to-work transitions of the approximately 50 per cent of young people who don’t go to university.

The study is being conducted by a team of researchers at King’s College London and The Edge Foundation against the background of policy reforms intended to enhance the quality and visibility of VET. In the first wave of fieldwork, the team interviewed over 150 young people, policymakers and practitioners. The interviews drawn from in this article were primarily with young people in Year 11 and preparing to leave school; a minority were with older young people currently in VET.

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References The full Young Lives, Young Futures report can be accessed at bit.ly/YLYF-interim-report Lupton R, Thomson S, Velthuis S and Unwin L. (2021) Moving on from initial GCSE ‘failure’. Available at: bit.ly/Nuffield-post-GCSE

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WHAT WE FOUND

YOUNG PEOPLE OFTEN LACK INFORMATION AND SUPPORT ABOUT VET

Many of the young people we interviewed described the careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG) they received in schools as heavily weighted towards promoting traditional academic routes through sixth form and university.

“They didn’t say anything about anything else… They did just push you on that academic route” Miriam, 16 The young people felt they were not provided with information about the full range of post16 options available to them. Almost none

had heard of T Levels, some were told about apprenticeships, and most felt they had to do their own research to learn more about VET and if it was right for them.

“There was only one person I could go to for advice to speak about apprenticeships.

Other than that, I had to do everything myself” Liam, 18 Skews in CIAG towards academic routes were compounded by a lack of understanding of VET among teachers, careers advisors and parents/carers.

PARENTS AND CARERS ARE STRONG INFLUENCERS

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Parents/carers can compensate for insufficient CIAG by providing advice and support. But some parents lack understanding of the VET system.

Many young people had a disjointed VET experience, evident in high rates of courseswapping or dropout. They attributed this to insufficient understanding of courses, and VET more broadly.

Many wished they could have observed options at college while still at school.

“For a lot of our parents… apprenticeships were for people who weren’t clever enough to go to university… It’s about trying to explain that it’s a viable option” Employer engagement co-ordinator, UK college Some young people were navigating VET access largely by themselves, often facing considerable pressure to take a different path.

LACK OF SUPPORT LEADS TO DISJOINTED TRANSITIONS

“So when we actually start college we know what we want to do, instead of starting college and then thinking, ‘Oh no, I don’t like this’, and then having to change our mind” Olivia, 16

DR CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON is a research associate at King’s College London

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VTQ DELAYS

REGULATION

Lessons learned Last summer’s awarding of VTQs saw 20,000 students affected by delays or inaccuracies. Since then, a rigorous process has begun to understand how this happened and reduce the chances of a repeat. Michael Hanton outlines how Ofqual has responded he last academic year marked a welcome step towards normality. That more than a million vocational and technical qualifications (VTQ) results were issued to students in summer 2022 was only possible because of the enormous efforts of teachers, school and college leaders, awarding organisations, exams officers and, above all, students.

Students took exams and formal assessments for the full spectrum of regulated qualifications – from GCSE, AS and A Levels to a complete series of VTQs – for the first time since the pandemic. Plus, for the first time ever, around 1,000 students received T Level certificates.

Nevertheless, some 20,000 students were affected by delays or inaccuracies to their VTQ grades this summer. This is, frankly, unacceptable. Everyone wants students to get their results when they expect to, regardless of the type of qualification. That’s why Ofqual launched a major review to understand why this happened and to reduce the chance of it happening again.

Since August, Ofqual has heard from a range of organisations – including schools, colleges, exams officers, awarding organisations and UCAS, as well as parents and students – to understand what went wrong. Before the year was out, we published an action plan to set out the steps needed to support the safe and timely delivery of results in 2023 and beyond. Having the right plans in place is crucial to protect

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students from the uncertainty and anxiety caused by late results.

We all want the same thing: students getting accurate results, on time, in 2023.

The actions we set out include a new VTQ results taskforce, which Ofqual’s chief regulator will chair, to actively monitor the new arrangements.

BEFORE THE YEAR WAS OUT, WE PUBLISHED AN ACTION PLAN TO SET OUT THE STEPS NEEDED TO SUPPORT THE SAFE AND TIMELY DELIVERY OF RESULTS IN 2023 AND BEYOND Of course Ofqual recognises that, while there are many differences between qualifications, parity in the treatment of students is vital. This is particularly so where students have taken different types of qualifications that are awarded alongside one another.

Like you, we want everyone involved in assessing students, delivering exams, or liaising with awarding organisations to be properly equipped to do so.

The actions within the plan are intended to give you more support for delivery in 2023, without increasing workload and, wherever possible, decreasing it.

To this end, Ofqual will launch and host a central hub to bring together all the key information provided by awarding organisations into a ‘one-stop shop’. This will make it easier for you to keep track of the different deadlines and information requests. Awarding organisations will collect, and keep up to date, contact details for a senior leader in every school and college who has the authority to access information and progress decisions swiftly in the run-up to results days.

Next, there will be a new results deadline to ensure that all results needed for progression to further and higher education are issued on or before A࣢Level results day. Furthermore, Ofqual is supporting exams officers in their role by making sure that awarding organisations provide them with the necessary training to manage the administration of VTQ assessments.

Reflecting the seriousness of what happened in 2022, Ofqual’s investigation of the awarding organisations involved continues. We will report on that later this year and take any regulatory action that is appropriate.

In the meantime, Ofqual continues to listen and gather information, so please contact us at discussions@ofqual.gov.uk to share your views.

MICHAEL HANTON is deputy chief regulator at Ofqual

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ADVICE

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

here is no doubt that people learn from their experiences.

Some experiences are ‘Aha!’ moments that are never forgotten, while others drip-feed into our brains over time.

Whether you are looking to share knowledge, teach skills or develop behaviours, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the act of ‘doing’ something will help. This is commonly described as experiential education.

Experiential education is a craft made up of a mix of art and science. It’s one that takes practice and experience to develop, and often involves a lot of trial and error. There are few hard and fast rules, and it requires judgement to be effective.

If you wish to become a great, modern experiential educator, you need to develop a wide range of tools and techniques in order to become strategic in your approach. The strategy you use to run your activities will affect how the activity feels to the participants and will strongly influence the learning they draw from it.

Some factors you will need to consider when choosing a strategy include your desired learning outcomes, your participants’ backgrounds, the activity you are planning, the emotional state of your participants and the risks involved.

Learning activities rarely happen in a vacuum. What happened before your activity, what is happening after, what happened last time your participants tried it, the time of day, how good lunch was, and even what the weather is doing might all affect your choice of strategy.

Here are five strategies that you can apply to (almost) any learning experience to maximise its impact.

IL L U S T R AT ION S : S HU T T E R S T O C K

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Learn on the job Experiential education allows individuals to learn from their own activities. It can be highly effective, but requires a different set of skills for teachers. Sam Moore and Tim Hudson provide a few tips

DRAG AND DROP Provide lots of support for your group as they plan their activity, then leave them completely alone to carry it.

This strategy ensures that your participants create a good plan they all agree on before undertaking their learning activity, and gives them confidence that the plan can succeed.

When they do succeed, the lack of intervention from you during the task will help them feel they did it themselves.

Be aware, however, that if you are a significant part of the planning and your participants fail their task, you run the risk of being blamed.

THE QUESTIONER Interact with the group by only using questions.

As frustrating as it may be for your participants initially, by only asking questions when you interact with them, you force them to think for themselves, and empower them to solve problems while still being able to provide guidance.

In addition, by asking carefully timed questions with care, you can ‘steer’ the activity without the participants feeling like you are interfering. Asking good questions is a skill that every educator should cultivate.

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EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

ADVICE

ISLANDS OF SAFETY Allow chaos between controlled points. If you are starting from a tightly controlled environment, it can be a step too far to give your participants complete free rein. By building in ‘islands of safety’ to the activity you can allow them to act freely between points where you take back control.

These points might be times or places, but in all cases they allow you to check in with the group, monitor their progress and give them new instructions. You must be willing to accept that there may be chaos between your ‘islands’, but this is a small price to pay for the controlled freedom it gives during the activity.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

HIDDEN AGENDAS Give each member of the group a hidden goal to achieve alongside the learning activity. In the real world, it is common for people to have personal or hidden agendas alongside whatever task they are publicly trying to complete.

By giving your participants their own, secret personal goals as well as the overall group goal, they can practise looking for solutions that satisfy both.

The goals could be competing to introduce challenges, or they could be complementary and used to ensure the participant focuses on a particular area that would be beneficial to them.

Have the group create an instruction manual as they learn themselves to help others succeed.

Teaching something to someone else is a great way to ensure that you fully understand it yourself.

As your participants learn a new topic or skill by creating an instruction manual for someone else who is learning the same thing, they are forced to think the topic or process through and to understand it fully.

Be aware that this can be challenging for participants who find communication hard and it can be time-consuming, but this strategy is very powerful with the right group.

SAM MOORE and TIM HUDSON are authors of Amplifying Activities for Great Experiential Learning, available at routledge.com.

InTuition readers can get 20 per cent off with the code AFL01 until 30 June

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FEATURE

DIGITAL FUNCTIONAL SKILLS QUALIFICATIONS

GET TECHNICAL The introduction of Digital Functional Skills Qualifications for over-16s will have significant implications for teachers and education providers.

Elizabeth Holmes looks at what’s involved, and how to prepare

ith the introduction of Digital Functional Skills Qualifications (DFSQs) in August 2023 rapidly approaching, teachers from all elements of the further education (FE) sector will need to be equipped to deliver the teaching required. While the Essential Digital Skills Qualifications (EDSQs) have been in place for adults since 2018, the DFSQs will effectively widen this to include over-16s. The implications for FE teachers are significant.

Daniel Scott (@_Daniel_Scott) is a learning technologist and author of Digital Learning, Teaching and

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Assessment for HE and FE Practitioners.

He says there are key points that FE settings need to take onboard when preparing for the introduction of DFSQs. “The content for the DFSQs and EDSQs is quite similar, but as with these types of qualifications they need to be relevant and authentic to workplaces and everyday life by designing and integrating real-world tasks and activities,” he says. “Content, examples and scenarios being used for DFSQs may need to be aimed at a younger audience as well as an adult audience.”

This need to be age-aware in the delivery of DFSQs is crucial point shared

by Vikki Liogier (@vikkiliogier), national head of EdTech and digital skills at the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

“There are few differences between DFSQs and EDSQs,” she says. “Both are based on entry level and Level 1 subject content and mapped to the EDS framework.

“Both also form part of the Department for Education’s (DfE) adult digital offer. Both have a similar number of guided learning hours [EDSQs have 50 while DFSQs have 55]; however, DFSQs will be used more widely as part of the 16-19 study programmes rather than the 18+ for the existing EDSQs.”

