Wider Professional Practice and Development in Education and Training

Contents

Task 1

1.1 Define the concept of professionalism and give a brief about dual professionalism in education and training………………………………………………………………….3

1.2 Explain ways in which one’s own professional values influence own practice in an area of particular specialism?………………………………………………….4

Task 2 

2.1 Describe ways in which Political, social and economic factors persuade education policy?……………………………………………………………………..5

2.2 Investigate the impact of existing  educational Policies on curriculum and practice in  own area of specialism?………………………………………………………………6

Task 3 

3.1 Give details about the responsibility of stakeholders and external bodies in education and training?……………………………………………………………………..7

3.2 Explain how being accountable to stakeholders and external bodies impacts on organisations in education and training?…………………………………………….7

3.3 Explain why it is important to work in partnership with employers and other stakeholders in education and training?…………………………………………..8

3.4 Analyse the impact of being accountable to stakeholders and external bodies on curriculum design, delivery and assessment in your own area of specialism?……10

Task 4

4.1 Explain key aspects of key policies, codes of practice and guidelines of an organization.....12

4.2  Analyse the impact of organizational requirements and expectations on curriculum practice in own area of Specialism?…………………………………….13

Task 5

5.1 Analyse the quality improvement and quality assurance arrangements of own organization………………………………………………………………………..15

5.2 Explain the function of self-assessment and self-evaluation and the quality cycle………16

5.3 Evaluate a learning program taking account of the quality maintenance of own organsiation……………………………………………………………………………..17

5.4 identify areas for improvement in the learning program taking account of the outcomes of evaluation?.………………………………………………………….…….20

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………23  

Task 1

1.1 Define the concept of professionalism and give a brief about dual professionalism in education and training?

Professional teachers are not only bound by a series of codes of practice and professional codes of conduct and standards befitting their dual professional roles. Teachers of all levels are required to demonstrate high level of professional ethics and values while demonstrating innovation and competence while delivering the curriculum with a level of autonomy and ingenuity to use methods that are diverse enough for all student learning styles. Teacher’s level of professionalism is often demonstrated by the ability to adapt to learning styles and inclusive integrated use of modern learning tools to help reach all students of all abilities.  The National Professional Standard Agency requirement for teachers to achieve a (QTLS) Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills Status. QTLS hopefully ensures that all professional teachers meet a minimum standard of professionalism and ability.  Higher education professionals are now required to take a certificate in Higher Education Academy Fellowship to help raise and maintain standards of teaching/Lecturer in higher education, in the same way as the QTLS for teachers they set out clear expectations of effective practice in Education and practice (et-foundation.co.uk, 2014). The Four certificates cover lecturer professionals at various stages of their development (AFHEA) Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy, (FHEA) Fellow of Higher Education Academy, (SFHEA) Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy, and the (PFHEA) Principle Fellow of Higher Education Academy (heaacademy.ac.uk).

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The Author chose to enhance his skill set after 25 years in business as entrepreneur and Director of SME’s and larger enterprises by successfully studying for a (EMBA) Executive Masters in Business Administration.  The Author believed the higher qualification would enhance his professionalism to impart the 25 years of experience alongside the newly acquired academic theoretical business practice. As a duel professional working within a code of professional practice set by the organisation or external body they belong too (IFL, 2012).

The Author’s dual role as a business professional and member of the (PMI) Project Managers Institute along with (SBF) Small Business federation amongst others alongside gaining a AFHEA and ETF/FE Education and Training Foundation for Further Education will constantly ensure the dual professional maintains a regular (CPD) Continued Professional Development through regular self, reflection peer and professional assessment  (Gravells and Simpson, 2008).

Learners don’t only learn the subject matter from their Teacher / Lecturer, they learn from  behavior and attitude and how a professional responds to situations, dresses, being organized.  Increasingly teaching professionals personal and private conduct has become heavily scrutinized as part of their professionalism and their professional status.

1.2 Explain ways in which one’s own professional values influence own practice in an area of particular specialism?

Professional business values influence the subject content and its delivery while maintaining impartiality and consideration for the diverse makeup of the student body.  Students are constantly given options and alternative theories and ideas while being reminded that they need to critically review all the information they receive, to prevent any undue influence on decision making.  Creative lesson plans and inventive delivery to ensure the teacher meets the learning needs of all the students and delivered with enthusiasm for the subject.  Having confident tacit subject knowledge of the subject and prior planning with contingencies exudes confidents from the students while portraying the value of preparation and planning a broader subject matter in case the students want to explore the subject matter further than originally planned.  Students are more inclined to take an interest from a dual professional with practical business experience where live scenarios can be discussed and debated (Gravells , 2008)..

