West Midlands CETT Advisory Board Meeting
held on 9 October 2012 at NEW College
Present:
1.
Julie Chamberlain (Project Manager WMCETT) Secretary
Fergus McKay (Director WMCETT)
Maureen Atkinson (Chair of Learning Strategy Group, RAWM) Chair
Mike Smith (HWSTPA)
Judy Hallam (NEW College)
Apologies
Ros Partridge sent apologies.
2. Minutes of the Advisory Board meeting, 12 June 2012
They were agreed as a correct record.
3.
Matters arising
There was a discussion about locality and larger colleges wanting to expand their reach. MS said BIS and the
DfE were jointly launching a new policy which could have a radical impact. The learner was central but of
equal status was the employer. The only two options between the ages of two and 25 were education or
employment. JH said it was about raising the participation age.
4.
Director’s update
FM talked about the Lingfield Review, which he said had retreated from a position of de-regulation in the
short term. LSIS was reviewing the teacher training qualifications. There was likely to be one qualification at
the level of PTLLS or CTLLS and one for managers.
The new Guild was being set up and the AoC were bidding for it. It was not expected to be as regimented as
the IfL. A college would be able to apply to the Guild to run its own CPD. The question was what would
happen to QTLS – there was going to have to be a way of bridging between schools and the FE sector as
with QTLS an FE teacher was qualified to work in a school. He was pleased the government had listened to
some of the responses from the consultation over the review. CETTs had been at the forefront of trying to
get people to challenge the proposals.
5.
Project manager’s update
JC reported that work had continued on the Changing Landscapes project, with phone research over the
summer. Another round of meetings had been held in September, though the SFA had not participated this
time. The final report was being written.
FM said the feedback from Changing Landscapes had asked if WMCETT could run a series of meetings like
that once a year as it provided an opportunity for people to catch up. People had found the transfer of
information useful. MS asked if people would prefer one large meeting, but FM said they liked facing
people around a table. JH said it was useful for the SFA to hear what was going on due to funding changes.
FM said BIS Local had also found out useful information. MA said it was useful to see the dynamics, and
people from Staffordshire and Stoke were getting on well which was partly because they had met at the
meeting.
MS said a lot of national things were happening which did not take account of local differences. FM said the
new Common Inspection Framework of inspections for colleges meant that a lot were dropping grades.
JC said WMCETT put in an expression of interest earlier in the summer about running an LSIS Teaching and
Learning Coach programme and had been asked to put in a detailed proposal. It had been decided not to,
as there was not enough time and the amount on offer did not seem that big, but LSIS put the deadline
back and asked CETTs to apply. The WMCETT application was then successful. CETTs around the country
are managing the Project and LSIS have indicated they would like it to be ongoing. JH said it was good to
know the CETTs were still alive and a force to be reckoned with.
WMCETT also put in two expressions of interest for the next round of the Regional Response Fund project
which runs until the end of July 2013, and have been asked to put in a fuller proposal for one of them.
Ongoing are the HE in FE project, which FM is co-ordinating, and the Careers project. JC said an interim
report had come in from that in August, with a request to put back the end of the project, which has been
agreed.
MS talked about the national careers service looking for partners to deliver advice and guidance in the
West Midlands. JH said the college was concerned about impartial advice and guidance. MS said there was
a feeling that schools did not give impartial advice and guidance.
JC said she had sent out a newsletter in July, and plans another one before Christmas.
On finance, JC presented current figures, and asked the Board to support WMCETT continuing past its
current projected date of March 2013 until the end of August 2013. This was agreed.
MS said WMCETT should aim to keep going after August as there was a chance then there would be more
money around as it would be two years before an election and governments usually started giving out
more money then.
6.
Any other business
MS talked about the new higher level apprenticeship framework which now offers over 20 high level
frameworks of apprenticeships at level 4/5 foundation degree level, though only two are offered in the
whole of the West Midlands. He hoped some research would be done on why this is happening. JH said
there was a problem with volume and individuals wanting different things.
7.
Next meeting
The date for the next meeting was set for Tuesday, 29 January at 5pm at NEW College.