Borders College External Review
Showcase for Excellence: Faculty Councils
Faculty Councils are learner-led meetings that give learners a strong voice in the
curriculum. They have evolved into very influential committees for learning, teaching
and programme design within faculties. Faculty Council members are class
representatives and together they elect a chair of the council, always a learner.
Faculty Council members have a responsibility to gather and present the views of
fellow learners and feed back to them after the meeting. Faculty managers are
required to report to the councils on particular matters including faculty
self-evaluation and development plans, for learners’ comment. The minutes of the
meetings are posted on the college’s website and members can see progress with
the issues raised. For example, the Access Faculty Council sought an anti-bullying
campaign that enabled other learners to see beyond disability and other attributes
that could be targets for bullying. With college support, learners designed powerful
posters that challenged people to think about what they say and how they feel. The
main focus of the Faculty Councils is the curriculum where they have a significant
influence. In construction, they proved particularly useful in helping to devise a
range of full-time programmes when the number of apprenticeships declined.
There are now six Faculty Councils which meet three times a year. Their meetings
are attended by either a member of the quality staff or the Students Association
Support Officer to ensure that the learner-focused, learner-led ethos of the meetings
is maintained.