To ensure students receive up to date specialist business information the teacher/lecturer is required to constantly update their subject knowledge as part of their ongoing CPD.  It’s important the business teacher/lecturer responds to relevant changes in the Macro and Micro environment the subject matter refers too.  Eg Brexit is likely to have a major influence in future business operating procedures and taxation.  In order that teacher/lecturer  is able to meet their own high standards and deliver current business practice regular reading of journals, business papers is required as part of the CPD and professional values to give current up to date information to students (Gravells , 2008).

The authors regular CPD and dedication to inclusive reflective teaching/lecturing enables him to respond quickly ensure that all his students understand the lesson using various methods to get the message across.

Task 2

2.1 Describe ways in which Political, social and economic factors persuade education policy?

Political and social economic factors are involved at every level of education of directing policy through to curriculum influence at national and local level.  Education is always high on every governments manifesto agenda knowing that the voting public and industry take a keen vested industry interest on decisions that are made.  Key concern with government of late has been the highly publicized lack of basic functional skills of school leavers and British adults impacting on British industry skill shortages.  Large numbers of young adults (790,000)  between 16 – 24 where leaving full time education with little or no qualifications an no prospects of finding work forcing the government to do something about the so called (NEETS)  Not in Education, Employment or Training (Parliament.uk, 2017).   A word of Caution is that not all young adults that are considered NEET are unemployed, 41% were unemployed while the other 59% were considered to be economically inactive not seeking work or available to start work.

The Government decided to meet the growing concern over Young unemployment and lack of employment skills by raising the leaving age for school leavers for young people without apprenticeship or a job to 19 thereby solving two key social political issues of unemployment and skills (Parliament.uk, 2017).

Large regions of the UK have high levels of immigrant families living and working to fill the UK skill gaps where English is their second language.  Large numbers of immigrants impact national and regional educational Policy to provide education places for Immigrant children but to also provide adult courses in English as a foreign language along with basic functional skills to assist workers meet the skills gaps by moving into further education or training programs. The impact of large numbers of immigrants have impacted on local authorities forcing the Government to provide additional funding for housing, NHS and Education.

Long Term planning is needed to meet the needs of industry to fill the growing skill gaps that are being exacerbated by Brexit and is likely to have a larger skills impact over the next few years. The government policy to embed functional skills in the main stream curriculum has been followed by embedding enterprise in to the Curriculum of the 14 – 19 year age group (A Guide to Enterprise Education , 2010).  Some schools went further and have also embedded enterprise, diversity and ethnicity as apart of the cultural education process ( DCLG, 2013).

The government policy recognizes that many of the would be school leavers may go on to one day develop their own business and be employers themselves.

2.2 Investigate the impact of existing educational Policies on curriculum and practice in own area of specialism?

The business and industry sector are among the most vocal group to lobby the Government reference the lack of literacy and skills gap in all areas of business and industry. However the author would point the finger at business and industry who seem reticent to engage in partnerships with Schools, Colleges and Universities. The business industry has been lobbying the government for sometime re the poor basic functional skills of applicants.  Embedding functional skills in all levels of education can only benefit the students and future employers while making it difficult for teachers /lecturers and curriculum planners to develop into a extremely busy curriculum and lesson plans.  The embedding of enterprise could prove to be a excellent policy should the teachers/lecturers get the training on how and when to use said embedded knowledge(A Guide to Enterprise Education , 2010).

The Labour government in 2007 made significant changes to education system and policy with a greater emphasis on assessment at all levels, with league tables for schools and the beefing up of the school inspectorate OFSTED.   In the drive to raise education standards  schools that where deemed to be failing their students were taken over and put in special measures eg. Administration for schools.  In 2010 the new Conservative Government continued the work of OFSTED and turned its attention to improving teaching standards across the board and changing the qualification structure for further education moving to a points based system with interchangeable points linked to modules with standardized values. The new Government Policy didn’t end there, new requirements for teachers/Lecturers to raise teaching standards with greater emphasis on regular assessment . The standardized Points base modules have certainly made Teaching/lecturing in higher education more course based leaving very little time to expand on the subject matter.  Students will point to lessons being high on content and boring  However this has lead to greater emphasis on meeting performance indicators by the use of regular feedback self assessment and assessment.

A standardized Quality Assurance (QA) outlined in the Universities QA manual aimed at the delivery and maintaining high standards of teaching/lecturing across all campuses which allows the head of curriculum report to the universities leadership that the high standards are being met (qaa.ac.uk, 2017). The universities embedded cultural approach to diversity and culture is set out in the QA manual and delivered within the curriculum as part of the inclusive delivery strategy with the emphasis on QI.   Quality improvement is maintained with regular assessment using VARK or a combination of reflective feed back tools which give a quantitive level of feedback as part of QAA manuals targets and ensures the quality improvement targets are being met.

