ESCalate: Join the Discussion

ESCalate at BERA 2011

2011-09-12T09:38:00.000+01:00

There was a great buzz this year at the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association, which met at the Institution of Education, University of London from 6th to 8th September. Nearly 1000 delegates turned up, including some 300 from overseas. Highlights included a keynote lecture by Baroness Onora O'Neill on 'intelligent accountability', which discussed the potential distorting effects of accountability systems and the importance of retaining trust and commitment. The relevance of this was picked up by ESCalate's Director, Andrew Pollard, when he introduced the panel of the Research Excellence Framework to the conference. There was discussion of how powerful, centrally-managed initiatives must be so careful in going about their business. Some have been concerned about the policies of the Higher Education Academy in this respect - but BERA was also an occasion when ESCalate was able to welcome Kathy Wright, the HEA's new lead on Education. Kathy was introduced to senior representatives of many education associations, including SRHE, BERA, BESA and FACE, and to colleagues from the four countries of the UK who have worked with ESCalate. The subject centre also sponsored two poster competitions and Andrew Pollard presented the prize winners prior to the Presidential Lecture by Professor Mary James. She too argued that there need to be more alliances within our subject community. ESCalate's publications, made available at this event, simply flew off the shelves. Overall then, BERA 2011 was a considerable showcase for research in the fields of Education and Teacher Education and ESCalate was delighted to have taken part - albeit for the last time.

Earli 2011 @University of Exeter

2011-09-09T21:59:00.000+01:00

The European Association of Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) host a biennial conference which, this year, was held at Exeter - EARLI 2011. The conference is one of, if not the largest, I have ever attended - I heard there were over 2000 delegates. Certainly there were between 17 and 23 parallel sessions at any one time during the paper presentations which spread across the entire campus and five refreshment halls. The presentations are organised by Special Interest Groups (SIGs) into themes and I was impressed by the invited symposia for each SIG which brought together some of the most well-known names in the fields of education and educational psychology. The weather and campus grounds were lovely which was just as well as we were walking what felt like several miles a day between sessions however, regularly getting out into the fresh air just helped stimulate thinking following a presentation.

The conference theme was Education for a Global Networked Society and I followed sessions that largely focused on learning through collaboration and creative use of digital tools. However, you could have followed many other themes that included assessment, conceptual change, early childhood, motivation, teacher education, religious or moral education, instructional design, social interaction, professional development, neuroscience in education, cultural diversity and metacognition amongst others.

I noticed two reoccurring foci that were novel (well to me). The first being self-regulation which was presented variously as time-on-task, a metacognitive process, a reflective task and in relation to synchronous online learning environments. The second was the role of external representations and my sincere thanks go to Shaaron Ainsworth and Anniken Furberg who in separate presentations gave me much food for thought about the role images and animations play in supporting learning through multimedia resources. Look out for Shaaron's paper in Science last week on 'Drawing to Learn in Science'.

Two other keynotes I particularly noted were Andrew Pollard & Mary James' distillation of the 10 year Teaching and Learning Research Project (TLRP) into ten evidence-informed principles for teaching and learning or pedagogies that ground learning throughout all sectors. And Michael Reiss who raised questions about the role school science currently plays. He then presented a framework for conceptualising the scope of science education that emphasised the whole life course before, during and beyond formal education and the importance of informal, outside school science learning.

HEA Conference 5-6 July 2011

2011-07-06T22:22:00.000+01:00

I have just returned from the Academy's Annual Conference held this year at the East Midlands Conference Centre at Nottingham University. The highlight of the two days was the Question Time Panel session reflecting on the recent White Paper ” Students at the Heart of the System ” and the consequent challenges and changes to the sector over the next five years. It was chaired by Mike Baker – columnist and broadcaster and featured:

Alex Bols – NUS Head of Education and Quality

Ann Caesar – PVC (Education and Student Experience) at Warwick University

Claire Callender - Professor of Higher Education Policy (Birkbeck) and Studies (IoE)

Stephen Jackson (Director of Reviews, QAA)

Wes Streeting (Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation

The following challenges for the sector were quickly identified.

Student identity, student engagement and how students view themselves. Much recent discourse in HE has been about students as co-producers even agents for change. How does this square with the student as consumer view prevalent in the White Paper?

The emphasis on competition between Universities, even though individuals collaborate (the work the HEA funds is a good example of this) institutions compete and this will become more intense.

Data management issues allied to the increased expectations on information provision, concerns over its reliability, purpose and possibilities of misinterpretation. Students will need guidance and support to make good use of it. Also what about alumni, students are investors and changes reflect on their degree currency?

The widening participation agenda appears to have been displaced by a focus on social mobility. Yet this is unlikely to be helped by the abolishment of the EMA and increased fees (especially likely to impact on mature students’ applications). The proposed National Scholarship has been described as a sham. Even the 20,000 extra AAB places are more to be accessed by the aspiring middle classes than those of lower SES. Why are universities deemed solely responsible? Involving other stakeholders in student education seems sensible.

The entry of private providers into the HE market. What about the criteria needed to be met to become a degree awarding institution? Currently requires a track record. Quality assurance concerns arise over the proposed ‘risk’ basis to QA itself. There will be an opportunity for a lower rate of engagement with the QAA for low risk institutions. Concerns over unpredictable outcome of the changes eg increased competition, involvement of private providers and commitment to deregulation.

The 'fudge' between opening HE to market forces and public control of the sector. Read as if it was a model of naked consumerism based on pre-conceptions and assumptions. It may well have been better to go more fully for Lord Browne’s original proposals.

Other issues raised by the audience and discussed with the panel included:

How do OER and other collaborative initiatives fit within this new model? This led to the reflection that institutions are more likely to form networks and partnerships so that groups of HEI and FECs will be in competition. In addition institutions will be looking to secure recruitment from overseas which raises questions over the coherence of the government’s current policies with the Borders Agency aiming to reduce numbers of incoming international students by 20,000.

Where is creativity (often cited along with flexibility as a key attribute of employability) in the new system? This led to an animated discussion about detrimental impact on creativity of the proposed differential funding for the sciences and the arts and humanities. It was noted that the eBacc was forcing youngsters into a one-size fits all system, that government rhetoric was focused on production of science graduates whereas, in fact, the creative industry is one of the biggest in Britain and a world leader.

Lastly it was pointed out that the White Paper was ‘oddly quiet’ about the relationship between research and teaching, teaching quality will be the new order of things however, there is a gap as to how this will be researched and developed. The role of research informed teaching practice is currently important for an institution to be given degree awarding powers.

In a final round up the panel members were asked on the spot to grade and comment in a word on the White Paper. It was awarded a mean average of 4/10 and described as ‘misguided’, ‘misleading’, ‘muddled’ and ‘leading to uncertainty’.

The new Initial Teacher Training strategy

2011-07-04T12:20:00.005+01:00

On 27 June 2011, the government published its proposals for reforming teacher training, building on the previous white paper The Importance of Teaching. This strategy document is intended to provide the basis for discussion with providers, teachers, head teachers, pupils, parents and the general public before the final policy is announced later this year and changes are put in place for courses starting in 2012. A brief summary of some of the key points is provided below.

You can make your voice heard by going to the DfE's consultation page by 29 July.

The TDA are hosting a series of consultation meetings about the strategy for current and potential providers of ITT. These meetings run between 4 and 12 July, and you can sign up on the TDA's website.

Funding

The fees for both PGCE and undergraduate teacher training programmes will be set on the same basis as other undergraduate courses, so up to £6,000 or £9,000 where a Fair Access agreement is in place. From 2012, providers will not receive grants from the government for running ITT courses, but the strategy envisages that funding per trainee from all sources will remain stable between 2011/12 and 2012/13. The Teaching Agency (which will replace some of the functions of the TDA) will provide some direct funding to support ITT programmes in parts of the country where tuition fees may not fully cover progamme costs where this is in the public interest.

Bursaries will be available for students, differentiated by the potential achievement of the trainee and the priority of the subject or phase. Trainees could be classified as having "outstanding", "good" or "satisfactory" potential (mapping to whether they have a first, upper second or lower second class degree) and the level of their bursary would reflect this. There will be no DfE funding for trainees who do not have a second class degree or higher. Consideration is also being given to provide higher bursaries to trainees who are recruited and selected by schools with high levels of free school meals.

Recruitment of trainees

There is a strong emphasis in the strategy on improving the quality of students recruited onto teacher training courses. The strategy document notes that currently more teachers are trained than go into the profession, and aims to reduce this wastage and raise entry criteria by becoming more selective, a move that is also reflected in differential bursary rates. Pre-entry tests in literacy and numeracy will be required for PGCE trainees, though ICT tests will no longer be required.

A single application gateway will be introduced that allows parallel applications to all providers. The allocation of numbers of places will be determined by quality of provision as judged by Ofsted inspections, as it is now, but also by the use of employability data, published by provider and subject.

Undergraduate ITT courses will continue to be allocated places from 2012/13, but recruits must be of “at least the same quality” as those on typical PGCE courses.

Partnerships and providers

The vision over the next five to ten years is of schools increasingly taking much of the responsibility from government for managing the system of initial teacher training. Universities are nevertheless expected to continue to play a role in most teacher training through their partnerships with schools, acting as providers to teaching schools, and the best universities will be encouraged to form University Training Schools. Reflecting this, the strength of partnerships between universities and schools will have a stronger emphasis in inspections, with shared staff between HEIs and schools, and representatives of HEIs on governing bodies to be applauded.

Teach First will be expanded and plans for Teach Next – for professionals with a few years work experience – will be developed. This strategy document sets out an aim to expand the Graduate Teaching Programme but recognises that the higher cost per trainee of this programme makes this difficult without asking for a greater contribution from the school. The requirement that GTP trainees are ‘supernumerary’ to a school’s core staff may therefore be removed and trainees allowed to take on more teaching responsibilities, allowing schools to include funding for trainees in their core staff budgets.

Finally, the content of teacher training programmes will have a greater focus on behaviour management, and for primary teachers, the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics.

2nd TEAN Conference 'The Important Role of HE in Teacher Education'

2011-06-05T16:17:00.000+01:00

Professor Jean Murray opened this second annual conference for the Teacher Education Advancement Network on 20 May 2011 with a stimulating keynote that started with a review of teacher education across the UK (from the Escalate booklet) and ended with a call to teacher educators everywhere to speak up about and for their profession. Talking about the Coalition Government's technicist view of teaching as a craft, she made the point that if teacher education remains 'a hidden profession' then we can continue to expect misunderstanding about what we do.

The rest of the day presented a variety of activity with round table discussions and workshops as well as research papers. Many presenters were disseminating results from ESCalate funded projects (my apologies I could not get to them all) and the book of abstracts is available from the conference web page. The variety in the sessions worked particularly well and I came away with many new ideas on the pros and cons of co-teaching with trainees, on different ways of conceptualising research informed pedagogy, on modelling as a teaching strategy and on the role of HE in teacher education.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable and informative day and I would to thank the TEAN team for organising it. I recommend keeping an eye on their Storehouse for the complete papers which will be available in time.

ESCalate’s Third Annual Student Conference – Enterprise and Employability

2011-04-18T14:58:00.002+01:00

Last week saw ESCalate’s third student conference take place at Liverpool Hope University. Staff and students from a range of Education disciplines came together to discuss the very timely themes of enterprise and employability.

Dr Martin Carey, chief executive of Business Gateway & Urban Hope at Liverpool Hope welcomed us to a very appropriate venue – the new EDEN (education and enterprise) building, home to the university’s education faculty but also designed to be used by Liverpool’s wider education community for continuing professional development and to enable businesses to benefit from the knowledge, research and expertise of the university.

Dr Wendy Bignold, Vice Dean of Education at Liverpool Hope University set the scene for the day with her opening plenary session. She encouraged us to view enterprise as something broader than simply a business or industry-focused activity, as activity that is purposeful and creative and involves developing and applying innovative approaches to practical situations. Linking this notion of the ‘enterprising student’ to employability and education, Wendy went on to discuss how employers wanted employees who would not just fit in to their workplaces but who would be able to transform their organisations. Such students need to have a vision of the future – of their future selves and the possible futures of the organisations in which they work – a vision that Wendy saw as at the heart of what enterprise education could offer. She also related this vision to the work of education in supporting and nurturing traditions of a civil society: students who had been transformed themselves in the course of their education are themselves equipped with transformative potential that they can bring to the workplace.

Two parallel sessions in the morning and afternoon offered delegates some choices in the morning and afternoon sessions, and we were particularly pleased that several sessions involved students themselves presenting - offering hands-on practice of employable skills in the process. One of the themes that I spotted running across several sessions was the exploration of employability for students studying Education, a subject that has sometimes been thought of as a vocational course inevitably leading to becoming a teacher. Namrata Rao and Anesa Hosein shared data showing that while most students on an Education Studies module at Liverpool Hope wanted to be teachers, only 13% actually were working as teachers after graduating, and they worked with students to expand their definitions of what it is to be an “education professional”. Students Bryony-Anne Bennett and Jennifer Cahill from Liverpool Hope showed how, through working with Lynne McCann, they had found opportunities to use their knowledge and skills of education in ‘real world’ projects, and were planning on setting up their own business to continue working in the world of education, though not as school teachers.

The importance of reflection and the emotional aspects of learning and working were also themes running through some of the presentations I was able to see. Work-based learning can be very challenging and Fran Myers of the Open University showed how students who vented their frustration and confusion on online message boards often had very different perspectives of their course upon later reflection, while Shirley Potts of Liverpool Hope drew attention to the importance and challenge of honest reflection in coming to a more nuanced understanding of the issues for students on disability studies courses.