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DIGITAL FUNCTIONAL SKILLS QUALIFICATIONS

Vital preparation There are real, practical implications for teachers here. The aim of the new qualifications is to prepare learners for the world of work and further studies as opposed to developing digital skills for everyday life. There will be more tasks and activities to complete, and these will be more complex.

Liogier explains: “As opposed to EDSQs, where learners only need to demonstrate some of the statements, DFSQs learners will need to evidence all of them.

Consequently, the learning content, framing and pedagogical approaches will need to be different, while the tools used will also need to better fit that audience – for example, any apps used.”

The effective teaching and delivery of DFSQs will be dependent on the design of activities to support content. This can be challenging and digital technologyheavy. “It is essential that these courses and content remain accessible for those that are not from digitally-enabled countries or backgrounds and therefore lack basic digital literacies and skills,” points out Scott.

It is important for providers to look at the digital technology they have

available, including online and physical devices, and what they might need to cope with the new requirements. “Do they have wearable technology, for example?” asks Scott. “Virtual private networks (VPNs) can be used as a teaching aid to demonstrate, but also as a learning resource for learners to build understanding of how they work, as well as interact with other course content through it.”

One fundamental question that needs to be addressed is how confident teachers are in using digital technology.

“Planning can only really go as far as the knowledge of teachers,” Scott says. “Teachers will need to be up to speed to meet the technical content in the curriculum, so we will need to support everyone and build confidence through practice. This will require a reevaluation on where educators are at in their digital literacies and skills.”

Liogier also sees some potential issues around teachers’ current capabilities in digital skills, particularly around the five categories of the DFSQs (see box). “These can be difficult to teach,” she says. “For example, transacting is difficult without actually performing an online transaction. There are all kinds of practical implications.

“Learners need to practise in a safe environment, and that is not always easy to create.”

ETF’s Digital Teaching Professional Framework (DTPF), built in collaboration with Jisc, provides teachers with a reference point for selfreflection and a basis for considering potential training needs. It is recognised as the national EdTech competency framework, which underpins the ETF’s fully subsidised EdTech training offer.

The Enhance Digital Teaching Platform is also designed to help develop teaching and training practice using technology across the further education and training sector.

Further support David Redden, product manager (English, maths and digital skills) at the National Council for Further Education (NCFE), offers clear strategies for supporting teachers in the delivery

FEATURE

CAS E S T U DY

MAKING THE TRANSITION Sandra Smith MSET QTLS, curriculum lead at Coventry Adult Education Service (CAES), outlines the journey from EDSQs to DFSQs: “Three years ago CAES was selected to be a part of a national consultation at the conception of EDSQs, discussing the implementation of the new government initiative of digital skills.

“We shared findings with other practitioners in the West Midlands Combined Authority region and worked closely with the awarding organisation, The Learning Machine (TLM), in the pilot stage of delivery of࣢EDSQs. “We also facilitated regional meetings with other adult education organisations in the West Midlands.

“Delivery of EDSQs was challenging in the early stages, with quality tweaks taking place from one course delivery to the next.

“The latest changes took place at the end of July 2022, in time for the new cohort of learners in the autumn term࣢2022.

“CAES thrives on being an early adopter of new qualifications. It is fortuitous that the new DFSQs are very similar to EDSQs. “The success of the process over the coming months will be through regular communication with tutors, regional meetings and the awarding organisation.

Communication is key.”

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FEATURE

DIGITAL FUNCTIONAL SKILLS QUALIFICATIONS

BRE AKDOWN

FIVE CATEGORIES OF DFSQS The government guidelines on Digital Functional Skills Qualifications state these should cover five core areas: Using devices and handling information – device features, apps, system settings, navigating online content, internet searches

1 2 3 4 5

Creating and editing – using apps, combining different types of information for a given purpose Communicating – texts, email, messaging apps, graphics, videos, images Transacting – requesting a service or making a purchase, data validation, verification

Being safe and responsible online – phishing, hacking, data compromise, authentication methods, minimising physical stress of computer use, security software

of DFSQs. “The subject content, which all awarding organisations have to base their qualification specifications on, is already available to teachers,” he says. “This is the first thing we recommend any delivery staff familiarise themselves on, as this provides the detail on which the qualification will be delivered.”

NCFE will be creating initial and diagnostic assessments, along with the creation of individual skills plans that allocate bespoke resources to learners to help identify their starting point and map their learning progress. “We will also be creating teaching resources that will offer classroom (virtual and face-toface-enabled) sessions and activities to support tutors in their delivery of these new qualifications,” says Redden.

It is important to acknowledge that context is important when it comes to DFSQs. “Not everyone will be ready for the launch of DFSQs in 2023,” Liogier admits. “A large number of teachers will need to deliver these courses, and digital needs to be embedded across the curriculum. There is much work to be done to ensure everyone is

ready, and we are waiting to hear from the DfE about what is going to be done to help the education sector prepare for this.”

For Scott, the main points to keep in mind are that these qualifications may have a younger as well as an adult audience, that we need to look carefully at availability of equipment, and that we need to bridge any gaps in the additional digital literacy of educators as this is potentially a significant barrier.

“Tutors should also explore the interconnection with their learners of how the identified digital skills apply and transfer across both the workplace and into everyday life,” he concludes.

ELIZABETH HOLMES is a freelance journalist specialising in the education sector

The ETF’s Essential Digital Skills CPD programme offers support to help deliver the new Essential Digital Skills Qualifications, or for teachers and trainers more generally. There are specific sets of activities for those involved in prison education, ESOL provision, preparation for life and work programmes and SEND provision, as well as a community of practice. Visit enhance. etfoundation.co.uk/eds for more information

P R I S O N E D U C AT I O N

DIGITAL LEARNING IN PRISONS Jayne Hill (@JayneNovus) is digital learning project manager at Novus, a provider of prison education and part of the LTE Group, a social enterprise dedicated to improving lives and economic success through learning and skills.

Novus has a strong history of supporting the development of digital skills of learners in prisons. The digital divide between prisons and the community was not helped by Covid-19 restrictions, but DFSQs, building on EDSQs, could help to narrow that. “It is now possible to deliver EDSQs in prison using Open Borders,” explains Hill. “The Open Borders programme assists in providing additional internet access to

learners to enable them to meet exam criteria while still maintaining strict security protocols.

“Our recent pilots have been successful in supporting learners achieving their EDSQs and helping them to feel digitally prepared for their future. We recognise the digital divide between prisons and the community, and being able to deliver essential digital skills in࣢prisons allows us to࣢narrow that divide and support prisoners࣢with resettlement, and in turn reduce࣢reoffending.

“We will continue to work with them to navigate through the new challenges and opportunities that the qualifications will bring for prison educators.”

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FEATURE

TRANSFORMATIVE

POWER OF FE

An ETF survey highlights making a difference as a key reason many people enter the further education sector, writes outgoing interim CEO Jenny Jarvis.

We speak to some of those who are helping to transform the lives of learners hat motivates you in your work every day? In a recent Education and Training Foundation (ETF) landmark survey of more than 4,200 teachers, trainers and leaders, 82 per cent told us that the most rewarding aspect of their job is inspiring students, changing lives and making a

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difference. The survey also revealed the frustrations of working in the sector, with key challenges being lack of funding (31 per cent), recruitment challenges (19 per cent) and the changing landscape of further education (FE) (18 per cent).

Yet what strikes me every time I speak to staff working across the sector is their absolute drive and commitment to do

the very best for their students. There are so many stories I have to draw on. At the SET Conference in January, I heard practitioners across the sector describe the incredible learning journeys that their students have been on.

Last year I met the winner of the 2022 Tutor of the Year award, Helen Sonnenfeld, and heard about her work

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FEATURE

#TOGETHERWETRANSFORM

82%

P H O T O G R A P H Y: S E T

THE PROPORTION OF THOSE WORKING IN FE WHO SAY CHANGING LIVES IS THE MOST REWARDING PART OF THE JOB supporting individuals with learning disabilities and mental health illnesses. It was absolutely no surprise to me that one of her students said she had “changed her opinion about learning and education”.

On visits to Barnsley College and Walsall College, I witnessed how they are transforming the lives of students through high-quality teaching and learning experiences – and heard about how supporting staff through CPD and wider support is a vital part of that success. These stories made such an impact on me that I sent a film crew to capture them – you can see the results in a new film on our website.

Stories like these are happening every day across the sector. It was heartening to see so many FE and training professionals recognised in the New Year Honours list, a tribute to their dedicated work to enable learners in the FE and training sector to thrive.

What drives our work at the ETF and the Society for Education and Training is putting teachers, trainers and leaders at the heart of all we do. By supporting you on your professional journey, we want to help you provide the best learning experience to your students and learners.

Over the coming months, we will be stepping up our activity to showcase the inspirational work happening across the sector through our new campaign ‘Together we Transform’. We know that, every day, the sector is enabling stories of transformation for students and learners. Through your dedication and commitment, students are being opened to new experiences, gaining new skills and grasping new opportunities.

I hope you enjoy reading the examples of the difference that practitioners are making to learners’ lives here. Please follow our campaign on our social media channels to read many more. And do share your stories of transformation – we’d love to hear them.

Thank you for all you do for your students and learners – it’s your dedication and commitment that makes this sector such a vibrant one – one that is transforming the lives of individuals and contributing to the skills and productivity of our communities and the country.

JENNY JARVIS is outgoing interim CEO of the Education and Training Foundation

RACHEL JAMES

MSET, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL FOR TEACHING AND࣢LEARNING, BARNSLEY COLLEGE How did you get to where you are now?

I joined the FE sector as a lecturer in creative industries. I didn’t know too much about the sector at the time, but I immediately fell in love with it. I worked in different roles across curriculum and quality, and eventually became assistant principal for teaching and learning.

What made you choose to work in FE?

I wanted to be in a fast-moving environment that really allows learners to have that vocational experience. To me, it is the best place to gain knowledge and skills as that practical environment allows you to learn as much as possible from࣢industry࣢professionals.

What is the transformative impact that FE can have on࣢learners?

When it comes to 16- to 18-yearolds, I think it really allows them to develop and grow as young adults.

It represents an amazing platform to get them ready for independent living, university or employment.

It’s a great opportunity for a fresh start and it is just a wonderful atmosphere for them to be part of.

Can you tell us about the transformation you’ve seen in your students?

Our students knock our socks off.

The most recent inspiring moment for me has been witnessing how much they enjoyed digital as part of their learning. Sometimes, students become our teachers; seeing them taking ownership of their learning is࣢important.