Task 3

3.1 Give details about the responsibility of stakeholders and external bodies in education and training?

Educations reliance in stakeholders has increased over the years has Schools, colleges and Universities, become the center of communities (Roundy, 2016).   Colleges and Universities campuses are now as large as a small town with vast numbers of students and staff they’ve become a community within a regional community and are now very much social enterprises. These educational social enterprises that take students and school them (like the production of goods) into being future employees within the greater working community, giving the wider community a stake within the education system (SEC, 2003). Stakeholders are persons or organisations who have an interest or concern for the welfare of an organisation in this case the School, College or University.  Stakeholders take the form of internal or external stakeholders with various levels of influence depending on the salient need of the School, College or University.  Teachers, students, administrators, Curriculum planners, Parents have a direct stakeholder interest.  Local Authorities, Government, Donors, transport operators stationary suppliers etc  all have an external stake in the organsiation. Stakeholders are not all passive recipients of general benefits they may demand a more active voice whether they are internal or external stakeholders (Freeman, 1984).  IHE leaders now see that students happiness, on campus both academically, socially and their future role within the workplace as crucial to the wellbeing of their students (customer) satisfaction, critical as Colleges and Universities compete for students the greater the use of contractor services for IT support, employment agencies, security and cleaning services etc (Gross and Godwin, 2005).

3.2 Explain how being accountable to stakeholders and external bodies impacts on organisations in education and training?

Stakeholder influence in education varies depending on the salient need of the organization although accountability and influence may differ depending on the stakeholder role with in the stakeholder strategy. Stakeholder Influence and interest can be structured in a combination of high and low within the organisations stakeholder strategy.  Eg, the organisation Strategy will point to a students parent having a high interest but low influence as a stakeholder however the caterer supplier will be Low interest and low influence, OFSTED will be considered as high interest and high influence and will determine the Colleges, Universities stakeholder strategy in order of importance to the organization on two different levels and will form part of their communication strategy.

Stakeholders and external bodies also have varied but important impact on education and training, in particular regular assessment by the QAA to maintain high quality standardization of teaching and curriculum delivery,  Examination and qualification awarding bodies have a high interest and high influence on the organsiations curriculum and its delivery through regular assessment and student examination, impacting on success and student retention figures.  Stake holders and external bodies influence requires the education and training providers to maintain detailed records for impact areas and to provide detailed reports as required by the stakeholders or external bodies.

Colleges and Universities relationship with local industry have had crucial collaboration partnerships ever since the Colleges were community Colleges and polytechnics.

One could argue that local industries role with Colleges and Universities is not what it once was even though the financial need is greater, more needs be done to develop broader partnerships.   However regional courses are still just has important as they ever were depending on the need.   Heavy engineering and building areas will see Colleges and Universities cater to this area of industry with a wider collaborative curriculum of specialist courses and qualifications as Colleges need to replace the lack of government funding and business and industry need skilled labour.   Eg Aberdeen University and surrounding colleges built a relationship and partnerships with the oil and gas related industries building a reputation for its related courses and curriculum resulting larger student intakes and much needed industry funding.  The author benefitted from a similar regional University, college relationship when starting a NCB graduate trainee course in Nottinghamshire.  College and Universities reputations are gained and lost by the quality of the courses on offer and well run campuses with special consideration going to the social aspect of the College and University and their relationship with business which often means better quality equipment and quality business related projects and work placements (Gross and Godwin, 2015).

3.3 Explain why it is important to work in partnership with employers and other stakeholders in education and training?

Colleges and Universities everywhere are forced to consider their roles in society and to evaluate the relationships with various partnerships with employers and other stakeholders.

Colleges and Universities are recognizing the need to collaborate as part of skills and development of the students with future employers.  During 1998 and 99 FEDA also know as the Learning and Skills Development Agency and British aerospace researched the development of best practice partnerships between education and training providers and employers. The  extensive research and literature review of partnership theories from the business sector with case studies and interviews demonstrating the partnership development and Strategic alliances between employers and educators and training providers are needed to add value to learning programs which in turn will help develop skills to fill the growing skills gap.  Work place Assessments are increasingly popular as students take part in work experience as part of course work.  Education and business cannot operate in isolation as the economic future of the nation relies heavily on the education and training industry to provide highly skilled future employees (Hughes and Cottam, 2000).

Colleges and Universities are duty bound to support students where ever possible in securing employment placements in their chosen field.

To this end most Colleges and Universities are part of the governments investors in people program and host numerous student employer networking events to introduce employers to the College and University students.