Dr Paul Redmond, Head of Careers & Employability at the University of Liverpool provided a memorable and engaging keynote presentation, opening with an unsettling set of figures he termed ‘crunchonomics’, including the fact that there are currently 70 graduates being produced for every ‘graduate job’ available. This particularly harsh economic moment has only served to intensify the ‘war for talent’, he argued, in which employers have at their disposal an increasing range of ‘weapons of mass rejection’. Getting noticed and getting employed is increasingly competitive for current graduates, and Paul pointed out a sharp contrast between the desired goals of Generation Y (born after 1978) and the realities of the labour market. In this market, it’s not just the hard currencies of educational credentials and skills that count, but the soft currencies: the social and cultural capital of who you know, where you went to university, how you dress and your extra-curricular activities that mark you out as ‘employable’ in certain sectors. Creating a convincing narrative that draws together these hard and soft currencies (and – if you’re a man – avoiding shirts with pockets) is the challenge for today’s graduates.

Joe Gazdula, Lynne McCann, Helen Jamieson and Leanne Thompson pulled the day together in a closing plenary panel session, offering a hopeful note in spite of the current economic outlook, looking for what opportunities may be offered by the recession. There were some questions about the importance of volunteering and extra-curricular activities for employability and enterprise, and whether, if volunteering is embedded in the curriculum is it still voluntary (and when does volunteering become exploitation if we look at the current debate about internships). While we might traditionally have thought of education as a subject only for those with a vocation to teach, this conference showed how employability and enterprise are certainly not strangers to these education staff and students.

Presentations from speakers, including the keynotes, will be available from the event page on the ESCalate website in the next week or so.

A big thank you to Liverpool Hope for hosting the event and to all our speakers and delegates for a very interesting and enjoyable day.

Higher Education in FE:FE-HE Collaboration;Drivers of Change

2011-02-21T11:05:00.004Z

Last week I attended this important HE in FE Conference which asked and attempted to answer key questions about the future of this sector of HE provision in the light of recent changes to the funding landscape and how existing and new partnerships and collaborations between universities and FE Colleges delivering HE might be affected.
Professor Christine King, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus, Staffordshire University set the scene in her upbeat keynote address to conference. Professor King observed that society and the economy is changing - 'fact' and that within this landscape students want and need to learn in different ways leading to a re-defining of HE and a possible move away from the traditional forms of delivery and access points. HE in FE has traditionally offered opportunities to 'non-traditional' students and it is likely that the sector will continue to widen participation and support its HE students by offering local and flexible provision which meet the needs of students and support their changes in life.
John Widdowson, Principal, New College Durham endorsed Professor King's optimism and highlighted the excellent track record of HE in FE provision built on local provision,a clear focus on teaching and student support and progression opportunities to further HE study and employment. The future HE landscape will almost certainly require the construction and roll out of innovative curriculum models which the HE in FE sector have a good track record of developing again with a view to flexible and agile provision.
Dr Ian Tunbridge, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Thames Vally University emphasised that in the new future for HE primacy of the learner must be of the utmost concern in the wake of an era of 'initiatives'- HE in FE has a good record of providing access to students who enjoy small group tuition and committed teachers on programmes that meet need and develop skills for employment - 'good value learning, good quality with employment prospects'.
Steve Kendall, Associate Dean of Partnerships, University of Bedfordshire considered that HE in FE should aim wider as well as higher and offer opportunities to the newly unemployed, the disengaged and provide skills for those in work - 'a new workforce for a re-generated economy'. The sector should take every advantage in exploiting new communication channels and flexible ways of learning which fit into working lives.
The conference served as a timely reminder that the HE in FE sector has an important role to play in the new, emerging HE landscape and must continue to maintain sustainable and committed collaborations between FE colleges and HEIs.

Implications of the white paper for HEI's working with schools.

2011-02-08T14:17:00.000Z

On 31 January I attended a UCET (University Council for the Education of Teachers) seminar at Sheffield Hallam University on the implications of the white paper for working with schools. Higher education institutions (HEIs) were well-represented in the audience (several were from new universities), with some school and college leaders, education consultants, and people from education agencies such as the TDA.

The focus of the afternoon was on partnership work, specifically around Teaching Schools, with workshops on how HEIs can respond to the recent DfE white paper “The Importance of Teaching”.

Julie Hughes, from the Teachers’ Development Agency (TDA), outlined the changes and uncertainty about TDA’s funding and future role, and described changes in how they were working with schools. At the end of November, they put out a call for schools who were interested in working with the TDA on leadership and partnership. It was made clear that no funding was available for this, and schools would be responsible for funding their own participation. The response to this call was far greater than the TDA expected – more than 260 school partnerships responded (most with some kind of HEI involvement). In all, 3138 schools were represented (secondary, primary and special schools), with group sizes ranging from 3 or 4 schools up to 30 or more schools. Around 43% of these partnerships were led by Training Schools. Julie felt that schools were very aware that they were now responsible for their own CPD and school improvement, and were looking within partnerships for knowledge and expertise about their own particular context and appropriate models to deal with their own problems.

There was an underlying message that HEIs need to actively promote themselves to schools as training providers. Even though more Teaching Schools are being set up, they will not have the capacity to cope with the numbers of trainee teachers. Furthermore, as members of the audience pointed out, HEIs bring a distinct fund of knowledge that simply is not available in teaching schools particularly around theory and research in relation to practice. The TDA was attempting to promote itself here as a partnership broker, acting as a link between schools and HEIs.

Jonathan Gore from the National College was the final speaker. He did not give much of an indication of the National College engaging with HEIs at all – there was little clarity on what role the National College envisages for HEIs. Perhaps this is because the National College sees itself as a competitor with HEIs when it comes to teacher training?

On the ground, there was little certainty about what the future will hold. There is, as yet, no clear direction on what University Training Schools will be, and how these will sit alongside Teaching Schools. The purpose of the workshops at this meeting was to discuss how HEIs can influence the direction of this to our (relative) advantage. The environment is not yet fixed, and there is much that is able to be influenced, particularly in terms of process. A summary of the points raised at the workshops will be circulated later. For now, though, it is clear that many universities will be pushing to be involved with school partnerships around training schools. We need to be at the forefront of this, leading the way in working with schools, not following others.

Jo Rose, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol

Exploring young children’s everyday lives

2011-01-31T18:50:00.004Z

This two-day event, organised by the Toys and Technology research team at the School of Education at the University of Stirling drew on the team’s ESRC-funded project Young Children Learning with Toys and Technology at Home (2008-2011). It brought together researchers exploring the everyday lives and learning of children under five years.

Pia Christensen set the theme of the event with a keynote presentation: ‘Ethnographic lessons from studies of young children’s lives’. Coming from an anthropological perspective, she explored some of the issues around doing ethnographic research with young children. Christensen beautifully described the research process itself as a form of communication and dialogue in which we try to find sensitive and appropriate ways to listen to and understand what our research participants are saying. Finding ways to include participants’ voices in our research with young children for whom verbal conversation is not their primary means of communication is a central concern for many early childhood researchers. Tapping into children’s existing cultures of communication – through gesture, play, song, drawing, photography – is therefore at the heart of research with young children as we try to understand their experience, understandings and meaning-making from their points of view.

The theme of children’s voices returned throughout the event, allowing different researchers to explore this theme from different angles and even question whether “Children’s Voice” was now a ‘new orthodoxy’ that could sometimes be applied unreflectively without considering how we act on what we learn from listening to children.

Doctoral students presented their work and a substantial period of time was dedicated to feedback from a panel formed of Alan Prout, Pia Christensen and Lydia Plowman and questions from the audience. As well as giving students some experience of and opportunities for viva preparation, this format also provided a chance for reflection and extended discussion of some very interesting work – an opportunity that the usual five-minute Q&A sessions in conferences rarely afford.

It was exciting to see work in progress and the enthusiasm and insight of the doctoral students presenting their work who dealt with diverse topics including:

Multi-sensory methodologies in researching nature’s kindergartens
Four year olds' spatial drawings
Bilingual Gaelic and English speaking children’s social use of language
The meanings and use of objects children bring to nursery settings

Alan Prout’s closing comments on the first day crystallised some of the recurring tensions and complexities of doing research with young children and the researching ‘everyday life’.

Studying children and childhood is not a completely different process from studying adults: children share in the language, cultures and technologies that we all use. Prout went on to say that we do not need different methods or theoretical approaches that we would use with adults because we are studying children. Rather, we need to adapt our methods in light of our participants’ abilities to engage with them, so verbal, physical or literacy skills might demand different methods, but ‘children’ and ‘childhood’ don’t form a completely separate category of enquiry.

Researching the nature of ‘everyday life’ requires us to make decisions about which aspects to attend to; it is not possible to encompass all of ‘life’ in our research. In doing so, we step into the natural flow of everyday life and freeze particular moments and aspects in order to analyse them. By foregrounding some aspects and backgrounding others, by making choices about what is important and what is not, we necessarily change the nature of the natural ebb and flow of everyday life.

Teacher Education Scotland

2011-01-18T22:02:00.000Z

This one day conference, set up by Holyrood magazine in Edinburgh, enabled us to hear from Graham Donaldson himself about the underpinning themes in his recent, national review of Scottish Teacher Education. He had been asked by the Scottish Government to undertake this review on his retirement as Chief Executive of HM Inspectorate of Education. Overarching themes in the review are the recognition that teaching is both complex and challenging, it requires the highest standards of professional competence and commitment and that high quality people achieve high quality outcomes for young people. The full review is worth a read, for someone immersed in the fallout from the English government’s recent White paper it is a breath of fresh air. It contains a wide range of recommendations including an emphasis on partnership between all bodies involved in teacher education: schools, colleges, universities, local authorities and professional associations and on the development of CPD throughout a teacher’s career through establishing communities of practice.

The day itself was chaired by Mark Stephens, a broadcaster well known to the Scottish audience, who was not afraid to challenge the assorted academics, teachers and other education professionals present and enabled several lively question and answer sessions. Other presenters included Tony Finn from GTCS who spoke on developing teacher professionalism, Chris Day from the University of Nottingham who spoke on Teacher Quality and Student Outcomes making reference to the VITAE project, Aline-Wendy Dunlop from the University of Strathclyde who spoke from her extensive experience of working with early years professional, Pamela Munn from the University of Edinburgh who spoke on teacher knowledge highlighting three vital conditions for change in the sector. These were congruence of values, nature of pupil assessments (teachers always want their pupils to be seen to do well) and accountability and monitoring at national and local levels. This was followed by a response from each of the main Scottish political parties to the Donaldson review which were broadly welcoming though separate concerns about numbers of ITE students being trained came up in the discussion.

The focus changed in the afternoon to effective CPD with a series of speakers highlighting the importance of collaboration, self-evaluation, experiential learning, reflection (facilitated by video observation) and enquiry for successful and engaging professional development. It was suggested that CPD should be contextualised, personally owned and externally stimulated i.e. through challenging assumptions, stimulating ideas and illustrating new approaches. All set in the context of “how I can use this with my pupils/staff?”. I was particularly interested to hear about the way GLOW (Learning and Teaching Scotland’s national VLE with a range of online tools including web conferencing and chat) was being used for formal and informal CPD. The afternoon flew by.

Learning Without Frontiers 9-11 Jan 2011

2011-01-16T20:21:00.001Z

Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) - is new style conference that brings together the renowned Handheld Learning, Game Based Learning and Digital Safety events and communities. LWF brings together leading disruptive thinkers and practitioners from the education, digital media, creative, technology and entertainment sectors to explore, share and demonstrate how new disruptive technologies are driving radical efficiencies and improvements for learning whilst offering equality of access. More details of the official conference including keynote speakers such as Jimmy Wales and Karen Cator from the US and Josie Fraser, Tim Rylands and Stephen Heppell from closer to home are at http://www.learningwithoutfrontiers.com/lwf-london-2011/ and if previous year's Handheld Learning events are anything to do by there will also be linked videos there soon.

Sadly I didn't find funding for the whole event however, attended the free Sunday where I was delighted to meet up with old and new friends and to debat the merits of the iPad, the new tablet phones and even schools in supporting learning. See http://www.hightechhigh.org/ for details of schools in San Diego County that embody the High Tech High design principles of personalization, adult world connection, common intellectual mission, and teacher as designer.

It was a packed day. Teachers and researchers heard about a wealth of new apps from Tony Vincent, James Clay and colleagues and from over a dozen Teachers with Tech in the International Best Practice session. The day also hosted several 'unconferences' including a MirandaMod, a TeachMeet and a well attended introduction to Edupunk from Steve Wheeler. All whilst immersive story telling and Jason Bradbury's show were happening alongside. My thanks to Graham Brown Martin for an entertaining, thought provoking and awareness raising day.

SCETT Conference: In Defence of Teacher Education

2011-01-07T09:26:00.001Z

The Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers (SCETT)
Annual Conference, London.

1:30-5:30pm, 26/11/2010.

In Defence of Teacher Education

By coincidence this Annual Conference was scheduled to take place soon after the publication of the government’s White Paper on education so it was able to focus on questions posed by the Paper about the future of teacher education. The format of the Conference was of three panels of high level speakers, and each panel led a debate on a particular question relating to teacher education and the possible implications of the government proposals included in the White Paper. Speakers on the panels were representatives of various different groups involved or affected by the education of teachers – the 4 main teaching unions, organisations with remits relating to teacher education, and Higher Education academics (from the Institute of Education, London). Each panel was allocated time for the speakers to give perspectives on their particular question followed by contributions from the floor.