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#TOGETHERWETRANSFORM

ANTHONY DUNN

CONSTRUCTION LECTURER, BARNSLEY COLLEGE How did you get to where you are now?

My role is a T Level lecturer at Barnsley College, and I deliver the technical qualification design, surveying and planning.

I started learning at this college when I was 18. I did a sports science course but went away from education for a while and worked in construction until I eventually came back to university.

From that point on, I got into education and then an opportunity to start teaching, and I progressed up the ladder from there. I started studying and developing my technical knowledge around the qualification that I deliver now. It’s been 12 years so far.

How has working in FE transformed your career?

I feel that I’m constantly learning because every week is different in terms of our tasks and the qualifications we deliver – there is a need to constantly adapt. The ETF training around T Levels and other tools are helpful.

In your opinion, what do you think is the real transformative power of࣢education?

The most transformative aspect is that we have a real impact on a student’s life coming into FE. It’s a real defining point and I think it’s probably one of the most influential parts in someone’s life – where they properly have to think about what they want to do and where they want to be in 10 or 15 years’ time. The experience they have will also play a massive part in where they go after college, and that is essentially down to staff.

MARISSA FERGUSON

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT COACH CO-ORDINATOR, SOUTH BANK COLLEGES

How did you get to where you are now and what made you choose to work in FE?

I studied education studies and, while I always had intentions of being a teacher, I was keen to find a role that allowed me to fulfil more pastoral roles. I started teaching in secondary schools and when this position came up, I went for it. What attracted me most to my current job was the way that pastoral care had been embedded into the students’ curriculum.

What inspires you to work every day?

I genuinely love my job. And I think one of the unique things about my role is getting to see students start in September. They have these ambitions and goals, but they also have a lot of challenges and a lot of

life happening that makes achieving those goals a little bit more difficult.

Being able to contribute to the process of empowering them and seeing them step into their own leadership and take charge of their journey is just amazing. I get to be a small part of that every day.

What do you admire about your colleagues at the college?

What I find really inspiring about teachers is their ability to translate the wealth of information and knowledge that they have into accessible bitesized pieces. It is amazing to see them take their students on a learning journey to develop their skills in a subject or industry as well as their confidence. It’s a transformative experience, and I think our teachers are so skilled at facilitating that࣢transformation.

THOMAS REA

MSET ATS, LECTURER, WALSALL COLLEGE

How did you get to where you are now?

I am a lecturer in business and e-sports at Walsall College. I decided to work in FE because I have wanted to be a teacher since I was at secondary school. From studying business studies at university to becoming a business teacher in a secondary school, I naturally progressed into FE. I haven’t looked back.

How has working in FE transformed your career?

When I started in a secondary school, I was very much under the impression that teaching was a linear approach.

You are a teacher; this is your role

and this is what you must do. When I moved into FE, I realised that teaching isn’t just about what happens in a classroom; it encompasses everything around it as well. Tools such as the Professional Standards have made me understand that it is not just about my impact in the classroom – it’s about everything else, the whole college and the wider community.

What inspires you to turn up to work every day?

Being able to see, teach the students and watch them progress. Watching that development and witnessing the difference between the beginning and the end of the year makes it all worth it.

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FEATURE

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Leading the way Since 2020, the ETF has been working to develop a set of professional standards for leaders in the FE and training sector. These are now being piloted in five ‘early adopter’ colleges. Jo Faragher explains aced with such a challenging landscape, it can seem surprising that there is little in the way of a formal professional standards framework for leaders in further education (FE). They’re dealing with ever-changing policy and fluctuating expectations of students, and all the while trying to build a team of talented and resilient teachers and support staff.

In September 2022, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) set out to change this with the launch of new Professional Standards for Leaders in the FE and training sector. There are four sets of standards aimed at different stages of individuals’ career journeys: aspiring leaders; middle leaders; senior leaders; and CEOs or Principals. The launch came on the back of an update to the overall ETF Professional Standards for teachers and trainers earlier in the year, and it is intended to make it easier for staff to understand what they need to do to progress into leadership.

“There was nothing in the FE sector that was up to date for managers and leaders, so we started to draft something,” explains Anju Virdee, national head of leadership p development at the ETF. There was a sense that funding was directed towards teaching ching ng staff or senior leaders, or that many assume sum me an FE leadership role without prior management experience or training.

There was also a lack of understanding dingg of what was expected of leaders in FE E and the training they might need to succeed. Research into FE leadership p by the University of Portsmouth found that only 49 per cent of respondents were in possession of a management qualification. ation.

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“We convened senior leaders in the sector in 2020 to think about what our common language and expectations would be,” says Virdee. “Surveys, evidence and research all showed that there was a case for having professional standards for managers and leaders. We need to develop a talent pipeline to support leaders in a high turnover market with constant policy changes to provide the adaptive leadership we need.”

The ETF is now working with five ‘early adopter’ colleges to trial the standards within real settings, and this number will expand with a second wave of settings later in 2023.

The standards deliberately align with leadership development programmes available from the ETF, so staff can pursue training that fits with their individual career path. The intention is that the standards can be used both on an individual and collective level, supporting individuals’ personal development, but also building resilient and transparent career pipelines within FE settings or groups of institutions.

With a large number of college leaders getting ready for retirement, building continuity is crucial to the future of the sector.

JO FARAGHER is a freelance journalist and former editor of TES magazine

CAS E S T U DY

EMBEDDING STANDARDS Dr Rebecca Gater became principal of Solihull College and University Centre in September 2022, having worked in FE for 23 years.

She is delighted that Solihull is one of the early-adopter institutions trialling the new leadership standards, as her doctorate in education focuses on leadership in FE, and how colleges and other settings might address a potential crisis in leadership due to not having a pipeline of talent.

She says the standards “will provide a baseline for our performance on which we can build, making tangible and consistent the expectations and aspirations of leadership and management roles”.

She argues that one of the factors behind an absence of a leadership pipeline is the lack of standard expectations that school settings have for aspiring leaders.

Gater will also use the framework to inform her own professional development, as she is currently completing the ETF’s ‘Preparing for CEO’ programme: “They’ll be a starting point for me to reflect on what is required and establish a baseline for myself and my senior team.”

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INTER-SECTORAL WORKING

SECTOR FOCUS

VIRTUOUS

CIRCLE Inter-sectoral working, where knowledge is shared between the FE sector, wider education sectors, employers and armed forces personnel, is helping to ensure learners develop the insight and soft skills needed to transition into industry.

David Adams outlines how this is working in practice

urther education (FE) can have many different purposes, but technical education is almost always closely linked to employers’ requirements.

That means the curriculum, teaching approaches and choice of resources or equipment learners will use should be aligned with the knowledge, skills and behaviours employers need employees in specific roles and sectors to possess. This is the primary reason why policymakers have sought to encourage FE and higher education (HE) institutions and providers to work closely with employers on the planning and delivery of courses and qualifications.

In recent years that theory has been turned into effective practice by growing numbers of FE colleges and other providers using intersectoral learning, a process of transferring knowledge between the FE sector and private or public sector employers.

While inter-sectoral learning is always based on collaboration between the employer and FE institution or provider, it must also focus on learning approaches and individuals’ learning experiences. Active learning approaches are often used, incorporating hands-on experience of, for example, operating specialist equipment or time spent in a real or simulated work environment. In addition, inter-sectoral learning approaches also tend to incorporate behavioural and soft skills training to help prepare learners for the reality of working life.

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SECTOR FOCUS

INTER-SECTORAL WORKING

Ben Houlihan FSET is now head of teaching, learning and development at Capita Learning, but was formerly head of quality, teaching and digital innovation at Bridgwater and Taunton College (BTC). In both roles he has been closely involved in inter-sectoral collaborations and learning.

At BTC he and his colleagues collaborated extensively with employers in the nuclear industry as part of the college’s role as the southern hub of the UK’s National College for Nuclear (NCfN).

The hub, located at BTC’s Cannington campus, is a few miles away from the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station construction site: a huge project that has stimulated demand for people able to work in a wide range of roles within the nuclear industry in southwest England. Work with EDF, which will operate the plant, has fed into the design of courses ranging from Level 3 to honours degrees and degree apprenticeships.

Learners and apprentices at the hub can access training facilities including virtual reality (VR) environments and a reactor simulator.

Many of these learners have benefited enormously from this inter-sectoral work, as have EDF and other employers in its supply chain. Other learners at BTC can use some of the technologies and facilities at Cannington to support their studies, thus helping to prepare them for careers in other sectors including engineering and healthcare.

P HO T O GR A P H Y: L A K E S C OL L E GE / L INC OL N C OL L E GE

Nuclear option Similar benefits are being generated at the NCfN at Lakes College in West Cumbria, where again learners are studying for courses, apprenticeships and degrees linked to the nuclear industry and other careers based on engineering and other technical skills.

Chris Fairclough FSET, curriculum operations leader for higher engineering, science and nuclear at Lakes College, says the FE and HE courses delivered within his department have been designed to meet the needs of employers in the engineering and science sectors in west Cumbria.

The courses at Lakes College (right) and Lincoln College (below and bottom image) have been designed to meet the needs of employers

WITHOUT MAKING THOSE CONNECTIONS, HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WHAT WE’RE DELIVERING IS RELEVANT? Employers helped shape course content for students and training for staff. Teachers include experts who have worked in industry, alongside staff who work at other academic institutions but travel to the college to deliver guest lectures on specialist subjects. VR and other technologies help enable delivery of an experiencebased learning approach. Industry standards are used as the basis for competency assessments.

At BTC, inter-sectoral learning has also helped to enrich other courses, including the Health (Nursing) T Level and apprenticeships and degrees in nursing, health and social care. BTC is working with NHS employers including Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton to develop and refine course content, run student work placements and train learners to use specialist equipment.

One valuable quality of inter-sectoral learning is that it helps FE colleges and providers to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology and technical development within sectors such as engineering and manufacturing. That principle has informed the development and delivery of courses by the colleges and other education providers that comprise the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology (GBSIoT).

One of the 21 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) across England – which build partnerships between networks of local colleges, universities and employers – is the GBSIoT. One of the original 12 selected, it is focused on courses for learners seeking to

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INTER-SECTORAL WORKING

EV-linked courses for mechanics already working in the region.

Automotive application

work for advanced manufacturing and engineering employers.

GBSIoT members share learning from work with employers and other resources, such as specialist equipment.

“I think the real key is that this is bringing people together,” says Rosa Wells, executive dean, engineering, digital and sustainable construction at University College, Birmingham, and a director of the GBSIoT. “If we can optimise what we’re doing and learn from each other, that benefits all of us.”

