Present: Julie Chamberlain (Project Manager WMCETT) Secretary
Fergus McKay (Director WMCETT)
David Lamburn (University of Warwick)
Maureen Atkinson (Chair of Learning Strategy Group, RAWM)
Mike Smith (HWSTPA)
Judy Hallam (NEW College)
1. Apologies
Ros Partridge sent apologies.
2. New chair
At the previous meeting it had not been possible to appoint a new chair. Advisory Board member Maureen
Atkinson had been asked if she would chair the meeting. FM informed the board that MA had kindly agreed to become the permanent chair.
The Chair welcomed Judy Hallam, NEW College Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality, new board member, to her first meeting.
3. Minutes of the Advisory Board meeting, 8 March 2011
They were agreed as a correct record.
4. Matters arising
JH asked about the future of WMCETT and sustainability. FM talked about ACETT and its agreement with
LSIS, and about working closely with LSIS to move away from teacher training to teaching and training. The relationship with the university and the widening participation agenda was also important.
5. Director’s update
FM said WMCETT had been inundated with opportunities to bid for funding for projects to be done by the end of March. IfL had given funding to ACETT to pass on to individual CETTs to run professional development events and a network event.
One development event had been held on 3 February, where Paul Hambley who works for LSIS, and used to work for LLUK, gave a presentation about the implications of the changes in the teacher training programmes and there were discussions. There would be an HEI Forum network meeting, and there would be another development event featuring sessions on developing the thinking and writing skills of trainees, and on challenging behaviour.
Another one-day event was being funded by IfL and would involve four workshop sessions for IfL members and was being run by the West Midlands regional IfL representative.
We had been asked by LSIS to help organise an event at Rodbaston College around the new Ofsted
Common Inspection Framework, with a number of workshops.

WMCETT was also being paid to do some consultancy work for LSIS, looking at guidelines for teacher training and different types of delivery and types of practice. FM was working on this with various colleges.
We had also been invited to put in a new bid for our Change Exchange idea, which would run from March –
October. It would provide an opportunity to map the changes that had taken place to the sector in the region in the past 18 months.
MA said voluntary groups in Staffordshire got together with the LEP after the previous round of meetings and had been recognised and it had been proving useful.
FM said BIS Local wanted to come to the meetings because they thought it was a good platform and interesting to hear from the LEPs. MS said the LEPs were all very different and some had enterprise zones and some didn’t. Principals in Worcestershire were getting a sub-group together.
6. Project manager’s update
JC said WMCETT was funding a project which involved creating and piloting a course for teaching HE in FE.
FM said this was in partnership with New College, Nottingham, who had agreed to trial it. The findings will be showcased and it may then be run elsewhere, and we hoped it would generate some money for us.
JC presented the financial report. She said it showed projected spending up until the end of August 2012, which was when it was currently proposed WMCETT continued to. Income generated in the past year meant there was money in the budget beyond this to keep going certainly until the end of March 2013, which would tie in with the end of the WMCETT business plan and financial year. The projects we were working on up until the end of March would also bring in some more income. She asked the Advisory Board to support WMCETT continuing until then, and this was recommended.
JH asked if there would be a redundancy payment due to the Project Manager when WMCETT finally ceased to operate.
Action point: JC to find out.
MA said it was encouraging that LSIS had come back to WMCETT after the Change Exchange project to ask us to bid for the follow-up funds.
FM informed the board the CETT will continue to work with colleagues in the region and closely with the university.
7. Any other business
There was none.
8. Next meeting
The date for the next meeting was set for Tuesday, 12 June at 5pm at NEW College.