West MidlandsFinal Report April 2011 – March 2012Anne Schofield

Final Report 2011/12
Regional Adviser – West Midlands
Anne Schofield

Geographical area

The West Midlands includes:

Herefordshire,

Worcestershire,

Shropshire,

Staffordshire,

Birmingham,

Coventry and

Warwickshire.

Areas of sector engaged

I have worked in the following sectors:

Universities and colleges Initial Teacher Training (ITT);

Work Based Learning (WBL);

Adult and Community Learning (ACL);

Further Education (FE);

6th Form Colleges;

Offender learning

Armed forces

Police training

Voluntary Sector

West Midlands Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (WMCETT)

Sectors engaged 11-12

Sectors / Approximate % of sectors engaged
Further Education / 37
Adult and Community Learning / 19
6th Form Colleges / 3
Offender Learning / 8
Voluntary Sector / 3
Other eg: Higher Education; Police training; ‘other’ armed forces and West Midlands Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training / 19

Organisations and networks supported

Archway Academy

Barr’s Court Special School

Dudley College

Hereford College

HMP Onley

Ludlow College

NEW College

NIACE

Oaklands College

Police Training

Sense

Stoke on Trent College

Stourbridge College

Telford and Wrekin Council

University of Warwick

Walsall Adult Community College

Walsall College

WMCETT

Types of delivery

Demonstrations of REfLECT

Workshops – REfLECT/Professional Formation

Presentations - Professional Formation

1:1 email and telephone support

Conferences

Types of support

Once again demand for support around Professional Formation remained high. (see table below) The recommendations made in the Wolfe Report re: parity with QTS raised awareness. In addition to this, the sector has been badly affected by the financial situation in the country and many members’ jobs were under threat. Members wanted to increase their chances of remaining employed or being ‘more employable’ by gaining A/QTLS. This resulted in an increase of 1:1 support (telephone and email) and good attendance at workshops etc.

This year also saw the introduction of fees being paid by members. This increased the amounts of individual queries and also the requests for updates of the situation.

Support type 11-12

Content of activity / Approximate % of type of support
Volunteer Connections / 3
Registration / 9
Membership / 17
REfLECT / 22
CPD / 15
Professional Formation / 26
Other (updates, advice re: qualifications etc.) / 7

Volunteer Connections

Although not particularly well-attended (6), a successful meeting was held for Volunteer Connections in July 2011. The main purpose of the meeting was to give an update on IfL matters and to offer support at this challenging time. I had recently attended a Regional Adviser event where we had some input about the Code of Practice. I cascaded this information to the VCs. One VC had worked hard in her college to embed CPD and Professional Formation into the college’s calendar. I had asked her to present this model to the VCs. Although unplanned, another VC showed us how she supports members by using Moodle. These contrasting approaches were excellent and I contacted Michelle Jennings to suggest they would make interesting case studies. We then pooled our ideas about how to support members applying for A/QTLS. One VC had a very academic approach and I was able to explain that other, less formal,applications would also be acceptable.

Responses of IfL in relation to suggestions and feedback given by Regional Adviser

The support received by IfL staff has been exemplary. During a turbulent year, I have been asked many challenging questions and sometimes I have needed to ask for advice. My questions have been answered timely and I have therefore been able to email responses quickly. This has been much appreciated by members.

Challenges

The dominant issue of course this year was around the introduction of the fees. This was a difficult period but I felt well-supported by the IfL team. To be able to deal with this on a personal level, I took the attitude that my job was to support those who chose to be members of the IfL; this enabled me to be less-defensive.

Towards the end of this period, the ‘Lingfield’ Report was published giving recommendations that have extreme consequences for the IfL, teacher training and therefore the profession as a whole. Clearly, delivering sessions during the last week of March was challenging. Members working towards gaining qualifications and Professional Formation have needed plenty of positive support.