These inter-sectoral collaborations have informed learning approaches and course content linked to advanced manufacturing, as well as the manufacture and maintenance of electric vehicles (EVs) in Level 2 and 3 automotive courses at Solihull College and University Centre, and design of

The future of the automotive industry is also being enhanced by another intersectoral learning initiative in eastern England, at Lincoln College. Peter Jackson FSET, learning and skills lead for automotive engineering at the college, explains that this work began after he and his colleagues visited the Autoinform Live event at Wolverhampton in 2016.

They were surprised both by the extent to which some parts of the industry had started to move towards use of EVs, and by changing attitudes in an industry where collaboration and communication had been limited in the past. “Suddenly manufacturers and component suppliers really wanted to share what was going on in the industry and to raise awareness of the systems being fitted to vehicles,” Jackson recalls.

Over the next three years Lincoln College started to work with manufacturers and employers to try to raise more awareness of the expertise needed to work with EVs and related technologies, such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Attendances at these events have increased and Lincoln College has helped to organise more of them around the country, including events designed specifically for employers, mechanics, teachers, trainers, apprentices and young people.

This inter-sectoral collaboration has helped Lincoln College to add EV and ADAS expertise and employers’ input into its own automotive programmes at Levels 1, 2 and 3, and into courses run for mechanics already working in the industry. Jackson and his colleagues have also supported automotive departments in other FE colleges seeking to improve their provision of such courses, including the creation of the AutoInform roadshow.

This is an example of inter-sectoral collaboration and learning helping an industry to prepare for a huge transformation, with sales of new petrol and diesel cars due to be phased out in the UK from 2030. There is a need to convey the speed and implications of these changes to those already working

SECTOR FOCUS

in the industry, or those who are considering a career within it.

Inter-sectoral working is also enriching the training services that Capita Learning now provides for the Royal Navy as lead partner in a consortium called Team Fisher, which also includes technology providers and the University of Lincoln. More than 800 staff previously working for the Royal Navy now work for employers in the Team Fisher consortium, which aims to use technology to transform and modernise shore-based training for the navy.

“The navy wants to improve its training and recognises the need for more inter-sectoral working to generate new ideas,” says Houlihan, who works for Capita and Team Fisher. The consortium is working with other FE colleges and providers, and also with another Capita partner TeachingHOW2s, which will deliver personalised pedagogical support, helping to drive continuous improvement in teaching and training for navy personnel.

Added benefits Inter-sectoral work is also helping to recruit more trainers and teachers for all parts of the education sector, including people who have previously worked in industry and some who have served in the armed forces. Indeed, if inter-sectoral learning is backed by investment in both the people and the other resources needed to deliver it effectively, learning devised and delivered on this basis could make a major contribution to closing the skills gaps affecting employers.

“Colleges are there to serve the people and employers in their locality,” says Fairclough. “By working with employers in the community we are supporting local industry, but without making those connections, how do we know that what we’re delivering is relevant?”

But, above all, effective inter-sectoral learning is beneficial for students and apprentices. As Houlihan says, it should leave learners “more ready for work, with a clearer line of sight to what their future career might look like”. Employers, and society too, will benefit from that.

DAVID ADAMS is a freelance journalist

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FEATURE

SET22 CONFERENCE

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

A DAY TO REMEMBER The rearranged SET22 Conference, held in January, was the first in-person event since 2019. A stellar line-up of speakers and an impressive venue ensured a sell-out crowd of FE practitioners was not disappointed, as Nick Martindale reports cold day in Birmingham was the setting for the delayed SET22 Conference in January, having been rearranged from the initial date in November. But there was a warm welcome for delegates at the Vox Conference Centre, with the intimate surroundings creating a feeling of being in a hotel rather than a traditional conference venue.

That warmth was fully reflected by Sarah Simons, who proved to be just as engaging and enigmatic a host in person as she had been at the previous two online conferences. Now in its fifth year, this was the first in-person event since 2019, and it was clear to see just how welcome this was from people’s faces. “The gang is back together,” boomed Simons, as a quick poll revealed people had travelled from as far away as Newcastle and Weymouth.

Simons spoke passionately about the challenges facing the further education and training sector, and the pressure

A

this puts on those working within it.

“Most of us have experienced stress, anxiety and depression at some point,” she said. “Don’t put yourself down the list: you matter! It’s important that you empower yourself by learning that support is available.”

If there was ever an example of someone who has been able to achieve things against the odds, it would be keynote speaker Bonita Norris (main picture). Norris climbed Mount Everest at the age of just 22 and went on to become the youngest woman to do both this and reach the North Pole. She talked about how her journey to challenge herself started at school, when her teacher inspired her to run the Reading Marathon.

“Amazing educators inspire us to achieve more than we know we can,” she said.

She spoke about the challenge of raising £50,000 to climb Everest, and having to prove the people who told her to give up wrong. “I thought I would fail every step of the way, but I kept going,” she said. “It’s so important to have a goal.”

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SET22 CONFERENCE SE

FEATURE

IN NUMBERS

Breakout sessions Powered by that inspirational message, delegates headed off to a number of breakout sessions, with regular refuelling sessions featuring coffee and cake. Amarjit Basi, who leads on the Black FE Leadership Group’s diagnostic, training and leadership development work, provided practical tips on leading anti-racist learning.

Hayley Igbokwe, governance manager for the Association of Colleges (AoC), and Lisa Farnhill, a clerk to the corporation at Southport College, outlined the process around further education (FE) governance, and what’s needed to make it work effectively. “The most effective way is for a governor to act as a critical friend,” said Igbokwe. “Governors need to be visible and approachable, not feared or absent.”

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) national head for educational governance Dr Paul Tully was joined by Jonathan Tummons, professor of ethnography and education at Durham University, and Deborah Scarborough, a board member at HOLEX, to talk about the cultural implications of using the ETF’s revised Professional Standards, in a standing-room-only event.

Alongside this, Richard Booth, ILT co-ordinator and project lead at Shrewsbury College, and Darryl Jones, previous regional head of learning, skills and employment at HM Prison and Probation Service and current Ofsted inspector, spoke about the use of augmented reality (AR) in offender learning, and the potential for its use to be extended throughout FE.

Musical interlude After lunch, attendees were treated to an inspiring musical performance by students at the Orpheus Centre (pictured, top right), an independent specialist

college Surrey that ll iin S h iincreases the h confidence and skills of young disabled adults through the performing arts.

It was an inspirational prelude to another round of breakout sessions, which included the evergreen FE teacher and author Geoff Petty talking about teaching values, with a heavy emphasis on the need to embed sustainability in every aspect of FE teaching. “Your whole philosophy has to tip from being carbonoriented to renewables-oriented,” he said.

“Your students will go out and live their lives how you have taught them.” Petty also outlined how techniques such as assertive questioning can help students reach the right decisions, and how they can overcome objections in the real world.

The ETF’s national head of technical education Cerian Ayres introduced an illuminating session, where delegates heard from technical teaching fellows Ben Houlihan FSET, Peter Jackson FSET, Alison Ackroyd FSET and Rosa Wells FSET on their research as part of the ETF and Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Technical Teaching Fellowships.

The day was brought to a close with a powerful keynote address by Judy Ling Wong, a poet, painter and environmentalist who chairs the Green Advisory Panel, working with the IFATE Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. She spoke powerfully about the role education plays in creating a sustainable future.

“We need you to be enthused about your potential to impact climate change,” she said, highlighting the need for 2m green jobs to be filled in the coming years. It was a fitting message on which to end an inspirational day.

NICK MARTINDALE is editor of inTuition

96% would recommend the conference to others

92% said SET22 met their expectations

91%

would like to attend future events from SET/the ETF

325 attendees (highest turnout at live event)

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RESEARCH AND INSIGHT FROM THE FURTHER EDUCATION SECTOR

Staying up to speed There are many different initiatives designed to ensure vocational lecturers maintain their industrial knowledge, but ensuring that reaches the classroom can be a challenge. Sam Jones outlines the findings from her research on how two engineering lecturers fared ne of the biggest challenges faced by many vocational lecturers is ensuring that their industrial knowledge is current. This challenge has become a pressing necessity with the advent of T Levels and the ‘world class skills’ agenda. One method of meeting this challenge is through initiatives such as the successful ‘Industry Insights’ programme from the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), which allows staff to engage in a range of industry-related activities.

While event feedback has created a deep evidence base which indicates vocational staff feel the benefit of engaging with the wider industry, there is less research that focuses on the categories of knowledge staff are hoping to gain through engagement with industry, and what the challenges are to transfer these learnings back to the classroom.

This research, sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, took place over a four-year period.

This article focuses on the first two years, which took place in a large, multi-site further education (FE) college. The first year centred on engaging two lecturers from an engineering or associated professional background in industry, updating similarly to ‘Industry Insights’.

O

Lecturer 1 spent three days in a manufacturer of tanks and Lecturer 2 spent a day on an ecohouse construction site. The work moved on in the second year to focus on engaging the departments these lecturers worked within with local employers to create digital

content to be used both to update staff and teach students.

YEAR ONE The work in the first year had a small sample size in order to closely track each lecturer’s intervention and their longterm success at using what was being called the ‘occupational knowledge’ gained in their teaching practice. To this end, the lecturers were interviewed before they visited industry to understand their teaching and work-based history and their requirements for the updating.

They were observed throughout one day of their updating opportunity to ascertain the kinds of occupational knowledge and

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INDUSTRY KNOWHOW

experience they had encountered during the updating. Finally, they were interviewed twice over a period of six months following the updating to understand their successes and the barriers they faced in moving what they had gained from the updating experience into their classrooms.

BOTH LECTURERS DECIDED TO MAKE CHANGE AT A CURRICULUM LEVEL RATHER THAN BRING BACK SMALLER EXAMPLES OR STORIES

IL L U S T R AT IO N : I S T O C K P H O T O

Initial findings Both lecturers were enthusiastic to make changes to their teaching when they initially returned from the updating. Notably, these changes were about allowing learners to think and act in ways that would be useful in their potential future workplaces.

However, over the longer-term, workload, curriculum or syllabus changes and access to resources proved to be significant barriers.

Lecturer 1 had witnessed students on the business’s graduate training scheme undertake six-sigma training, which included undertaking an improvement project based around these principles in their placement. The business felt that this was a great way to get the students thinking in a manner that prepared them for work, and that the idea could be useful to the development of the engineering apprenticeship programme as it was linked to the development of workplace practice.

Lecturer 1 planned on improving their curriculum by running this programme before the summer break, allowing the apprentices the summer to return to the workplace and put the framework into practice.

