West Midlands Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training
Co-ordinators’ Meeting
Monday 14 December 2009, 10.30am
Committee Room 1.2, University House, University of Warwick
Attendees:
1.
Fergus McKay (Chair)
Susan Martin
Kim Cook
Elaine Goodall
Margaret Hunter
Louise Jones
Vron Leslie
Mike Smith
Mary Whitehouse
Apologies
Apologies were received from Jayne Hedges, Jill Hardman, Anne Schofield, Penny Ottewill and Julie
Chamberlain.
2.
Minutes of previous meeting
These were accepted.
3
Matters arising
2. Item 6 – CLL admin is attempting to ensure that the PTLLS courses do not make a loss on delivery.
However, MH requested that the flexibility in delivery should not be lost given the types of students.
MH pointed out that as WMCETT does the recruitment, the students and their organisations view the
CETT as being the responsible party. This overlap does need to be considered.
WMCETT would continue to offer development support to future courses.
4. Networks – the WCAVA network is currently underway. A bid has also been received from
Community First and, bar a couple of queries, it should be approved shortly. There had been an
initial expression of interest from Shropshire for a network but no final bid had been received to
date.
4
Chair’s update
FM reported on:
1. Visit from Deidre Kimbell of LSIS
2. Visit from Peter Foster of HOST
3. Cross-CETT meeting, primarily considering the future of the CETTs
FM said he had had contact with further groups who are seeking to work with WMCETT.
The Principals’ meetings had been held in three sub-regions, attended by FM and AS. There was great
interest in the IfL work. Also, as a result of attending the meetings, WMCETT had also been involved
in bid writing for the PDP for another LSIS-funded project. Although the bid was not successful, it had
been a useful process to be involved in as there would be two further opportunities to bid for money
from the same fund.
5.
Project manager’s update
SM reported on:
1. Julie Chamberlain’s change of role – Julie would be continuing to work for WMCETT on a
reduced basis from the New Year. Further details will be circulated shortly.
2. SM reported that she would be leaving WMCETT at the end of January 2010 to take up a post
at the University of Surrey. She thanked everyone for their support over the previous 2 years.
3. A Christmas lunch at Arden House had been booked as a surprise for all attending the
meeting.
6.
WMCETT beyond 2010
LSIS are currently discussing what the future may hold for the CETTs.
One suggestion is that they are recalibrated into three sub-regional groups:
North
Midlands
South
This model could be funded through ACETT or may involve a bidding process. The Midlands region
would cover the area currently made up of WMCETT, EMCETT and EECETT, which is a huge
geographical region. It might mean the CETTs collaborating or one organisation bidding for the whole
area.
Alternatively, another possible future model would be having ACETT as a central management
function, funded from LSIS, with all the individual CETTs subcontracting from them.
There was a need for greater leadership from LSIS in this transitional period.
Regardless of the decisions made by LSIS, WMCETT has enough financial resource to continue for an
additional year, to March 2011. Hopefully this will be supplemented by other tenders successfully
achieved during the year. The level of activity will be reduced compared to previous years.
However, keeping activity going during this period increases future possibilities for funding once the
election is over.
7.
Forthcoming events
MH




An Observing Teaching and Learning (OTL) programme is running in Herefordshire for ACL –
16 people taking part.
The Mental Health Awareness in an Educational Setting course finished on Friday (11
December) and was highly successful, with 16 people completing the programme. The course
got enquiries at a national level, and it is hoped to continue with another programme. All the
participants were tutors who delivered to people with mental health issues. They had
already reported an increased ability to handle situations. KC recommended approaching the
health service.
There is a WCAVA event in Dunchurch on 17 Dec to promote PTLLS in the voluntary sector
and initiate the C&W network.
WAYC, WACL and WCAVA – WMCETT has funded a training the trainer programme for this
group. As a result, they will be training 60 people on PTLLS courses in early 2010.
PO (sent a written report)






An informative and positive IfL workshop morning was held on 18 November for HW&S WBT
providers. Although it was marketed thoroughly, only six attended.
A Birmingham PTLLS has been completed and two further programmes requested for the
New Year.
The Worcester, Hereford and Shropshire PTLLS has not recruited for January.
There has been a request for PTLLS for the Coventry and Warwickshire WBT providers.
The CBED DTLLS course is going well, with Assignment 1 just received.
PO has spoken to contacts at Skills for Care about the development of a contextualised PTLLS
for their industry – ongoing.
LJ




CPD events are planned for early 2010
For the LSIS E&I ‘Barriers to progression of tutors in the voluntary sector’, LJ has surveyed
the teacher educator network
LJ is looking to develop the network further by undertaking an ARP
She is also working on a bid with the council to support PTLLS learners pre- and post- course
MS/KC
 Coventry and Warwickshire WBL network is being re-established by Sally Lucas in 2010.
 Sixteen people are being trained as ALCs, with a dual role as mentors. This is an in-house
programme in February.
 HWSTPA has received funding to set up Moodle for mentoring.
 HW & S IfL event in November was not well attended but a West Midlands event will be run
in early 2010.
EG



MW

There will be two mini conferences in March to provide six workshops to tutors.
A further PTLLS course will be delivered in the New Year
Essential Skills has received a grant to deliver a contextualised literacy PTLLS.
A newsletter has been sent to all colleges in the Worcester partnership with a WMCETT
presence. It highlighted the issue of mentoring.
VL



8.
The e-Bulletin has received positive feedback and requests to join the distribution list.
The SLC programme is being discussed with Nord Anglia currently.
An HEI Forum seminar was held on 11 December at RAF Cosford. All teacher training teams
from the five HEIs were invited. JISC gave a demonstration of mobile technology, then there
were discussion groups around technology, and blended learning. There were some excellent
and challenging discussions. The final event will take place in March at the University of
Warwick.
AoB
There was no additional business.
9.
Date and venue for next meeting
Dates and venues for future meetings will be circulated in the New Year.