This serves to build valuable partnerships with employers as well as showcasing the College/University student talent to the employment market place as well as raise opportunities to future sponsorship and collaboration.  Educators are competing in a shrinking market for student’s and financial support. As part of the College/University commitment to meeting the standards of the QAA high level partnerships and stakeholders are crucial to help maintain and improve learning skills with equipment and through collaborative projects and work based learning and assessment (Hughes and Cottam, 2000).   Business Students are often driven by what Maslow cites as self-actualization where their career ambition motivates them to succeed in their studies as part of their hierarchy of needs after their basic needs have been met.  Partnerships with stakeholders are also crucial to meeting these needs and ambitions (Maslows, 1943).

Maslow pyramid of self actualization and motivation 1943

3.4 Analyse the impact of being accountable to stakeholders and external bodies on curriculum design, delivery and assessment in your own area of specialism?

Stakeholders and external bodies are heavily involved in developing Policy of which the curriculum is based. Blais, (2015) States that its essential to consider the opinions and requirements of stakeholders, external bodies  with higher influence and students when drawing the prospective curriculum. The College/Universities curriculum will often reflect an assortment of courses aimed at high growth areas of business.

In reality Colleges/Universities are often supply and demand lead developing courses that are in high student demand and or meets the needs of the collaborative stakeholders.

Business study programs are very popular with course variations to suit the students at the authors university.  Eg. Medical administration and HR and Tourism students will share many of the key course modules on the curriculum but have differentiation within certain subject choices.  Marketing and Tourism are very popular subjects, but will have Strategy, Leadership and Human resources as part of their curriculum choice.

Awarding bodies will be instrumental in the curriculums course content design and the order it should be delivered often providing slides and handouts to assist in the courses delivery.  Colleges/Universities are accountable to the external bodies to provide proof that Policy and quality is being met by the Course providers and that the students fully understand what is being taught.  Students have access to the Universities (VLE) Virtual Learning Environment, which allows the lecturer to share course content with student’s through the VLE teaching portal with access to tutorial of records and easy access to learning material as part of the Universities inclusive teaching philosophy.

Regular assessments and feedback as part of the College/University QAA will ensure the organization meets the requirements of the stakeholders and external bodies while maintaining high pass marks and student retention levels.

Lecturers are also able to utilize the Universities relationship with Stakeholders and external bodies as part of their ongoing staff development and CDP in their relevant compatible business sectors ( HigherEducationAcademy.ac.uk).

Stakeholders influence and importance is based on their salience to the university as pointed out in 3.2. A students parents importance is high but have little or no influence where has the funding body (Stakeholder) retains a high influence and high important salience to the University operational strategy  Mendelows’s  stakeholder mapping determines the Universities communication strategy and influence in particular areas of strategic influence (Mendelow, 2012).

Task 4

4.1 Explain key aspects of key policies, codes of practice and guidelines of an organization.

Education institutions and their staff like business have to adhere to key codes of practice and polices legislated by law with a strict guideline requirements for all organisations and their staff.

Health and Safety at work act 1974 also referred to as HASAW id an act of UK Parliament in which it places duty on all employers “ to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees”  The act also makes provision for people deemed part of the process of said business thereby covering students within the act (Healthyworkinglives.com).

The SEN Disability Discrimination act 2001 (DDA)   The  SEN DDA amended the original DDA act 1995  to cover every aspect of education. The Disability Discrimination act 2005 further amended the 1995 act  and placed a duty on all public authorities. Including schools to promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities (Bedford.gov.uk/idoc).

The Equality act 2010 Disability is considered to ne a “ protected characteristic” under the Equity act 2010. Deeming it to be unlawful in the context of education for a provider to directly or indirectly discriminate against a pupil on the basis of their disability (childadvice.org.uk).

The sex discrimination act 1975 is an act of Parliament in the UK which protects men and women from discrimination on the grounds of their sex or marital status . The act concerned employment and training, harassment, the provision of goods and services. The 1975 act has been amended by The Equality act 2010 aimed at inclusiveness in education (CSIE.org.uk).

Race Relations act 2000 came into effect in 2001 placing a statutory proactive General duty on public Authorities integral to public services including education to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and promote good race relations (www.csie.org.uk/inclusion).

Children’s act 1989 and Families act 2014 Under the act Councils have to find out which children and young people in there are might have special educational needs and which have a disability from birth to age 25. The families act 2014 updates the 1989 act and incorporates an holistic approach to Family welfare including Education, adoption, child care etc (Gov.uk/familiesact2014).

Data protection act 1988 in schools. The guidance for the education sector is designed to protect the privacy of individuals. It requires that any personal information about an individual is processed securely and confidentially. This includes both staff and the students how you obtain, store, share and use information is critical. Personal data is sensitive and private. Everyone has the right to know what information is being held about them.  Each schools data controller must register with the information commissioners office (ICO) failure to do so is a criminal offence (highspeedtraining.co.uk).

