A warm welcometo our readersAs a new-comer to the ESCalateteam I am very pleased to have beenasked to introduce this Spring editionof ESCalate News. It’s probably bestif I say a little about myself first. I am aSenior Lecturer in Education at BristolUniversity and am now working part-time for ESCalate with the main aimof raising academics’ awareness ofthe breadth and depth of resourcesavailable through our subject centre.I will also be supporting grant holdersthroughout the academic life of theirprojects and with developing theirwork for publication and other formsof dissemination. My own personalresearch interests lie in the use ofnew technologies to support teachingand learning and I have been involvedmost recently in projects involvingmobile devices in science teaching.My involvement with ESCalate startedmany years ago when I was thecontact for LoughboroughUniversity’s Department ofEducation, I have since been anexternal evaluator of grant fundedprojects, a critical friend to manyproject teams and a regular delegateat events. This opportunity to work

Sally Inman, Maggie Rogers and Ros Wade 4

Henry Liebling and Genna West 8

Tracy Johnson 11

ESCalate / JISC 16

Charlotte Young 17

James Noble-Rogers 20

Carol Taylor 22

Steve Coombs 25

UK Teacher Education Network

Postgraduate CPD fieldwork

Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds 28The National Teaching Fellowship scheme

Julie Hughes 32On being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship

Richard Hall 34What a National Teaching Fellowship means to me

Our heads in a tag cloud?

PDPand employability

John Storan 14Widening participation

HE in FE Conference

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

UCET and the influencing of policy

Event

Danny Saunders 43In Conversation with...

Jackie Rafferty 40Social work and education practitioners

newsESC

ala

te

with ESCalate is a great opportunity toextend an existing relationship.

The wide range of articles in thisedition clearly demonstrates thebreadth of work ESCalate and itscontacts engage with and theircommitment to the educationcommunity. I’d like just to express howgrateful we are that the authors havetaken the time and trouble to share theirideas in this way.

The newsletter of the Education Subject Centre - advancing learning and teaching in education

Issue 16 - Spring 2010

The Videonarratives project

SupportingLearning andTeaching for

Years10

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 �

ESCalate Student Conference 44

Andrew Pollard 36Reflective teaching

ESCalate @ BristolDr Tony BrownLiz HankinsonTeresa NurserJulietta SchoenmannDr Fiona HylandDee MilesGenna West

ESCalate ConsultantsJulie HughesSteve RoseDr Jocelyn WishartHenry Liebling

Editorial Team:Teresa NurserJulietta Schoenmann

Get involved withESCalate, It’s easy.

Please look at ourwebsite for opportunities.

www.escalate.ac.uk

ESCalate news is a termly publication.

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of theeditor nor of the partner organisations. The editors reserve the right toedit, amend or abbreviate copy without notice.

ESCalate (Education Subject Centre)Part of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre NetworkUniversity of BristolGraduate School of Education35 Berkeley SquareBristolBS8 1JA

Tel: 0117 331 4291Fax: 0117 925 1537Email: heacademy-escalate@bristol.ac.ukwww.escalate.ac.uk

An electronic version of this newsletter is available on theESCalate website.

This newsletter is available free of charge. If you do not currently receivea copy and wish to do so in the future please contact heacademy-escalate@bristol.ac.uk. Your details will only be used for keeping youinformed of ESCalate activity and will not be made available to outsideorganisations.

If you have any ideas or copy that you would like to see included in afuture newsletter please get in touch.

We are especially interested in items which:• Show innovative practice in your Education Department;• Celebrate National Teaching Fellows and other awards for

teaching and learning;• Showcase student achievement.

The next copy deadline is 17th May 2010,please email: teresa.nurser@bristol.ac.uk

�

ESCalatenews 3

That reminds me, don’t forgetabout our “Sharing Ideas” fund, seehttp://escalate.ac.uk/sharingideasfor more information.

2010 is the year ESCalate andthe other twenty-three subjectcentres celebrate ten years ofsupporting learning and teaching inour disciplines. We are hoping thisyear to bring you a range ofresources and events thatcelebrates this commitment.

Jocelyn Wishart,University of Bristol

In this issue...We begin with a topic that isbecoming very important toeducationalists, Education forSustainable Development (ESD). Wetalked about this in our last issue inrelation to Welsh HEI’s and wecontinue the theme with two articlesin this issue. The first is from SallyInman, Maggie Rogers and RosWade. Here they introduce us to TheUK Teacher Education Network inEducation for SustainableDevelopment (ESD) and GlobalCitizenship (GC). The next piece fromHenry Liebling and Genna Westgives an overview of resources thatare available to help us in ourteaching and learning about thesubject.

As we are all aware preparingstudents for the graduate labourmarket and developing theirprofessional skills has become a hottopic in the last twelve months and inher article Tracy Johnson developsthe idea that we need to stop “shoe-horning” PDP into the academicagenda and release it into studentemployability training.

The Forum for Access andContinuing Education (FACE) hasbecome a well known and wellrespected network. John Storan itsDirector writes for us about thewidening participation agenda andhow this is being addressed at bothnational and regional level. There aremany factors at play and manyindividuals are delivering excellentwork at both levels, but, as Johnwrites there is the key issue of “howto square national policy withregional delivery”. One way in whichpeople from both communities cancome together to discuss theseissues is at the annual FACEconference and in the adjoiningarticle Charlotte Young gives us afirst hand account of this eventthrough a new comer’s eyes.

Next, James Noble-Rogers whois known to many of us as theDirector of UCET is also a memberof our advisory board. In the articlehe has written for us he discussesthe role UCET has in influencing andinvolving itself in UK educationpolicy.

As you may know ESCalate fundsa range of projects and in this issuewe have two contributions from pastproject holders. Carol Taylor tells usabout how her “videonarratives”project became part of the transitionprocess from doctoral student toestablished educational researcher.Steve Coombs who completed hisproject with us back in the spring oflast year outlines the importance ofdeveloping a systematic approachtowards postgraduate impact fieldresearch.

With the Association of NationalTeaching Fellows celebrating itstenth year this year, Lesley-JaneEales-Reynolds writes about howthe notion of National TeachingFellows began and how it now

stands to represent goodpractice in our practitioners. Wethen hear from two NTF’s: JulieHughes who gives us a verypersonal look into the impact thisaward has had on her researchand teaching and Richard Hallwho tells us about what receivingthe award has meant to him.

With the TLRP’s ReflectiveTeaching being seen as one ofeducation’s ‘bibles’ we askedAndrew Pollard to tell us abouthow it all started and where hesees this ever evolvingpublication moving to. He is apassionate supporter of itsimportance amongst the toolswe have for teaching and asksthat we get involved with itsdevelopment as practitioners.

One of the HEA’s other subjectcentres, Social Work and Policy(SWAP) has lent us their DirectorJackie Rafferty to write anarticle for us about theimportance the development ofChildren’s Trusts in England hasmeant in increasing the need forstudents and educators ineducation and social work tobetter understand each others’worlds. In her article Jackiewrites about the Social WorkTaskforce final report “Building asafe and confident future”: it issomething we in the professionshould all know about andconsider in our care for studentsand curriculum design.

Finally we have our regular InConversation piece which thistime features Danny Saunderswho is Chair of our advisoryboard and also has just beenawarded an OBE. We ask himsome questions about his rolefor ESCalate and what receivingthis award will mean for him.

Editorial continued from front page

4 ESCalatenews

Education is no guarantee of decency, prudence orwisdom. Much of the same kind of education will onlycompound our problems. This is not an argument forignorance but rather a statement that the worth ofeducation must now be measured against thestandards of decency and human survival – the issuesnow looming so large before us in the twenty-firstcentury. It is not education but education of a certainkind that will save us. (Orr, 2004 p.8)

‘‘ ‘‘

ESCalatenews 5

ESD and GC are nowrecognised as an essential partof school curricula across theUK countries. However, inEngland the standards built intoITE make no explicit mention ofthe need for new teachers todevelop knowledge, skills andattitudes in relation to thesecritical areas1. In contrast theStandards and guidance for newteachers in Wales make specificreferences to education forsustainable development andglobal citizenship so as toenable new teachers to developthe knowledge, skills andattitudes to promote theESD/GC now embedded in theWelsh curriculum (see usefullinks).

and GC provide the conceptualframeworks which facilitate this intoday’s complex world.

ESD and GC have differentorigins and represent differentpathways, and some would say theyalso represent differentconstituencies. ESD is often thoughtto have developed out ofenvironmental education (EE) andGC out of development education(DE), but as with all these kind ofgeneralisations, the picture isactually much more complex thanthat. Whatever the differencesbetween ESD and GC we believethat bringing them together in thenetwork gives us the potential tosupport and develop a vibrantmovement for change in educationalculture.

The challenges of the 21st centuryare immense and teacher educatorshave a key role to play in addressingthese. The UK Teacher EducationNetwork in Education for SustainableDevelopment (ESD) and GlobalCitizenship (GC) brings togethereducators who are committed todoing just this through a learningcommunity of practice, research andadvocacy. A strong commitment tothe values of social justice andenvironmental stewardship has longbeen a basis for the work ofeducators. These values underpinthis network of teacher educatorstoday. Within this context, the role ofeducation is to help learners makesense of the world, to participatefully in it and to help to shape it bydeveloping their full potential. ESD

Developing a UKTeacher EducationNetwork in Education forSustainable Developmentand Global CitizenshipThe UK ITE ESD/GC Network was established in July 2007 with funding from ESCalate,WWF-UK and the TDA. Here Sally Inman, Maggie Rogers and Ros Wade tell usabout the importance such a network has in supporting the work of teacher educators.

1 A. a group of ITE tutors and NGOs committed to embedding ESD/GC within ITE have worked together to develop a set of contextual questionswhich enable tutors and students to think about the global dimension of the Professional Standards (Development Education project 2008).

�

6 ESCalatenews

serious problems presented byclimate change, poverty andinequality. One key challenge forESD and GC is to find and usetheoretical frameworks whichenable “the acknowledgement ofwider ways of knowing – in wayswhich open up greaterpossibilities in the re-conceptualisation of socially andecologically appropriatedevelopment processes” (Jansevan Rensburg, 1999 p.18).

In the last five years, since thestart of the UN Decade for ESD in2005, teacher educationnetworks have been springing upall over the world to take on thesechallenges. These include theBaltic and Black Sea TeacherEducation Network, The NorthAmerican Network and at aninternational level, the UNESCOTeacher Education Networkwhich has produced guidanceand case studies of goodpractice 2. The UK network wasset up in 2007 and has already

grown significantly, with HigherEducation institutions representedfrom across the UK together with anumber of leading NGOs in thisfield, such as WWF-UK, Oxfam andthe Development EducationAssociation. The network has beensupported by the University Councilfor the Education of Teachers(UCET), the Training andDevelopment Agency for Schools(TDA) and by ESCalate. Themanagement of the network isundertaken by the Centre for CrossCurricular Initiatives (CCCI) atLondon South Bank University andthis is overseen by a steering groupcomprising key players from thefour UK countries.