The panels’ questions and membership were as follows:
Panel 1: What do teachers want from teacher education?
Speakers: Darren Northcott (NAS/UWT), Dr Mary Bousted (ATL), and Russell Hobby (NAHT) (NUT rep Christine Blower was ill)
Panel 2: Who will lead the fight for teacher education?
Speakers: James Noble-Rogers (UCET), Lee Davies (IfL) and Prof Dennis Hayes (SCETT)
Panel 3: What role has higher education in teacher education?
Speakers (all from IoE): Prof Gary McCulloch, Dr Shirley Lawes and Prof Michael Young.

Considerable debate was generated and over the course of the afternoon a number of common concerns emerged and were discussed. The main points are summarised below:
- The current system of teacher education is clearly facing changes that threaten to weaken it fundamentally not only as a result of what is being proposed in the White Paper but also in relation to other policies such as the Academies Bill in which it is stated that there is no longer a requirement for Academies to employ only those with QTS.
- The White Paper is underpinned by a belief that teaching is a craft, to be learned ‘on the job’ by sitting alongside someone doing that job. It was strongly argued by speakers from the panels and from the floor that this belief is flawed and that teaching must be recognised as a complex set of skills and knowledge.
- There was considerable consensus that the current system is not perfect - but also very strong agreement within the Conference that there are elements worth saving, and a major one of these is the input from Higher Education (HE). It is clear from union research involving practising teachers that theoretical perspectives are valued and that HE needs to be at the heart of providing these. Combination of theory and practice is needed – pointed out that not unique situation as other professions deal with this too.
- We need to concentrate on the provision of effective on-going CPD, particularly good quality subject-based CPD that is in need of transforming. (Cf below for link to article on this by Dr Boulsted, ATL, in recent TES). Professional knowledge and understanding is dynamic and changes over time – this reveals the potential for a framework of CPD to be extended and be underpinned by a relationship between schools and HE. A well-received suggestion was that ITT should not be overloaded– that we need CPD ‘journeys’ throughout teaching careers (again, pointed out that this was not an issue only faced by teaching profession) –
- University Training Schools – very interesting idea but not anticipated before White Paper – we need to know more as they could provide opportunities.
- Debate about how far we can ‘educate’ rather than ‘train’ when complying to the Standards – obviously not a new issue. Questions need to be considered such as what should the theoretical underpinnings be in teacher education? What does ‘theory’ look like? How does ‘knowledge’ fit into education? Master’s credits can provide the space for ‘education’ rather than training but no mention of Master’s level in the White Paper
- The taking on of ITT responsibilities will be worrying to many schools,and seen as problematic. White Paper focus is based on a view that schools are the only worthwhile unit – this is a mistake. Most Head Teachers are happy to use expertise from elsewhere to create a culture within which everyone can progress – the government proposals do not tackle this.
- We should see the White Paper as an opportunity, and need to get to grips with what’s right, what’s wrong with what we’ve got. Aim for a proper debate with the government on what we want in Teacher Education.
-
-
In summary, as was to be expected at an event such as this, there was wide-ranging and impassioned debate about which elements within our current system that should be defended, and the nature of that defence, in the face of the challenges found within the White Paper. Within these discussions there was some optimism expressed that the White Paper offered opportunities as well as challenges. It was clear by the end of the Conference that there was consensus about the essential role that debate of this level and nature is to play if we are to achieve a system of teacher education that does justice to the complex nature of what it is to be a teacher.

Links:

Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers (SCETT)
www.scett.org.uk

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6064239

Scholarly activity and research within Further Education Colleges

2010-12-13T15:32:00.004Z

Developing and enhancing the practice and management of scholarly activity and research within Further Education Colleges

Kingston College, Kingston upon Thames, London 26^th 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

http://escalate.ac.uk/7756

Michael Gove's Education White Paper

2010-11-24T18:38:00.006Z

As can hardly have been missed, the schools white paper was published today, 24 November 2010, setting out the policy direction of the Coalition Government, including some radical proposals for changing the nature of initial teacher education (ITE) in England.

Drawing heavily on Michael Barber’s 2007 report for McKinsey and the think tank Policy Exchange’s 2008 report ‘More Good Teachers’, the white paper focuses on improving the quality of teaching through recruiting high-achieving academic graduates to the profession and shifting the balance of teacher education from universities to schools.

Graduates who do not have at least a 2:2 will not receive funding for initial teacher education from September 2012 and the recruitment process will include a more rigorous basic skills test with fewer opportunities for retakes, while assessments for aptitude, personality and resilience may also become part of the selection process. Incentives for recruiting good graduates in shortage subjects could take the form of paying off student loans or sponsoring degrees in return for a commitment to teach following graduation as currently happens in the armed forces.

More initial teacher training is to take place ‘on the job’, with school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) and the graduate teacher programme being expanded, despite yesterday's report from Ofsted that a greater proportion of higher education-led partnerships were found to be outstanding than SCITT partnerships or employment-based routes. The paper envisages a national network of Teaching Schools, on the model of teaching hospitals, which would see schools leading initial training as well as continuing professional development of teachers and head teachers, with the National College providing quality assurance of Teaching Schools. Three key initiatives will be used to deliver this school-based training. First, the existing Teach First programme – which recruits academic high-flyers to teach before starting other careers – will be expanded, to train over 1000 teachers over the next five years. Alongside this will be ‘Teach Next’, recruiting professionals from other careers into teaching, offering a fast-track route to leadership roles, producing 200 new teachers by September 2013. Finally, the ‘Troops to Teachers’ programme will provide funding for graduates leaving the armed services to train as teachers. The key functions of the Teacher Development Agency in recruiting and training teachers will be transferred to the DfE by 2012.

Exactly what this means for universities and university-led courses such as the B.Ed., M.Ed. and PGCE is not explicitly spelt out, though the direction suggests that PGCEs may become more school and teacher-led while B.Eds may see their support reduced. A consultation on funding initial teacher education will open in early 2011 which should provide more detail on the future funding arrangements of these courses. With the predicted number of new teachers produced by Teach First and Teach Next relatively modest at fewer than 1,500 over the next five years, university education departments may continue to have an important role to play, though perhaps in quite a different way. Some higher education institutions will be invited to open University Training Schools, based on the Chicago ‘lab schools’ model.

A review of teacher performance standards and codes of conduct and new QTS standards will also have important implications for the content of initial teacher education programmes, likely to see the foregrounding of synthetic phonics, early mathematics, behaviour management and SEN. Universities may also be asked to work with the National College to develop new qualifications for the National Professional Qualification for Headship from September 2011.

As the recent Ofsted report showed, universities working in partnership with schools provide outstanding initial teacher education. Strengthening and developing these partnerships with schools, possibly through models such as Lab Schools may support strong programmes that draw together experience of ‘on the job’ teaching with a toolkit of knowledge and practices. A programme of continuous professional development that allowed teachers to learn from their peers as well as accessing useful evidence and support from universities and other providers should also be welcomed. Removing universities from the equation altogether would seem unlikely to raise the status of teachers, and would cut off the teaching profession from the latest evidence and understanding in education. At present, schools can already be reluctant to take part in teacher training partnerships due to time and finance constraints and their priorities of teaching the learners in their care; schools that are outstanding at teaching children are also not necessarily equipped with the resources, time, knowledge and skills to provide all of a new graduate’s initial teacher education. Schools working in partnership with higher education institutions can provide a more thorough and balanced initial teacher education than a purely school-centred route.

ESCalate will continue to support and work with university and FE education departments to provide initial teacher education programmes.

Innovating e-Learning 2010, the JISC online conference

2010-11-23T15:31:00.003Z

I am currently attending this online conference hosted by JISC which is subtitled 'Bringing Innovation to Life:from Adversity comes Opportunity'! It's been an interesting day so far not least from the perspective of the online experience provided by Elluminate which enables participation via a variety of screen-based tools. Lots of interesting comment by both presenters and 'attendees'. I will update and try to capture a few key messages as the four day event unfolds!

Preparing for Success: supporting international students in the disciplines

2010-11-14T09:36:00.002Z

On Friday 12th November 50 subject practitioners and EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers came together to explore the role of lecturers in the preparation of international students for study in the UK.

This event at the University of Southampton, one of a series of events coming from the HEA/UKCISA ‘Teaching International Students’ project, was a collaboration with the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies and as a member of the TIS team I was very grateful for their support and that of all the speakers!

For me, the theme of the day was ‘partnerships’. In discussion groups I began to hear examples of practitioners breaking out of traditional silos to seek new collaborations across the university to bring about more integrated disciplinary and learning support from day 1 of students’ arrival to the UK and even pre-arrival.

We heard further examples from speakers Liz Hauge & Natalie Lee (University of Southampton) and Sandra Hayward & Andrea Sweetman (University of Nottingham) who spoke about their programmes in Law and the Built Environment respectively.

What seemed to work? Suggestions included:

• Having EAP teachers and other learning support practitioners based within disciplinary departments.
• Conducting a needs analysis before designing a pre-sessional course.
• Setting entry requirements on language tests such as IELTS at levels appropriate to the discipline in question (e.g. law, IELTS 7.0).
• Creating discipline-specific pre-sessional and in-sessional courses – using for example:
o the referencing system associated with the discipline
o relevant case examples
o fun sessions such a film club on subject-related topics
• Bringing in subject practitioners to lead guest lectures and workshops.

There are challenges with these approaches of course, Diana Ridley of Sheffield Hallam University carried out a survey of EAP pre-sessional provision and found some respondents suggesting that tailored programmes are difficult with such a wide variety of disciplines on offer and very different student cohorts.

Despite the challenges, participants seem buoyed by the opportunity to share practice and the new connections they made. I invited delegates to think about ways they could contribute their expertise to the development of TIS resources around the induction of international students. I warmly welcome their and your suggestions! fiona.hyland@bristol.ac.uk

HE in FE post Browne Review

2010-10-29T10:32:00.013+01:00

Last week the HE in FE Subject Centre Network got together in London. Understandably quite a lot of our discussion centered on the Browne Report and its implications and signposts for HE delivered in Further Education Colleges. The Association of Colleges AoC) notes that
39% of those entering higher education are College students.168,000 students study higher education in a College, generally on a part-time basis around work or family commitments. College higher education students are generally older than typical university students and often have vocational, rather than academic, qualifications.
(http://www.aoc.co.uk/)
Further Education Colleges (FECs) can offer HE through funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in partnership with a university and provide HE opportunities for many students who are either unable to or don't wish to study away from their home area. HE in FE plays an important role in widening participation and access to HE allowing many, particularly adult learners to improve their skills and employment prospects. Many students undertaking HE in FE are only able to study part-time and typically study alongside part-time employment and family commitments.
The Browne Review recommends new support for the costs of learning for part-time students and an increase in support for living costs for students from low income backgrounds. HE in FE providers, notably Stella Mbubaegbu, Principal of Highbury College, Portsmouth see this support as grounds for optimism for the future of HE in FE and the widening participation agenda. Foundation Degree programmes which make up a significant part of the HE in FE landscape offer many benefits beyond affordability as Highbury's Principal observes and should be acknowledged by e.g. ensuring that the proposed 10% increase in the number of HE places recommended by Lord Browne should go to FECs. Foundation Degrees and associated 'top up years' at partner universities or within the FEC itself should continue to offer a real alternative to students who will, possibly increasingly be looking for a lower-cost alternative to university study.
As the 'employability agenda' begins to figure ever higher in the concerns of HE institutions and amongst financially-astute learners it is timely to celebrate the achievements and opportunities provided by the HE in FE sector. Post-Browne part-time students would benefit from the recommended abolition of up-front course fees affording them parity with full-timers and allowing them to continue working alongside their studies and manage often restrictive budgets more easily.
Teachers working within mixed economy practice or solely delivering HE in FE might see grounds for optimism post-Browne for the continuation and sustainability of their work in this important sector and welcome potentially greater opportunities and choices for their students.

ISSOTL - it has international in the title and it actually means it!

2010-10-28T21:07:00.003+01:00

From Julie Anderson

This was my second time at an ISSOTL (International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) conference for ESCalate and one of the really enjoyable aspects of attending and presenting at it again recently (October 19 – 22nd, 2010, Liverpool, UK) was that when it has international in the title, it actually means it!

For the first morning’s session of parallel papers I found myself listening to a South African academic refer in passing to Zulu students (!), followed by a Scottish based discussion around the issues facing remote Open University students in the highlands and islands, ending with a paper based around teaching and learning in Dublin, Ireland. And that was all before the first coffee break!

During the rest of the four days I talked with and listened to presentations by people from places as far afield as Sweden, New Zealand, hitherto unknown ( to me anyway) parts of the USA and various locations across Australia. There were also of course many more local academics to hear such as some talking about aspects of student assessment from Liverpool (who left their session early to catch the ferry across the Mersey; there’s a song in there somewhere) as well as many other universities in the UK.

The Higher Education Academy was also represented amongst the delegates by colleagues such as David Sadler (Director of Networks) and Rachel Segal, amongst others.

ESCalate was represented by myself giving a paper on student anxiety in the classroom - and Ruth Pilkington doing a poster presentation on her work, ”Investigating Dialogue: how effective is it for assessing learning from practice”, which was attracting a lot of interest and attention when I saw her!

The conference was smaller than I remembered it when I attended in Sydney three years ago. It was suggested that this was a sign of our economically difficult times. During the first evening’s welcome it was mentioned that there were 375 delegates from 27 countries. 22 were presenting although unfortunately 40 papers that had been accepted were withdrawn mostly, it was thought, because they had not obtained funding to attend. However, Professor Michele Lamont, one of the keynote speakers, didn’t make it because she got caught up with the strikes in France.