4.2 Analyse the impact of organizational requirements and expectations on curriculum practice in own area of Specialism.

Promoting Equality and diversity within the University business curriculum practice reflects the governments drive to promote equality and diversity in the boardroom and its wider context for an inclusive society.  Promoting equality and diversity within the University curriculum will serve to develop an inclusive and diverse boardroom and business culture for the future by encouraging woman and people from ethnic and other diverse backgrounds to consider entrepreneurship through wider participation. The Labour Government were criticized for what was seen as institutionalized diversity and the drive for social inclusion and how it tied to choice (Archer, 2007).   One could argue that the availability of student places and the demand of students from diverse backgrounds has seen a widening participation in usiness study courses from all ethnic backgrounds and sexes.  A number of modules within the curriculum feature an ethical alternative to the theoretical approach to business module delivery to reflect the growing demand primarily from the female students who one could argue are more socially aware than their male counterparts.  Curriculums writers are encouraged develop impact studies on the various models to ensure equality balance and to avoid stereo typing of and information that may cause offence to individuals or various groups Equality act, 2010.

There has been a growing awareness of the need for Universities and staff to develop good equality and diversity practice, A number of staff from the authors university was part of a joint initiative in a conference hosted by Equality Challenge Unit’s (ECU) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) to help develop ideas on   learning and teaching practice within equality and diversity (ecu.ac.uk).

The themes of the conference were grouped under Attainment for all, (2014) and Developing Diversity Competence, (2015) with discussions on developing staff capacity, engaging students as partners in equality in the curriculum, nurturing belonging along with developing inclusive assessment to ensure inclusive placements and debates on learning and teaching practice.

Equal and fair chance to succeed along with developing diversity competence and equality awareness for staff and students became part of the universities best practice and part of the  QAA manual (ecu.ac.uk).  Equality and diversity was encouraged to be embedded into teaching and where ever possible the curriculum with regular impact studies to ensure the universities standards are being met to avoid the questions from students as to “why my curriculum white?”

Interrogated learning and teaching habits reflecting the conferences paper in interactive engagement techniques and inclusive teaching and learning using information from a cultural diverse sources (ecu.ac.uk)..

The complexity of expectations and requirements of Stakeholders may differ based upon their salience to the learning institution which can put both parties in difficult situations. Some maybe completely altruistic for the well being of the University and the society it serves or completely self interested which will be identified within stakeholder strategy matrix High importance and high influence. Business study stakeholders often require universities to be entrepreneurial and responsive to emerging opportunities and produce students who are technologically astute with strong communication and group leadership skills.  Stakeholders can have enormous influence on how funds are allocated and spent, University leadership need to manage conflicting  stakeholder expectation inline with the overall determination of the universities objectives (epigeum.com).

The use of new developing technologies are primarily for teacher learning convenience, while  enhancing the learning experience for students who wish to learn in different ways and at their own pace (marketing.pinecc.com, 2015).  Information communication and technology (ICT) which is a internet based computer system which can be used to send and receive e-mails, develop power point, database spreadsheets and dashboards along with imagery, video, DVD resources is used by students and teachers to communicate and write and share assignments as well as research information via online books journals and academic papers etc.

VLE, Virtual Learning environment commonly used within larger institutions to communicate through internal and external student home computers who permitted to access the service with using an individual pass code. The VLE is completely interactive from teacher to learner, learner to teacher applications along with administration access, which allows them to send targeted or general information to users (Petty, 2008).

As phones become ever sophisticated micro computers so are the applications that are also being used.  Study Blue is Phone app that uses the smartphone as a primary source of study material, which allows students  to organize their course work, stores flash notes and flash cards enabling them to share with other students.

Google chrome books and scholar is a handy application offer the ability to research and store academic books in papers while studying instead of having to look u the same item again (teachthought.com).

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular with flying lecturers in demand, the medium allows the user to record lectures and share via the podcast either for a small charge or free, allowing students to catch up on missed lectures at their convenience or listen to lectures or talks of interest from internationally acclaimed speakers.  Online webinars are also very poplar, with online and campus based students (primarysource.org).

Task 5

5.1 Analyse the quality improvement and quality assurance arrangements of own organization.

Reflective peer observation teaching (POT) in higher education and education in general has become an integral part of a teacher/lecturer CPD and raising teaching quality standards and reflective practice throughout the education system.  Its primary function is to focus the purpose of reflection and feedback in a explicit way to allow teachers/lecturers consider their roles as educators and engage in the development process (Hammersley-Fletcher and Orsmond, 2006).