The UK network has two centralaims:� To develop a UK wide

community of practice inESD/GC and TeacherEducation (TE) through whichgood practice can be sharedand disseminated and furtherdevelopment can be initiatedand developed across thesector.

� In the longer term to contributeto embedding ESD/GC in UKTE institutions in relation toethos, curriculum content,learning and teaching andassessment.

We have developed a range ofstrategies to meet these aims.These include the development ofregional networks and groupsacross the UK; the holding of two

The lead international agency inthis field, UNESCO, has a usefuldescription of ESD-relatedprocesses as involving:� Future thinking: actively involves

stakeholders in creating andenacting an alternative future

� Critical thinking: helps individualsaccess the appropriateness andassumptions of currentdecisions and actions

� Systems thinking: understandingand promoting holistic change

� Participation: engaging all insustainability issues and actions(UNESCO 2007)

If these processes are to underpineducation, including teachereducation, across the UK, then achange of culture is needed. InEngland especially we need tomove away from a culture ofcompliance, league tables andtesting. In particular, there need tobe more opportunities for workingacross different disciplines, bringingtogether the natural and socialsciences to try to address the very

�

2 The UK TE ESD/GC Network is affiliated to the UNESCO Teacher Education Network.3 For details of the network and the 2010 conference see www.lsbu.ac.uk/ccci or email hatta@lsbu.ac.uk.

ESCalatenews 7

Ros WadeLondon South BankUniversity

Ros Wade has been the Director of

the Education for Sustainability

Programme, London South Bank

University (LSBU) since 1998. Ros

was formerly in charge of ITE for

Oxfam Education. She is a Reader

in Education for Sustainability, and

Associate Director of CCCI. Ros is

Acting Coordinator for the newly

awarded UN London Regional

Centre of Expertise in ESD.

Maggie Rogers Associate Researcherwith CCCI

Maggie has co-organised the UK

ITE Network for ESD/GC since its

launch in 2007. Maggie has taught

design and technology in ITE for

many years and has published

extensively on ESD/GC within

Design and Technology ITE

provision.

Sally InmanLondon South BankUniversity

Sally is Professor of Educational

Development, Head of the Centre

for Educational research and

Director of CCCI within London

South Bank University. Sally has

been director of the UK ITE Network

for ESD/GC since its launch in

2007and chairs the UK steering

group. She has led a number of ITE

ESD/GC regional ITE projects

funded by WWF – UK and by DfID.

ReferencesDevelopment Education Project(2009) Teaching the GlobalDimension www.dep.org.uk/

Fien, J. (1993) Education for theEnvironment: Critical CurriculumTheorising and EnvironmentalEducation. Geelong: DeakinUniversity Press. [Online] Available at:(www.multilingual-matters.net/irgee/008/0140/irgee0080140.pdf.[Accessed 06/01/09]

Janse van Rensburg, E. (1999)Strands Weaving Southern AfricanDreams of Development, Educationand Sustainability. The DevelopmentEducation Journal, 5 (2).

Monbiot, G. The Guardian,Monday 30 November 2009

Orr, D. (2004) Education, theEnvironment and the HumanProspect. Washington DC: IslandPress.

UNESCO (2007) Introductory note onESD – DESD Monitoring & EvaluationFramework’, UNESCO, Paris

Useful linkshttp://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publications/090902guidanceresourcessustainabledevelopmenten.pdf

http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/ccci/uk_ite_network/

‘‘ ‘‘

Since we beganin 2007 we havebeen committedto developing aradical practiceunderpinned bytheory.

UK conferences; the use of thewebsite to disseminate events,research, network conferenceproceedings etc; meetings witheducational bodies in Englandincluding the TDA and theDepartment for Children, Schoolsand Families and making links withinternational networks engaged inthe same area of work. We haverecently begun an audit of ESD/GCacross all UK TE providers.

Since we began in 2007 wehave been committed todeveloping a radical practiceunderpinned by theory. Our 2010conference, Education of Hope:the impact of ESD/GC on the wellbeing of teachers and youngpeople, continues this approachand focuses on the impact ofESD/GC in relation to notions ofhope and despair. Central to thediscussions that will take placeduring the conference will be thewords of Raymond Williams whenhe says:

“To be truly radical is tomake hope possible ratherthan despair convincing”(Raymond Williams quoted by George

Monbiot).

Monbiot added“Believe me I’m trying, but atthe moment hope is hard tocome by” (Monbiot 2009).

The network is one way in whichwe in ITE can develop acommunity of practice in which wecan support each other to makehope more possible3.

8 ESCalatenews

Over the last 30 years it seems thatall human knowledge has beensucked through a microchip. Wecan now instantly accessinformation which would have beenalmost impossible to retrieve beforethe so-called digital age.

But what are the pros and consof this digital revolution? Is progressnecessarily good, or beneficial forthe planet as a whole? Is more reallybetter, or should we be content withless and slow down?

The technological landscapechanges very quickly, and mosttechnologies have a limited lifetime.Each time two technologies merge,such as camera and phone, theybecome more than the sum of theirparts and people find new ways ofusing them. The same effect occurs

when two or more pieces ofsoftware converge or ‘mashup’: justlook at the current proliferation ofWeb 2.0 applications (webapplications that facilitate interactiveinformation sharing). The image onthe next page shows the ever-evolving sphere of applications andtools that work with Twitter: just oneof the many social networking sites.With the number of Apple iphoneapplications now moving towards100,000, will we, or have wealready, ended up with just one littlehandheld box that does almosteverything? And looking back atvinyl LPs, walkmans and variousvideo technologies, which lastedonly for a decade or two, how longwill it be before today’s currenttechnologies are replaced?

What does this mean foreducation for sustainability? To some extent, advances intechnology have contributed to thelack of sustainability that we facetoday. But this should be amotivation to ensure that we makeuse of current technologies topromote a more sustainable andenvironmentally responsible future.We can utilise advances intechnology to educate aboutancient wisdoms, existingsustainable lifestyles and sharesolutions in order to envision asustainable future.

Dennis Meadows (2004)believes that any successfulsystem is one that can changereadily with “information [as] thekey to transformation”.

Henry Liebling and Genna West discuss how advances in technology can enhanceour teaching and learning about sustainability.

Our heads ina tag cloud?

ESCalatenews 9

�

New ways of communicatingand sharing informationWe believe that interactivity is key toeducation for sustainabledevelopment. Here is how theESCalate ESD website is trying toencourage the move from delivery tointeractivity:

� Social bookmarkingThe website uses the socialbookmarking website Diigo2 as aninteractive way to bookmark keywebsites. Diigo is open to everyoneand allows users not only tobookmark and tag webpages, butalso to highlight parts of the

webpage and attach virtual stickynotes. These annotations can eitherbe kept private or shared within aDiigo group. We also share andcomment on our bookmarks in theDiigo group ‘Sustainable Education’3.

� TagsTags are one or two-worddescriptors that can be assigned toweb bookmarks to remember keywebsites. They are similar to keywords, but with more freedom, astag-words can be chosen by theuser. More than one tag can beused, which gives more flexibility thanfixed categories or folders.

� Tag listsLists of tags can be used by anindividual, group or even acrossthe whole of a social bookmarkingsite to help to classify and allowsimple searching. There are prosand cons for both controlled taglists using a predeterminedrestricted vocabulary, and freetagging which includes the tagseveryone wants to use,sometimes called folksonomy4.Restricted tags can limit what youwish to classify, and free tags canleave you with thousands of tagswith little overlap and muchconfusion.

We can utilise advances in technologyto educate about ancient wisdoms,existing sustainable lifestyles andshare solutions in order to envision asustainable future.

Gazing into the Twitterverse1. Developed by Jess3 and Brian Solis.

1 Jess3 and Brian Solis (2009) Gazing into the Twitterverse [online] Available: www.briansolis.com/2009/05/gazing-into-twitterverse/ [19/01/2010]2 www.diigo.com3 http://groups.diigo.com/group/sustainable-education4 The spontaneous cooperation of a group of people to organise information into categories.

10 ESCalatenews

Henry helped introduce Agricultural

Science into the Zambian Secondary

Curriculum in 1970, leading science and

the school farm at Mwinilunga secondary

school. Returning to Lancashire in 1973

with a growing interest in self-help,

community and sustainability, he also

taught for 10 years in an urban primary

school. Henry now works for ESCalate

as an Academic Consultant in ESD.

Genna recently graduated from the

University of Plymouth, with a first class

degree in Geography and Spanish. She

became interested in sustainable

development whilst at university, as the

study of sustainable practices formed a

large part of her studies. She is working

with ESCalate as part of the Graduate

Business Partnership.

Henry LieblingESCalate AcademicConsultant

Genna WestESCalate GraduateProject Officer

We have opted to experiment for aperiod of time by gathering keywords from UK education andproducing our own suggested list.Diigo also has a tag editor so tagscan be modified at a later date.

� Tag rollsThe website uses tag rolls as a wayto display the 10 latest Diigobookmarks5 as part of the ESDwebsite. This page automaticallyupdates as new bookmarks areadded.

� Tag cloudsTag clouds are visual presentationsof a set of tags, in whichcharacteristics of the text, such ascolour or size, are used to representkey features like the frequency of thetag. The tag cloud arranges tagsboth horizontally and vertically,rather than listing them, to showmore tags and minimize scrolling.The tags can be sorted eitheralphabetically or by frequency.

The ESCalate ESD website hasimported a Diigo cloud tag6 (shownbelow) which links to key resourcesand interesting websites.

� BloggingThe website has an external link to ablog created in blogspot7, whichcontains occasional diary entriesabout Sustainability in Education8.Readers are free to link into the blogand to post any comments.

� SearchingIt seems strange to think of a timewhen we didn’t have powerful searchengines such as Google and theeffect this has had on how we lookfor answers, ideas, information,holidays, gifts etc.

The introduction of a searchfacility into the ESCalate main site,and the ESD site, had a huge impact,showing an almost instant andgrowing use of the sites. It changedthe pattern of pages visited and theroutes taken, by allowing more‘parallel’ rather than just ‘branching’access, and new pages rose up therankings faster.

� Google TranslateOne unexpected outcome for thewebsite has been the increasingnumbers of visitors from othercountries many using GoogleTranslate, showing that language isno longer a constraint. The ESD siteis now able to communicate andshare information with people acrossthe world regardless of their nativelanguage.

We are also starting to look at RSSFeeds, Twitter, and other Web 2.0applications in order to find new anddynamic ways to educate othersabout sustainable development. Byincreasing the interactivity of the ESDsite, we have attempted to moveaway from the traditional push ofinformation, instead encouragingpeople to form their own views andengage in debates aboutsustainability.

�

5 http://esd.escalate.ac.uk/newlinks

6 http://esd.escalate.ac.uk/favorites

7 www.blogger.com

8 http://sustainableeducation.blogspot.com

ReferenceMeadows, D. Meadows, D.H. andRanders, J. (2004) Limits to growth:the 30-year update, Chelsea GreenPublishing Company.

