PGCert FE and Cert FE Conference

2. PGCert FE and Cert FE Conference School of Continuing Education Nottingham University Hilary Stone 17 July 2002

3. The presentation will cover: • the context • a Fento update • lessons from the first year of endorsement of initial teacher training • notions of excellence

4. Success for all: Reforming Further Education and Training • meeting needs, improving choice • putting teaching and learning at the heart of what we do • developing the teachers and leaders of the future • developing a framework for quality and success

5. What is emerging? • learners and learning at the heart of the sector • a parity of esteem between the vocational and the academic • a stronger employer voice in the planning and delivery of learning and skills • employer investment into skills development • maximisation of economic success through a skilled workforce • ‘The Leadership College’

6. Fento update • over 70 National Training Organisations • 30 Sector Skills Councils • a wider post-16 sector • current projects- using standards to raise standards

7. … a standard of excellence, especially a high standard Oxford dictionary definition

8. The Fento standards for teaching and supporting learning • Assessing learners’ needs • Planning and preparing teaching and learning programmes for groups and individuals • Developing a range of teaching and learning techniques • Managing the learning process

9. The Fento standards for teaching and supporting learning…continued • Providing learners with support • Assessing the outcomes of learning and learners’ achievements • Reflecting upon and evaluating one’s own performance • Meeting professional requirements

10. Endorsement of Initial Teacher Training; Lessons from the first year • September 2001- all FE teacher training qualifications to be endorsed by Fento • 46 HEI applications representing 254 centres • 9 Awarding Body applications representing 415 centres

11. Strengths of the endorsement process • opportunity for organisations to evaluate and improve • stimulus for thinking afresh • critical external review welcomed by many to confirm quality and benchmark standards • collegiate , developmental, advisory approach welcomed • existing qualifications can retain uniqueness and responsiveness to local and regional contexts

12. Strengths of the visits to awarding institutions • the ‘human’ face of Fento • sharing of good practice • best when the whole course team and the programme leader are involved

13. Building on the process • greater clarity about the extent and nature of coverage of the Fento standards? • overlap between Fento and QCA? • greater clarity about who can gain the Fento endorsed award? • certification?

14. Practices which delay endorsement • out-of-date programmes • incomplete and/ or inaccurate documentation • imbalance between practical and theoretical elements

15. Development and assessment of teaching practice Teaching practice assessments are vital to: • provide students with feedback on development of professional skills • identify whether students are meeting the standards

16. Variation in teaching practice assessments • factors of distance and experience contributing to the variable number of teaching practice assessments • current range: from 1 to 12 hours of assessed teaching practice

17. Fento values • reflective practice • collegiality and collaboration • centrality of learning and learner autonomy • equality and inclusiveness

18. Personnel policies ... put teaching first rather than last among the criteria for hiring and promotion W. Norton Grub 1999

19. ‘Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher’ Parker Palmer 1998

20. ‘Teaching is perhaps the most privatised of all professions. Though we teach in front of students we almost always teach solo, out of the sight of colleagues – in contrast to surgeons or trial lawyers – when we work’ Parker Palmer 1998

21. ... star teachers of the future work to make the best standard for all Hay McBer 2000

22. ... good teaching comes in a myriad of forms, but good teachers all share one trait: they are truly present in the classroom, deeply engaged with their students and their subjects. Parker Palmer 1998

23. ‘If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening the axe’ Abraham Lincoln

24. Simply brilliant…the competitive advantage of common sense • Many things are simple. • Know what you’re trying to do. • There is always a sequence of events. • Things don’t get done if people don’t do them. • Things rarely turn out as expected. • Things either are or they aren’t. • Look at things from others’ points of view. Fergus O’Connell

25. Simple but key questions: • What are we delivering? • Who are we delivering to? • How should we deliver?

26. Chrissie Hynde some things change, some stay the same

27. Learning 2010- Clive Caseley • Subjects and curricula will radically change. • The teaching profession will be unrecognisable. • The infrastructure of institutions will be transformed through ICT.

28. ... the role of the teacher may evolve ... less the font of all wisdom; more the wise guide. One model is the teacher as consultant; not so much imparting knowledge as supporting the creative process... a collaborative approach between learners and their teachers might help to focus on outcomes. Clive Caseley 2000

29. The real difficulty in life is not in developing new ideas. • The real difficulty in life is escaping from the old ones. John Maynard Keynes

30. Learning Conversations…to explore the mysteries of teaching with the same respect as say a conversation about the mysteries of DNA

31. The excellent teacher • What does the excellent teacher look like? • What does the excellent teacher sound like? • What documentation does the excellent teacher have to evidence his or her excellence? • Should the excellent teacher meet every Fento standard? • Is there an essential core of standards to be met?