(P.O.T) is key in defining the quality of learning  and teaching with in a institution as well as developing the skills of the teacher/lecturer practitioner as part of their CPD and to consider their philosophy and style of delivery. A good teacher/lecturer professional is intuitive, imaginative a good listener who is willing to change (Kuit and Gill, 2001).

Reflective teachers are said to be open to innovation making (P.O.T) fundamental to course quality assessment and development making the relationship between the observer and observee critical to the success of P.O.T and their ongoing professional relationship.

However the relationship between observer and observee depends entirely on the observers clearly defined purpose, primarily as P.O.T are often delivered at department level and can lead to fundamental disagreements of purpose instead of supportive collaborative engagement (Thorpe, 2000) .

The author welcomes regular peer reviews as a trainee lecturer from a number of peers via staff mentoring to help develop and adapt styles of delivery to various learning groups, while maintain quality of delivery.

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) quality improvement plan is in line with other higher education institutions who base there quality enhancement/improvement plan  on the requirements of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)  requirements along with the various statutory regulations of Professional Statutory Regulatory Bodies, PSRB and the requirements of the requirements of stakeholders (Anglia.ac.uk/codes).

Regular quality enhancement audits along with Quality assurance determines the quality enhancement approach which seeks to achieve a systematic and coherent approach to quality enhancement in learning opportunities in terms of the curriculum delivery, teaching and assessment strategy.  The Quality enhancement approach is a set of processes which are well established, which are designed to create and maintain a ethos which encourages and expects enhancement of learning opportunities (anglia.ac.uk/codes).

These are maintained through a series of periodic reviews, annual monitoring of taught courses and the use of external examiner reports to meet and maintain ARU’s high quality enhancement objectives using a series of milestones which defines the approach to curriculum delivery which come under 6 headings:

• Delivering teaching and facilitating learning.
• Improving assessment and feedback practice.
• Supporting and engaging students.
• Using technology-enhanced learning.
• Scholarship and applied research.
• Curriculum design and enhancement (Anglia.ac.uk/codes).

As Pointed out above Course reviews are subject to curriculum impact studies and assessment to meet Anglia Ruskin Quality assurance and Quality enhancement requirements.  Assessment and feedback questionnaires and surveys are used to gather a systematic coherent internal/external quantitative and qualitative feedback on Students module evaluations, module level performance, statistics for annual monitoring of curriculum delivery etc from a quantitative point of view. And External Examiner reports,  PSRB reports from visits, Student Module evaluations, Outcome reports on quality enhancement audit, and Student Consultation/representation systems etc from a Qualitative stand point (Anglia.ac.uk/codes).

5.2 Explain the function of self-assessment and self-evaluation and the quality cycle.

Self-assessment and self evaluation is a critical component for improving achievement and quality in teaching delivery and growth.  Ross and Bruce, (2006) state Self assessment and self evaluation represents change by challenging the teacher to recognize the definition of excellence in teaching and increasing their ability to recognize the mastery of experiences. It also helps the teacher to select improvement goals with their peers, providing them with clear standards of teaching, while seeking gaps between desired and actual opportunities and practices, while providing a menu of options for action. The process also facilitates better communication between teacher peers, while increasing the influence of external change agents on teacher practice.

Self-assessment and Self-evaluation can be a constructive strategy for improving the effectiveness of in service quality providing its part of a professional growth strategy in conjunction with peer coaching, observation by external change agents along with focused improvement strategy within the quality assurance program that makes up the quality cycle (Ross and Bruce, 2006).

The term quality cycle in higher education is a pre-planned sequence of systematic sequence of activities performed by a group of panels with the sole agenda of improving the quality process    (McLaughlin, Johnson, and  Sollecito, 2011).

The cycle begins with the plan step which identifies a goal or purpose, formulating a theory of what is considered to be a success and formulating a plan of action. The plan step is followed by a do step in which the components of the plan are implemented. The study step is the third part of the procedure where outcomes are monitored as part of the scheme to test the validity of the plan to measure signs of progress and success or of any problem areas that need improving.

The Act step in the cycle, integrate the learning generated by the whole process, which can be used to adjust the set goal’s, change or even reformulate a theory the methods used. The four steps are repeated over and over as part of a never-ending cycle of continued improvement (eqavet.eu/PDCA cycle).

Student feedback should be obtained at module level, as this is the primary unit of delivery in terms of the learning experience.  They are analysed initially at department level before the outcomes are elevated to programme level and discussed in a staff-student liaison committee to identify opportunities for change Anglia.ac.uk/codes)..

Current students are given the opportunity to respond at the appropriate time to concerns as part of the feedback procedure Anglia.ac.uk/codes).

