2006 - 2008 West Strand 6

 

Staff Development

Main Contacts

Lorraine Mather Strand W6 Co-ordinator,
Bridgwater College, Bath Road, Bridgwater TA6 4PZ
Telephone: 01278 441373 matherl@bridgwater.ac.uk

Partners: University of Bath, Bath Spa University, University of Bristol, University of Gloucestershire, University of West of England, Royal Agricultural College, FE Colleges, Open University in South West and Connexions Services.

Go to Strand W6 Conference, Seminar and Meeting Presentations from 2007 / 2008

 

Outline of the Strand

Staff development is designed to provide updates and training for Teachers, Support Staff, Connexions Advisors and Training Providers, who are concerned with the continued support and learning of those individuals who fall into the widening participation cohort.

W6 intend to do the following:

Provide staff who are concerned with the widening participation of the Aimhiger cohort with support in any area of education where they feel they require assistance.

• To hold staff development events in all of the 8 sub areas of the Partnership (2005 – 2011).

• To maintain and develop a directory of specialists and practitioners who are willing to provide presentations and support in the delivery of staff training.

• Distribute promotional material throughout the Aimhigher West region advising educational and support staff with the training available to them.

Target Groups

W6’s primary concern is to provide on-going training and support to staff that are associated and concerned with widening participation. Staff members are based within schools, Further Education Colleges (FEC’s), Higher Education Institutes (HEI’s), training establishments and Connexions partnerships.

 

Activities

A variety of promotional material has been designed to assist in the development of our staff across the Aimhigher West partnership. This is due to staff development being identified as an area where profiling was low.

Promotional Leaflets have been designed and dispatched throughout the region to teaching and support staff located within the partnership i.e. head teachers, deputy head teachers, heads of sixth form, heads of years 10 and 11, careers co-ordinators, staff development co-ordinators and Aimhigher co-ordinators, as well as sub area co-ordinators and strand co-ordinators. These leaflets identified the opportunities available to staff allowing them to enhance their personal development.

W6 also created a leaflet called “Narrowing the Skills Gap” to promote the development opportunities available to training providers. This leaflet was sent throughout the Aimhigher West area.

A banner up promoting staff development opportunities was produced for use at events and exhibitions in addition to the leaflets.

Speakers

Guest speakers are an essential criterion that is required to ensure the success of Aimhigher West staff development events. It is therefore crucial that we create a portfolio of speakers sourced from an extensive range of individuals and subject topics, allowing us a flexible approach towards the needs and requirements of staff.

Our directory includes speakers from varied backgrounds all of which hold a wide amount of knowledge. The majority of speakers come from within the following:

• Aimhigher West Partnership

• Other Aimhigher Partnerships, i.e. Peninsula and LIFE

• FEC’s

• Education Authorities

• HEI’s

• County Councils

• UCAS

• QCA

• FDF

Topics covered

• Giving advice to students special needs

• Mentoring and Tutoring skills

• Vocational progression routes

• HE Careers Advice

• Writing Personal Statements and References

• Tuition Fees and Student Finance

• Progression routes into higher and further education

 

Events

Awareness Events that have been carried out:

• Bridgwater College WBL Training Officers, January 2006

• Wiltshire and Swindon Training Provider Network, December 2005

• Connexions – Gloucestershire, December 2005

• Somerset Training Provider Network, November 2005

• Connexions – Bristol, September 2005

 

Staff Development Events

Go to Strand W6 Conference, Seminar and Meeting Presentations from 2007 / 2008 online

All staff development events are ongoing and will continue throughout 2008 - 2011.

• Supporting Progression into Higher Education, July 2007

• Supporting Staff with Progression onto University, July 2007

• Higher Education in Further Education Colleges, June 2007

• Supporting Staff with Factors Affecting and Impacting upon Learners, May 2007

• Adult Learning, Community based tutors – training funded on behalf of Pathways strand, May 2006

• Western Training Providers Network training event, May 2006

• Pathways Progression Supporting Students, Matravers School Wiltshire, February 2006

• Careers in HE in the 21st Century Wiltshire College, February 2006

• UCAS Apply Training Co-ordinators Gloucestershire sub area, February 2006

• Aimhigher On-Line Monitoring Training, January 2006

• Adult Learning Ambassadors (Swindon) Training, January 2006

• Connexions Bristol Training, December 2005

• Post 16 Directors Conference – Gloucestershire, November 2005

• Hartpury College – Gloucester, November 2005

Staff Development Meetings

• Strand Group - March 2008

• FE Forum - February 2008

Conferences

• Partnership Consultation Event: Planning for 2008 - 2011, Gloucestershire Country Cricket Club, Bristol, March 2008

• Bristol, April 2006

• B&NES, April 2006

• Somerset, March 2006

• Gloucestershire, March 2006

 

Impact on Target Group

Initially profiling was low within staff development across the Aimhigher West Partnership. However by creating awareness to staff advising of the introduction of free and informative staff development seminars and conferences it has encouraged delegates to engage in the opportunities being presented to them and in return has provided positive results.

Evaluation of the events has allowed us to ascertain whether or not the events we organised were of a successful nature. Feedback has proven that the training events achieved the aim we set ourselves.

Due to staff development opportunities being seized, results have confirmed that the profile of Aimhigher has now increased dramatically across the West Partnership. Three main outcomes were apparent, these are identified below:

• In some cases delegates had no prior knowledge or understanding of Aimhigher apart from hearing the term mentioned.

• In the majority of cases delegates had some knowledge but didn’t understand the structure of Aimhigher or how it’s activities were co-ordinated and delivered.

• In all cases, delegates have reported that following training, their understanding of Aimhigher West, its structure and organisation of activities has been increased.

The initial events proved to have a valuable knock on effect to W6 as training events then flourished. As an example, following the training at Connexions, Bristol in September 2005 further sessions were then organised for December 2005, February 2006, March 2006 and a collaborative Bristol sub-area event in April 2006.

 

Predecessor to this Strand 2003 - 2006 in the Archive