Despite all that it was another good if varied event. The four keynotes overall were a particular strength. Graham Gibbs spoke the first evening about being guarded in our generalisations and that context is so important, something that was then quoted widely throughout the rest of the conference. Ray Land stepped in for the absent Professor Lamont and spoke about venturing into strange places and preparing graduates for the 21st century. His very visual talk included a You Tube clip about the five minute university and various images of Cyclops (I wouldn’t want you to go away with the erroneous impression that it was all serious – although even these asides were making important points). Jude Carroll spoke often very movingly about her work around International students with Janette Ryan, in summary reminding us that difference is not deficit; and the conference ended on Friday morning with an excellent presentation by Ray Land and Eric Meyer on threshold concepts (and a little on troublesome knowledge) something that they also talk about in the new book. It was remarked on by the ISSOTL president Gary Poole that it was a compliment to them that a large number of delegates remained and got later trains and planes so that they could hear their talk which for me personally was the highlight of the conference. I would recommend going to the ISSOTL site at http://issotl10.indiana.edu/ to read more about some of the conference presentations in due course when they have been uploaded - and considering going yourself next autumn when it is over in the USA. For anyone from any discipline serious about teaching and learning, it is a good event to participate in.

Julie Anderson
Senior Lecturer in Postgraduate Professional Development
University of Plymouth

NUS/UKCISA event - International students and students' unions

2010-10-18T10:02:00.002+01:00

I felt privileged to speak at the NUS & UKCISA training event in Bradford last week 'International students and students' unions: creating a global future for all students' - 13th October.

About 80 NUS officers and international student representatives came together from across the UK to listen to invited speakers and to discuss issues such as:

* Enhancing global employability
* Making immigration simpler
* Living in the UK
* Internationalising further education colleges
* Making international student fees more transparent

Christina Yan Zang, the NUS International Students Officer, launched the NUS 'Charter for becoming a global university' which lays out a 10-point agenda for NUS work in this area. I look forward to seeing how their work develops in parallel to the work of so many institutions and other stakeholders in areas such as increasing student mobility and meeting the targets of the Bologna process.

I was asked to speak about the academic experiences of international students (slides available on ESCalate's website) and was ably assisted by Colin Neville of Bradford University who spoke about issues of academic misconduct and referencing.

The Browne review – what does it mean for Education subjects in HE?

2010-10-14T10:36:00.007+01:00

The long-awaited Browne review reported on Tuesday 12^th October, recommending a significant shake-up of the funding system for universities and a distinct change in the relationship between universities and students.

The review panel took “a reduction in public investment in higher education as a binding constraint”, and so the question has focused on how to shift the balance of funding away from direct government funding towards graduates shouldering a greater share of the financial burden for their higher education.

Browne recommends that universities are allowed to set their own fees for undergraduate courses, with a ‘soft cap’ of £6000, above which they would need to pay back a percentage to the Treasury. This figure is deliberately lower than the fee - around £7000 - that universities may need to charge to replace funding lost from the HEFCE grant, aiming to drive efficiencies in the sector. Vince Cable’s response in parliament suggested the government would, however, consider raising this soft cap to £7000. Charging fees higher than the ‘soft cap’ would also oblige universities to demonstrate that the additional funding was being used to improve quality of courses. With the bulk of tuition being funded by students themselves and with the HEFCE grant cut for many courses, the Browne report recommends that some public funding may be needed to ensure that students continue to study expensive clinical subjects and priority subjects such as science and technology, clinical medicine, healthcare, and language courses. Education has not been, at this point, identified as a priority subject. In Scotland, students’ tuition fees are currently fully funded by the Scottish government, a situation that Vince Cable described as “unsustainable”. It remains to be seen how the Scottish government will respond to any changes in the English higher education funding system.

Students’ loans would attract a ‘real’ interest rate, reflecting the rates paid by government, and students would be expected to pay off the full cost of their loans, though if not repayed after 30 years they would be written off. Actual monthly repayments, however, would be determined solely by their earnings, paying back 9% of any salary over £21,000. Part time students would have access to the same support as full-time students. Estimates suggest that students paying £6000 per year, plus taking extra loans for living expenses could expect to graduate from a three-year degree with debts of between £30,000 and £40,000.

The thinking behind these recommendations is to create a more competitive market in higher education, with caps lifted on the number of students universities can take, and universities competing to attract greater numbers of students. This was also the intention behind introducing student fees of £3000 back in 2001; at that time, all but three universities opted to charge the full amount. If these recommendations are accepted, we will need to wait and see the extent of variation in fees offered by universities. Putting this in the context of other cuts to universities’ funding, and more cuts expected in the Comprehensive Spending Review, many may find it difficult to offer three-year degrees for significantly less than £6000. One suggestion is that universities may be encouraged to offer two-year ordinary degrees, and there may also be more incentives to promote distance learning options in order to offer more affordable degrees.

With students paying more for their degrees and leaving with an estimated £30,000 worth of debt, it is expected that they will demand much more from universities in terms of teaching quality, and become much more conscious of the likely ‘return on investment’ they will see in the form of their subsequent employment and salary. Browne recommends a Student Charter containing information such as employment outcomes and contact time which will form part of students’ university application process, and a stronger system of careers advice to guide students through the application process. This focus on informing the student consumer may see even greater emphasis given to measures of student satisfaction such as National Student Survey. With the quality of teaching becoming increasingly important, Browne recommends that new academics take a ‘teaching training’ qualification, to be accredited by the Higher Education Academy; this emphasis on good teaching was welcomed by the HEA. Overseeing the competitiveness of the HE sector, and maintaining a baseline of ‘quality’, would be a new body formed from the merger of HEFCE, QAA, Office for Fair Access, and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

The review proposes no changes to funding models for postgraduate taught courses. The general view taken in the Browne recommendations is that postgraduate taught courses offer largely private, rather than public benefits, and therefore should not attract the same level of support as undergraduate courses. There remains a question about what this means for PGCE courses which clearly do offer wider public benefit. It is not yet clear whether the current cap on fees for PGCE will also be lifted, and if it is not, how these courses will be funded. If PGCE courses need to become more competitive it is possible that we will see further growth of school-centred initial teacher education and part-time courses. It is also at this stage not clear whether paying higher fees for undergraduate degrees will have an impact on the number of students choosing to sign up for further study.

The review is, at this stage, only a set of recommendations and we will need to wait for funding proposals to be put before parliament and a further round of consultation before legislation is passed. However, Vince Cable’s initial response in parliament was to accept the “broad thrust” of the recommendations, and it possible that many of these measures will come into effect for students entering Higher Education in 2012.

Engage 2010

2010-09-29T17:21:00.000+01:00

Escalate was represented at Engage 2010, a Public Engagement conference on 23rd September at the University of Bristol where we shared what we'd learned (from a recent external evaluation) about aiming to be an engaged organisation. This was:

to aim for a supportive community of practice with shared values;
to ensure a route for incoming (bottom up) innovation/interaction (ie don't fret about deciding what to do or what people will want - ask);
to provide both large and small scale events and activities

There were a range of presentations from organisations across Bristol as well as University colleagues, my thought to take away was "the importance of themes". The most successful projects involved public engagement around a strong theme.

DfE ‘Supporting better use of research by practitioners and policy staff’

2010-09-29T14:39:00.002+01:00

Development day for education researchers in the UK – Supporting better use of research by practitioners and policy staff. Run by the Department for Education, in London on 28 September 2010.

The day in London included sessions looking at examples of projects that had successfully engaged with policymakers, and with practitioners, a presentation considering the experience of brokering research between researchers and policy makers in the Dutch Government, and presentations from a teacher and civil servants on how they engage with research. This provided a wide range of perspectives from “either side”, and from an intermediary perspective as well.

So was the day useful? From my perspective, I got most from the stuff around engaging with policy (and cringed inwardly about previous responses to the then DCSF when they asked about my work…). I enjoyed the session from Brenda Taggart, outlining the experiences of the EPPSE (Effective Pre-School, Primary & Secondary Education) project in engaging with policy makers. On the one hand, this project is something that most of us can only aspire to – centrally funded, and now more than 13 years in duration and still ongoing – and this puts them in an enviable position when it comes to influence and visibility. On the other hand, Brenda’s comments on what made the relationship with policy work included some comments that I felt could apply to projects that I am working on – and some of which were included anyway in the design of the CReSt 14-19 project (Centre Research Study: analysing the response to the 14-19 educational reforms in schools and colleges). Brenda outlined that policy makers usually ask fairly simple questions. As we all know, research rarely provides simple findings, but Brenda recommended trying to develop answers to policy questions that are true to the complexity of the research, but are presented in a straightforward way.

A further hint was that policy makers like to see how this could lead to policy change, and tend to like (realistic) recommendations for policy developments that are clearly rooted in the research findings. From the civil servants, we heard how they like research that is simply presented in plain English, with precision in the conclusions and detail about how widely applicable it is likely to be. They wanted to know how a policy should be rolled out (should it be a recommendation, or a mandate), and whether it would be good value for money in terms of cost of implementation and expected gains (especially important in these straightened times).

There was a continuous message through all of this that policy makers tend to prefer large-scale quantitative research with strong findings, preferably backed up and explained by qualitative work. Those who compile research briefings said that they felt that smaller scale research, from either tradition, was still useful in terms of contributing to the overall picture – but the message was clear: if you are after star status in terms of policy influence, you need a big, longitudinal study with mixed methods.

There were undercurrents among the audience that if you were challenging the current political ideology, then you did not have a hope in hell of being noticed. This was mediated somewhat by Brenda, who suggested that there is a large element of luck and timing in terms of impact – what you are doing at the moment might not be taken up immediately, but a few years down the line might have considerable impact, when your pet issue becomes the story of the moment. This was also picked up on by Rien Rouw, when discussing research brokering, who outlined that research and knowledge is just a very small part of the many factors that feed in to policy development. And although one of the stated objectives of the day was to discuss the kind of support researchers would like from the department to improve the reach and impact of their research, the focus of the day seemed to be much more “this is how policy makers work – and this is how you can fit in with this”. But hey, that’s the world we live in and let’s face it – are we really going to change the way they work?

A bonus of the day was the opportunity to have help from the research summaries crew on developing summaries for policy of our own existing work – I’ll be sending a draft in of the CReSt project findings from the last year for comment within the next month.

Jo Rose, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol

Academies and ‘free schools’ – the next steps for policy

2010-09-28T10:19:00.002+01:00

Westminster Education Forum Keynote Seminar:
Academies and ‘free schools’ – the next steps for policy

This was a well-organised morning seminar held in central London at BMA House, Tavistock Square. It consisted of three well-balanced panel sessions, each chaired by an MP and followed by a Q&A session. The day started with an introduction by Dr John Pugh, MP and member of the Liberal Democrat Treasury team who set out some of the current issues/dilemmas. This was followed by an interesting synopsis of the latest National Audit Office report on whether the Academies programme is delivering value for money. As might be expected, this was complex. There was evidence that the number of FSM (free school meals) pupils had gone down in these schools (suggesting a more mixed intake) and that they had had successes in reducing the number of NEETs (not in education, employment or training). But there was less evidence of academies supporting local schools, and there were dangers when schools came into the programme too quickly. There were also some governance concerns, with regard to conflicts of interest and responsibilities, and financial risks for the future in terms of a higher proportion of young teachers. The full report can be found at: www.nao.org.uk/publications/1011/academies.aspx

The second panel session addressed the future of the academies programme with contributions from the head of a grammar school, the Anti Academies Alliance, ARK schools, the National Governors’ Association, and a local authority representative. It became clear that there are now at least three types of academy: original academies which replaced failing schools in difficult circumstances, those who have been encouraged to seek academy status because of their ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating, and ‘free’ schools set up by interested groups such as local parents. Again, panel members gave interesting presentations from their particular points of view.
Finally, there was a panel which addressed the development of ‘free’ schools in line with the Swedish model. Graham Burns, a solicitor, spoke of concerns with regard to the current legal framework governing academies and ‘free’ schools, Susanne Wiborg spoke of the inconclusive evidence from Sweden where ‘free’ schools have existed since the early 1990s, Bob Johnson from the NASUWT spoke of concerns with regards to teachers’ pay and conditions and the managing director of Kunskapsskolan (which runs ‘free’ schools in both Swenden and England) spoke of the 1,000 ‘free’ schools that have been set up in Sweden over the last 15 years. Again, a lively Q&A session followed.

The Westminster Education Forum puts on many such events, it claims to be completely impartial and has no policy agenda of its own. More details can be found at www.westminstereducationforum.co.uk

Elizabeth McNess, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol.

Student Engagement Development Day

2010-09-15T10:37:00.006+01:00

This was an Academy & Subject Centre working meeting - 14th September, NUS Headquarters, London.

Fiona Hyland and I travelled down to London to attend a meeting looking at student engagement activity taking place throughout the Academy and HE institutions. The day started with a presentation by Vicki Trowler summarising the literature in this area. We learnt about the behavioural, emotional and cognitive aspects of student engagement and considered negative, positive and non-engagement reactions. Vicki’s review (which will posted shortly on the Academy website) highlighted that there are gaps in the literature and that the student voice seems to be missing.

The day continued on and we separated into parallel sessions where Fiona heard about Scotland’s student-led teaching awards project from Alastair Robertson and I went to a session led by Birmingham City University about creating student academic partnerships and supporting student research that directly benefits both curriculum design and students' experiences at university. This was especially inetresting for me in light of the work we are currently undertaking with University of Exeter's Students as Change Agents project.

After this, Dale Potter led us through a group card exercise which challenged our definitions of student engagement. Dale had previously presented this at our Student Conference back in the Spring. This left us well placed to hear from colleagues within the Academy about examples of their work in this area including student focus groups (Economics Network) and web resources (Engineering Subject Centre).

