West Midlands Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training
Management Meeting
Tuesday, 19 May, 2015, University House, University of Warwick
Attendees:
1.
Helena Baxter
Ellen Buttler
Julie Chamberlain
Anna Hraboweckyj
Vron Leslie
Fergus McKay
Apologies
There were none.
2.
Minutes of Management Meeting, 9 December, 2014
These were accepted as an accurate record.
3.
Matters arising
FM updated the committee on an action point about a celebratory event for 30 years of lifelong
learning at the university. A roundtable event had been held to talk about how CLL was established,
and how lifelong learning was going forward. There was a sense that as FE was retreating from adult
education HE was keener to take another role in adult learning. FM said the planned three-day
conference on Lifelong Learning had been changed to a one-day conference costing £60 because
registrations had been quite low.
Action point: JC to send out information on the one-day conference.
There was a discussion about University Technical Colleges; HB said there was a proposal every town
should have one, and in Worcester it was felt one was needed. EB said they weren’t all recruiting.
HB responded to another action point to say English specialist lead Catriona Mowat had visited the
Worcestershire Training Providers’ Association to update them.
AH reported on an action point about the State of the Sector report to say it was still draft form but
she would give a quick review of what it said about training and education.
4.
Chair’s update (FM)
FM raised the Feltag initiative. EB said the ITT team had had a speaker in from Jisc to look at what
Feltag would be like in practice. She thought it might include something on flipped learning, but the
only thing it seemed to be was non-tutor contact. There had been lobbying for it to be at Level 3 and
4 as it was not appropriate for Level 2 as people were less likely to access online resources. HB felt
Feltag had got a lot less prescriptive now, and was more of a choice. FM said there were Feltag
centres of excellence, such as Heart of Worcestershire College. There were also concerns about
employee rights and staff losing 10 per cent of hours, plus the assumption that level 3 students could
cope with it when they might not be able to.
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5.
Project manager’s update (JC)
JC reported on work WMCETT had done with emCETT on a bid from the Education and Training
Foundation, called Leading GCSE English and maths in the Education and Training sector. emCETT
won the contract for most of the Midlands and north. The project aimed to help senior leaders lead
and manage significant change in relation to English and maths, post 16. WMCETT had been involved
in six consultation events, and a website toolkit was produced which could be used at events such as
governors’ meetings, and dipped into to consult resources, find background information etc. The
website is at http://gcseleadership.com/
emCETT had also won a project to pilot some Level 5 English and maths sessions to help equip
teachers in the FE sector to teach GCSE maths and English. WMCETT had helped out by running a
pilot session at the Centre for Lifelong Learning.
JC talked about the work of the maths, English and SEND leads for the contract from the Education
and Training Foundation, through ACETT. Part of the remit was on Information, Advice and Guidance,
and on seeking to discover what extra CPD and support was needed, and to feed back to the ETF.
In maths there had been two more subsidised maths enhancement programmes which recruited a
total of 36 people. WMCETT was involved with promoting NCETM one-day and half day free maths
CPD programmes. In English, WMCETT had asked to host an English Enhancement Programme at the
University of Warwick after research showed a large demand in the Midlands, and it filled up with 23
people. A national waiting list had also been set up.
WMCETT is running four one-day Rising to the Challenge events in June, at the University of Warwick,
at Heart of Worcestershire College, Birmingham Adult Education Service and Stoke on Trent College,
with mornings for managers and lead practitioners looking at strategic and management issues, and
afternoons for specialist and vocational teachers, covering effective teaching and learning. There is
also another subsidised maths enhancement programme running in June at Birmingham Adult
Education Service, and Maths and English Fest! 2015, which will include workshops and information
sessions, with a charge of £50 per person. Last year WMCETT ran Maths Fest, which was a success.
FM reported that emCETT had successfully completed their project on time. The website included a
focus on Walsall College who had brought in employers and using a different approach to delivering
maths and English in the college. Some governing bodies did not know about the rules on maths and
English teaching and it was important because it related to funding. EB suggested the website was
contextualised for students and parents.
FM reported that WMCETT had been visited by Rob Pheasant who was doing a survey for ETF and we
fed back that we did not have contact with people there, and they needed representation in the
regions. It was hard to find out what was going on. HB said the ETF were not doing what was needed
in the sector. EB said they the Talent database was out of date but ETF said it was not their
responsibility, though it said it was on the site. They had though produced a good self-evaluation
maths update and some resources around the Prevent strategy which were good in terms of FE
responsibility.
6.
General updates (All)
EB: Funding cuts had had an impact on in-service provision. It had been expected maths and English
programmes would expand but that had not been the case. More people wanted to do the CET and
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CPD programmes. More were also going through the 10 credit programme to work with learners
with difficulties and disabilities.
CLL was developing a Post Graduate Diploma in Education and Training for the FE and skills sector for
graduates or people who wanted to change career. There were four specialist routes, maths, English,
SEND and IT, picked to suit government priorities and Feltag. The course would start in September
and the department would be looking to place trainees with a range of providers across the
Midlands.
There had been talk about teaching apprenticeships, but it was not known what they would look like.
If the government was going to push for it, it would have to be considered at Warwick.
A Strategic Employer Alliance had been set up and was meeting for the second time on June 17, with
a number of providers from across the FE sector involved. It was about making sure the programmes
produced were fit for purpose.
AH: Clever Elephant had been keeping an eye on the ETF and other websites for funding
opportunities but there had not been a lot about. AH talked in general terms about the State of the
Sector report in Birmingham. The context was massive changes affecting the Third Sector in terms of
what they were being asked to do as public services decreased. There was increased demand for
special education and training and social care work, plus advice and guidance and benefits advice.
Staff training was on a lot of people’s agendas, and how to increase their resource base to cope with
increased demand and achieve evidential standards. Fewer than 10 per cent of the sample said staff
training was a priority, but they were realising that if they needed support for something they would
have to pay for it. They got most of their money from fundraising and charitable trusts, not from
contracts. In terms of sustainability most organisations were confident in the short term, but had
concerns about meeting the level of demand.
FM asked who the people needing these services were, and AH said they were trying to satisfy Job
Centre demands or people who led difficult life styles. She added that so much help was now
provided on line, if people didn’t have IT skills they could not access it so were further marginalised.
VL: Reported on the WMCOP bulletin going live on the new CLL website.
HB: HB provided an update on the Trail Blazers project. Since the last meeting there had been an
evaluation and the view was they were a great idea as they were bringing employers in. However
there were concerns other employers do not want to take ownership. The digital voucher idea was
not popular as it was like an added administration exercise. There could end up being a short fall in
apprenticeships. The employers involved were mainly the large ones such as Jaguar Land Rover, and
there weren’t any in rural areas. She was concerned there were 190 training providers delivering
apprenticeships in Worcestershire and her network had 50 members. Some were trying to charge
people to find them an apprenticeship, and some that were part of consortiums had not been
inspected for 11 years. Worcestershire LEP was leading the way in the West Midlands on data and
the increase in 16-18 apprenticeships. In Worcestershire the provider network was working with the
LEP and getting into schools to talk about apprenticeships. They were also doing pop-up shops on
High Streets to promote apprenticeships.
There were still concerns over English and maths and a need for staff.
7.
AOB
None.
8.
Next meeting
The date was set for October 6.
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