West Midlands Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training
Management Meeting
Tuesday, 1 July, 2014, University House, University of Warwick
Attendees:
Ellen Buttler
Julie Chamberlain
Anna Hraboweckyj
Vron Leslie
Fergus McKay
Mike Smith
Agenda
1.
Apologies
None.
2.
Minutes of Management Meeting, 28 January, 2014
These were accepted as a true record.
3.
Matters arising
These would be covered in the rest of the agenda.
6.
General updates (All)
(Agenda order changed as EB had to leave early)
EB talked about the bursaries for English, maths and SEN teaching courses. The teaching disabled
students course had recruited very well because of the grants available for the one-year course. The
ITT team worked with nine partner colleges, but were looking to de-connect with one and join up
with two more, and were working beyond the Midlands. The numbers on the Diploma in Education
and Training had decreased and looked like they would further. There was increased interest in the
Certificate in Education and Training with several organisations wanting to work with the Warwick
ITT team to contextualise it. Vron Leslie had been working on a coaching and mentoring programme
with Coventry Adult Education service.
EB said new courses had been developed including those for people supporting learners in the FE and
skills sector to achieve a successful outcome. There was a new Gateway to Teaching, non-accredited
course to give people a taster and develop their English and maths skills before they possibly
progress to a Level 5. She hoped to develop a pre-service Postgraduate Diploma in Education for
people who want to work in FE. EB said she was confident the demand was there – and in service
provision was going down because of deregulation of the sector. FM asked if it was easy for people
teaching in the lifelong learning sector with a Certificate to upgrade to a Diploma and EB said the
Certificate had deliberately been embedded into the Diploma.
It is anticipated that Ofsted would inspect the University of Warwick ITT provision in the summer
term 2015, and then return in the autumn, concentrating on tracking year 2 trainees in the first year
post-qualifications to see to what extent they are putting into practice the programme. There will be
a big focus on managing behaviour and how they promote positive behaviour strategies.
MS said he had received an email from the SFA on July 1 about their new structure and ways of
working, which came into force the same day. There was a major reorganisation including a new
Employer and Delivery Services team.
A consultation on apprenticeships and employers had been carried out and the majority of responses
had been against the proposed plan to give money for training to employers, but it was now
proposed to do that. MS said larger employers would be able to deliver training themselves, but 80
percent of small businesses would not be able to do it. He questioned how many employers were
prepared to employ a teacher or tutor and go through Ofsted inspections. He thought some of those
would be asking the University of Warwick to put their staff through teacher training qualifications,
paid for by the SFA and it would generate income. MS said quality of the teaching of apprentices was
a big issue. EB wondered whether the success rate sat with colleges who may provide the training, or
with employers who handled the funding.
MS added that the demand for formal teacher training and CPD is growing. Constant policy changes
were playing havoc with planning for the next year. The HWSTPA had started a restructure a year
ago, and it would split into two to align with the Worcestershire LEP and the Marches LEP.
AH said a lot of issues raised by MS were prevalent in the third sector too, such as volatility, where
things fitted and who was best to liaise with. Providers in the sector were finding things difficult and
a lot of structures had gone.
One thing she was optimistic about involved training in the child and social care sector, and she
would have more details at the next meeting. AH also talked about a number of major programmes
where training and learning were embedded in major social support packages, with the government
embedding employment and training opportunities for NEETS. There was one project tracking
students over and up to a 10-year period.
VL observed that there appears to be a greater number of changes coming through government
organisations that she needs to consider when producing the WMCOP bulletin.
4.
Chair’s update (FM)
FM said the pace of change appears to be accelerating and it was difficult to access relevant
information. He talked about recent problems at Warwickshire College and questions being raised
about the Gazelle Group initiative.
FM talked about the meetings of the MESH, or Mathematics Education Strategic Hub, at Warwick as
part of the Mathematics Enhancement Programme, which was involved in looking at how people can
develop skills in mathematics. Contributions have included Birmingham Adult Education Service
talking about their training for people who had maths ability but struggled because English was not
their first language. It had been agreed the group would carry on meeting because there was a need
for a support group in some guise.
It had been decided nationally to run the English Enhancement Programme in a different way to the
maths programme, despite the maths scheme winning plaudits. There were three models produced
and being run as pilots, and he did not know if the CETTs would be involved in rolling them out.
FM was hoping WMCETT would continue to function through ACETT and was also working with
Clever Elephant to look at bids. AH said the approach was right as alliances needed to be built before
bids could be made and, and the CETT had links because of the work it had done in the past with
different groups of people.
5.
Project manager’s update (JC)
JC talked about the work the CETT had been involved in since the meeting in January:
1) GCSE Maths Enhancement Programme – there was a target of 222 people to recruit by the end of
March, and by that time we had 289 people on 18 courses. There was nationally some funding left,
so we were allowed to run another one, ending up with 302 people on 19 courses. So far 12 have
finished, and they would all have done so by the end of July. Feedback was extremely positive.
2) Promoting the teaching of English, maths and SEN – ACETT was asked to distribute the bursaries
for people taking the Diploma in Education and Training: Teaching Learners with Disabilities course,
and 16 people took it up for the Warwick course.
3) Good Practice Networks – the Foundation, through ACETT, funded three workshops on maths,
English and SEN post-16 teaching, with the first facilitated by Steve Pardoe with the report written
by Vron Leslie, and Elaine Goodall running the other two. Reports were produced looking in detail at
effective practice, and barriers to good practice. We have not had any feedback on these.
4) PyeTait Consultation won a contract to run a consultation on Professional Standards, and asked
WMCETT and EMCETT to organise the Midlands event, which was held at the University of Warwick.
About 50 people attended, and contributed to a report produced for the Foundation by PyeTait.
5) Maths Fest! 2014 events were being held on July 4 at Staffordshire University and July 8 at the
University of Warwick. So far 18 paying guests and seven speakers (also attending workshops) at
Staffordshire, and 40 paying and 10 speakers at Warwick.
JC had also sent out a newsletter in June.
FM said Steve Pardoe, WMCETT’s maths strategic lead, had been asked to take on a national role
with the project by ACETT. It is hoped to run another maths enhancement programme in the
autumn.
7.
AOB
MS said his term as chair of the HWSTPA was coming to an end in September, so he said WMCETT
may want to ask his replacement to take over. FM asked him to talk to his replacement about joining
the WMCETT management board, and put on record WMCETT’s thanks to him for all his work for the
CETT. MS said it had been a good experience.
8.
Next meeting
(A date was not set at the meeting, but was later agreed as Tuesday, December 9.)