Ant Bagshaw and colleagues from the NUS then talked to us about how they interact with students and how the NUS operates and suggested ways in which the Academy and its subject centres could involve students.

All in all, this day complements the work we are currently involved with and both of us found it a valuable and thought-provoking day.

If you would like to know more about the work the Academy are doing it has a collection of resources in this area.

Education: what’s the brain got to do with it?

2010-09-09T10:07:00.000+01:00

A discussion meeting chaired by Baroness Estelle Morris, with the key note speaker the Honourable David Willetts MP, as part of the Royal society’s Brain Waves study.

Tuesday 7 September 2010. Event supported by the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust.

Despite the rigors of an underground strike that gridlocked London’s overground, the large meeting room is full in the Royal Society’s elegant mansion house. Ten round tables seat over eighty people. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore wryly notes that it looks like a wedding reception. If so, it is celebrating the wedding of neuroscience and education and we, representing educational research, neuroscience, school teaching and policy makers, are there to cheer and offer our best wishes. Yet, the future for the happy couple may not be easy and smooth. They come from such different cultural backgrounds and think in very different ways.

Uta Frith and Estelle Morris open up the proceedings by expressing the hope that rigorous evidence-based findings could be used to inform policy and eventually teaching practice. Barbara Sahakian gave an introduction to neuroscience, showing how research impacts on the way that we see the real world. The brain is a plastic structure, it develops in response to experience. Thus the hippocampus of the brain, that organises memory, gets bigger in London taxi drivers after they have learned to navigate London’s streets. Working memory (of the kind we use to remember information briefly) leads to the development of new brain cells. The number of years of secondary education has a significant effect on delaying the onset of dementia in older age.

The majority of the time was spent in discussion of various topics, tweeting key comments into the blogosphere (#neuroed, if you want to follow) until the volume of ideas entering cyberspace was too much for the good keepers of Tweetville. Teachers broadly welcomed the input of neuroscience, but noted that there were a lot of neuromyths (drinking water, omega 3, brain gym training and so on) that were proposed as a universal solution to all ills, only to find later that they are not as effective as they claimed.

Neuroscience is making spectacular progress, largely thanks to new advances in imaging technology and the ability to manipulate individual brain cells and there is certainly a need to get ‘key ideas’ out into the educational world clearly and effectively. CPD would seem to be one way to do this. Blogs may be another.

David Willetts closed proceedings with a speech emphasising the importance of science and education. He is a fan of Ben Goldacre, Uta Frith and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, but not of the standards of University teaching. He raised a clear flag that this issue would likely be passing across the agenda of the Coalition government.

It was hell getting there and back again, but the event itself was thoughtful, powerful and realistically optimistic. It was a small contribution to a larger report to be produced by the Royal Society, which we will await with interest.

Neil Ingram

University of Bristol

7/9/10

Improving Learning for All - a TIS event at Swansea Metropolitan University

2010-09-08T11:10:00.003+01:00

On Friday 3rd September I presented at another HEA/UKCISA 'Teaching International Students' event, this time hosted by Swansea Metropolitan University. Our hosts did a tremendous job and the warm welcome meant that everyone quickly got stuck in to sharing their practice and discussing challenges.

Papers included one on plagiarism by Helen Stacey (University of Glamorgan); Diana De (University of Glamorgan) about diversity challenges; Paul Osborne on the Swansea Metropolitan business school experience: Kevin Child (University of Swansea) on his journey through exploring the literature on cultural diversity and a paper by Paul Jones (Glamorgan) on induction.

Jude Carroll of the TIS project gave a workshop on assessment & feedback and I found myself writing notes for my own practice 'don't keep a pencil in your hand - maybe then you'll refrain from copy-editing'!

The resources from the day will be posted shortly and a discussion group of local enthusiasts will begin to continue the discussions.

Teaching Outside the Classroom twilight session, Bath Guildhall

2010-09-07T22:48:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I attended a Teaching Outside the Classroom (TOTC) session organised by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council aimed at bringing teacher educators and museum educators together to learn more about this initiative. TOTC supports the development of placements for trainee teachers in settings other than schools.

The session aimed to provide opportunities to:
•discover the benefits of trainee teachers working in cultural settings at the start of their careers
•find out more about how Teaching Outside the Classroom can support you to develop effective and sustainable partnerships
•network with cultural educators, Initial Teacher Training providers and other professionals from across the Children’s Workforce

The TOTC initiative itself was developed by and is currently supported by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

The TOTC website hosts case studies of several partnerships between ITE providers and different learning outside the classroom providers such as art galleries, indoor and outdoor museums and heritage sites, with orchestras and sports providers and even in a prison. These case studies include different patterns of placements during different length ITE programmes and give good indication of student numbers (over 100 in some cases), the range of activities involved and the associated challenges.

It also aims to support ITE providers and outside classroom organisations in finding potential partners to develop placements with. Organisations who register on the TOTC database will receive one to one support from a trained advisor to develop the placement. There are also resources to support with planning trainees’ programmes and with evaluating outcomes in the light of the QTS standards.

We all know learning doesn’t stop outside the classroom, indeed having a context is essential to authentic learning opportunities and I recommend taking up this opportunity to reflect on our teacher education programmes in order to make the most of the learning opportunities arising from this wealth of cultural resource.

More on ECER 2010

2010-08-31T12:52:00.003+01:00

Jocelyn Wishart's overview of ECER below allows me to take different approach and with my allowance of 400 words (writing concisely for blogs is tough!) I have picked out 3 papers to discuss in more detail (abstracts available on the ECER website).

On the first morning I went to a paper by Len Cairns (Monash University) and Margaret Malloch (UEL) on workplace learning and cultural change. They argued that workplace learning needs to move on from the narrow consideration of the development of workers' competence to considerations of capability. Working in the Vocational Education and Training sector they described their research on the three dimensional learner - including dimensions of Lifelong, Lifewide and Lifedeep. They made a good case for considering the learner along these dimensions to work towards avoiding a dichotomy of 1) a few narrowly but deeply skilled workers and 2) a great many shallowly skilled workers.

Rosemary Deem of Royal Holloway University of London gave a paper titled 'Cultural Change, Change Agents, Government Reform and Isomorphism in UK Universities: The Growth Of Leaderism?' Based on 30 interviews in 2007 with senior management teams (SMTs) in 6 UK universities (with some repeat interviews the following year) Deem found some evidence of leaderism (whereby a charismatic leader focuses on re-imagining the public service user as a consumer or co-producer (O'Reilly & Read, 2010). However, the interviews also showed that 'new managerialism' amongst SMTs was also still evident. This multi-layered presentation (of which I have only mentioned a fraction) was concluded with a discussion of organisational isomorphism which although appeared to be encouraged by policies (coercive) & fashion (normative) was not clearly evident in the UK HEIs studied here.

It was a great please to attend the talk by Carol Taylor of Sheffield Hallam University - I had read about some of her work in a recent ESCalate newsletter article in which she discussed the use the videonarratives to promote doctoral students’ reflexivity on their doctoral journeys (an ESCalate funded project). At ECER, Carol explored the ethics of student participation in the production of academic knowledge. The case studies she presented really illustrated some of the dilemmas which can surface when engaging in 'students as researchers' work.

On the final morning I presented the work I'm doing as part of a team for the Teaching International Students project. I've written a separate report for this (focusing especially on papers relevant to the internationalisation of HE) which should be available later this month via the TIS Newsletter; and the slides, abstract & photos are available here.

ECER (European Conference on Educational Research) 2010 in Helsinki

2010-08-28T21:06:00.000+01:00

ECER is a wide ranging conference held by the European Educational Research Association (a confederation of more than 20 national and regional educational research associations). This year Helsinki University hosted around 1800 participants in the centre of town. Presenters, inspired by the surrounding dramatic architecture (the green and gold domes on Helsinki Cathedral glittered brightly when the sun came out) gave a range of presentations including papers, panel discussions and symposia. Whilst the main theme to the conference and focus for the four keynote speakers was education and cultural change, in all, there were around 1,000 presentations themed by 27 subject networks that addressed other themes such as policy, assessment, curricular innovation, inclusion, leadership, social justice and cultural change. I have only listed a few here as examples, there is much more information at the conference website here.
Initial reactions were that it was all somewhat overwhelming but soon the pattern with the network themes became clear. Network sessions that I attended included Research in Higher Education, Teacher Education Research, ICT in Education, Didactics - Learning and Teaching where she was delighted to hear from both new colleagues and old friends with new ideas. However, it was papers in the network of Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures that challenged my current thinking about the comparative roles of both formal and informal education that had the greatest impact. There was much associated discussion amongst the participants over the role of schools and accreditation within European educational systems.
The conference was scheduled pretty much full-time over three days with evening receptions on the first two however there was opportunity to explore Helsinki and even take a 15 minute boat trip to nearby islands. During the poster session on the final day we were pleased to receive much support for ESCalate’s work from the UK education community and interest from several international colleagues in how ESCalate resources could be used in their contexts/situations.

'A Learning Revolution!' Open Educational Resources

2010-07-27T18:13:00.005+01:00

Since 2009 HEFCE have provided £5.7m to fund 29 Open Educational Resources (OER) pilot projects. JISC have been collaborating with the Higher Education Academy to oversee this programme, and soon another group of successful bids will be announced for the latest round of funding.

Keen to learn more about OER I attended the event 'Open Educational Resources International Symposium: UK perspectives on Open Educational Resources' held in London on Friday 23 July.

OER are freely available resources with permissions to allow their re-use and repurposing by both educators and learners worldwide.
I learnt that:

1. Resource release in higher education is the future. It’s already happening all round the world. Keynote speaker Mary Lou Forward of OpenCourseWare Consortium called it a ‘Learning Revolution’.

2. Good links if you’re new to OER are the Higher Education Academy and JISC OER websites.

3. Work may need to be done to support the change in mind-set for colleagues to willingly share their teaching materials. More than one delegate commented that sharing research materials is an accepted and essential practice but that teaching materials are held onto by their creators more tightly.

4. There is a certain amount of risk inherent in publishing OER. Naomi Korn of JISC made this point as she advised on how to use Creative Commons licences to facilitate Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). You will need to unpick all the layers of the resource to determine IPR - e.g. did you credit the clip art illustration used in your slides - and under what licence has the clip art been released?

5. Ongoing discussions within discipline communities are likely to include how best to make OER sustainable especially in the current financial climate of HE - a point made by Sarah Porter, Head of Innovation at JISC. Part of this debate will include the role of 'selling' OER to policy makers, including those in HE institutions as they are increasingly asked to approve the release of materials produced by employees for free distribution.

6. Other challenges include those of (a) accreditation when whole 'courses' are published and (b) ensuring quality when resources are deposited.

7. HEFCE will be publishing the final report of the Online Learning Task Force this autumn.

Brian Lamb of the University of British Columbia rounded up the day with an inspiring keynote speech where he fast-tracked the audience round a range of OER-related websites accompanying the journey with fascinating stories and ending with the bold question 'How is Higher Education going to change the web?' Now there's a question...

Working on ESD at ESCalate

2010-07-09T13:49:00.009+01:00

General Theme

Trying to forge links between the benefits of new technology especially Web2.0 apps and the need to embed ESDGC in HE and across the educational system. Need to distinguish between estate management approaches which more readily deliver measurable outcomes in terms of Sustainable Development targets and individual lifestyle changes which collectively will make a difference, but are harder to measure both cause/influence/learning and effect/outcomes/action. What does transformative learning look and feel like?

On the ESD and main ESCalate Website.

We have continued developing Diigo social bookmarking for “Sustainable Education Group” formed Feb2009. Population more than doubled since Dec (150) to June (380). Diigo allows the users to bookmark, highlight, annotate, tag and comment on any web page or web based resource. Diigo Tag cloud on ESCalate ESD site now one of its most visited pages. Continued to populate the ESD site and develop new pages. Now over 320,000 hits and 18K visitors from all over the world. Around 30 to 40 visitors /day and around 20K hits and 1000 visitors a month.

Additions to Sustainable Education Blog in Feb, March and May.

Newsletter Publication: Short piece by Genna West & Henry Liebling “Our heads in a tag cloud.”

About 10 days work through much of Feb on Curriculum Resources Network bid. Gathered resources in Diigo CRN list to support bid and those writing it around “Critical Path Analysis”, “Web design and specification for resource base”, “Comparison of Web2 tools.”, “Use of Tags”.

Forthcoming events

Moved forward strategy for regional workshops leading to forthcoming Annual Conference in 2011 for the UK network for ESDGC in TE.

Henry Liebling alias Pampa

FACE 2010 - 'Which way now to widen participation? Lifelong learning, Economy & Society'

2010-07-07T13:35:00.010+01:00

Southampton Solent University hosted the 2010 FACE Annual Conference held in partnership with Action on Access, Aimhigher Hampshire and Isle of Wight, NADE and ESCalate. John Storan in his welcome address explained the title of this year's conference - ' it came about as a result of a discussion at the FACE Executive Committee where we recognised that so much of the work done to widen participation to learning opportunities in HE and elsewhere felt as if it was reaching a crossroads, and that there was increasing uncertainty in relation to funding, national policy, research findings and so on. The outcome of this discussion was to see the conference as a major opportunity to address these and other issues, and do this in ways that would open open up the debate and hence the references in the title to society, economy and lifelong learning'.

The conference was particularly 'sharp' with inputs from national leaders involved in funding ( HEFCE) and Government Departments (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills). Workshops included contributors from universities, colleges and practitioners from all over the world and this year included a group of students from the USA (University of New Hampshire).