ESCalatenews 11

�

PDPand employability:leaving the academicagenda behind? Tracy Johnson, a lecturer in study skills and a qualified personal coach, asks ifPersonal Development Planning can fit easily into the academic curriculum or whether itresides more comfortably within the employability agenda.

Preparing students for thegraduate labour market anddeveloping their professional skillshas become a hot topic in the lasttwelve months. Several academicconferences have been held onthis subject1, with universities

showcasing examples of goodpractice in developing students’employability as well as discussingseveral trouble spots that havearisen. One of the most contestedissues remains the challenge ofhow to embed employability skills

within the academic curriculum.Published research, as well as agreat deal of anecdotal evidencepresented at these conferences,continues to demonstrate thedifficulty that embeddingemployability presents.

‘‘One of the mostcontested issuesremains thechallenge of how toembed employabilityskills within theacademic curriculum.

1 I have presented papers on employability, PDP and student coaching at three of these conferences since March 2009: theUniversity of Surrey’s Centre for Excellence in Professional Training & Education (SCEPTrE); the University of Leeds with theCentre for Recording Achievement (CRA); and the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).

12 ESCalatenews

�

One of the mechanismsintroduced to unite students’academic and professionaldevelopment within a morecoherent framework was PersonalDevelopment Planning (PDP).While support staff such ascareers advisers are familiar withthe PDP processes of goal setting,action planning and reflectivepractice (because they overlapwith models used to support one-to-one work with students) manyacademics regard PDP as apotentially good idea but not veryrelevant to their curriculum; I haveregularly found myself explainingthe concept of PDP at academiclearning and teaching meetingsfive years after this framework wasintroduced. That said, theapproach by academics topreparing students for theworkplace is a more positive onetoday than when I started workingin skills development nine yearsago. The advent of student feescoupled with a more crowdedgraduate labour market has raisedawareness of the need foruniversities to look competitivewhen it comes to league tablesrating potential employability.

Emerging research has alsoshown that students themselvesare willing to work with PDPprocesses when the outcome isenhanced employability, or agreater likelihood of obtaining theirjob of choice on graduation. Theydo not, however, readily see theconnection between theiracademic studies and thedevelopment of professionalstudies. Rob East reported on theconfused purpose of PDP in hismuch-discussed 2005 article,

while Clegg and Bradley (2006)posited the existence of severaldistinct emerging PDP structures,with identifiable tensions betweenthe academic and professionalframeworks. Colleagues at UK-wide PDP seminars have spokenof ‘shoe-horning’ PDP into theacademic curriculum, with onespeaker discussing the difficulty ofincorporating a PDP element into afilm studies unit in any kind ofrelevant way. My own researchwith the University of Bristol’s

Innocence Project (UoBIP), agroup of law students whoinvestigate alleged miscarriages ofjustice, demonstrated howstudents find it difficult to identifythe transferability of academicskills to the workplace. During a2008 focus group, students citedthe criminal law unit of their degreeprogramme as the only relevantpiece of transferable learning totheir pro-bono work. The criticalthinking skills required for writtenassignments was not cited as

‘‘ ‘‘The advent ofstudent fees coupledwith a more crowdedgraduate labourmarket has raisedawareness of theneed for universitiesto look competitivewhen it comes toleague tables ratingpotentialemployability.

ESCalatenews 13

Tracy JohnsonUniversity of Bristol

Dr Tracy Johnson has worked in

skills development and career

management at the University of

Bristol since 2001, where she also

lectures on study skills in a variety of

academic departments. Tracy has

been involved in implementing and

supporting PDP since 2005 and is a

qualified personal coach.

ReferencesClegg, S and Bradley (2006)‘Models of Personal DevelopmentPlanning: practice and processes,British Educational ResearchJournal, 32:1, 58-76

East, R (2005) ‘A progress report onprogress files: the experience of onehigher education institution’, ActiveLearning in Higher Education, 6,160-171

QAA (2009) Personal developmentplanning: guidance for institutionalpolicy and practice in highereducation www.qaa.ac.uk

Whitmore, J. (2002) Coaching forPerformance, (London: NicholasBrealey Publishing)

www.bristol.ac.uk/law/aboutus/law-activities/innocence-project.html

useful, even for the demandingkind of analysis required of legaldocuments when investigating acase. The students were,however, able to makeconnections when looking at theirdevelopment from a differentperspective: how theirinvestigative work had helpedthem to develop employabilityskills. Several lessons had beenlearned about communication,dealing with difficult behavioursand improving time management.This is where students seem tosee the ‘pay off’ for PDP; again,they look to it as a tool forimproving their professional skills,and not for academicdevelopment.

Is it therefore time to acceptthat PDP sits more readily with theemployability agenda, rather than‘shoe-horning’ it into theacademic curriculum? At theUniversity of Bristol we have beenimplementing a new employabilitystrategy, led by the CareersService, and this has led toincreased PDP-related activity inacademic departments. Theseactivities are still, however, beingdelivered by support staff afterconsultation with academics,raising continued questions aboutwhich staff should deliver PDP-related teaching; many academicshave resisted delivering PDP onthe grounds that their expertise isnot relevant to the more personal,one-to-one work encouraged byPDP. Even the revised PDPguidelines produced by theQuality Assurance Agency (QAA)last year demonstrate greateremphasis on using PDP tosupport student employability, as

delivered by the supportservices.

To conclude, I would like tocomment on one more issueraised at last year’s conferencesrelated to PDP and employability:should ‘PDP’ itself now berenamed? The term leaves moststudents cold, and the increasingidentification of PDP withprofessional development hasled to suggestions that PDPshould be rethought of as‘coaching’. I have certainly foundthis approach successful in myown work: a seminar called ‘PDPMade Easy’ attracted 5 students,while my ‘Coach Yourself toSuccess’ workshops nowregularly attract 20, despitebeing based on the sameprocesses. Students seecoaching as a professional tooland buy into it more readily thana term that reminds them ofRecords of Achievement. TheUniversity of the Arts has evennamed its new online PDP tool‘PDP Coach’.

One definition of coaching is,“unlocking a person’s potentialto maximise their ownperformance. It is helping themto learn rather than teachingthem” (Whitmore 2002: 8): thismaps onto PDP exactly. Is ittime to ‘rebrand’ PDP with amore professional emphasis,accepting that it belongs outsideof the academic agenda, anddesign supporting tools thatreflect this approach? Maybeit is time to stop ‘forcing’ PDPinto a place it doesn’t belong,and let it find its more naturallocation within the employabilityagenda.

14 ESCalatenews

Much widening participation (WP)policy and practice has embracedthe view that WP practitioners andtheir partnership organisationshave local knowledge andintelligence which makes thembest placed to plan, manage anddeliver WP activities. Regional andnational communities of practice(Lave and Wenger 1998) havedeveloped around WP. Thesehave been supported by, and offerexcellent fora for, a knowledgeand skills exchange, as well asbeing an effective means ofsharing and building capacity inareas which contributeto WP. Such communities ofpractice are actively engaged innational networks such as theForum for Access and ContinuingEducation (FACE).

As Longworth (2006)demonstrates, local practitionersworking within their owncommunities can meet localchallenges and can provide toolsand information to help thesecommunities grow not only interms of widening participation butalso contributing to economicgrowth and regeneration.

A key issue in terms of regionalapproaches to WP is how tosquare national policy withregional delivery. In policy termsthere can be tension becauseregions are sometimes seen asthe delivery arm for national policy.It is imperative to empower theregions and the regionalapparatus to deliver on their WPAimhigher programmes withoutpolicymakers or funders

necessarily having to micromanage the process. This nationalversus local dichotomy creates amutual dependency that hasimplications on a number of levels.

For example, each stakeholderin the sector has its own specificagenda and mission and diversemanagement practices existbetween partners. Highereducation institutions may holdparticular assumptions about themodus operandi of the fundingcouncil. HEFCE in turn may holdestablished views about the wayuniversities operate internally.These assumptions may beshaped by regional or even local,cultural or organisational ideasand practices and can have animpact on the translation of policyinto praxis.

John Storan examines the crucial issue of how to fuse the regional andnational aims of widening participation (WP) into a coherent policy approach.

Regionalisingthe National orNationalising theRegional: WideningParticipation as a casein point

ESCalatenews 15

Another illustration of theattempt to square national policywith delivery may be evidenced bythe ability of a university to targetspecific WP projects in ways thatmake sense nationally, but at theoperational level the processbecomes more challenging. Astatistical problem flagged at thenational level needs to be solved atthe grass roots. For example individual learners’ relationships withtheir classmates or their peergroups can make a difference tolearner choices impacting onnational WP statistics. These arejust two of a number of factors thatcan shape the probability ofinvolvement of particular individualsor groups of individuals in WPinterventions and higher educationmore generally.

There are significant culturaldifferences between HEIs, and alsobetween HEIs and FECs. NationallyFE and HE each have different aimsand purposes as well as fundingmechanisms and performanceindicators, making collaboration amore onerous process. For someFECs and HEIs the picture is lessstraightforward as they deliver bothHE and FE provision andconsequently are subject to bothsets of funding arrangements.

There is also the added issue ofcompetition and collaborationbetween institutions, competing fornumbers, reputation and resources.It is important to recognise thatuniversities are different and distinctand vary in terms of size or the focusof their work and their curriculumoffer. Trying to meld these togetherso the sectors make progress onWP is a significant demand onnational WP policy.

In the WP arena power relationsare brokered at the national, regionaland area partnership levels. Firstly atthe national level, the overall policyframework is set by the governmentand the funding formulae designedand administrated by the HEFCE.The process of allocation anddistribution of funds is followed bythe monitoring and evaluation of thespend. At the regional and arealevel, once partnerships have beenallocated funds through, forexample, Aimhigher partnerships,they have responsibilities in terms ofthe planning, delivery andexpenditure of their resource and areaccountable thereafter once it hasbeen expended.

So in considering all this wemight well ask as the title for thesecomments does...is it a question ofregionalising the national ornationalising the regional?

Referenceswww.f-a-c-e.ac.uk

Lave, J and Wenger E. (1998)Communities of practice [online]www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm

Longworth, N. (2006) LearningCities Learning Regions LearningCommunities: Lifelong Learningand Local government. London:Routledge

John StoranUniversity of EastLondon

Professor John Storan is Director of

Continuum, the Centre for Widening

Participation Policy Studies at the

University of East London. He was

Founding Chair of the Forum for the

Advancement of Continuing

Education (FACE) In 2001 he was

made a Professorial Fellow at the

University of Manchester Institute of

Science and Technology (UMIST).

He has been and continues to be an

influential regional and national figure

on Widening Participation in HE.

16 ESCalatenews

The conference will examine the challenges and opportunities facing HEpractitioners working in an FE environment, as well as offering some ideas forbest practice. Following the keynote address from Professor John Storan, Directorof Continuum at the University of East London (UEL), the conference theme will focuson professional concerns for HE in FE practitioners regarding questions aroundstatus, professional standing and the use of technology to inspire practice.