Successes

IfL/WMCETT conferences (2)

The conferences were most successful (reports previously submitted). They attracted members from a wide range of sectors. Opening addresses were given by Sue Colquhoun and Jean Kelly and they both received favourable feedback in the evaluations. The second conference was based on feedback from the previous conference. The feedback from both conferences was overwhelmingly positive. It would appear that although organisations arrange CPD, it is not necessarily what teachers want or need.

New RAs

I welcomed the additional support in the West Midlands. (See ‘Recommendations’ below)

WBL

I was invited to an event where WBL teachers received their DTLLS certificates. It is especially challenging for this group to become qualified due to the nature of their employment. They had completed a DTLLS that has been adapted for those in the WBL sector. Before the celebration, I ran a REfLECT/Professional Formation workshop and indeed, members completed their intent to apply for QTLS there and then.

NIACE regional meeting for managers in ACL

ACL remains to be under represented in my work, so I was pleased to be invited to this event. I was able to respond to queries and arranged meetings to discuss teacher qualifications and gaining QTLS with ACL staff.

Offender learning

Although I have only visited one prison, it enabled me to make recommendations for the future (see ‘Recommendations’ below). The conferences also attracted members from Offender learning. As a teacher trainer, I have worked with a number of teachers in offender learning over the past year and have been able to support them as IfL members as well as trainees.

Working with WMCETT

I continued to work closely with WMCETT. I attended their meetings to update them on IfL matters. I attended WMCETT events including: professional dialogue events and Skills for Life conferences. Through this partnership I also meet with other HEIs on a regular basis. I have a page on the WMCETT website. The number of visits to relevant pages increased from 401 (2010 – 2011) to 507 this year.

Impact/Value added

The greatest impact has been the support offered to those wanting to achieve Q/ATLS. I have offered this support by 1:1 telephone and email support; presentations and workshops.

I feel that one of my strengths is to respond quickly to enquiries and although I work for other organisations, I respond to IfL queries, on the whole, seven days a week. Members often express their appreciation.

Being a reviewer for Professional Formation, I am well-placed to give sound advice.

Even though the regulations are almost five years old, some parts of the sector are only really just beginning to realise that this relates to them. I have spent some time supporting managers from WBL and ACL explaining the regulations and discussing how we can move forward to supporting their teachers to become fully qualified and to gain Q/ATLS.

Here is a selection of comments received this year:

“I am just completing the Reflect "Professional Formation". Thanks once again for the workshop - it made it really clear.”

“Just to say a big thank you for Thursday's session at the Essential Skills Centre it has spurred me on to complete my application for the above [Professional formation].”

“I'm most grateful to you for an instant reply.It really boosted me up.Your email was a great relief.” (I was supporting a member in India who was nursing her mother but very concerned about her QTLS application.)

“Thank you for your help and support this evening. I found the session very helpful and it has shown me what Reflect can do to help me.”

“Thank you for facilitating a really useful interactive session on Friday. All of the feedback that l have received to date has been really positive. Thank you also for getting back to me so promptly regarding the invoicing query. I shall look to follow your link shortly.”

“The ‘gaining QTLS session’ I found most useful. It made the process seem easier and pointed out where the evidence already exists.”

“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your session on A/QTLS at Scarman House yesterday. It was extremelyengaging andinformative.”

Recommendations

It is important to note that these recommendations are being made regardless of the ‘Lingfield’ report. These of course may well change following the final report.

  1. To work closely with Anne Groll (RA) from Birmingham. Anne’s college is well-placed and she has offered the use of the facilities. Finding locations for training (without cost) has been problematic in the past.
  2. To facilitate further events for Volunteer Connections.
  3. Should funding be available, to arrange sessions around CPD, REfLECT and Professional Formation for those in Offender learning. I would like to explore holding sessions off-site to enable members to have internet access; sessions held within prisons are severely limited.
  4. To continue to offer regional conferences/events. I really believe that we have been able to support members in a way that, for whatever reason, their organisations are failing to do. A further benefit of the conferences is that they have brought in members from a wider range of sectors. If full day conferences are too costly, I would recommend some half day events.

NB In the event of changes, it will be especially important to support members even though they may represent a smaller percentage of the workforce.

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