However, in an interview shortly before the summer period, almost two-and-a-half terms after the updating, this planned change had still not taken place.

The two significant blockages identified were the cost of training the trainer in order to support apprentices in gaining a ‘green belt’ in six sigma, and the workload

constraint of the lecturer, as a different programme was going through syllabus changes, which demanded their attention above the apprenticeship: “Obviously we’ve got changes in the level two curriculum so this summer that has to be my priority.

I still think it is a great idea, but don’t have the actual time to work on this.”

Although Lecturer 1 could see the value of the changes, they were not mandated by the syllabus or the examination board and, as time and resource was limited, the syllabus changes had to take priority.

Lecturer 2 found similar constraints. The one-day placement had allowed the lecturer to see that they could modify their curriculum and teach up-to-date processes and regulations by replicating the processes witnessed on site. What the lecturer had witnessed on site, which particularly excited them, was the trades working together in new ways, rather than separately.

They wished to replicate this for the construction students to both prepare them for working in a manner expected by the industry, moving the students past simply ‘knowing’ the “regulations … to connecting them with the process of the build and understanding that process”.

Despite the advantages this would have brought the students, and in common with Lecturer 1, the curriculum could not be changed in the ways planned due to timetabling, resource and syllabus constraints.

In order to get all the construction trades to work together as the first lecturer had witnessed on site, the timetables for three courses would have had to change to bring the learners together. As the lecturer recounts, there was “no hope” of this.

Regarding the resources to facilitate construction, at the point that the study took place the students used and reused the same bricks across multiple projects. As the SAM JONES is chair of the environmentally friendly building Research College materials were more expensive Group and author and less reusable in this way, the of Great FE resources could not be provided Teaching (see page 39) for the classroom:

THE KNOWLEDGE

“The cost …the ring beams really stood out – it would be great to model this in the classroom, but they are expensive materials. Unless, can you can get X to donate some?”

Finally, issues around the syllabus were also present. The types of construction used in the eco-homes were not yet featured on most of the syllabi taught within the college – “this [type of construction] is in the level four studies but only in two lessons of one unit” – and did not feature in levels one or two.

What does this suggest?

This data indicates, for the participants in this very small but in-depth sample, that returning to industry allowed both lecturers to see new and better ways to deliver and enhance the curriculum. It is worthy of note that while these lecturers were not given guidance, they both decided to make change at a curriculum level rather than bring back smaller examples or stories from their updating.

However, both were unable to move the financial, syllabus and resource-related barriers that would allow them to make these curriculum-level changes. It is of particular note that, for both lecturers, the use of the ‘new’ knowledge required both a change to delivery and the purchase of new resource in the form of training or equipment.

This suggests that the occupational knowledge is ‘embodied in’ the resources, and indicates this knowledge can only be passed on or taught through the use of, or engagement with, the resource itself. Both case studies also point to the constrained resources and finances inhibiting the movement or transfer of knowledge.

Moreover, these constraints result in time and energy being given to the maintenance of meeting the standards and requirements of examination boards, rather than exceeding them.

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INDUSTRY KNOWHOW

YEAR TWO

WIDER INITIATIVES

The updating opportunities and interviews ceased as Covid-19 hit, and instead the work began to explore how digital resources, cocreated with local employers, could be used as alternatives to locationbased updating, and whether these resources could overcome some of the barriers identified in the first year of the work. The idea was that a video could bring sufficient representation of the context of the work and visual access to the resources.

A series of interviews with senior figures in the departments who had not participated in year one was carried out to understand how these resources could be used both to update staff and transfer the knowledge from this updating into the classroom to teach students.

Initial findings The most interesting development from this stage of the work was to open up the discussion about what was being termed ‘occupational knowledge’ at the start of the project. Up until this point, this term had been used to catch all the forms of knowledge that could be gained by updating, both tactic and explicit (Polanyi, 1967).

However, both interviewees differentiated the knowledge of the new technology or ideas from knowing how these technologies or ideas are used in practice in local businesses: “What does occupational knowledge even mean? Obviously not one thing – you need to know about technologies and new technologies, but how they are used, that is different in my mind.”

This resonates strongly with the decisions made by the lecturers earlier to work at a curriculum level to allow them to assess “how [the new technologies] are used”.

Understanding how others are approaching tasks and what decisions are being made appeared to be an important aspect of seeing

The research outlined in this piece took place over four years, drawing on the input of two lecturers. Other stakeholders – including the ETF – have also provided funding for both ‘Industry Insights’ and ‘Teacher Encounters’, including oneday, 5- to 10-day and longer immersive placements, as well as group and online࣢placements.

Examples here include the ETF’s TLPD Industry Insights (et-foundation. co.uk/news/case-studies/category/tlpdindustry-insight-placements) and SET for Teaching Success Industry Insights (et-foundation.co.uk/news/case-studies/ category/set-for-teaching-success).

These opportunities have been beneficial for teachers, and subsequently their learners. For example, Alison Ackroyd, a science lecturer at Mid Kent College, as a consequence of her placement, has been involved in the design and development of a CPD course in genomics that is available nationally, working in collaboration with Wellcome Trust and Sanger Institute.

The Careers and Enterprise Company is also offering Teacher Encounters (careersandenterprise.co.uk/employers/ teacher-encounters-tools-and-resources) to support the embedding of the Gatsby Benchmarks cross-sector.

people and technology at work in context. The best received idea for a digital recourse was a voicedover video that had an individual completing a task using the new technology from start to end, explaining what they are doing and why they are doing it in that way. Again, this appears to add weight to the idea of knowledge being ‘embodied’ into activities and resources.

At the interviews this was seen as beneficial as “you can see into that organisation, into the mind of that engineer. It’s got to be useful for staff and students, particularly if you are both using the same resource because you are both at the same thought process.” Again, this appears to add weight to the idea of knowledge being ‘embodied’ into activities and resources.

What does this suggest?

The issue of the ‘embodied’ knowledge suggests that thought is required when planning for industrial updating in terms of how to facilitate its movement post-event. What resources or adaptions will be required, or can be made, needs consideration to ensure

opportunities are not wasted. The data from this section also suggests that a catch-all term such as ‘occupational knowledge’ may be insufficient when thinking about the types of knowledge required by lecturers. I used ‘technical knowledge’ and ‘contextual knowledge’ to differentiate between new technology or ideas and knowing how these technologies or ideas are used.

Conclusion To exploit the opportunities that returning to industry can bring to vocational lecturers, greater consideration needs to be given to the types of knowledge that the lecturers and the syllabus feel are appropriate and what time, resources and activities may be required post-event to contain or embody the knowledge to ensure its movement or transfer.

Focusing on the post-event changes as much as on the organisation of the updating event itself should help to address structural issues such as workload, curriculum changes and access to resources, which are currently barriers to some lecturers.

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AWARDS

QTLS

ROLL OF HONOUR The following people have successfully achieved QTLS or ATS status. Congratulations to all!

QTLS JA N UA RY 2022 Rivkah Abayahoudayan MSET Diane Addy MSET Christina Adu MSET Falguni Ahmed MSET Sajeela Alam MSET Ayman Ali MSET Maria Allen MSET Tracy Ashcroft MSET Sharon Ashton MSET Lisa Atkin MSET Harjinder Atwal MSET Debbie Devoiry Austerlitz MSET Gordon Bailey MSET Navpreet Bains MSET Sandeep Bains MSET Naima Bakar MSET Adrian Banner MSET Polly Barber MSET Kim Barclay MSET Sarah Bates-Ryan MSET Pegah Bayati MSET Kylie Beal MSET Julie Bedford MSET Nabila Begum MSET Rahela Begum MSET Saria Begum MSET Esther Ruth Benady MSET Fatima Bibi MSET Basya Leah Biderman MSET Jodie Blunt MSET Marija Bogdan MSET Phoebe Brazier MSET Shamanta Brown MSET Zoe Brown MSET Rita Bucciarelli MSET Jessica Burrage MSET Owen Burson MSET Hannah Bush MSET Camille Cameron MSET Jennifer Cape MSET Gina Carey MSET Stuart Carroll MSET Louise Carter MSET

Sonja Carter MSET Ryan Carty MSET Ana Menendez Castillo MSET Sarah Catterall MSET Saikat Chanda MSET Beverley Chapman MSET Mohammad Chowdhury MSET Sherelle Clarke MSET Hannah Crisp MSET Rochelle Critch MSET Karen Croft MSET Bethany-Jayne Dalton MSET Hannah Darlow MSET Sophie Davey MSET Gillian Davidson Zulu MSET Rose Davies MSET Victoria Deakin MSET Zoe Dean MSET Claire Deering MSET Ross Doodson MSET Matthew Dorsett MSET Asaph Dulin MSET Andrew Duncalf MSET Nicola Dunmall MSET Thomas Eke MSET Chloe Elackman MSET Dee Elgie MSET Steven Ellis MSET Nicole Fagan MSET Edward Fairnington MSET Jennifer Fallon MSET Zarah Farooq MSET Bethan Farrow MSET Saminah Fazil MSET Chris Fenner MSET Araceli Fernandez MSET Clare FitzGerald MSET Claire Fletcher MSET Jonathan Francsics MSET Miriam Fuerst MSET Emma Gibbons MSET Yolanda Glascott MSET Hayley Glenn MSET Lucy Glover MSET Elena Gonzales MSET Nichola Green MSET

Chayelle Grun MSET Shallu Gupta MSET Sally Habboub MSET Osman Habib MSET Baber Hafiz MSET Ross Halford MSET Melanie Hancox MSET Toni Hanson MSET Rachel Hare MSET Tanya Harris MSET Maria Haspell MSET Hibo Ahmed Hassan MSET Bethany Haughtey MSET Sharron Helstern MSET Maria del Carmen Barnechea Herbozo de Wood MSET William Hirst MSET Sophie Hitchens MSET Ianthea Hollancide MSET Andrew Holmes MSET Alexandra Hull MSET Richard Ingram MSET Azeem Iqbal MSET Katie Jackson MSET Matt Jeffery MSET Lucy Jelf MSET Anthony John-Baptiste MSET Steven Johnson MSET Amanda Johnston MSET Samantha Jones MSET Natasha Kaskas MSET Anudeep Kaur MSET Holly Kazai MSET Carolyn Keaney MSET Elliot Keeble MSET Keren Keet MSET Amy Kemeridis MSET Lourdes Kerr MSET Fiona Kettle MSET Masum Khan MSET Elizabeth Knibbs MSET Debra Kohn MSET Tze Kin Jackie Lao MSET Jessica Lee MSET James Lee MSET Natalie Leonard MSET