Sarah Knight, JISC and Ros Smith,GPI Solutions

Diane Thurston,Newcastle College

Simon Webster,University of Plymouth

Christine Davies, JISC RSC Wales,Swansea University

Steve Rose,University of Exeter

£35 for the day includeslunch and refreshments

To register forthis event go to:www.escalate.ac.uk/6408

Wednesday 26th May Trident Centre, Warwickshire College

T H E E S C a l a t e - J I S C

HE in FE Conference 2010

Effective Practice in a Digital Age

Exploring Status andProfessional Standing

Reflective Practice for PG CERT /New Teachers

Technology for ITT

Emerging Technologies andAugmented Reality

Other speakers will include:

Supported by JISC Regional Support Centres

Inspiration for Practice

ESCalatenews 17

Charlotte Young, a new researcher, received an ESCalate award to attend theFACE Conference 2009. Here she tells us about her research and the impact thatgoing to the conference has had on her work.

Nothing ventured,nothing gained

�

I began working at BournemouthUniversity in Admissions in 2004, onmy return from a year of travelling inAustralia and South East Asia. In2008, I completed my Master ofBusiness Administration (MBA). Thenin April 2009, I obtained an excitingnew position as a Researcher for theAimhigher in LIFE (Learning is forEveryone) partnership.

Aimhigher and my roleAimhigher is concerned with raisingaspirations, awareness, attainmentand progression amongst groups ofyoung people who are under-represented in Higher Education andwho have the potential to succeed,targeting those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, looked afteryoung people, care leavers andthose with disabilities. Aimhigher inLIFE, which covers Bournemouth,Poole, Dorset and South Somerset,is one of three area partnerships inthe South West. BournemouthUniversity is the lead institution forthe LIFE Area partnership.

18 ESCalatenews

Bournemouth University wasdue to host two four-dayresidential summer schools. Onewas for Year 11 Aimhigherlearners from the South Westregion and the other was for Year12 learners who were interested inapplying to BournemouthUniversity. I thought this wouldprovide a suitable environment toconduct this pilot study and testfor differences between theAimhigher group and theBournemouth University groupand the different age groups andto test if summer schools“reinforce a commitment tolearning and progression to HigherEducation” (HEFCE 2009/11).

�

In my role as a researcher, aspart of the Monitoring, Trackingand Evaluation team, I amresponsible for evaluating theactivities we deliver, ensuring wetarget appropriately anddisseminate information to partnersand colleagues we work with atoperational and strategic level andthrough regional and nationalconferences. My role involvesdesigning and conducting researchusing qualitative and quantitativetechniques and keeping up to datewith the Aimhigher environment, interms of policy, nationalachievements and issues affectingwidening access and participationin education.

My FACE Conference storyI had recently completed my MBAresearch where I investigatedorganisational commitment usingthe model (under licence) producedby Allen and Meyer (1990) whichdemonstrated three commitmenttypes (Affective, Continuance andNormative) which produce differentoutcomes in terms of attitude andbehaviour. Affective commitment isconsidered most desirable asemployees with this commitmenttype have a genuine desire to workfor the organisation and strive toachieve its goals. However, thosewith Continuance commitment donot really want to work for theorganisation and therefore only dothe minimum required to keep theirjobs due to a perceived lack ofalternatives. Employees withNormative commitment continuewith their employment due to

moral obligation, as explained bytheories such as social exchangeand psychological contract.

I had been in post for a shorttime and saw that abstracts werebeing sought for presentation at theJuly FACE conference. I wasinterested in finding out if thismodel could be applied to theeducational context by assessingcommitment to education andconsidering subsequent outcomes,for example, by identifying thosewith a genuine desire to continueeducation and those who feel thateducation is something they haveto participate in due to otherpressures or a perceived lack ofcomparable alternatives.

‘‘‘‘

I would recommend other newresearchers to attend thisconference as you will be made tofeel welcomed and valued, learnsome new things and meet someprofessionally fascinating people.

‘‘

ESCalatenews 19

Charlotte YoungAimhigher inLIFE partnership,University ofBournemouth

Charlotte grew up on the Isle ofWight and gained her first degreefrom Oxford Brookes University in1998. After some work and travel, in2004 she began working atBournemouth University. In 2008she completed her Master ofBusiness Administration andobtained a Research position withAimhigher in 2009.

ReferencesAllen, N.and Meyer, J. P. (1990)‘The Measurement andAntecedents of Affective,Continuance and NormativeCommitment to theOrganisation’ in Journal ofOccupational Psychology, 63(1):1-18

HEFCE (2009/11) AimhigherSummer Schools Analysis ofProvision and Participation 2004to 2008, Bristol, HigherEducation Funding Council forEngland

My abstract for the FACEconference outlined the model andits method of application anddemonstrated how it could beapplied in the context of education.When I heard that my abstract hadbeen accepted, I felt surprised andquite privileged. I had been in post forless than a month and was alreadyhalf way towards meeting one of myobjectives for the year. I was invitedto apply for a conference placefunded by ESCalate which wasavailable for new researchers. I laterfound I had been awarded the placeand felt my research actually didmean something to other people andthat my work was being recognisedand appreciated.

The FACE conference providedan excellent networking opportunityas well as being informative andvery enjoyable. I met some reallygreat people and my presentationwas well received. This increasedmy confidence in undertaking theproposed study at the summerschools in the pending weeks andin presenting at future events.

It also helped me to appreciatethe huge diversity of work that goeson in the field of education. I wouldrecommend other new researchersto attend this conference as you willbe made to feel welcomed andvalued, learn some new things andmeet some professionallyfascinating people.

20 ESCalatenews

� We provide support to individualmember institutions who might,for example, require advice onparticular issues or seek help inresponding to inspection,government or local authorityreports and initiatives.

� We seek to act as the nationalvoice for the sector in itsdealings with government,professional associations, themedia and others. It is the last ofthose strands that is the focusfor this article.

Influencing policy can be doneboth privately (or semi-privately) andpublicly. While both are necessary,the former is often preferable to thelatter. It is far easier to influence andshape policies while they are ingestation rather than to modifysubstantially proposals duringofficial periods of ‘consultation’, bywhich time decisions havesometimes already been taken. Tothat end, we try to make sure thatwe are represented on any keyworking groups that affect the work

‘‘UCETandthe influencingof policy

of our members and engage inregular (and private) discussionswith ministers and governmentofficials while policies are in theirformative stages. Recent examplesfor UCET have included taking partin discussions about: � The development of the QTS and

Qualified Teacher Learning andSkills (QTLS) teaching standards,

� The roll-out of the ‘Equipping ourTeachers for the Future reforms’,

� The development of the newMaster’s in Teaching & Learning(MTL) qualification.

Engaging in such discussionsdoes require a collegiate approach, arespecting of confidences and awillingness to negotiate. Care must,of course, be taken to ensure thatUCET’s position is not compromisedand that we are not seen as havingtoo cosy a relationship withgovernment and other statutoryagencies. But engaging inreasonable discussion, especially ifsubsequently reinforced throughmore public pronouncements, is

For those of us wanting to know more about the work ofthe Universities Council for the Education of Teachers,James Noble-Rogers provides an insightful overviewof the organisation's work.

The Universities Council for theEducation of Teachers (UCET) is amembership organisation for UKuniversities involved in teachereducation and education research.Our remit covers initial teachereducation for all those working inthe schools and post-compulsorysectors, continuing professionaldevelopment for the whole of thechildren’s workforce, and educationresearch. We are proud of thecontribution that our membersmake to education in the UK, thequality of which is confirmed incountless reports from Ofsted andother agencies, surveys of newlyqualified teachers and in feedbackfrom other stakeholders.

Our work has three main strands. � We provide information and

advice to our members, andoffer them the opportunity tonetwork with one another, shareideas and experiences andreceive briefings fromgovernment and stakeholderorganisations.

ESCalatenews 21

James Noble-RogersUCET

James Noble-Rogers has been

Executive Director of UCET since

2004. Before that he was Head of

Governance at the Royal National

Institute of the Blind (RNIB) for 5

years, prior to which he worked for

central government in a number of

education related roles. He has a

Bachelors degree in Humanities from

Hatfield Polytechnic, an MA in

Philosophy from the University of

Nottingham and a postgraduate

diploma (with distinction) in voluntary

sector management from City

University. He was recently made an

Honorary Fellow of the University of

Wolverhampton.

generally more effective (albeitless fun) than shouting from thesidelines. An extension of thisapproach is to make sure that weare the first port of call for anygovernment or other body requiringoff-the-record and informal adviceon any particular issue. In providingsuch advice, the ground-rules mustalways be clear: confidence must berespected on both sides and mutualtrust retained.

Although sometimes lesseffective, a more public approach isoften also necessary. It is importantto make sure that an organisation’spublic profile is maintained and thatits membership can see what isbeing done on its behalf.Maintenance of a public profile alsomakes it more likely that yourorganisation will be one of thoseinvited to the private and behind-the-scenes discussions referred toabove. And politicians will often bemore likely to react to stories in thepress and to statements made atpublic events than to more formalapproaches. Messages can bepromulgated through the media in anumber of ways: stories can beinitiated directly through the informalbriefing of journalists and throughletters written for publication. UCEThas in recent times either initiated orresponded to media stories about,for example, early years professionalstatus, the MTL, the QTS standardsand the funding of educationresearch. All media activity can helpto raise an organisation’s profile, putpressure on decision takers, forcepublic reactions from other partiesand remind the powers that be thatwe do have a public voice. But itcan also be risky, especially if themedia or other respondents take a

contrary view to the one we aretrying to promote. Another currentexample of our public attempts toinfluence policy include sending aleaflet explaining the invaluablecontribution that the HE sectormakes to teacher education thathas been sent to all politicians,stakeholders etc.

Responding to publicconsultations is an important part ofUCET’s work. These range incomplexity from the fairlystraightforward to consultations oncomplex issues such as the newResearch Excellence Frameworkwhere we have had to have detaileddiscussions with all of ourmembership and with otherinterested stakeholders such as theBritish Educational ResearchAssociation (BERA) and UniversitiesUK. Although, as mentioned above,some government consultationscan appear tokenistic, there areothers where responses can be

seen to have had a demonstrableimpact on final decisions. UCETresponds to up to 50consultations each year. We alsomake sure that we give evidenceto all relevant public inquiries, themost recent example being ourwritten and oral evidence to theparliamentary select committeeinquiry into teacher training andthe Skills Commission inquiry intoteacher training for vocationaleducation.

This article has allowed me topresent only a brief outline of theways in which we have tried, onbehalf of the sector, to influencepolicy. But one thing is certain:our efforts will increase as ageneral election approaches anda new administration (of whateverparty) is formed.

‘‘ ‘‘...engaging inreasonablediscussion,especially ifsubsequentlyreinforced throughmore publicpronouncements,is generally moreeffective (albeit lessfun) than shoutingfrom the sidelines.

22 ESCalatenews

Carol Taylor, an ESCalate grant holder, shares her experiences of using videoto record the key events on students’ doctoral journeys and considers ways inwhich these videonarratives can be used to develop their researcher identities.

TheVideonarrativesproject

� to use the videonarratives toenhance participants’ researchbiographies and personal andprofessional development, forexample, by using thevideonarrative as a basis for adigital CV or in a blog or wiki.