ESCalate is delighted to have sponsored a student by way of a bursary placement at this year's event. Emma Jackson is a PhD student at the University of Worcester. Her PhD research is concerned with an Evaluation of a Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (Think Smart) aimed at encouraging young people to engage in Higher Education. The PhD aims to evaluate through qualitative and quantitative methods ‘Think Smart’ an Aimhigher Herefordshire and Worcestershire program. ‘Think Smart’ is a program for Year 9 pupils to improve self-esteem and motivation. Look out for a conrtibution by Emma in a forthcoming ESCalate Newsletter.

Keynote speakers included Sarah Howls, Head of WP at HEFCE who presented a well-illustrated overview of 'distance travelled' and answered challenging questions from the FACE audience in the context of equally challenging times for HE and the WP agenda. Pat Bacon, AoC President and Principal of St Helens College delivered an upbeat presentation from the HE in FE perspective.

Workshop sessions covered a wide territory and included..
the impact of Aimhigher on the institutional culture of schools in England, dissolving the barriers to access and success in post-secondary education in a small-island developing nation (the Marshall Islands), widening access in disadvantaged communities in the west of Scotland, using life histories as indicators of lifelong learning in South Africa and a rich programme of presentations and discussions from around the UK representing a range of communities and stakeholders. A real joy of the annual FACE conference is the diversity of its speakers and delegates who communicate so well together to bring a united perspective to what is a truly global agenda - fair and equal access to educational opportunity. In uncertain times and particularly when financial resources are tight it is vital that this agenda is not sidelined or neglected.

It was good to see non-UK based students represented at the conference which presents an opportunity to have an international comparative set of conversations around questions of common interest. A paper session heard from two groups of PG students - one from the UK and one from the University of New Hampshire. 'The McNair' programme is designed to recognise students throughout the US as dedicated individuals who have taken extra steps in preparing themselves for the graduate and doctoral experience - an insight into two quite different perspectives on the PG student experience.

Evening entertainment enjoyed by delegates included a 'casino' played with 'pretend money' with a bottle of bubbly for whoever 'broke the bank' and during the gala dinner two quite amazing magicians who impressed everyone by an array of illusions and outstanding conjuring!

We look forward to FACE 2011 which will be held 29th June - 1st July 2011 at the University of Glasgow. For further details contact cradall@educ.gla.ac.uk

Higher Education Academy Annual Conference - 22& 23 June

2010-07-05T22:35:00.000+01:00

On 22-23 June the Higher Education Academy held their 6th Annual Conference at the University of Hertfordshire - the title this year being 'Shaping the future: exploring impacts and changes to the student learning experience over the next five years'.
It was my great pleasure to run a workshop for the Teaching International Students project and it was pleasing to be reminded of the generosity of colleagues as those in the audience suggested resources, offered venues and expressed enthusiasm for this initiative. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/internationalstudents
Another heart-warming moment was to find that the workshop by Liz Dunne at the University of Exeter on 'Students as agents of change in learning and teaching' was given a special mention in the conference highlights video - see http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/eventsandnetworking/conference/conferencehighlights
Overall, I found the conference very helpful for my work as I attended sessions on, for example, the National Student Survey, Open Educational Resources, Education for Sustainable Development, Assessment for Learning. The Academy conference provided me the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, make new contacts, and above all, to bring new ideas to ESCalate as we continue to work towards enhancing the student experience.

CICIN - a conference on Global Citizenship - 17&18 June

2010-07-05T21:10:00.002+01:00

The Centre for International Curriculum Inquiry and Networking (CICIN), at Oxford Brookes University held its annual conference on 17-18 June and I attended on behalf of ESCalate. CICIN's mission is to identify, promote, facilitate and share good practice and research into the internationalisation of the curriculum.

The theme for this year's conference was 'Internationalisation of the Curriculum for Global Citizenship: Policies, Practices and Pitfalls' and thus papers focused on global citizenship, graduate attributes, student and staff experiences, international mobility... and so on.

This conference has grown significantly from last year - from 1 day to 2 days; and with a change in format from invited papers to open submission of abstracts for peer review, it seemed that often the delegates from last year became speakers this year.

Being involved as researcher on the Teaching International Students project I naturally went to the workshop about this project being held by Jude Carroll co-director of TIS. The project's aims and approach were discussed by speaker and delegates and an example resource critiqued - it was a safe environment to do this since we were amongst 'critical friends' and a useful exercise in gaining much needed feedback (http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/internationalstudents).

Keynote speaker on the first night was Professor Adrian Holliday of Canterbury Christ Church University whose paper discussed theories of culture and ended with the reminder that 'all the students, both British and ‘foreign’, are equally ‘international’ within this cosmopolitan environment, which is the best preparation for increasingly international futures'.

Day 2's keynote speaker, Catherine Montgomery of the Centre for Excellence in Assessment for Learning, Northumbria University, brought with her students from Northumbria who shared their experiences of University curricular and life. Their willingness to set-up new ventures, try new experiences, push the cultural boundaries and generally model aspects of global citizenship, I found both humbling and inspiring.

In fact all the papers and discussions I went to were thought provoking, practical and informative. The concept of 'global citizenship' was not blindly accepted but interrogated (session coordinated by David Killick, Leeds Metropolitan University). And it is this continued discussion which must take place in HEIs to take these issues currently being considered by the enthusiasts to ALL staff (research, teaching, and service).

The other SOLSTICE

2010-06-21T15:39:00.005+01:00

OK so today is the Summer Solstice which amongst other things means that from today the nights will be drawing in! On a cheerier note however Edge Hill University in beautiful South West Lancashire (I'm a biased Lancastrian!) hosted the 5th International SOLSTICE conference on Thursday 3rd June. The SOLSTICE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning employs a model (the 'SOLSTICE model') to bring together Concepts, People and Place to support and enhance curriculum design and get the most from established, emerging and new learning technologies.
This year's conference was badged as 'Technology Enhanced Learning and the Student Experience' - great so the emphasis is placed on the student and not the technology!! The programme was incredibly busy with 2 keynotes and a veritable feast of breakouts, demonstrations, workshops and posters. The sessions were colour-coded to aid choice and to highlight direction in where all things 'TEL' might be heading. Green - 'Researching eLearning notions of impact and effect using technologies', Red - 'technologies and learning environments - physical and virtual spaces', Orange - 'Impacting on students' learning - cause and effect and Blue - 'In development'. Useful divisions then and whilst the usual frustration at not always being able to get to the ones wanted/clashes they did generate a wide range of topical and provocative sessions.
Gilly Salmon kicked off the conference with her customary enthusiastic take on 'learning futures'. The Media Zoo at Leicester University was certainly an interesting way to investigate new learning technologies and how HE might be 'fit for purpose' (re:eLearning) for the rest of the 21st Century. I have to say I wasn't overly keen on the hopes placed on Second Life which I feel (personal opinion here) is a wee bit tired and £ hungry in what will also be austere times ahead. Peter Hartley tailed the conference nicely with a keynote reflecting on how far we have travelled - from 2006 and SOLSTICE v1.0. I thought his input was challenging and dared to ask the 'awkward' questions..e-Learning to TEL significant or snake oil?! Have we made technology 'invisible'?
The bits in the middle clearly demonstrated that there have been notable successes and a few 'blind alleys' along the way. I'm very interested in emerging technologies which directed my session choices and it was interesting to hear how John moores University are developing new learning spaces - technology in the hands of students (everyone really) now beginning to shape the design and form of buildings used for learning - also reflecting an 'always on' learning environment typical of a 'modern' university. Virtual worlds again played a big part in this year's event and once more physical and virtual spaces shaped all the poster presentations - interesting how the environment (physical or virtual) has become the key issue for learning with technology with less emphasis on the device or even approach to learning. 'Web 2.0' featured prominently in the programme with Wave, Twitter and Pipes being explored to facilitate collaborative work and personalise learning with feeds and a customised 'learning interface'.
An overall message then? TEL hasn't gone away and is likely to continue to both inspire and vex practitioners as they try to proverbially harness an ever-increasing range of technologies into teaching and learning. SOLSTICE is a useful, always stimulating event in the TEL calendar and can be relied upon to bring together creative and enthusiastic colleagues who seek to shake out the best ways of enhancing learning which is or soon will be in the hands of all practitioners.
Useful links..
http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/
http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/Conference2010/

Students as agents for change - Exeter University conference - June 14th

2010-06-15T10:11:00.003+01:00

We attended Exeter University's Students as Agents for Change Conference organised flawlessly by Liz Dunne and Harriet Whewell. There were nine student presentations around research projects that had been supported by this initiative. The research projects ranged from students involved in changing their working and learning environment to implementing change in their course structure and delivery.

Attending were a mixture of students and staff from across the schools and across subjects areas. The student presenters ranged from first years to PhD students. What was so very impressive was the impact these research projects were having within Exeter- the student voice was being heard and implemented.

All the student teams had the chance to present at a high level and answer questions from staff and students across departments. It gave delegates an opportunity to hear what was happening in areas other than their own and glean good practice.

Derfel Owen from the QAA gave a very entertaining keynote address which highlighted the differences felt by students and staff across the eras. He told us that a recent NUS student survey concluded that 89% students are happy with their student experience and that students choose their university by choice of course not by the influence of parents or teachers.

Professor Janice Kay (DVC Education) gave the after lunch address highlighting the positive impact these projects had had throughout the University of Exeter's programmes and celebrated the work of all the teams and their supporters.

The day was hugely informative and positive if you would like to read more about this project visit http://www.exeter.ac.uk/as/changeagents

ESCalate will be supporting this project by helping to produce a booklet giving examples of last years projects and the impact they have had, also how the outcomes of these projects might be implemented by other institutions.

HEA - Impact evaluation techniques workshop - 8th June 2010

2010-06-14T13:15:00.004+01:00

I travelled to Birmingham last week for a meeting which was led by Academy York staff and those attending included several Subject Centre Managers as well as other SC staff.

The intention of the meeting was to clarify what is expected in operational planning reporting and the following points were highlighted:

to demonstrate the effect and value of Academy work to key stakeholders
to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness
to show impact trends
to enable reflection

The group considered what evidence is required from impact evaluation and discussed the importance of impact evaluation at the planning stage of any activity. Reports on impact should be evidence based meaning that data is kept or the source can be traced.

The intended outcomes of activities should state who will benefit from them and how. What you want to happen, for example, beneficiaries to be more aware; to be more aware and engage in something; to be more aware, engage in something and do something as a result.

The group also discussed performance indicators which are used to move an organisation forward towards its intended outcomes. PI should be:

linked to intended outcome
clear and specific
designed to prove that key indicators are being met
targetable and measurable at specific points in time

The meeting was helpful and provided an opportunity for SC staff to share effective practice of gathering impact data including both successful and unsuccessful processes. What works and what doesn't work.

TEAN 1st Annual Conference - 21 May 2010

2010-06-09T17:04:00.000+01:00

Liz Hankinson and I attended the ESCalate sponsored Teacher Education Advancement Network's first conference at Glasgow Caledonian University where we were made most welcome. Everyone enjoyed Prof John Gardner's controversial keynote reviewing the importance of education and discussing where we might be in danger of losing sight of it. The presentations that followed were many and varied - thank you to everyone who came to the day. I learned about students making video, sharing learning objects, ITE in Scotland, different perspectives on the MTL and much more.

The book of abstracts is available from TEAN themselves and many of the presentations can be seen here.

An EvidenceNet event on Higher Education Surveys for Enhancement Conference 2010

2010-05-24T20:44:00.001+01:00

An EvidenceNet event on Higher Education Surveys for Enhancement Conference 2010

National College for School Leadership, Nottingham

Tuesday 18 May 2010

'You said; we did' - this was a phrase I heard more than once during the course of this sunny day in Nottingham as project teams described how institutions were responding to the feedback received in student surveys.

After a keynote by Professor Mantz Yorke, the delegates (over 100 of them) could chose from 4 parallel sessions in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.

I chose to attend Janette Ryan and Inna Pomorina's talk on 'The NSS and international students'; being part of their project team working on 'Teaching International Students' I had a vested interest! Inna's analysis of the NSS data showed that international students are less satisfied than home students on all measures except question 7 'Feedback on my work has been prompt'! It seems that efforts to improve the teaching experiences of international students are timely.

In the afternoon I attended a session run by Catherine Rendell (University of Hertfordshire) & Abbi Flint (Sheffield Hallam University). Both gave fascinating insights into the findings of their student surveys and their institutions' responses to the challenges raised.

PowerPoints from the day should shortly be available on the Higher Education Academy website.

Two key points from the day are that:

• it is worth remembering that student satisfaction is not the same as student learning

• findings from student evaluations need to be placed in context and used for enhancement rather than ill-considered comparisons between departments and institutions.

'Working together' conference: QAA and Higher Education Academy Subject Centres

2010-05-24T20:39:00.002+01:00

'Working together' conference (5) - current developments in higher education. QAA and Higher Education Academy Subject Centres.

Wednesday 5th May 2010, Aston Business School Conference Centre, Birmingham.

ESCalate is regularly represented at these QAA-Subject Centre meetings by Dr Barbara Pavey of York St John University and I also went along this time to hear about and share current work at the disciplinary level on external examiners. As you will know the external examiner system is under review - you can read about the latest developments in a report by Szerenke Kovacs available on ESCalate's website.

Discussions & issues included:

• consideration of the unstandardised pay & expenses for work conducted by examiners

• that home institutions should be reminded that they gain from having their staff acting as external examiners via the 'intelligence' they receive and that this therefore should be recognised in the criteria for promotion and progression

• an interrogation about whether national standards for external examiners could really be applied across disciplines

• a consideration of how training & induction would be conducted under a national system and who would conduct (& pay) for this

• an 'appreciative enquiry' of the system could help - what is working well?