Daniel Lester MSET Ana Loasby MSET Fabio Lorenzini MSET Eleni Loukopoulou MSET Melina Louli MSET Dan Lovett MSET Matthew Mackay MSET Amelia Mann MSET Holly Manton MSET Juliet Marlow MSET Arseniy Martin MSET Annabel Masefield MSET Tendai Maxwell Matika MSET Lucy May MSET Robert McKane MSET Rachel McLean MSET Jack Merrifield MSET Francesca Metcalfe MSET Mohammed Erahk Miah MSET Samir Miah MSET Chanelle Mills MSET Zara Milton MSET James Mobbs MSET Kieran Moran MSET Ruth Morley MSET Leanne Morritt MSET Khushboo Mughal MSET Kumbirai Mushayabasa MSET Emma Mycroft MSET Matt Nelson MSET Karen Newman MSET Rachel Nolson MSET Lee Norton MSET Andrew Nunn MSET Sinan Nuuman MSET Sarah O’Mahoney MSET Jamie Odell MSET Jessica Olds MSET Izaak Oliver MSET Laura Olrod MSET William Parkin MSET George Payne MSET Johanna Pennington MSET Eliyohu Pink MSET Luke Pitty MSET Charlotte Plumb MSET

Tony Pomfret MSET Tehila Posen MSET Kirsty Powell MSET Mickeisha Powell MSET Angelica Pownall MSET Elena Procopio MSET Holly Quinn MSET Rashmi Raghvani MSET Revathy Ramachandran MSET Sadia Rani MSET Mahak Raza MSET James Reekie MSET Chris Reeve MSET Tim Regan MSET Adam Render MSET Rebecca Rendle MSET Claire Rhodes MSET Ellie Rigden MSET Hannah Robertson MSET Rachael Roche MSET Calan Rollinson MSET Sudipta Roychoudhury MSET Hannah Royde MSET Nicola Rushen MSET James Salfarlie MSET Claire Sangster MSET David Schwinger MSET Rebecca Scoble MSET Jon Selvage MSET Rehana Shaikh MSET Tracey Sharpe MSET Humayrah Shazad MSET Rachel Shedd MSET Adam Shorthose MSET Joanna Shwe MSET Beverley Simpson MSET Joshua Simpson MSET Melanie Singleton MSET Ashleigh Slavin MSET Amanda Smith MSET Donald Smith MSET Liam Smith MSET Mark Smithers MSET Louise Steer MSET James Suret MSET Chloe Swift MSET

Piroska Szell MSET Muhammad Tabassum MSET Jag Tamber MSET Senay Tayfur MSET Alison Taylor MSET Emma Taylor MSET Caroline Taylor MSET Rebecca Thompson MSET Pete Thompson MSET Zayne Thomson MSET Josh Timms MSET Yin Ting Hui MSET Conor Tinsley MSET Amy Todd MSET Mark Towers MSET Katie Truelove MSET Nikoleta Tsiama MSET Simon Tully MSET Julie Tyler MSET Lisa Walker MSET Rebekkha Weaver MSET Kim Welsh MSET Kamarla Westfield MSET Neil Weston MSET Susan White MSET Lindsay Willis-Wood MSET Edith Windsor-Stokes MSET Luke Woodcraft MSET Ellie Wynn MSET Halima Yasmin MSET Shelley Young MSET Sbaht Zafar MSET Wenling Zhang MSET

QTLS M AY 2022 Zahida Imtiaz MSET

ATS COHORT 5 Sajia Iqbal MSET Ian Lowe MSET

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THE KNOWLEDGE

PRACTITIONER RESEARCH PROGRAMME

MAGGIE GREGSON is professor of vocational education at the University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT)

PAUL KESSELLHOLLAND is deputy director of new programme design and development at the Education and Training Foundation (EFT)

Tangible impact The ETF’s Practitioner Research Programme has seen over 300 teachers from across the further adult vocational and technical education sector in England conduct systematic research into educational practice ‘from the inside’.

Maggie Gregson and Paul Kessell-Holland look at the difference it has made ince the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) was first established, providing support for practitioners to conduct systematic research into the educational challenges they face has been a critical part of its CPD strategy for the sector.

S

Some of this research has been in the form of collaborative projects between teams of practitioners and organisations, while other projects have been of a more individual nature, where the focus is on addressing educational concerns identified by individual education professionals.

The importance of this work to the sector has been documented many times, and is now reflected in the current Ofsted framework, which counts participation in research activity as one of the most effective forms of teacher CPD. The Practitioner Research Programme (PRP) delivered by the University of Sunderland’s Centre

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PRACTITIONER RESEARCH PROGRAMME

for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT) has supported over 300 teachers from across the further adult vocational and technical education sector in England (representing 94 organisations with a population of over 8,000 students) to conduct systematic research into the improvement of educational practice ‘from the inside’.

In addition to this, some 250 PRP practitioners have successfully undertaken a 30-credit MA in advancing pedagogy, laying foundations for their future research journeys.

Enabling the wider research community to recognise the value of practitioner research is critical in ensuring that its contributions to raising standards of teaching, learning and assessment are not overlooked or dismissed by individuals and institutions with responsibility for educational improvement.

Because this form of educational research does try not to prove that particular approaches

THE KNOWLEDGE

The PRP research community: Research degrees awarded/in progress

Total

Full Professorship

Awarded PhDs

Current PhD research students

Awarded MPhil

Current MPhil research students

Grand total

1

12

19

6

12

50

developed from ‘big’ research ‘work’ in the way randomised control trials (RCTs) might do – and it is not large enough in scale to claim that a particular approach will work in more than one setting – some policymakers may struggle to make sense of how PRP research can impact educational improvement on a wider scale.

It has also taken time for those involved to find the most systematic and robust ways of presenting the emerging contributions to practice and professional learning in order for it to be considered rigorous,

robust and useful to a wider audience of academic researchers and practitioners.

In this context, the PRP provides us with a new model of educational change and improvement, which is now making important contributions to the research infrastructure across England and more recently on a global scale.

This article offers some case studies of sector practitioners’ direct experiences of the impact of the PRP upon practitioners.

In the next issue, Gregson provides further examples of the impact of the PRP across different sector organisations.

1CASE STUDY

Marcin Lewandowski FSET

‘By promoting practitioner research, organisations develop more engaged, reflective and࣢resilient teachers’ Marcin Lewandowski, head of learning at social enterprise Action West London, is passionate about the value of action research. “It’s such a great way to build your continuing professional development because you’re immersed in it and it’s so relevant to what you’re doing,” he says. He had already completed an MA earlier in his career, as well as a number of smaller studies, so was no stranger to research.

Over the course of his shorter PRP and subsequently an MPhil and PhD, he has focused on how to promote learner autonomy. Two studies looked

at using Google tools such as Hangouts and Docs for learner collaboration in adult education settings – a practice that many students will be familiar with since the pandemic, but which was࣢innovative in 2014 at the time of the research.

“Because they are immersed in their practice, practitioners are more likely to identify problems and spot opportunities to improve it,” he adds.

“No one could have predicted that three years after the second study [into online collaboration] was completed, we would all be working online and, when a lot of organisations were scrambling to organise their provisions, we had already been doing ‘hybrid’ delivery for five years. Ultimately, I think

that by promoting practitioner research, organisations develop more engaged and resilient teachers.”

Lewandowski believes that the chance to pursue research has impacted not only his individual practice but that of Action West London more widely.

After completing the PRP, he achieved his PhD in 2021 and has been working with the team at SUNCETT to support others going through the process.

He is inspired by the insight and feedback he received from his own supervisor when he was doing his PRP, adding: “Your supervisor can reassure you that you’re on the right track, and if not can let you know and guide you࣢back.”

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PRACTITIONER RESEARCH PROGRAMME

2 CASE STUDY

Mark Beetlestone

‘The research taught me to look at the sector in a different light’ Mark Beetlestone joined the PRP in 2019 on the one-year MA course after a colleague recommended he applied. “I don’t consider myself an academic but enjoyed trying new things, so I suppose I was already researching my practice without actually calling it that,” he says.

He had worked in futher education (FE) for more than a decade and was passionate about digital education, so wanted to explore that further.

His chosen project was an investigation into why teaching practitioners in vocational education don’t tend to engage with technology, and he was surprised to find his assumptions were challenged. “I thought࣢I knew what the answers would be, and࣢doing the research taught me to look at the sector in a different light,” he࣢adds.

Sharing his findings with a growing࣢network of colleagues

who࣢were also pursuing the PRP helped࣢him grow in confidence both࣢personally and professionally, he࣢believes. His supervisor, Gregson from SUNCETT,࣢became a valuable࣢mentor who helped him see the࣢value of his research and frame it in࣢the right way.

“The residential aspect was particularly special,” he reflects.

“The days were structured, but having time to decompress and discuss our research with others in the evening was really࣢important.”

Beetlestone later opted to follow the longer MPhil programme and is now working towards a PhD in gamification and how that impacts vocational education. He is a curriculum designer at BAE Systems, where he is supporting the defence and aerospace company to modernise its early careers curriculum for apprentices and graduates.

“Gamification is an area the company is looking to explore as it goes through a wider digital transformation,” he explains. “My research projects definitely helped me to get this role.”

students. “Students come out of school where English is taught in a certain way and we put them through that again,” he explains. “My students didn’t want to attend English classes because they felt it was boring and didn’t have a connection to it. So I asked them to bring in examples of language they related to that would be more fun.” Talking about song or rap lyrics led to a discussion of why the musicians chose those words, and the features of language that created a particular impact.

Hyde’s manager had taken part in the PRP and encouraged him to pitch his idea to SUNCETT, and he gained a

place on the programme.

He’d previously done a small project for Advanced Teacher Status accreditation, but this was the first time he’d undertaken formal research. “I came into education as a plumber, so the notion of research felt alien, but this programme makes it really accessible,” he says.

There are a number of PRP alumni at Barking and Dagenham College so they regularly share insights, but Hyde’s research has also gained traction at external research conferences.

He adds. “This is such a powerful programme and has been life-changing for me.”

3 CASE STUDY Mark Hyde

‘This is such a powerful programme and has been life-changing for me’ Mark Hyde, a plumbing lecturer and English teacher at Barking and Dagenham College, has become a more reflective teacher since beginning the PRP. Since beginning the short MA course and then moving onto the MPhil, which he is due to complete next year, he has gained a wider scope of perspectives on his practice and feels he is “a better, and more aware,࣢teacher”.