In various ways, the videonarrativesproject aimed to develop doctoralstudents’ academic identitiesthrough reflection on the doctoraljourney.

The project itself ran fromFebruary – June 2009 by which timeI was working full-time at SheffieldHallam University and my thesis wasnearing completion. These eventsbecame woven into thevideonarrative I produced as a

project participant as well asproject lead. The projectparticipants were five doctoralstudents (including me) and wewere all at different stages of thedoctoral journey: two wereundertaking ‘traditional’ full-timeresearch-based PhDs; two werefull-time lecturers doing an EdDpart-time and I was in the finalthroes of my DPhil. In addition,the participants’ backgroundsvaried immensely. For example,one student had come to the UKfor his doctorate as part of along-term plan after studying inSpain and Cuba at Masters level.He had had to leave his homecountry of Zimbabwe where hiswife and children still lived in

In early 2004 I decided to return tofull-time education to do mydoctorate. Although this had beenmy goal for many years, excitingprojects such as developing highereducation provision had kept mebusy in my full-time job as a furthereducation lecturer as had doing twopart-time MAs in the subjects Iloved to teach. I finally enrolled as afull-time DPhil student at SussexUniversity and was fortunate thatSussex gave me the opportunity towork as a Graduate TeachingAssistant during my DPhil, teachinga few hours a week and taking onadministrative tasks such asorganising some departmentalseminars and looking after a courseVirtual Learning Environment (VLE).

The reason for relaying ‘my-DPhil story’ is that the narrative, andmy reflections on how and why weconstruct narratives about ourdoctoral journeys, became a keypart of the project which hasevolved from the student grant Ireceived from ESCalate inSeptember 2008 – TheVideonarratives project.

The project had three linkedaims: � to enable participating doctoral

students to gain a range ofpractical skills in the use andediting of digital video in order toproduce individualvideonarratives;

� to use the videonarratives topromote doctoral students’reflexivity on their doctoraljourneys;

ESCalatenews 23

�

It has been an exciting ride, andsignificant for me is that thevideonarratives, as visual narratives,contribute to the interdisciplinary natureof education as a field of practice.

‘‘

order to pursue his doctoral goals.His journey contrasted with asecond participant who had movedinto further education lecturing aftera long career in the engineeringindustry and had only very recentlyacquired the doctoral itch. So,although it was a small-scaleproject, it included both types ofdoctorate, participants from a‘research-intensive’ and a post-1992 university, and individuals withvery varied life histories. The projectdesign was deliberately open-endedand collaborative in order to makethe most of these aspects, and toallow adequate time for reflection onthe doctoral research journey.

The project had two stages. Firstthere was a one-day workshopwhich focused on critical incidentsin the participants’ doctoral journeysand the acquisition of skills in usingvideo. The focus on critical incidentshelped participants to identify theevents and experiences which wereuniquely meaningful in theirparticular journey and it was thesecritical incidents which gave anarrative ‘line’ or focus for theproduction of the videonarratives inthe second part of the workshop.The workshop was followed up afew weeks later with in-depth one-to-one interviews which used thevideonarrative as a basis forreflexive discussion of the doctoraljourney in the context of the longerbiography of the individual. Thediscussions included career choice,family support and relationships,academic and institutional contexts,relations with supervisors, and the

ontological, methodological andethical issues of particularrelevance to doctoral level study.

The project enabledparticipants to produce their ownrichly detailed videonarrative, eachof which varied in visual style asmuch as the journeys themselves.In addition, the participants haveused them as a digital academicCV to develop their researcheridentities. However, spin-offsbeyond the reflexive aims of theproject have also been significantwith one participant describinghow his newly-found skills withvideo were used as a tool to makehis teaching more interactive forhis young BTEC students. In myown case, the student grant fromESCalate helped me to run myfirst externally-funded project and,small as the budget was, the skillsI gained were invaluable.

The videonarratives projectbecame part of the transitionprocess from doctoral student toestablished educationalresearcher. The project hasgenerated a diverse range ofoutputs, including a projectwebsite provided by ESCalatewhich includes narrative accountsby the project participants(http://escalate.ac.uk/5214), anumber of conference papers anda joint article for possible futurepublication. It has been anexciting ride, and significant forme is that the videonarratives, asvisual narratives, contribute to theinterdisciplinary nature ofeducation as a field of practice.

24 ESCalatenews

Carol TaylorSheffield Hallam

University

Dr Carol Taylor is a Senior

Lecturer and Course Leader for

BA Education Studies and

Sociology in the Faculty of

Development and Society,

Sheffield Hallam University. Her

research interests are 16-19

education, gender, power and

spatiality, student voice, feminist

and post-structuralist theory and

method, and visual research

methods. She was awarded her

doctorate in June 2009. The title

of her doctoral thesis was ’All

Manner of Becomings: Identity,

Power and the Spaces of

Knowledge Production in A

Level Student Research’ which

she completed at the University

of Sussex. Before doing her

DPhil, Carol worked as a lecturer

in various further education

colleges, in a sixth form college

and as a part-time tutor with The

Open University. The HEA

ESCalate videonarratives project

was her first externally-funded

research project.

�

ESCalatenews 25

making a difference to schoolimprovement through appropriatelydesigned award-bearing CPD.Now the TDA (2009) intends touse the process of levering CPDimpact in schools to deliver thenew professional standards forteachers. So there’s a need todevelop a more systematic andknowledgeable approach towardimpact evaluation of accreditedCPD. Impact evidence case studies,their framework methodology andreporting instruments have beencompared and contrasted acrossseveral partnership universitiesoperating in the southwest ofEngland. In January 2007 theSouthwest Regional Group forProfessional Development(SWRGPD) began an ESCalate-

Designing andEvaluating Impactfor PostgraduateCPD Fieldwork What are the issues involved in developing a systematic approach toward impactevaluation of accredited CPD? Steve Coombs highlights the key areas through anaccount of an ESCalate funded project conducted by the Southwest Regional Groupfor Professional Development.

The Training and DevelopmentAgency (TDA) for schools inEngland introduced a fundingscheme for qualified teacherscalled Postgraduate ProfessionalDevelopment (PPD), which isoffered through Higher EducationInstitution (HEI) partnerships. As acondition of PPD funding the TDArequires all HEI providers/partner-ships to produce an annual reporton impact-related field evidencesdrawn from teachers' accreditedcontinuing professionaldevelopment (CPD). Impact iscurrently a contentious term thatrelates to diverse evidences ofschool improvement such as pupillearning, teacher quality andinstitutional gains. Ofsted (2004)reported impact as something �

approach considers impact as aforce for change and therefore builtinto the design of HEI accreditedCPD activity.

What the project has not clarifiedis how positive impact on children’sand young people’s outcomes canbe systematically revealed. Thereaction of learners to changedpractice using ‘pupil and participantvoice’ is one vehicle for collectingimpact evidence. There is also theuse of assessment data inestablishing the extent of impact onlearners’ outcomes. Practiceoriented professional developmentis generally concerned with change.A positivist approach to researchsuggests the need for controlgroups in order to identify thespecific effects attributable tochange. But this approachencounters profoundmethodological, ethical and moralobstacles such as pupils’ equity ofentitlement, the variables ofpractitioners’ (PPD participants’)individual differences andresearcher effects upon results.

It is recommended that an‘improve’ research paradigm isadopted that concentrates on localschool improvement projects,qualitative data and takes intoaccount human ethics thatencourages/validates a moreparticipative and inclusive approach

26 ESCalatenews

funded project entitled: ‘Developinga systematic approach towardsimpact field research’. The projecthad three key objectives:� To develop a framework model

for impact-related researchoutcomes from accredited PPDactivity.

� To develop a systematic set ofstandard research approachesto define impact for CPDfieldwork.

� To evaluate the varioustechniques and approaches forobtaining impact-led fieldresearch from schools.

This research included analysis ofannual PPD impact evaluationreports from each of the SouthwestHEIs. The aim was to identify thedifferent approaches that HEIs usedfor capturing impact evidence andproduce a framework.

The conceptual framework fromHarland and Kinder's (1997) seminalwork on CPD outcomes was linkedto the Soulsby and Swain (TDA,2003) report on accredited CPD.This literature was used to inform thefuture development of PPD Impactmethodology. A key assumption isthat accredited CPD services shouldlead to impact evidence in theworkplace and that CPDprogrammes need to be designedaccording to a work-based,professional learning agenda.

But what are the wanted CPDoutcomes? The TDA defines youngpeople’s ‘outcomes as the fiveoutcome targets from the EveryChild Matters (ECM) agenda (DfES,2004). Whilst attainment andperformance of pupils in schools isimportant, the TDA wants impactevidence for all the ECM outcomes.

There is still a debate in theeducational sector regarding whatimpact means and how data can begathered and measured (Coombs,Lewis & Denning, 2007). The projectidentified the framework in figure 1.

Various HEI provider reportswere compared for their diversity ofimpact evaluation processes. Thisled to an interim project report inJune 2007 that disseminated a tableof provider practices against varioussources of impact. This work led toa ‘toolkit’ of various CPDmethodologies and practices fromwhich to design and embed impactevidence into provider PPDprogrammes. A key finding was theCPD concept of a taxonomy(Coombs, 2007) that classifiesdiverse impact evidence types, e.g.‘Impact for Learning’ linked tosummative and formative impactevidence. Formative impactsuggests a relationship between on-the-job teacher self evaluation ofCPD processes and a new Impactfor Learning agenda. This CPD

�

CPD Order CPD outcome types linked to Impact as Change

3rd Order Provisionary Information New awareness

2nd Order Motivation Affective Institutional

1st Order Value Congruence Knowledge and skills

figure 1: Relating CPD outcomes to orders of impact

Incre

asi

ng leve

lof

Impact

ESCalatenews 27

� Wider professional discussionbefore directly linking PPDimpact to ECM outcomes.

� That CPD impact policy shiftsto include methodologies suchas formative assessment.

This project has made a usefulcontribution to the conceptualframework underpinning teacherquality and accredited CPD andhow this relates to improvedpractice through a betterunderstanding of impact.

‘‘This project has made a usefulcontribution to the conceptualframework underpinning teacher qualityand accredited CPD and how this relatesto improved practice through a betterunderstanding of impact.

ReferencesCoombs, S. (2007) Developing a CPDFramework for PPD Impact: The SouthwestESCalate project. Paper presented at theannual conference of the InternationalProfessional Development Association(IPDA) in Belfast, UK, 30 Nov – 1 Dec, 2007.

Coombs, S., Lewis, M. & Denning, A. (2007)Designing and Evaluating Impact Evidencesfor the TDA’s PPD: A southwestperspective. Paper presented at the BERAconference at the Institute of Education,London, UK Sep 5-8, 2007.

Department for Education and Skills (2004)Every Child Matters: Change for Children.Nottinghamshire: DfES Publications.

Harland, J. & Kinder, K. (1997). Teachers’continuing professional development:framing a model of outcomes. Journal of In-Service Education, 23(1), 71-84.