• a recognition that as yet there is no consensus yet on a 'college of peers' or a national register

• an emphasis that continued consultation with discipline groups will be vital throughout the review process and beyond.

Other topics for discussion on this day were 'Student workloads' and 'Current work on assessment and assessment standards'. As a researcher working for ESCalate I gained an immense amount from hearing how the QAA and other Subject Centres are working in these areas and I look forward to the next meeting!

Higher Education Academy workshop for Subject Centre Colleagues on National Student Survey (NSS)

2010-05-24T19:51:00.003+01:00

On the 30^th of April, 2010 I went to York to attend the following workshop: Using NSS Data to Support the Enhancement of the Student Learning Experience: Subject Centre Workshop.

The programme of the workshop involved refining the research questions, analysing the NSS data, discussion around the NSS, designing enhancement activities and a final discussion identifying the next steps for Subject Centres (SCs).

The following issues emerged:

· SCs need to explore who is responsible for NSS within the departments, who receives the data, how is the data communicated, interpreted and used amongst departments to enhance the quality of their programmes

· SCs need to explore the type of support that departments receive and to clarify whether there is a demand for SC support

At the end of the day in the 'Final discussion' workshop the following issues were identified:

· there is no national guide on the NSS - SCs might need to offer guidance to the departments on NSS data interpretation

· the qualitative data of the NSS is a rich source of data providing an additional understanding of students’ perceptions

· SCs could organise events, case studies and discipline level focus groups on the NSS

· departments are encouraged to contact Subject Centres for further help.

By Szerenke Kovacs, ESCalate Research & Development Assistant.

Research impact workshop led by Jane Speedy, Graduate School of Education

2010-05-19T23:15:00.002+01:00

Maggie Leggett, Head of the Centre for Public Engagement presented on the impact agenda and public engagement

We live in a world of increasing accountability. Aim to maximise the value of our research, making sure that it is used by others. Impact can be economic, social, public, cultural and/or on quality of life. The Centre for Public Engagement runs a programme of events and advises on impact plans for research council and other bids. Individual stories are important, the REF asks for case studies of impact. Though it appears to focus on contribution to policy making and public engagement. We need to consider impact across the life span of a research project – could include sitting on advisory boards, reports to policy makers, public engagement, people transfer & commercialisation. There are issues of assessing impact - evidence of change can be hard to locate, especially in culture or quality of life.

Lesley Dinsdale, Head of Research and Enterprise Policy presented on Impact and the REF.

In the REF assessment of esteem has been replaced by assessment of impact. Current estimates of weighting for impact are 10-20%. The process is currently being piloted. Proposals are that: assessment will be by unit not individuals, academic impact will not be included, majority to be by case studies supported by overarching impact statement. Still issues over evidencing. Current criteria specify that underpinning research is of sufficient rigour & originality, it can be a piece or a 'body of work' and there must be contribution by institution to both research and impact. Assessment criteria: reach & significance (breadth & depth) and there will be significantly increased numbers of ‘research users’ on the review panels.

Jude Hill, Research Development Manager presented on Impact plans and Funder Guidance clarifying how much was available for example, case studies on the ERSC website in their strategic impact plan .

After lunch we explored examples of impact in the Graduate School. Small group workshops were tasked with identifying the research we do within GSoE and the impact it makes and coming up with an engaging way of disseminating this to the whole group in the plenary session. One haiku and one role play later we were rewarded with coffee.

Discussions in the afternoon group I attended identified the following impacts of our educational research (we did not include the example of national or local government policy given earlier in the day)

Creating teaching resources
Working with teachers and other professional development activities
Writing stories and creating websites for both education sector and general public
Impacts on the participants themselves who are engaged in our research projects
Impact by means of attracting follow up funding or a second grant

We debated heavily the extent to which everyday research informed teaching that resulted in students’ changed practices (bearing in mind our students are nearly all teachers or other education professionals) that have consequent impact on their classroom teaching, their school structures and policies and hence, their pupils, could be counted as impact.

Previously blind,

Was blinkered to my impact

Existing process

Also we aired the differences in the routes used to publish our research eg via practitioner versus academic journals and whether writing directly for practitioners would become of more value for the REF than in previous research assessment exercises.

The presenters’ Powerpoint slides are available at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/events/2010/296.html

Update on HE and new government

2010-05-14T21:23:00.001+01:00

According to the THES

David Willetts has been given responsibility for higher education in the new coalition government formed by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. He was Conservative shadow universities secretary before the general election, & will attend Cabinet in his new role, which sees science and skills merged into the same brief.

The universities brief has remained within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, although the Department for Children, Schools and Families has been renamed the Department for Education, headed by Conservative MP Michael Gove. Vince Cable is the new Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, said Mr Willetts would bring a “wealth of experience” and “genuine understanding” to the role.

“He has worked hard to ensure a deep understanding of the needs of staff and students, regularly visiting campuses across the country and closely integrating himself with the sector,” he said.

“Throughout his involvement, he has demonstrated a firm commitment to the student experience and recognised the crucial need to maintain excellence in teaching and research.”

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, also welcomed Mr Willetts’ appointment, but called on him to close the “sorry chapter” of Labour’s plans for the research excellence framework, in which funding would be partly determined by economic and social “impact”.

Mr Willetts has previously indicated that the Conservatives were in favour of delaying the implementation of the REF to reassess the approach.

Education for Sustainable Development - Academy York Development Day

2010-05-14T15:47:00.000+01:00

On the 27th April, Tony and I travelled to the Higher Education Academy in York to attend the ESD development day.

The morning session consisted of a variety of presentations about ESD and the Academy, and disciplinary approaches to ESD with presentations from three Subject Centres (ESCalate, Engineering and Biosciences). Sheri-Leigh Miles also contributed to the morning session, with a presentation about the Ecoversity project at the University of Bradford. She brought along two students who are involved in the sustainability projects to talk about their experiences. Ruth Bush from NUS Scotland and a couple of students gave a talk about their Student Footprints programme.

I attended the workshop on sustainable events run by Andrew Williams from Seventeen Events: a sustainable event management company based in London. The session was interesting and made me think about the events that ESCalate run and the level of sustainability that we implement. Perhaps a fundamental concept of Education for Sustainable Development is that change begins on a small scale – If ESCalate does everything it can to run sustainable events then we can set an example to others. It is true that it is difficult to run completely sustainable events, but here are a few ideas that I think we could easily put into practice when planning sustainable events:

Venues
•    Does the venue have a sustainability policy?
•    How easy will it be for guests to reach the event by public transport?
•    We could provide walking directions to the venue, to encourage sustainable modes of transport.

Catering
•    Do the caterers use local produce for catering? Ask caterers where they source their products from. Fairtrade tea & coffee?
•    We could use vegetarian catering which is more sustainable.
•    What can we do with food waste – is it composted? Could we give it to a homeless shelter? E.g. FareShare South West

Travel
•    We could encourage speakers / delegates to travel sustainably, e.g. car share for several people / use train rather than car if there is only one person.
•    We should think about what we can do to provide, encourage and communicate better transport choices for the speakers / delegates?
•    We could make some recommendations in joining instructions – e.g. in the interest of sustainability, ESCalate asks that you travel responsibly … here are some tips to help you do this …
Free giveaways
•    Choose to give delegates useful merchandise which they will re-use e.g. Flower Seed Paper.
•    Minimal packaging on all giveaways.

Printed materials
•    Are we printing only the necessary documents? Conference handouts / presentations for instance may be better provided on a USB stick or website to be accessed as required rather than given out to every delegate.
•    Flyers – could they just be e-flyers. Do they really need to be printed?
We could design printed materials to have life beyond the event, for example, if we do not include the event date on folders then any spares may be used for future events.
•    Get accurate estimates of quantities required and do not over order unnecessarily just because it is cheap to do so.

Cultural issues
•    Provide a prayer room and quiet space for delegates who wish time to themselves.
•    Ask delegates about dietary requirements, access issues, and includes a space for any other relevant information relating to diversity.

Stakeholder communication
•    Have we communicated to all stakeholders, at every stage, our sustainable approach to events?
Feedback
•    Including aspects on sustainability e.g. questions on ‘how did you travel to the event’
•    Include information about the sustainability of the event on the website and share best practice.

Tony went to a workshop on interdisciplinarity between the Subject Centres. He found out that GEES already has a sustainability code, and the Academy has an internal sustainability policy. We thought that perhaps ESCalate could do with creating a sustainability policy – something that we can publish on the website. We could collectively look to act more sustainably within the Subject Centre.

Here are some of the ideas generated from the event for future ESCalate activity:
•    ESD teaching guides
•    ‘How to…’ guides, similar to those published by the UK Centre for Bioscience
•    ESD toolkit – see the Engineering Toolbox for Sustainable Design Education
•    Concept of teaching sustainably vs. teaching sustainability
•    University of Bristol Green Impact Awards - ESCalate could participate in future awards
•    Think about how ESCalate could combine ESD and student engagement. We could look at the Dawe Report (2005) Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Current Practice and Future Developments. The report states that “most Subject Centres were not aware of potential relationships between students undertaking ESD work and their employment prospects.” In any future activities we could consider the link between ESD and employability / graduate impact.

The ESCalate Blog

2010-05-14T14:45:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the ESCalate blog!

We have decided to start using the ESCalate blog again. The blog will be used by ESCalate staff members to keep everyone updated on any away days, events and meetings attended. It will be a good way to show that we have been getting out and about, and to discuss what we've learned or any new ideas that have been generated.

Feel free to make any comments!

A successful pilot blog

2009-07-30T16:42:00.001+01:00

This blog is now closed for new postings but feel free to read the existing entries.

Welcome

2009-06-02T13:00:00.000+01:00

Thank you for visiting ESCalate’s new blog.

We are looking at new ways for HE, and HE in FE, staff and students in the discipline of Education to connect and to discuss current issues. Therefore as an experiment, we have created this blog to enable readers to comment on a couple of articles in the latest edition of ESCalate news: A special issue on Research in Education, Issue 14, Summer 2009.

If you would like to add to the debate, raise a question or post an example of innovative practice then please feel free to do so. Simple instructions are shown here; it’s easy and you needn’t feel you must be an expert to join in!

The theme of this newsletter is ‘sharing stories, sharing expertise’ in Research in Education. What stories and experiences can you share?

Mick Healey and Alan Jenkins contributed an article on ‘Developing Students as Researchers’. You will see a post here with the article and a comments section at the end. Key questions here might be:

Is focusing on switching students into ‘research mode’ central to the curriculum?

Do you feel that undergraduate students in areas such as education studies, early years etc, are engaged with research throughout their studies?

What can staff do to integrate research practice into students’ learning?

How has your institution developed your undergraduate ‘students as researchers’?

Madeleine King and John Widdowson wrote about ‘Scholarly Activity undertaken in HE in FE’. Again, at the end of this article you can post a comment. For example:

How would you define scholarly activity?

In your experience how does scholarly activity in HE in FE differ from that in HE?

What are the challenges of scholarly activity in HE in FE?

How are these challenges being overcome; do you have any examples?

If you have any questions or would like to make a general comment about this blog or ESCalate’s news then please do contact Fiona Hyland, fiona.hyland@bristol.ac.uk

Developing Students as Researchers

2009-06-02T12:45:00.007+01:00

This article authored by Mick Healey and Alan Jenkins describes the importance of research within the undergraduate curriculum. For the full ESCalate text, including all figures and images, please see: http://escalate.ac.uk/6038. This was originally published in UC Magazine, October 2008, p17-19, (Magazine of University and College Union).

"We want all students to access the benefits exposure to teaching informed by research can bring. ... We believe an understanding of the research process – asking the right questions in the right way; conducting experiments; and collating and evaluating information – must be a key part of any undergraduate curriculum". Bill Rammell, UK Minister for Higher Education, 'Innovations: Exploring Research-Based Learning' University of Warwick Conference, 25 October 2006

Our argument can be simply stated: all undergraduate students in all higher education institutions should experience learning through and about research. This applies to all students in higher education, including those taking higher education courses in Further Education Colleges. While recognising that there are other goals the curriculum should support (eg student employability, civic engagement), students learning in ‘research mode’ should be central to the curriculum. Unfortunately the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) has both devalued the importance of teaching and effectively moved many undergraduate students and academic staff out of the worlds of research.

Our interest in developing students as researchers originated through our explorations over the last few years into ways to enhance the linkage between teaching and discipline-based research. Our conclusion is that one of the most effective ways to do this is to engage our students in research and inquiry; in other words, to see them as producers not just consumers of knowledge.

In attempting to do this we feel that there is a lot we may learn from the undergraduate research programmes in the US, which are generally for selected students and may well be outside the formal curriculum, eg in summer enrichment programmes. However, for us the key to mainstreaming undergraduate research is to integrate it into the curriculum.

Is undergraduate research for all students?

Your answer to this depends on how you define undergraduate research. If you restrict it to the creation of new knowledge, often through working with staff, such as part of a laboratory research team, then the experience is likely to be limited to a few select students. However, if you conceive undergraduate research as students learning through courses which are designed to be as close as possible to the research processes in their discipline then it can be for all students. The focus then is on student learning and on being assessed in ways that mimic how research is conducted in the discipline, for example, through undergraduate research journals and student research conferences and exhibitions. In these cases, what is produced and learned may not be new knowledge per se; but it is new to the student and, perhaps more significantly, transforms their understanding of knowledge and research. In terms of Fig 1 the emphasis is on the student learning in ‘research-based’ and ‘research-orientated’ modes.