His chosen area of research is how English language is taught to vocational

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CORE AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Close the gap Developing core and character skills provides an opportunity to help tackle the disparity in educational performance that stems from socio-economic disadvantage. This should be a priority for those working in the further education and training sector, argues Lynette Leith here must be a concerted effort to close the nontechnical skill gap, particularly for individuals who find their educational attainment affected by socio-economic disadvantage. Addressing this issue has the potential to improve the outcomes of those whose education has been disrupted by their socio-economic background and may narrow the education attainment gap, thus contributing to a fairer, more prosperous and equitable society for all.

The role of education within social mobility has been debated for years (Elliot Major, 2012).

“It has become increasingly the case that where you come from – who you are born to and where you are born – matters more than ever for where you

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are going to” (Elliot Major and Machin, 2018).

Debate aside, there is certainty that socio-economic status plays a role in educational outcomes.

It is widely understood and academically researched that wider educational experiences and skill development play a role in student success and progression (Angus et al, 2020; Kashefpakdel et al, 2021).

Data evidences that areas of high disadvantage and diverse communities often have poorer educational outcomes and quality of life. This is the same for health, earnings and social mobility.

Attainment gaps begin at school age, with the brightest children in disadvantaged settings underperforming against the least academically able in affluent schools (Jerrim et al, 2016). This continues into further education and life. By the age of 16 young people find it harder to catch up; pre-pandemic, around 40 per cent of young people did not attain a pass grade (C/4), with half of those being from disadvantaged

LYNETTE LEITH MSET is vice principal for curriculum at Hull College

THE KNOWLEDGE

backgrounds (Department for Education, 2017). While outcomes have improved in recent exam series, we still see issues in attainment for those most affected by socio-economic disadvantage.

The government has, for decades, sought to address this through national policy and legislative bills. In 2017, the Department for Education bid to improve social mobility through its Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential White Paper, which said: “In our country today, where you start still all too often determines where you finish. And while talent is spread evenly across the country, opportunity is not.

“None of us should accept this.

Everyone deserves a fair shot in life and a chance to go as far as their hard work and talent can take them” (Department for Education, 2017).

Move forward some five years and the recently published Levelling Up White Paper echoed words of the past: “Not everyone shares equally in the UK’s success.

While talent is spread equally across our country, opportunity is not. Levelling up is a mission to challenge, and change, that unfairness” (HM Government’s Levelling Up the United Kingdom Executive Summary, 2022).

While the White Paper suggests positive steps toward improvement, such as attention to funding and development for

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THE KNOWLEDGE

CORE AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

the education system, it failed to take explicit account of the nuanced yet profound impacts of social inequality in education.

It fails to, as many have in the past, acknowledge the marked impact inequality can have on the core and character skill development of those for whom education has been disrupted and disturbed because of deprivation and disadvantage.

If you've been working on an interesting research project and would like to write about it, let us know! Email nick.martindale@ redactive.co.uk

Implications for FE In further education (FE), this is significant in relation to our decisions surrounding the curriculum we offer, wider support services, learning pedagogies, and our staff and leadership development.

Research suggests that those operating in areas of high deprivation frequently face vigorous challenge, and it is necessary for them to employ compound approaches and concentrated strategic methods, at the same time as exerting a multifaceted and responsive set of social, emotional and personal skills (Harris, 2002).

It is arguable that the entire FE sector is operating in a highly disadvantaged state given the changeable and uncontrollable climate we navigate.

But what does this mean for learning, particularly in the context of deprivation? The process of learning starts at birth; it is shaped, influenced and nurtured by the world around us.

Learning is multi-layered and encompasses processes of remembering, reasoning, general intelligence and aspects of discipline (Bloor, 2018), all of which depend on conditional circumstances enabling productive engagement in the subject matter.

The fundamental principles of Maslow’s hierarchy suggests that our most rudimentary needs of physiological, safety, love and

belonging, and esteem must be met to reach a basic level of selfactualisation where motivation increases (Mcleod, 2022). When our hierarchy of needs is neglected, motivation decreases.

Investigations by education and sociology research shows that young people and children living in deprivation experience cognitive and physiological barriers to learning.

Inequalities early in life appear in parenting practice, the quality of childcare, access to healthy and nutritious food, and living conditions.

The intersection between the process of learning, basic human needs and socio-economic development offers direct intersection with educational attainment and deprivation. Those experiencing deprivation may be further impacted by feelings of isolation, inferiority and failure.

Persistent engagement in situations of low perceived success experienced by children and young people results in them adjusting and lowering their aspirations (Calarco, 2011; Morris, 2012).

Core and character education Education is about something more than subject knowledge alone. There is an increased focus on wider skills. What were once

considered soft skills have become primary to education and in the job market.

The development of these skills dates back as far as 1959 when the Crowther Report recommended a focus on general studies for late secondary education (Education in England, 2010).

The 1970s and 1980s saw further vocational initiatives such as the Youth Training Scheme, followed in the early 1990s by the introduction of core skills units within the GNVQ, such as problem solving, communication, personal skills, numbers and IT. BTEC assignment requirements changed to include cross-modular skills, and general studies shifted to a core knowledge programme.

The wider skills agenda has remained persistent, which is unsurprising in an evolving world.

This thinking continues in the current qualification landscape, with core skills being developed holistically or delivered as an ‘addon’ to existing programmes.

In today’s modern society core skills have evolved and changed.

The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report (2020) suggests that complex problemsolving, self-management, working with people and technology use and development are the four primary types of

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CORE AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

skill areas needed in 2025, notwithstanding more advanced areas of skill such as sustainability and the green agenda.

In an advancing 21st century economy, qualifications are one aspect of a strong workforce, and we are seeing a marked shift towards core skills being considered as important to the job role as the subject area itself.

The message is undeniable: core skills enable individuals to successfully navigate the world around them and are important for successful graduation into working life, career progression, the workforce economy and society’s future prosperity.

Character education, on the other hand, looks at more complex human dispositions.

To seek a unified definition of character education is challenging since character involves multiple domains. Character is connected to our ‘virtue’ and regards our moral, civic, performance and intellectual being (Baehr, 2017).

Core and character have been separated in educational settings but recent advancements in practice have seen the two areas intertwine more freely.

Adopted mostly in schools, character education is not as explicitly developed in the FE sector, although we in FE develop this in droves.

Framework for character education The 2019 framework for character education provides six benchmarks for evaluating the work of a school and four character features to be used to inform the way a school shapes its wider provision (Department for Education’s Character Education Framework Guidance, 2019).

Although school-centric, the framework offers valuable influence when applied

to any education setting; there is synchronicity between the character education framework, what research says and Ofsted’s current Education Inspection Framework.

We ought to ask ourselves more often how core and character education might be applied in FE colleges to enable students to flourish in life and work. If we are to impact the wider development of students in a way that enables them to progress and engage in the highlevel opportunities around them – particularly where disadvantage is an issue – then I’d suggest that core skills and character development must be a priority.

The political landscape puts both demands and challenges on the sector. Funding is complex, changeable and minimal; there is a lack of political will to tackle the inequalities that exist in FE; and the system is highly metric-driven and formulaic.

In conflict with this, core and character development are deeply personal, unscripted, differentiated and often steeped in physiological and psychological impacts (Bloor, 2018; Calarco, 2011; Morris, 2012).

Operating in areas of high deprivation demands a concerted effort to ensure equity in the face of challenge. In order to establish longterm effects in this area, we should develop frameworks that place core and character education at the centre of curriculum and college development. These skills can be prioritised in our teaching, learning, enrichment and assessment, and in the support services we provide.

We ought to look at design, delivery and evaluation through a critical disadvantage lens.

We might improve organisational capacity and capability towards the most recent educational methods of neuroscience, therapy and psychology – and continue to develop our own narrative, which clearly articulates the wonder and challenge that is the FE sector.

THE KNOWLEDGE

Academic references and further reading Angus A et al. (2020) How do essential skills influence life outcomes?: An evidence review. Available at: bit.ly/3H5JUzl (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Baehr J. (2017) The varieties of character and some implications for character education. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 46(6): 1153-1161.

Bloor C. (2018) The Process of Learning: Some Psychological Aspects of Learning and Discipline in School. Oxon: Routledge.

Calarco J. (2011) “I need help!” Social class and children’s help-seeking in elementary school.

American Sociological Review 76(6): 862-882.

Department for Education. (2017) Improving social mobility through education. Available at: bit.ly/3wx6Nad (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Department for Education. (2019) Character education framework. Available at: bit.ly/3HuMLTS (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Education in England. (2010) The Crowther Report (1959). Available at: bit.ly/2DIdTA6 (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Elliot Major L. (2012) The role of education and skills in driving social mobility. Fiscal Studies 33(2): 155-158.

Elliot Major L and Machin S. (2018) Social Mobility: and Its Enemies. London: Pelican.

Harris A. (2002) Effective leadership in schools facing challenging contexts. School Leadership & Management 22(1): 15-26.

HM Government (2022) Levelling up the United Kingdom: Executive Summary. Available at: bit.ly/3R7oOWb (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Jerrim J et al. (2016) PISA 2012: How do results for the paper and computer tests compare?

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 23(4): 495-518.

Kashefpakdel E et al. (2021) Better prepared: Essential skills and employment outcomes for young people. Available at: bit.ly/3HsyRSm (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Mcleod S. (2022) Simply Psychology: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Available at: bit.ly/3HxrrNS (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

Morris DS. (2012) Actively closing the gap? Social class, organized activities, and academic achievement in high school. Youth & Society 47(2): 267-290.

Ofsted. (2022) Education Inspection Framework.

Available at: bit.ly/3wvIjhm (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

World Economic Forum. (2020) The Future of Jobs Report 2020. Available at: bit.ly/3JfoEds (Accessed: 25 January 2023).

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MEMBERS’ CORNER

GET SOCIAL

TIPS AND RESOURCES TO HELP YOU MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP

Plea follo se use a n w ou r has d htag to se et featu he latest res inTu from ition

#SETi nTuiti on THE FORUM

And we’re back! am delighted to report that SET22, held in January, was a resounding success. As you can see from our coverage of the event on pages 24-25, this year’s in-person annual members’ conference really came back with a bang, with a great programme, inspirational keynotes and many highlights we are all still reflecting upon. We are now thinking about the next conference, so if you have any ideas for the event please get in touch through the normal channels.

We are also fresh from the second ATS re-accreditation event, held at Walsall College on 3 March. It was a great day, with high-level networking and CPD opportunities, and the chance for participants to share their ATS journey and their inspirational Improvement Projects, some of which are also highlighted in the resources section of the website.

We hope you enjoy the Membership Review supplement, included within this edition of inTuition.

It’s great for us to reflect on what’s happened over the last 12 months and just how SET is supporting its 23,000-strong membership.