Ofsted (2004) Making a difference: Theimpact of award-bearing INSET on schoolimprovement. HMI 1765.

Training and Development Agency (2003).A report on the award-bearing INSETscheme. Soulsby and Swain report onlineat: www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=4129(accessed 7 April 2009).

Training and Development Agency (2009).National Framework for the Masters inTeaching and Learning (MTL). TDApublication, February, 2009.

AcknowledgementsThe author gratefully acknowledges the helpand contributions of members of the SouthWest Regional Group for ProfessionalDevelopment. A full project report isavailable on the ESCalate website at:http://escalate.ac.uk/3440

to CPD activity. The project findingssuggest a new taxonomy ofclassifying different types of impactevidence that identifies a range ofCPD research methodologies andapproaches. The projectrecommends:� The role that learner assessment

data plays in evaluating PPDimpact is fully examined througha new rigorous research project.

� Clarification of the efficacy of theassessment of the five EveryChild Matters (ECM) outcomes.

Dr Steve Coombs is Head of CPD at Bath

Spa University. Steve was the main

proposer of this ESCalate-funded project

with partners from the University of the West

of England, Bristol University, South West

Initiative for Training (SWIfT) and the

Universities Council for the Education of

Teachers (UCET).

Steve CoombsBath Spa University

‘‘

28 ESCalatenews

The National TeachingFellowship Scheme:ten years on andgoing strong

ESCalatenews 29

Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds, tells us abouthow the scheme beganand how it continues togrow and share thebenefits throughout theeducation community.Then in the followingarticles we have twopersonal accounts of whatthe awards have enabledpeople to achieve.

In the late 1990s, the HigherEducation Funding Council ofEngland developed an initiativethrough Teaching QualityEnhancement Funding thatpromoted the recognition ofexcellence, in learning andteaching in Higher Education. Thescheme also included theDepartment for Employment and

Learning (DEL) in Northern Ireland.Now, the National TeachingFellowship Scheme (NTFS) iscelebrating its tenth anniversary andthe achievements of the Fellowsthemselves.

The Scheme has changed fromits original inception in which 20individuals, chosen by a panel oftheir peers, were each given anaward of £50,000. This was to beused over three years to completewhat was termed a “fundedactivity”, which varied from funding amusic festival to a major pedagogicresearch or inquiry project.

In 2003/4, the award wasmodified to ensure that those atdifferent stages of their academiccareer, or who were engaged insupporting student learning, werenot excluded by the selectionprocess. A total of 50 awards weregiven but this time across threecategories which included: � those within six years of starting

their academic career (risingstars)

‘‘ ‘‘Many colleagues agreed that receivingan NTF increased their self-efficacy,resulting in them leading bids to theFund for the Development of Teachingand Learning, for Centres of Excellencein Teaching and Learning and NTFprojects.

�

� established academics � those in non-academic roles

who were responsible forsupporting student learning,(e.g. librarians and ICTspecialists).

In 2006, the award criteriachanged again. Now 50 individualsare chosen annually to receive anaward of £10,000 to be used fortheir own personal or professionaldevelopment. The remainder ofthe NTF Fund (around £2 million) isawarded to specific pedagogicresearch projects led by NationalTeaching Fellows (NTFs), in acompetitive bidding process.These projects are generallyexpected to impact on HEpedagogy and the studentexperience as well as addressinstitutional or national strategicpriorities.

As the number of NTFs grew,they agreed that collectively theirimpact might be greater thanindividually, and as a result,negotiations began with the HigherEducation Academy (HEA) toestablish the Association ofNational Teaching Fellows (ANTF).This is an organisation run byFellows but supported by the HEA.In 2005, under the leadership ofBob Rotheram (LeedsMetropolitan University), the ANTFsigned a memorandum ofunderstanding with the HEA. In2008, a review of the HEA clearlyidentified the NTFS as one of themost successful activitiesassociated with the HigherEducation Academy.

30 ESCalatenews

�

“A great value of the scheme isthe way in which it hasrecognised the contribution of“support” staff such as myselfon a level playing field. Theopportunities it has given mehave been wonderful, not leastbeing accepted into such aninspirational community ofopen minded teachers. This isan important aspect of thescheme - I can't think of anyother national arena where wehave such a good mix ofacademic and other staff.”

Although very little definitiveresearch has been carried out onthe impact of the scheme, theAssociation asked members toprovide examples of theirexperiences as a result ofreceiving their award. Theseformed the basis of a letter toHEFCE about the scheme andsubsequently informed a more indepth, phenomenological studycurrently being undertaken byFellows.

Adopting Locke’sphilosophical viewpoint andassuming that those with directexperience may be considered tobe ‘experts’ we have gatherednarratives, quantitative andqualitative data concerning theexperiences of those who havereceived a National TeachingFellowship (NTF). Manycolleagues agreed that receivingan NTF increased their self-efficacy, resulting in them leadingbids to the Fund for theDevelopment of Teaching andLearning (FDTL), for Centres ofExcellence in Teaching andLearning (CETL) and NTFprojects. Their success in theseareas had the effect of multiplyingthe impact of their personal awardon student learning and peerpractice.

Such NTF engagement hasbenefited thousands of studentsover the years. Award holdershave developed innovativeapproaches to teaching,

assessment, and supportingstudents, which have enhancedrecruitment and retention andgreatly improved the studentlearning experience. This work hasbeen widely shared anddisseminated leading to a muchgreater impact than individual NTFsmay have had alone.

At a personal level, many NTFshave identified their award as beingthe key to their personal andprofessional development in HigherEducation, as the following directquotation illustrates

ESCalatenews 31

Lesley-JaneEales-ReynoldsUniversity of Westminster

Professor Lesley-Jane Eales-Reynolds,

an Immunologist, is Director of Learning

and Teaching at the University of

Westminster. Previously she was director

of a highly successful Centre of

Excellence in Teaching and Learning, the

ExPERT Centre. In 2001 she received her

National Teaching Fellowship and in 2007

was awarded one of the first Senior

Fellowships of the Higher Education

Academy. She is a founding member and

Chair of the Association of National

Teaching Fellows and a member of the

Academic Council and Board of the

Higher Education Academy.

ReferencesAxtell, J (1968) The EducationalWritings of John Locke, Cambridge;Cambridge University Press

Although many Fellows hadpositive stories to tell, some alsoreport very negative experiences ofpeer jealousy and bullying.However, these were in theminority and often led to positiveoutcomes:

“It [winning] precipitated aspate of bullying from myimmediate managers and ajunior colleague... whichprecipitated my leaving. Themove gained me a Chair[Professorship].”

One of the key impacts of thescheme has been the developmentof wide ranging national andinternational collaborative networksand the sharing of good practice.The NTF Scheme and theAssociation have made greatstrides in breaking down inter-institutional barriers to collaborationby providing a forum wherelikeminded and informedenthusiasts can work productivelytogether and with others (e.g. 3MsFellows, Canada; CarnegieScholars, USA; National Fellows inAustralia and New Zealand).

There is no doubt that there hasbeen a significant shift in attitudetowards reflective and evaluativeteaching that is, in part, driven bythe greater recognition andrewards that the National TeachingFellowship scheme has providedand encouraged. The NTF schemeconfers external validation on

internal, and often unrecognised,excellent practice.

In this, the tenth year of thescheme, we now have around380 National Teaching Fellowsand the Association has gonefrom strength to strength. It noworganises (with the Academy) theinduction of new fellows and theannual NTF symposium. It hasrepresentation on the Board ofDirectors and the AcademicCouncil of the Higher EducationAcademy and a strategic plan.One of the benefits of theAssociation is that it gives a voiceto a group of individuals whohave been recognised for theirexcellence in teaching practiceand their ability to inspire bothcolleagues and students. NTFsregularly contribute to nationaldebates concerning strategy andpolicy development in HigherEducation. Many NTFs thoughtthat receiving the award was anend in itself. They have nowrealised that membership of theAssociation gives them a criticalmass and we intend to fight forthe continued professionalrecognition of those who inspireand encourage students throughtheir dedicated commitment tothe scholarship of learning andteaching.

32 ESCalatenews

Julie Hughes, one ofESCalate's AcademicConsultants talks aboutbeing awarded an NTF andthe impact it has had on herprofessional life.

I was driving when I got the phonecall on a Friday afternoon in lateJune 2005. I pulled over and tookthe call. It was the Higher EducationAcademy calling to congratulateme on receiving a NationalTeaching Fellowship Award. I wasshocked because the only ‘prize’I’d ever won before was a set ofVirago publications when I was amature student on an Accesscourse.

The reception from mycolleagues was mixed – some werevery pleased for me and proud ofthis achievement where othersignored it – a reaction reported bymany NTFs. Most colleagues werecompletely unaware that I had beennominated by the University ofWolverhampton and many had alimited knowledge of the NTFscheme. In 2005 the fund was a lifechanging amount – £50 000 –and Ifelt a huge sense of responsibility.Unlike some other NTF’sexperiences of managing theirfunds, my institution was highlysupportive of the funds being usedto impact directly upon teaching,learning and my own professional

On beingawarded aNationalTeachingFellowship

ESCalatenews 33

‘‘ ‘‘My journey asan NTF has beensupported bya series ofindividuals whobecame powerfulrole models, whoopened doors, realand metaphorical,at key points ofmy personal andprofessionaldevelopment.

Julie Hughes

University ofWolverhampton

development. I was grantedcomplete autonomy to use myfellowship to enhance the learningexperience of my students and tosupport my colleagues in thedevelopment of their teachingpractices.

So, I used most of my funds toinvest in my students. Over a periodof three years I employed formerPGCE students as teaching andresearch assistants. The students,who were all qualified teachers,supported my research andmentoring activities both within myown institution and increasingly inexternal settings. As I was growingin confidence as an e-portfolioteacher and mentor to mycolleagues, I was ‘growing’ the nextgeneration of e-portfolio teachers. Iam incredibly proud that my formerstudents, Emma Purnell and PaulTowers, now hold central staffdevelopment roles in a newly formedBlended Learning Unit.

My journey as an NTF has beensupported by a series of individualswho became powerful role models,who opened doors, real andmetaphorical, at key points of mypersonal and professionaldevelopment. The allocation of anNTF mentor was life-changing forme. Through her encouragement Iplucked up the courage to submit apaper to an international SOTL(Scholarship of Teaching andLearning) conference. Just knowingthat my mentor and other NTFs

would be at the US-basedconference made up for losing mysuitcase on my first ever planejourney alone. What’s more,attending the conference gave meaccess to a community of peoplewho were passionate aboutteaching and learning.

My paper was at eight o’clockon a Saturday morning and one ofthe attendees was the Director ofESCalate. This meeting and theensuing conversations over severalmonths were to provide me with theopportunity to be seconded to thisHEA subject centre and to beinvolved with exciting initiativessuch as the HELP CETL (Plymouth),the AfL CETL (Northumbria) and theESRC-funded TERN (TeacherEducation Research Network)project. My secondment toESCalate has proved to be highlyrewarding and wonderful for myprofessional development. I feelvery lucky to have been awarded aNational Teaching Fellowship and Ihope that I have done it justice.

