Developing and enhancing the practice and management of scholarly activity and research within Further Education Colleges
Kingston College, Kingston upon Thames, London 26th November 2010
This event, one of a series designed to support practitioners wishing to engage with scholarly activity/research and to allow managers to receive information in regard to successfully managing it within their institutions, was hosted by Kingston College in their purpose-built Higher Education Centre.
The format of the day divided the group into a Practitioners strand and a Managers’ strand with the two groups coming together for an afternoon plenary. Angus Carpenter, Head of City College Norwich’s dedicated Research Unit ran the sessions for the Managers and Becky Turner from the University of Plymouth led the sessions aimed at Practitioners.
After a warm welcome to the day from Peter Mayhew Smith, Principal of Kingston College the two groups enjoyed stimulating input and debate sustained by a variety of invited speakers who had between them considerable experience of developing Higher Education opportunities within Further Education Colleges. Key issues addressed within both strands included the meaning of scholarly activity/research and how to build a research ethos; the key research processes, including research design/dissemination; making funding applications; key resources to support their engagement with scholarly activity; considerations for and management of scholarly activity/research within an FEC; and the institutional impacts from Scholarly Activity / research.
FECs providing HE are not research intensive institutions and staff working within them are more likely to be teaching practitioners as opposed to teacher researchers. Nonetheless there is an increasing expectation that FECs delivering HE will need to create and sustain a recognisable ‘HE ethos’ within which staff are able to engage in scholarly activity and research to support teaching and learning, to meet the requirements of IQER, FDAP Education Strategies and update subject knowledge.
The importance of research and scholarly activity as integral factors within FECs’ planning and management of their HE provision is constantly highlighted as an area for improvement. Of course the life of an HE in FE practitioner differs from that of a ‘university lecturer’ and it is often ‘research’ that is cited as the main activity that divides the two camps.
An FEC delivering Higher Education can develop a research culture which might valuably contribute towards creating and sustaining an identifiable ‘HE ethos’ within the institution by supporting Teaching staff as they undertake research as part of higher degrees and recognising research activities as being part of the HE lecturer’s everyday practice. Time and a physical space might also be allocated for Research and Scholarly Activity, strong links forged with partner Universities distinctive HE events might be offered and Professional Recognition could also contribute to create a distinct ‘HE brand’ within the institution which would support parity of esteem and duties between the two practice contexts.
The HEA supports Research and Scholarly activity within FECs and advises..
‘Scholarly activity is an essential component in delivering higher education programmes, not only in keeping up to date with your subject, but also carrying out pedagogic or disciplinary research as part of your continued professional development. It is also a requirement for achieving professional recognition in the higher education sector’.
Subject Centres, including ESCalate have been instrumental in supporting research and scholarly activities which have raised the profile of HE within FECs, encouraged teaching staff to join a wider research community beyond the immediate institution, have their work published and gain professional recognition
These events make a real contribution to supporting HE in FE (which accounts for 10% of HE in the UK) and create valuable networking opportunities where practitioners and managers can share experiences and begin to build support mechanisms across and between institutions.
Links and resources..
HEA – HE in FE
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/universitiesandcolleges/heinfe
HEA/ESCalate – Teaching, Learning and Assessment in HE in FE
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/universitiesandcolleges/heinfe/teaching
Developing HE Research and Development facilities within FECs
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