Over 3,500 members have used our online self-assessment tool to evaluate their current practice against the 20

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Professional Standards. This is one of the most popular areas of the SET website, with members using the results to shape their future CPD activity.

If you’ve not yet undertaken a selfassessment, hop over to the website.

On the topic of Professional Standards, we trialled a new resource – the Professional Standards playing cards. These practical cards aim to give members and their organisations a better understanding of the Professional Standards. We will be making these available to the sector with preferential rates for SET members and our corporate partners.

As well as reflecting on the past 12 months, the team is now planning for the new membership year. We will be launching a new-style members’ newsletter in April, and we are finalising a new mentoring scheme, which we are planning to launch in early summer. We will be letting you know how you can get involved, either as a mentor or mentee, as the success of the programme will depend on members taking part.

And to round up this Members’ Corner, we would like to welcome the latest cohort of QTLS participants and wish them well with their professional journey.

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ONLINE RESOURCES

MEMBERS’ CORNER

R E N E WA L S

ARE YOU SET TO STAY? he current membership year ends on 31 March and your invitation to renew should have been received by now. If you historically pay using a credit or debit card or by invoice, you can visit MySET – your online dashboard on the SET website – to renew. You can also switch to direct debit and save on the annual fees. If your employer is a corporate partner, then no action is needed as we will be contacting your employer shortly to discuss the year ahead and how we can continue to offer our support.

If you are one of our members who pays by direct debit (and threequarters of you do!), your membership will be renewed automatically on 1 April. Before then we will be in touch regarding your payment schedule, so you know what is happening and when.

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Here are just three reasons why you should maintain your SET membership: Your community: you are part of the only professional body representing and supporting 23,000 futher education and and training professionals. Through membership you can expand your own network through our areas of special interest and SET events Your career: increase your knowledge and understanding and improve your teaching and training practice through our member-only resources, CPD events and professional formation programmes (QTLS and ATS, leading to chartered status) Your profession: our members can help us raise the status of a career in futher education and training. You can

champion teaching and training quality and illustrate your commitment to your own professional development through membership and postnominal letters.

If your personal circumstances have changed and you need support with your membership fees, log onto your MySET dashboard to see what help is available through our concessionary and reduced rate membership fees policy.

You will also have seen that our terms and conditions have been reviewed and updated. These come into effect from 1 April, along with the revised investigations and disciplinary policy and procedures.

Please check that you have received this essential information.

If you need support or have any feedback please get in touch. We look forward to supporting you over the next 12 months.

CPD

New requirements 2023/24 As the only professional body for all teachers and trainers across the breadth of the further education and training sector, SET is committed to raising the status of the profession. Membership of SET is a recognised benchmark of professionalism, illustrated through the grades of membership and associated࣢postnominals.

We set high standards of entry for our professional grades of membership, which include a commitment to undertake systematic and relevant continuing professional development (CPD) as specified in our Code of Ethics and Conduct, under Professional

Competency. Members agree to “maintain professional knowledge and competence through continuing professional development in both teaching and subject specialism”.

CPD is a very personal journey, focusing on your own professional development needs and results – the outputs and outcomes of the activity undertaken – and, most importantly, the difference it has had or is likely to have on your professional practice, and ultimately your learners.

SET doesn’t stipulate that a minimum number of CPD points or hours must be achieved each year

in order to maintain membership.

There is no mandatory requirement to formally record or submit details of CPD undertaken and SET will not be auditing its members’ CPD activity.

We may, however, undertake a group analysis of completed CPD logs, which are submitted via the online members’ dashboard MySET, to better understand what types of CPD members are undertaking, which will support and inform our future planning.

FAQs and our full CPD policy for the 2023/24 membership year can be found on the SET website

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MEMBERS’ CORNER

MY LIFE IN TEACHING

How did you first get into teaching?

I come from a teaching family – my mother, sister and father have either taught or are currently teaching.

Although I never intended to teach, working as a national vocational qualification assessor pushed me towards teaching. In fact, I always seemed to be on the periphery of teaching, whether it was training care staff or helping to teach self-defence with my old Krav Maga class. I bit the bullet and began my journey, working as a head of year to eventually becoming a lecturer at Walsall College.

Why did you feel this was the career for you?

My mum used to say to me: “You talk so much Daniel, you should be on TV or a teacher!”

Having finally listened to her, I relented and went to Birmingham City University. I took part in a research project focused on the achievement rates of disenfranchised young people, which was very illuminating.

What is your current position?

I currently work as a personal development tutor at Walsall College.

This involves teaching functional skills maths and English, group tutorials and construction industry studies. I am also an internal quality assurer for my faculty.

Can you run me through a typical day?

A typical day involves face-to-face teaching, tracking learner progress, lots of marking and maybe a few meetings. If I happen to be free, I may be researching ideas for group tutorial sessions, working with other teachers or working on my Rosenshine’s Principles in Action workbooks.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

Working in a deprived area means that some of our students may not be focused on learning or motivated to succeed.

This means that we must

IT’S GOOD TO TALK A desire to make a difference – and listening to his mum – prompted Daniel Jones to follow his further education calling

find new and innovative ways to ensure that our learners are able to achieve positive outcomes for themselves and the college.

How would you like your career to develop?

I would like to remain in the classroom. I have a strong interest in sociology and British culture so I would like to teach sociology, preferably at Walsall College or in another country. I would also like to start a provision for schoolrefusers, focusing on behaviour and core skills as I am a strong advocate of good maths and English provision.

What three characteristics do you feel make a good teacher?

I feel it’s important to have a passion for what you do, whether it’s teaching or something totally unrelated. With passion and honesty, your intentions become clear to those you wish to help, which helps me to get student buy-in as I’m very passionate.

A good teacher should be approachable.

Students should be able to ask questions of their teachers without fear of reproach.

Learning should be inclusive, no matter the circumstance, so teachers have a huge responsibility when ensuring that all voices in the classroom are heard.

Finally, I think that a good teacher should be engaging. This is not to say that we must become entertainers, but certainly there is a space within our remit to add humour to lectures or incorporate games into lessons.

What one piece of advice would you have for your former self?

Have patience.

People learn at different rates and student development is not an exact science.

Sometimes we can put pressure on ourselves unnecessarily, which can affect the quality of our teaching delivery.

What do you most love about teaching?

Knowing that I am instrumental in the changing of a learner’s life. It’s important to me that everyone gets a ‘fair shake at the stick’, as it were. If I can help to provide this, I’m happy.

What do you get up to outside of work?

I like to keep fit so I box. I’m also a Krav Maga practitioner, and love karaoke, anime, Star Trek and combat sports.

DANIEL JONES is a lecturer in maths, English,

personal development and work-related studies for construction learners at Walsall College

If you would like to be featured in My Life in Teaching, email intuition@redactive.co.uk

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BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

MEMBERS’ CORNER

Our reviewer is DR ANNE DAVIS MSET QTLS , who has worked as a sixth-form maths teacher and head of maths in south-east England.

She is also a private tutor, teaching maths, chemistry and physics, specialising in the 16+ age group. She is a cycling and kayaking coach, with experience of coaching disabled athletes

GCSE MATHS FOR NEURODIVERGENT LEARNERS

GREAT FE TEACHING: SHARING GOOD PRACTICE

THE MINDFUL TEACHER’S HANDBOOK

By Judy Hornigold and Rose Jewell Jessica Kingsley publishers 2022

By Samantha Jones Corwin (Sage) 2022

By Kamalagita Hughes Crown House Publishing 2022

At first glance this is possibly not a typical book to be reviewed for inTuition, but I felt it would be useful to take a look at it, and I was not disappointed.

In the further education and training sector, we regularly encounter students who are working towards their GCSE exams, and this book would make a welcome addition to any maths department bookshelf. It is a big book, but well presented, and, as its primary reader is the student, its contents are very accessible. It is also not obviously a traditional maths book, but the subject matter is instantly recognisable.

A lot of this book is very sensible with a positive vibe to it. There is a good introduction to neurodivergence, including some strategies to help with understanding why difficulties with this subject can arise.

Although aimed at learners, it is also clearly useful for educators and parents and has lots of suggestions in the second section for teaching the different areas of maths that students find challenging.

Overall this is an excellent book for any further education (FE) maths teacher who is teaching GCSE.

This is a collection of case studies and highlighted practices presented and explained by a group of educators who are highly regarded in their fields, including regular contributors to inTuition. These practitioners are experts who are still teaching in the sector, and make a really inspiring and diverse group. Their passion for what they do is obvious and contagious. Just scanning the short biographies at the start of the book made me eager to read it.

This book is well organised, with each chapter set out in a similar manner, addressing the main topics of who the learners are, why they are learning, and what and how they are learning, followed by conclusions. It is a relatively easy read with insights and commentary from the editor added at relevant points.

It affords the opportunity to gain nuggets of wisdom in fields ranging from maths and art to cookery and hairdressing, across a diverse range of learners in the further education and training sector.

This is what FE is all about, and I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone in the sector.

The immediate recognition that the modern classroom and lecture hall are high-pressure environments where educators need to put their own wellbeing first is an instant appeal for this book.

The author is an experienced mindfulness trainer and classroom teacher who quotes researched statistics about the seriousness of today’s mental health issues affecting learners and educators alike. She acknowledges the dayto-day demands on educators’ time, and also presents evidence showing that mindfulness can help with addressing mental health problems. However, she is also emphatic that it offers school and college staff a greater awareness of their mental health state, rather than an instant fix.

This book is aimed at those who are complete novices to mindfulness, as well as those who have some training but still need to maintain regular practice. It provides exercises that can be used to build up a regular routine, supported by explanations, case studies and led reflection opportunities.

Generally the ideas proposed in this book make a lot of sense and it offers a valuable way to tackle our everyday stress and worry, starting with our own minds and outlooks.

InTuition readers receive a 30% discount on this book with the code UK22STFEGE at uk.sagepub.com

InTuition readers receive a 20% discount on this book with the code intuition20 at crownhouse.co.uk

InTuition readers receive a 20% discount on this book with the code GCSETUTOR23 at uk.jkp.com/products/ gcse-maths-for-neurodivergent-learners (valid until 30 June 2023)

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Return to The Society for Education and Training 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road London SW1W 9SP

Renew your SET membership for 2023/24 Stay part of our 23,000 strong network of FE and training professionals Renew your SET membership* for 2023/24 for continued career support, access to exclusive resources and CPD, and the opportunity to stay connected with our network of professionals and experts in the further education sector.

Renew today at: set.etfoundation.co.uk/my-set

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL DUE BY 31 MARCH*

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