Providers publish their responses to student module evaluations on the VLE and Student satisfaction data is used to inform the internal review processes and influence future planning. The collection, publishing and responding to student feedback should help promote enhancement of learning and improve the whole study experience as part of the quality assurance within the quality cycle (qaa.ac.uk).

5.3 Evaluate a learning program taking account of the quality maintenance of own organsiation.

Formal and informal feedback is a crucial element of the learning process at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). It manifests in many forms with feedback allowing students to reflect on their learning and clarifies areas where students and delivery can improve, It also provides students with the opportunity to self-assess their skills and capabilities from module to module while adjusting to different styles of delivery. Feedback can be provided individually or to groups, not only by academic staff but by self-assessment, fellow students, mentors and via academic support tutors

Summative feedback is ‘feedback on learning’. It comments on what was done well or what can be improved by emphasising the student’s strengths and is often module-specific.

Feedback is designed to enhance student learning, not only to provide feedback at the end of the module which tells students where they’ve gone wrong.  To make feedback effective it needs to be a two-way dialogue which helps motivate the student throughout the learning process. However not all students need the same type of feedback which needs to be recognised by the lecturer and needs to be executed in a way that delivers the best outcome for both parties (qaa.ac.uk). 

Students need on-going formal and informal feedback of their work (both assessed and non-assessed) throughout each module, along with support on how to use it. It’s important to make sure students are always aware when you are giving them feedback. This is usually made clear when using written feedback in particular, while recognising formative feedback may not always be written down.  However the author always makes an informal note in the student’s  ILP for future reference (Anglia.ac.uk/codes)..

The University also recognises that students also need the opportunity to give teacher feedback on what they have learned so you know your teaching is helping them to achieve the intended learning outcomes for the course and so teaching delivery can be adjusted where necessary or to go over areas that may not of been understood.  Formal and Informal feedback is a continuous process of conversation and reflection (Anglia.ac.uk/codes).

Feedback has to be tied to wider course design and be and integral part of formative assessment structures to ensure that the course is structured in a way that allows students to reflect and use the feedback they receive. It important to think about feedback when designing the module (and of course, in the context of your other departmental modules) will ensure that it is useful for students and sustainable for academics (qaa.ac.uk).

Feed forward highlights aspects of feedback which particularly point towards what should be done next, rather than looking at past hence at what has (or has not) already been achieved. Summative assessment usually takes place at the end of a module, but doesn’t mean that it cannot be accompanied by formative as well as summative feedback to enhance learning. Feed forward encourages students to think about how they might use their learning from their summative assessment in their next module, and will therefore also help them to consider the course as a coherent whole (qaa.ac.uk).

Types of feedback:

• One-to-one individual feedback
• Generic feedback
• Peer feedback
• Informal feedback
• Self-evaluation to submit along with the assessment
• Written feedback (eg comments sheet for an essay)
• An notation of a text (ie grade/mark)
• Oral feedback (either in discussion with the student or as a recorded audio podcast)
• Seminar discussion
• Conversation with research supervisor (qaa.ac.uk)

Learner achievement records (LRS) is an online personal compilation of a persons learning and achievement records collected by UK education bodies (Gove.uk).  Not to be confused with the teachers/lecturers personal learning achievement record used to keep track of students progress in their particular module. Holding information of informal formative feedback notes, assignment marks along with personal notes that will help shape the students Individual learning plan (ILP).

The LRS requires all 14 plus students to have a Unique Learner Number (ULN) allocated by the education sector to help monitor and share personal learning records to collate and record the correct data to the correct learning record.

All 14 year old plus students involved in kind of education or training will need to provide copies of different certificates each time they apply for a course, seek careers guidance or take examinations A personal learning record (PLR) will list verified qualifications obtained by the student (gov.uk)

It’s worth noting that students are able to opt out of PLR data sharing if they wish.

The author has mixed feeling reference the PLR / LRS system which has a big brother aspect to an individuals education and future career.  Maintaining a centralised education and training record will obviously benefit some students and employers to access an individuals training record but will not give vital information of the circumstances in which the grades were obtained. Conflict between student and teacher/trainer could have a future baring on grades thereby making a record less attractive.  In conclusion the author believes the system is open too abuse which could effect people career prospects and their life’s.

5.4 Identify areas for improvement in the learning program taking account of the outcomes of evaluation.

Student survey data has become an integral part of Further and Higher education quality assurance system.  The National Student Survey has been collecting undergraduate feedback since 2008 (hefce.ac.uk/nss).

The (NSS) gathers students opinions on the quality of courses. The purpose is for learning institutions public accountability and to help inform the choice of other prospective students while providing data that assists education and training providers with enhancing the student learning and campus experience.

Survey outcomes are published on the Unistats website to help prospective students. The findings are also a valuable source of intelligence for universities and colleges (hefce.ac.uk).