Professionally I feel that I havegrown in confidence throughexposure to others who are deeplycommitted to learning andteaching. The award granted metime and space to develop mypractice, my thinking and myresearch into e-portfolio-basedlearning. It has encouraged me tobe braver and to take more risksand allowed me to support othersto take risks.

Julie Hughes is passionate about

the transformative learning

potential in new technologies and

their attendant pedagogies. Julie

has been exploring e-portfolio-

based learning since 2004 in the

School of Education at the

University of Wolverhampton.

Her practice and research are

keen to explore the

user/learner/colleague

experience of learning, teaching

and assessment within a

personal learning space such as

PebblePad.

34 ESCalatenews

What a NationalTeaching Fellowshipmeans to me In our second article Richard Hall gives us his view on being awarded an NTF.

I am the e-Learning Co-ordinatorfor De Montfort University (DMU),Leicester, with responsibility for theacademic implementation ofTechnology-Enhanced Learning(TEL). Our aim is the enhancementof the student learning experience.My role is to develop and supportnetworks of e-Learning Co-ordinators and Champions acrossthe University and act as manageron a number of projects, The workthat affords me the mostprofessional satisfaction involvesteaching first-year historians andsupervising TEL-related researchstudents.

The projects have all focused onthe staff and student experience ofTEL, and its impact on participationand co-governance in thecurriculum. I was the ProjectManager for DMU's e-LearningPathfinder Project, whichinvestigated mainstreaming Web2.0 technologies across theinstitution in academic andacademic-related departments.

In addition I managed our HEA-funded Connecting Transitionsand Independent Learning(CoTIL) project, which is apartnership with the NationalInstitute for Adult and Continuing

Education, investigating therelationships between social mediaand transitions. I am also the projectlead at DMU for the JISC-fundedMoRSE curriculum delivery project,which looks at the role of socialmedia in supporting placementstudents. Our JISC-funded DUALLproject evaluates deliberativeapproaches to building users'involvement in greening ICT.

It's no real surprise that myresearch interests include theimpact of new media on pedagogicpractice and institutional structures,and more importantly upon learnerempowerment, agency andparticipation. I am interested inissues of post-digital education anddeveloping a resilient education. Iam very concerned about greenICT, and the impact of technologyon climate change and energysufficiency.

I won a National TeachingFellowship (NTF) from the HEA in2009. The award ceremony made avirtue of celebrating learning andteaching across the higher

‘‘ ‘‘The awardceremony made avirtue of celebratinglearning and teachingacross the highereducation sector, andit made me realise howmuch peer-reviewedawards matter.

ESCalatenews 35

Richard Hall is the e-Learning Co-

ordinator for De Montfort University,

Leicester, UK. He is responsible for

the academic implementation of e-

learning with the aim of enhancing

the student learning experience,

and as such he works to build

networks of e-Learning Co-

ordinators and Champions across

the University.

Richard HallDe Montford University

These awards matter because theydemonstrate that the work we do with ourstudents and staff matters.

education sector, and it made merealise how much peer-reviewedawards matter. The smiles on show,and the willingness of people toshare and chat, evidenced what agreat and inclusive set these NTFsare. The list of winnersdemonstrates the incrediblestrength and depth of student andstaff-centred practices in UK HE.

At the induction event for theAssociation of NTFs the nextmorning, we discussed what theaward meant to us. Peter Hughesfrom Bradford highlighted howwinning had been a disruptive forcein changing his professionalpractice, and engaging him with

‘‘interdisciplinary approaches. Inthinking this through, I realisedthat the award validates ourapproach to embedding TEL atDe Montfort University, and infurthering the learningconversations we try to stimulate.

Our institutional focus is oncreating spaces for professionaldialogues about TEL. Theseconversations are enabledthrough our networks of bothacademic and support staff, andare framed by our teachingexcellence winners. The work ofour networks is designed to helpstaff explore technologies in theirown context, and to hear

‘‘

meaningful stories. The end-gameis always enhancing the quality ofcontact between staff, learnersand resources, in order toempower student self-confidence,decision-making and agency. As aresult we promote a strategic pushtowards a focused studententitlement, framed by a student-centred pedagogy.

These awards matter becausethey demonstrate that the workwe do with our students and staffmatters. The key now is using thenew associations, resources andopportunities that we can tap into,in order to provide good-enoughsupport, guidance and leadershipfor our peers at DMU and acrossthe sector. The aim for me is thatwe can promote the developmentof resilient learners and teachers,operating within resilientinstitutions.

36 ESCalatenews

Reflective Teaching:the past, present andfuture of a textbook

ESCalatenews 37

Andrew Pollard writes about how this establishedtextbook for teachers first started and how he sees itmoving forward... with a little help from all of us.

I think of the textbook, ReflectiveTeaching, as ‘ours’ – by which Imean that it belongs in some way tothe UK’s teacher community in bothschools and higher education.Certainly, I’ve driven it forwardthrough numerous versions since itsfirst publication in 1987 – but thereare three reasons for considering itin more collective terms. First, a lotof students and teachers have usedit in various ways over the past twodecades. Second, many peoplehave contributed as co-authors,within successive editorial teams,through specific commissions or inUK-wide consultations. Third, andmost importantly, the essence ofthe book is that it harvests,organises and then explainsevidence-informed professionalknowledge. In other words, it triesto promote ‘good practice’ asestablished by educationalistsacross the UK and beyond.

For many years, the outcome ofsuch engagement and dialogue hasbeen assembled into a fairly stablestructure of chapters, based initiallyon my own understanding ofcontext, values, perspectives,processes and outcomes inreflective practice.

The Teaching and LearningResearch Programme

(www.tlrp.org) was the largesteducational research initiative inthe UK. With over 100investments, its projects, thematicactivities, website and publicationsremain a rich source of insightsinto teaching and learning. One ofTLRP’s aims was to maximiseimpact for practitioners. Inpartnership with userorganisations, we producedResearch Briefings,Commentaries, DVDs, PractitionerActivities and other summaries totransform academic knowledgeinto more accessible forms. TheTLRP Steering Committee waskeen to see TLRP outcomesdisseminated through theReflective Teaching textbook andwebsite.

A new TLRP Commentary isbeing produced in association withthe General Teaching Council forEngland, and with the other UKGTCs considering parallelversions. ‘Professionalism andpedagogy’ argues that teacherexpertise is poorly understoodbecause so much practicalknowledge is tacit. A framework isthen constructed to codifyeducationally powerful ideas andto offer a tentative conceptualtoolkit for description, analysis and

‘‘ ‘‘...the essence ofthe book is that itharvests, organisesand then explainsevidence-informedprofessionalknowledge.

38 ESCalatenews

Source: Pollard, A. (ed) (2010) Professionalism and Pedagogy: a contemporary opportunity. A TLRP Commentary. London: TLRP.

1. Society’s educationalgoalsWhat vision of ‘education’ isthe provision designed toachieve?

2. Elements of learning What knowledge, concepts,skills, values and attitudes areto be learned in formaleducation?

3. Community context Is the educational experiencevalued and endorsed byparents, community,employers and civil society?

4. Institutional context Does the school promote acommon vision to extendeducational experiences andinspire learners?

5. Process for learners’social needs Does theeducational experience buildon social relationships, culturalunderstandings and learneridentities?

6. Processes for learners’affective needsDoes the educationalexperience take due accountof learner views, feelings andcharacteristics?

7. Processes for learners’cognitive needsDoes the educationalexperience match the learner’scognitive needs and provideappropriate challenge?

8. Outcomes forcontinuing improvementin learning Does theeducational experience lead todevelopment in knowledge,concepts, skills and attitudes?

9. Outcomes forcertification and thelifecourse Does theeducational experience equiplearners for adult and workinglife, and for an unknown future?

Breadth: does the curriculumrepresent society’s educationalaspirations for its citizens?

Balance: does thecurriculum-as-experiencedoffer everything which eachlearner has a right to expect?

Connection: does thecurriculum engage with thecultural resources and funds-of-knowledge of families and thecommunity?

Coherence: is there clarity inthe purposes, content andorganisation of the curriculumand does it provide holisticlearning experiences?

Personalisation: does thecurriculum resonate with thesocial and cultural needs ofdiverse learners and provideappropriate elements of choice?

Relevance: is the curriculumpresented in ways which aremeaningful to learners and sothat it can excite theirimagination?

Differentiation: arecurriculum tasks and activitiesstructured appropriately tomatch the intellectual needs oflearners?

Progression: does thecurriculum-as-delivered providean appropriate sequence anddepth of learning experiences?

Effectiveness: are thereimprovements in standards,in both basic skills and otherareas of curricular attainment,to satisfy society’s educationalgoals?

Principle: is the pedagogyconsistent with establishedprinciples for effective teachingand learning?

Repertoire: is thepedagogic expertisesufficiently creative, skilledand wide-ranging to teach allelements of learning?

Warrant: are the teachingstrategies evidence-informed,convincing and justifiable tostakeholders?

Culture: does the schoolsupport expansive learning byaffirming learner contributions,engaging partners andproviding attractiveopportunities?

Relationships: are teacher-pupil relationships nurtured asthe foundation of goodbehaviour, mutual wellbeingand high standards?

Engagement: do theteaching strategies, classroomorganisation and consultationenable learners to activelyparticipate in and enjoy theirlearning?

Dialogue: does teacher-learner talk scaffoldunderstanding to build onexisting knowledge and tostrengthen dispositions tolearn?

Reflection: is classroompractice based on incremental,evidence-informed andcollaborative improvementstrategies?

Empowerment: is thepedagogic repertoiresuccessful in enhancingwellbeing, learning disposition,capabilities and agency?

Congruence: are forms ofassessment fit-for-purpose interms of overall educationalobjectives?

Validity: in terms of learning,do the forms of assessmentused really measure what theyare intended to measure?

Dependability: areassessment processesunderstood and accepted asbeing robust and reliable?

Expectation: does theschool support high staff andstudent expectations andaspire to excellence?

Inclusion: are all learnerstreated respectfully and fairlyin both formal and informalinteraction?

Authenticity: do learnersrecognise routine processesof assessment and feedbackas being of personal value?

Feed-back: is there a routineflow of constructive, specific,diagnostic feedback fromteacher to learners?

Development: doesformative feedback andsupport enable learners toachieve personal learninggoals?

Consequence: doassessment outcomes leadtowards recognisedqualifications and a confidentsense of personal identity?

CURRICULARCONCEPTS

PEDAGOGICCONCEPTS

ASSESSMENTCONCEPTS

AIM

SC

ON

TEXT

SO

UTC

OM

ES

PR

OC

ES

SE

S

ESCalatenews 39

�

not only clear and accessibleaccounts of research evidenceand support for teacherenquiry, but also the mostpowerful conceptual toolsavailable for talking about,thinking about and publiclyrepresenting teacher expertise.Can the established structureof practical guidance beenhanced by a deeper level oftheorised understanding? Howcould new editions of ReflectiveTeaching be developed toincorporate such layeredthinking, whilst maintainingpracticality and accessibility?Over the next year, I hope togather opinions on thisquestion.