The argument as to whether undergraduate research is for all or selected students is in part a political question - to whom and for what, do national systems and institutions allocate resources, in particular staff time? But for us it is largely an educational and/or philosophical question as to the nature of higher education. We are persuaded by the arguments of those, such as Ron Barnett, that what distinguishes higher education is the emphasis on helping students to live in a supercomplex world and that the curricula task is for “lecturers (to) adopt teaching approaches that are likely to foster student experiences that mirror the lecturers’ experiences as researchers” (Barnett, 2000, 163).

The research evidence

There is growing international research on teaching and discipline-based research relations. In brief this shows that the asserted close interconnection between research and the curriculum is professed more than it is delivered, and in Brew’s (2006, 52) powerful phrase too often undergraduate students are “at arm’s length” from the worlds of university research.

Particularly important to our argument here is the research of Baxter Magolda. Based on a detailed interview-based study of students’ intellectual development during and after university, she has argued that university curricula need to support student and citizen development from,

“absolute knowing (where) students view knowledge as certain; their role is to obtain it from authorities (to) contextual knowing (where) students believe that knowledge is constructed in a context based on judgement of evidence; their role is to exchange and compare perspectives, think through problems, and integrate and apply knowledge”
(Baxter Magolda, 1992, 75).

However, too often curricula “frame learning as the passive acquisition of knowledge” (Baxter Magolda, 2008).

We have gathered a large collection of ‘interesting’ international examples of mainstreaming undergraduate research from a range of disciplines, institutions and national systems (Healey and Jenkins, 2008). A small selection is shown in Table 1.

Where next?

We know of many examples of interesting practices for engaging students in research and inquiry in individual modules, but far fewer cases where undergraduate research has been mainstreamed across a course, department, institution or national system. More strategic interventions to reinvent the curriculum, such as Miami University Ohio is attempting, are needed.

We believe that undergraduate research and inquiry should be an important part of the curriculum from the day students start studying at University, and perhaps before then, as the example of the University of Gloucestershire suggests. Undergraduates should be included in the research community, as happens with Zoology students at Tasmania, and not kept ‘at arm’s length’.

Developing students’ competencies to engage in research and inquiry and to begin to think like discipline specialists is a significant way of meeting many graduate attributes and the government’s employability agenda, as is well illustrated by The Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee approach to developing research-teaching links.

Finally, we echo the perspectives of Angela Brew (2007, 7) that,

“For the students who are the professionals of the future, developing the ability to investigate problems, make judgments on the basis of sound evidence, take decisions on a rational basis, and understand what they are doing and why is vital. Research and inquiry is not just for those who choose to pursue an academic career. It is central to professional life in the twenty-first century.”

In other words, as David Hodge (2007, 1), President of Miami University, says, “undergraduate research should … be at the center (sic) of the undergraduate experience”.

Table 1 Examples of ‘interesting’ curricula interventions

Coordinated interventions in zoology at University of Tasmania, Australia
Years Two and Three

All invited to participate in Student Research Volunteers program (http://www.zoo.utas.edu.au/Staffpg1/summvolunteer3.htm). Volunteers are matched with mentors, usually Postgraduate or Honours students, for short-term, in-house research placements that may offer either laboratory or field experiences.

Years One, Two and Three

‘Reach into Research’ seminars held several times each semester (www.zoo.utas.edu.au/rir/rir2&3.htm). Speakers from industry, collaborating institutions and PhD students present their research, and then all non-undergraduate audience members, except the facilitator, leave the room.

Source: Edwards et al. (2007)

Miami University Ohio, US, are embedding inquiry into the largest courses
They have instituted a Top 25 project in which over a four-year period the largest recruiting courses, mainly at first year level, are being supported to convert to inquiry-based learning.

Source: Hodge et al. (2008)

Undergraduate research at University of Gloucestershire begins at induction
In 2007 over 650 students in the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Science undertook discipline-based inquiry projects during induction week. This involved them working in small groups to collect information from the library and in the field, analyse it, present it to tutors in novel ways, and receive formative feedback. For example, the human geographers and the sociologists researched the experience of Gloucester residents of ‘the Great Flood of 2007’. The Biologists and the Psychologists investigated primate behaviour at Bristol Zoo, while English Literature students visited an arboretum and explored the use of trees in literature. Social and academic activities were integrated, the students had fun, and, importantly, they made friends.

The approach was developed, and initially supported, by the Centre for Active Learning (http://resources.glos.ac.uk/ceal/pre-induction/index.cfm). It has proved a significant staff development activity both for the many academic tutors and the library staff who changed their approach to library induction to support the specific student research projects. Over the next two years other Faculties in the University are developing their versions of developing undergraduate research as part of induction.

Academic journal writing in geography at Oxford Brookes is part of course requirements
The geography programme at Oxford Brookes has developed a set of linked requirements that support all students learning to write research articles. In the second year all students undertake field-based research in a range of venues. A third-year compulsory first semester course ‘Geography Research and Practice’ has as its main assessment students writing an article of up to 4,000 words from the data collected in the second-year fieldwork (http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/social/geoversity/index.html).
Source: Walkington and Jenkins (2008)

Undergraduate research programmes at University of Michigan, US, support racial diversity and widening participation
While the University had been successful in recruiting Afro–American students from inner-city Detroit their drop out rate was high. Special programmes were targeted at these students in years one and two to enhance their integration and academic success with significant positive impacts.
Source: Huggins et al. (2007)

Some useful websites

Council on Undergraduate Research www.cur.org/
Higher Education Academy Research and Teaching www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/research/teaching
Learning Through Enquiry Alliance www.ltea.ac.uk/
The Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee Enhancement Themes:
Research-Teaching Linkages www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/themes/ResearchTeaching/default.asp
University of Gloucestershire: NTFS Project ‘Leading, promoting and supporting undergraduate research in new universities’ http://resources.glos.ac.uk/tli/prsi/current/ugresearch/index.cfm; and Centre for Active Learning ‘Undergraduate Research case studies’ http://resources.glos.ac.uk/ceal/resources/casestudiesactivelearning/index.cfm
Universities of Warwick and Oxford Brookes, The Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/cetl/ugresearch/

References
Healey, M. and Jenkins, A. (2008) Developing students as researchers, UC Magazine October, 17-19 (Magazine of University and College Union).

This article draws on a chapter in Rust, C (ed) (2009) Improving Student Learning through the Curriculum. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. The fully-referenced article is available from mhealey@glos.ac.uk; alanjenkins@brookes.ac.uk.

Alan Jenkins
Oxford Brookes University
Alan Jenkins in Neolithic times taught in secondary schools; and then spent long teaching geography in higher education where he eventually learned that students in higher education can inquire just like school students! He is now an educational developer / researcher on higher education and Emeritus Professor at Oxford Brookes

Mick Healey
University of Gloucestershire
Mick Healey is Professor of Geography and Director of the Centre for Active Learning at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. He is often asked to give keynotes and workshops and to act as an advisor to projects, universities and government bodies on aspects of teaching and learning in HE.

Scholarly Activity undertaken in HE in FE

2009-06-02T12:00:00.001+01:00

Madeleine King and John Widdowson discuss some of the issues involved.

For the full ESCalate text, please see: http://escalate.ac.uk/6038.

Higher Education (HE) is delivered by a range of providers including Universities, Colleges of HE and Colleges of Further Education (FE). Differences exist within and between providers, resulting in a diverse HE landscape in which 10% of HE is delivered in FE colleges (FECs). In some cases the level of this provision is substantial – one FEC receives teaching and learning funding from HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) which exceeds that of at least one University and several HE Colleges. In other words, HE in FE is a significant component of the HE environment. The Mixed Economy Group (MEG) exists as a community of practice within and between its member colleges. It also seeks greater collaboration with more traditional HE providers in order to share the different types of expertise within FECs and HE Institutions.

This article is about scholarly activity within FECs delivering HE, and it explores the need to arrive at new definitions of “research” and “scholarly activity” which are more appropriate to that more diverse HE landscape. FECs do not set out to be research-intensive institutions – their purpose is to meet the immediate higher skill needs of local employers and to widen student participation in HE by offering appropriate vocational courses. Staff try to reconcile the growing recognition of the status of good teaching within HE with the traditional HE requirement that the tutor will be heavily involved in subject-based research. Access to this expertise is also perceived as part of the “student experience” of HE: both QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for HE) and HEFCE promote scholarly activity within HE in FE. Scholarly activity can take many forms and in order to be of value it does not have to conform to conventional notions of what may constitute research. FECs as a context for the delivery of HE bring both a range of opportunities to redefine and understand not only scholarly activity partly through the potential benefits of teaching that is informed by practitioner experience.

It is likely that as colleges achieve Foundation Degree Awarding Powers (FDAP) they will seek to work in consortia with other colleges that do not have this status, forming a distinctive self-help group aimed at supporting professional and academic standards within the consortia. A fundamental question here is the extent to which engagement in scholarly activity (whatever that might be) is necessary for the kind of professional and academic climate within which that support is provided. A recent evaluation of the HEFCE-funded CETLs found that “the emergence of teachers who teach within a discipline and have pedagogic expertise, but are not active researchers within the discipline, is antithetical to the (traditional) core purpose of HE.”1 In other words, despite the changes brought about by the widening range of courses and the Government’s promotion of the higher-skills agenda, the status of teaching practitioners in HE as opposed to teacher-researchers remains low.

Recent changes in student finance arrangements mean that students are now aware of the financial contribution that they make to HE, and are more demanding of provider institutions. They expect high standards of teaching in return for their fees and tools such as the National Student Survey (NSS) provide a vehicle through which teaching quality can be judged. It is essential that HE in FE offers an experience which, although different in many respects from a traditional “undergraduate” experience nonetheless offers high quality and relevant learning, and qualifications which are valued by students and employers alike. FECs deliver the majority of existing Foundation degrees: these qualifications require a high level of employer involvement in their design, delivery and assessment. Students choosing this study route do so in the expectation that they will have a high quality experience which equips them with higher level skills and the knowledge needed to perform at an equally high level. Many Colleges have a long history of delivering high quality programmes of vocational higher education, including the larger FECs (known as MEG) and some specialist Colleges.

Within FE, teaching skills are both valued and required: unlike HEI staff, all FE staff are obliged to gain recognised teaching qualifications at an early stage in their career. (The recent NSS noted the high level of FEC student satisfaction with the quality of teaching received.) However, coupled with intensive teaching roles when compared with HEI colleagues, time for pure research is limited. Despite this, most colleges support staff to undertake research and scholarly activity, either as part of their specialist teaching role or as part of gaining research-based post-graduate qualifications. Colleges recognise the need for staff to have qualifications at least one level above that at which they teach.

In order to ensure that courses and student experiences are of the highest quality, academic staff need to demonstrate not only mastery of their subject but also currency of professional practice and conduct. Indeed, many college staff will have obtained high level professional qualifications before commencing a teaching career and will maintain contact with their “parent” profession as part of their own continuing professional development. This is especially important in disciplines such as Law, Accountancy and the Professions Allied to Medicine, where currency and competence in professional standards is viewed as at least as important as more traditional academic attainments, such as peer referenced publication. Many colleges encourage staff to maintain professional body membership and support participation in the CPD programmes offered by the professions. Professional qualifications can be important manifestations of taking a scholarly approach to one’s practice and, crucially, evidence acquisition of a high level of experiential knowledge and professional expertise. This is one of many examples of scholarly activity common in FECs.

Research into scholarly activity within MEG member colleges shows a range of innovative practice:

There are good examples of FECs working with other FECs and a shared validating HEI to investigate the mechanisms that can link the continuous professional updating undertaken by industry-active staff with teaching methods and resources as well as research that feeds back into academia, industry and the classroom.

Several colleges are also producing Research Strategies that try to bridge the gap between formal academic research and the more applied learning that is relevant to the college HE strategy. Sabbaticals are not unknown in FECs, but are usually directly sector or industry related.

Many Art and Design staff retain their practitioner status with regular shows and exhibitions of work. Many exhibit nationally and this experience of presenting and curating feeds into their teaching practice.

Many FEC HE staff teach at partner HEIs and most HE in FE staff have close working links with, for example, fdf (Foundation Degree Forward) and their own professional bodies. Their practitioner experience and expertise is a fundamental component of their teaching.

An emerging trend is the development of Research Conferences involving an HEI and its partner FECs. These enable a sharing of research practice which acknowledges the different types of higher study undertaken by HE staff working in very different environments. New qualifications such as Foundation degrees require new approaches to staff development and training and new definitions of research, scholarship, etc. Colleges are developing systems which incorporate accepted views of academic excellence but also prioritise the currency and credibility in vocational disciplines demanded by students and employers. Such approaches are not in themselves inferior to more established definitions. They represent a response to the need for a rich and diverse higher education offer in which a variety of institutions build on their strengths to provide an equally varied range of opportunities for all learners.

1 2005-2010 Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning Programme. Formative Evaluation report to HEFCE by the Centre for Study in Education and Training/Institution of Educational Technology, September 2008.

Madeleine King
Independent Consultant and coordinator of Mixed Economy Group
Madeleine is an independent consultant with a particular interest in FE and HE. She has worked as a Careers Officer, Local Authority Education Officer and Learning and Skills Council official, finally discovering HE in FE when working for the latter. She joined the Mixed Economy Group as their Coordinator several years ago.

John Widdowson
Principal of New College Durham
John has been Principal of New College Durham since 1998, beginning his career as a lawyer and then holding a series of teaching and management posts. He chairs the Mixed Economy Group of colleges which represents those colleges providing a significant amount of higher education as part of their overall offer.