Two million students have given feedback about things that matter to them. Their opinions have helped to develop significant and positive change in higher and further education and raise the quality standards to meet the growing requirement and demands of students.

The results have been used by senior management teams, academics, students’ unions and others to drive improvements in curriculum, teaching and learning quality, learning resources and academic support (hefce.ac.uk/nss).

(Hefce.ac.uk/nss ) states the 2017 survey includes new questions on student engagement Learning opportunities, Learning in the community and Student voice and amends some of the  wording of existing questions to bring the survey up to date and make it clearer to understand.

Benchmark retention ‘Retention refers to students remaining in one HE institution and completing the programme of study. A great deal of emphasis is given to interviews by teachers/lecturers learning institutions when selecting students for their requested modules (hea.ac.uk).  Benchmark retention is based upon the national average based upon United Kingdom Key Performance Indicators UKPI (hesa,ac,uk).

UK Performance Indicators interest a wide range of bodies, including governments, universities and colleges, and the UK higher education, funding bodies to set bench marks. Its important to recognise that the data is used as indicators and are not used to produced league tables. They also have a relevance to schools, prospective students and employers (hesa,ac,uk).

The authors University interviews every student prior to enrolment to ensure that the student is compatible and has the level of education and ability to fulfill the module. International Students need to have a minimum requirement of written English and understanding to be accepted on the graduate and postgraduate courses, which adds to the high retention level of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) (aru.ac.uk).

Competition for students within higher education requires providers to work on collaborative retention projects to identify common challenges and share learning and best practice. The Paul Hamlyn foundation along with the Higher Education Funding Council are funding, The what works programme aimed at developing robust strategies to ensure student retention. This programme involves numerous interventions to understand why students start but never complete courses while developing engagement strategies using analysis of the National Student Survey results to help bespoke and target support to enhance planning and development of strategy and practice to support student retention (heacademy.ac.uk).

The Authors university strategic programme sets out its targets bench marked against the national average using previous performance indicators to benchmark the Universities retention rates across its numerous sites taking the various locations into consideration.

Targets for 2016 – 2017

• 97% of full time further education (FE) students to be on or above target at the year end Students attendance to be consistently in excess of 90%.
• 95% of students to state that their course is helping them progress towards their future.
• Overall student retention rate to be in excess of 90%.
• Overall FE achievement rate to be at least 85%.
• Apprenticeship achievement rates to be at least 83%.
• HE achievement rates to be at least 95%.
• Introduce CWA Excel (those achieving top grades in A level and vocational level 3
• Programmes), with over 225 level 3 learners achieving the status and over 150 level 2
• Learners achieving distinction or above.
• Achieve a minimum of 68% ‘good degree’ award.s
• Outstanding and good (1&2) learning & teaching observation grades in excess of 90%
• 64% of college full-time FE students to progress internally.
• 90% of student destinations to be known with 90% in training & or employment.
• Achieve a ‘Good’ Ofsted overall effectiveness inspection grade Improve the conversion rate of new 16-18 year old student applicants to enrolment to 85%.
• Reduce the study programme withdrawal rate in the first 6 weeks to 4% (aoc-create.co.uk).

Opportunities for staff development in higher education is rapidly changing inline with Governments policy to raise quality standards of teacher/lecturer delivery in higher education.  To ensure that the quality of higher education delivery is delivered and maintained the government have demanded that lecturers in the Higher education have a recognise qualification in the core subject (minimum MBA, MA ) field and commit to getting a quality standard of lecturer similar to the (QTS) (QTLS) teaching qualification.

The Higher Education Academy have developed a quality standard programme of fellowships beginning with the Associate fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and finally the Principle Fellow of Higher Education (PFHEA). Every lecturer old and new will be required to obtain the fellowship standard within a time frame of the Universities Quality assurance (heacademy.ac.uk).

The authors university has committed to ensuring that 25% of staff over the next year will of obtained one of the fellowship standards as minimum requirement, with the objective to have all staff with the new qualification standard within three years.  The authors department heads have secured senior fellowship of Higher Education Status which could well be the new bench mark for the position.

The new status of achievement is developed to raise teaching quality standards in higher education.  Higher Education Academy offer courses in CPD as part of the new fellowship programme. The CPD annual accreditation certification process ensures that higher education lecturers are able to continuously offer high quality teaching standards.

As the teacher/lecturer progresses through their career the level of achievement will match their progress with opportunities for regular development the teacher/lecturer to progress in their career in education with regular peer assessments and reflective Continued Personal Development, (CPD) along with.  The expectation of teacher/lecturers in higher education has never been higher with regular assessment and regular peer and student feed back to determine who is worthy of further staff development.

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