In the long term, it isintended to form a Trust orestablish some otherarrangement which will protectthe intellectual property rightsand copyright of thesematerials and enable them tobe sustained and developed byothers. Although I’m stillenjoying the creative buzz rightnow, when I move on,Reflective Teaching will remainwithin our community.

Comments or expressionsof interest in discussing theseideas would be most welcome- a.pollard@ioe.ac.uk

A former school teacher, teacher

educator and researcher, Andrew Pollard

was Director of the ESRC’s Teaching and

Learning Research Programme from

2002-09. His interests include teaching-

learning processes and learner

perspectives, as well as the development

of evidence-informed classroom practice.

ReferencesPollard, A. with Anderson, J.,Maddock, M., Swaffield, S., Warin, J.and Warwick, P. (2008) ReflectiveTeaching. (3rd Edition) London:Continuum.

Pollard, A. (Ed) (2002) Readings forReflective Teaching. London:Continuum.

www.RTweb.info is an independentwebsite, offering free material on aCreative Commons license andcurrently drawing on the expertise ofJo Warin, Paul Warwick, SueSwaffield, Mandy Swann and myself.

The TLRP Commentary is: Pollard, A.(ed) (2010) Professionalism andPedagogy. London: TLRP. FromMay, this is expected to bedownloadable from www.tlrp.org,www.RTweb.info andwww.gtce.org.uk. Discussionfacilities are in preparation atwww.cloudworks.ac.uk.

discussion of practice (seeopposite).

The core proposition is that‘enduring educational issues’ relateto the aims, contexts, processesand outcomes of education. So,the argument is that teachersinevitably face these issues in oneway or another through their day-to-day work in curriculum,pedagogy and assessment.Juggling with such issues requireshigh levels of reflective expertise –whether this draws on teaching asart, science or craft. Such work, itis suggested, is manifestedthrough the practical dilemmasteachers face as they seek to solveroutine classroom problems.

For many years, the ReflectiveTeaching texts have promoted theuse of evidence to informprofessional judgement. However,the power of the concepts whichare used to think about anddiscuss such evidence isabsolutely vital too. Without suchanalytic capacity, neitherclassroom enquiry nor discussionwith colleagues can buildsustainable professional expertise.

As contemporary educationpolicy changes, opportunities fornew forms of professionalismappear to be opening up. I hopethat new editions of ReflectiveTeaching can be developed to offer

Andrew PollardInstitute of Education,University of London

40 ESCalatenews

Joined up thinkingneeded betweensocial work andeducation practitioners At the end of last year the Social Work Taskforce published its final report Building asafe and confident future1. Jackie Rafferty writes about the importance of thereports findings for educationalists.

ESCalatenews 41

The development of Children’sTrusts in England has meant anincreased need for students andeducators in education and socialwork to better understand eachothers’ worlds. Students also needto learn about each other andwork more collaboratively duringtheir degrees. I thought, therefore,that it would be helpful foreducational practitioners to have asummary of the recommendationsthat will impact on initial and postqualifying social work educationand how the Higher EducationAcademy is engaging with thispolicy agenda.

The Taskforce’s Final Report2

contains 15 recommendations andthe executive summary describes

those of most significance forhigher education

We are recommending areformed system of initialeducation and training,increasing the number ofconfident, competentprofessionals coming into theworkforce” (Chapter 1).

A reformed system of educationand training should:� begin with clear, consistent

criteria for entry to social workcourses – with a new regime fortesting and interviewingcandidates that balancesacademic and personal skills –so that all students are of a highcalibre

On December 1st 2009 the SocialWork Taskforce published its finalreport Building a safe and confidentfuture. The Taskforce, under theleadership of Moira Gibb, was setup following the Baby Peter tragedy“to conduct a ‘nuts and bolts’ reviewof the profession and to adviseon the shape and content of acomprehensive reform programmefor social work”. On the same date,the government published itsresponse to the report accepting allof the recommendations, includingthe one that urged the governmentto set up a single national reformprogramme for social work todrive the delivery of the keyrecommendations over the nextfive years.

‘‘The development of Children’s Trusts inEngland has meant an increased needfor students and educators in educationand social work to better understandeach others’ worlds.

‘‘1 Building a safe and confident future: the final report of the Social Work Taskforce www.dcsf.gov.uk/swtf

2 SWAP’s Social Work Taskforce page – www.swap.ac.uk/policyregulation/taskforce/implications.html

�

� provide courses where thecontent, teaching, placementopportunities and assessmentare of a high standard across allproviders – we are, for instance,proposing advanced teachingorganisation status for providingpractice placements to socialwork students

� culminate in a new supportedand assessed first year inemployment, which would act asthe final stage in becoming a full,practising social worker

� strengthen the system foreducating social workersthrough more transparent andeffective regulation and strongerlocal partnerships betweenuniversities and employers.

As a sister centre to ESCalate,the Social Policy and Social WorkSubject Centre (SWAP) has beenworking closely with subjectassociations such as theAssociation of Professors of SocialWork (APSW) and the JointUniversity Council – Social WorkEducation Committee (JUC-SWEC)to ensure the higher education voicehas been heard during theTaskforce’s work and it is clear thatthis co-ordinated strategy has beensuccessful in raising our status frombeing seen by some stakeholderspurely as delivery organisations, to

partners in the enterprise. A numberof the issues identified have beenlabelled “wicked” or “vicious” issuesby the Taskforce and indeed theproblems with, for example,identifying high quality practiceplacements have been forever withus.

What particular challengespresent themselves? The SocialWork Reform Board has been setup to develop and then take forwardan implementation plan at the worstpossible time as both highereducation and public services areexperiencing severe cuts. SWAP,alongside APSW and JUC-SWEChave been invited to the ReformBoard table and we need to deliveron solutions. SWAP has adedicated part of its website for theTaskforce reforms so that interestedparties can keep abreast ofdevelopments. The inter-professional aspects of the reformsneed to be kept in mind as socialwork puts its own house in order.Changes will impact on, forinstance, social work studentplacements in schools. Changes tobursaries for social work studentsmay well affect who decides to gointo teaching rather than socialwork. You will notice the AssessedYear in Employment mirrors theNQT arrangements and we need toensure the lessons learnt in

Jackie Rafferty is Director of the

Higher Education Academy Subject

Centre for Social Policy and Social

Work (SWAP) based at the

University of Southampton. Besides

her interests in pedagogic research

and development she is also

director of the Centre for Human

Service Technology and researches

the use of technology in social work

practice where her current interest

is the role of social media and how

it will impact on social work

practice.

Jackie RaffertyUniversity ofSouthampton

education are used in social work.The Reform Board intends to workspeedily as the government bodiesinvolved – Business, Innovation andSkills, Children, Schools andFamilies and Health – are keen todevelop a fully formedimplementation plan, includingtimescales, prior to the forthcomingelection. So, it is a busy time forboth social workers and educatorsalike.

42 ESCalatenews

�

Danny Saunders is Professorand Head of the Centre forLifelong Learning at theUniversity of Glamorgan. Hisbackground is in Psychologyand Education, with a keeninterest in the development ofinnovative teaching andlearning methods, especiallywhere applied to socialinclusion and wideningparticipation by non-traditional students withinhigher education. He iscurrently Chair of ESCalate’sAdvisory Board.

1. You have recently beenawarded an OBE for services toHigher Education in Wales.What went through your mindwhen you heard about thisaward?I was astonished and delighted atthe same time, but I also have afew friends who love practical jokesso for a moment I thought thiscould be one of their ploys! I had tore-read the letter from the CabinetOffice a few times before it sunk in.And then the most difficult part –keeping it a secret until publicationof the list.

2. What will this award enableyou to do better?I am hoping that this will help withpartnership working, especiallywhen approaching organisationsand people for the first time in orderto build up consortia and sharedservices. It also, I hope, givesrecognition to a much larger lifelonglearning community, and hopefullymore colleagues will receivehonours in the future, so I hope thisraises our status during this difficultpost-recession time.

3. You are the Chair ofESCalate’s Advisory Board:what does this involve?Encouraging constructive debate,ensuring relevance, providingopportunities for contributions fromeveryone round the table, andbringing in new perspectives wherepossible – and hopefully with atouch of humour and enjoyment...some of our members travel hugedistances for these meetings and Ihave to find a way of ensuring theyreturn for future discussions.

4. How do you see the role ofthe Advisory board supportingthe activities of our subjectcentre?This has been fascinating work. Asthe chair I have been trying toencourage suggestions and ideaswhile taking on the role of "criticalfriend" for the subject centre. Thesheer breadth of activity andresponsibility for ESCalate isimpressive, from teacher trainingright through to widening accessand HE in FE. But this also meansthat the Advisory Board has to berealistic about what can beachieved, and what the prioritiesare. This means creating newpartnerships and also drawing a lineunder projects and ventures thathave run their course. And finally itis vital that the Board does notmicro-manage: we look to the HEAfor that level of detail.

5. What are some of thechallenges for ESCalate in thecoming months?Post recession resourcing is the bigone, and inevitably this will lead tomajor HEA decisions about whatwe have to stop doing and whatcan be done in more efficient ways.Another key challenge is therelationship between universitiesand further education colleges – forESCalate I think it will be importantto support this by addressing staffdevelopment needs and issues.

6. Do you have any hopes anddreams for ESCalate over thenext year?We will aim to support the “newprofessions” in teaching andlearning – such as mentoring andcoaching. Also, I think we haveopportunities to develop Schullerand Watson’s marvellous LearningThrough Life agenda.1

in C

onve

rsat

ion

with

...

‘‘ ‘‘

Pro

fess

or D

anny

Sau

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1 www.niace.org.uk/news/learning-through-life

ESCalatenews 43

All education students(undergraduate, postgraduateand doctoral) are invited tohear students and tutorsshare their experiences ofstudent engagement in thelearning process.

Aaron Porter, Vice-President of theNUS (Higher Education)

Helen Gough and Linda Proudfoot,Glasgow Caledonian University

Joe Gazdula,Liverpool Hope University

Jennifer Redman,University of Central Lancashire

Jodie Hunter,University of Plymouth

Sheri-Leigh Miles, University of Bradford

Student groups from all over the UK

Dr Tony Brown, Director, ESCalate

£30 for the day includeslunch and refreshments

Go towww.escalate.ac.uk/6329to find out more!

Students asStakeholders:take an active part in your own learning

Friday 16th April 2010Glamorgan Business CentreUniversity of GlamorganPontypridd, Wales

The Second Annual ESCalate Student Conference

conference 2010

ESCalate Student

The Importance of the LearnerVoice in 21st Century HigherEducation

Student Engagement ThroughCollaboration: enhancing thecurriculum with learners aspartners

Student involvement andstakeholder requirements:emancipation to abdication

Student Voice: can you hear us?

The Relationship BetweenResearch and Employability:a personal perspective

Students Taking the Lead –Student Engagement:The Ecoversity story

Poster Presentations

Final Plenary