The Problematics of Mentoring, and the Professional Learning of Trainee Teachers in the English Further Education Sector

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Tummons ◽  
Ewan Ingleby
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Professional Relationship ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Mentoring Relationship ◽  
The North ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Further Education Colleges

This paper, drawing on research carried out as part of a qualitative case study, explores the effectiveness of the mentoring of trainee teachers within the further education sector. Drawing on data collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from mentors and mentees in a network of further education colleges in the North of England and from documentary analysis of the forms and reports that are produced by the mentoring process, the paper explores three key problematic issues: firstly, the ways in which mentors and mentees define and understand their roles; secondly, the extent to which both mentors and mentees find worth or value within their professional relationship; and thirdly, the processes by which these invariably informal relationships are established. The paper concludes by suggesting that the complexities and vagaries of mentor-mentee relationships that are outlined both in this and other research raise further questions concerning what mentees learn as a consequence of the mentoring relationship.

scholarly journals Engaging conceptual learning about threshold concepts with pots and pans

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvon Appleby ◽  
Alison Barton
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Threshold Concepts ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Experiential Approach ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Further Education Colleges

This paper discusses a recent session delivered to teachers on a Masters’ (MEd) programme, with a strong emphasis on enhancing professional practice, at a university in the north west of England. The aim of the session was to develop an understanding of threshold concepts for curriculum design by using a novel and practical approach to engage the teachers who deliver higher education, across a variety of subject areas, in further education colleges. What initially felt to be an unexpected and strange learning environment for the teachers (using a hands-on experiential approach with pots and pans) enabled a detailed focus on subject pedagogy (Cousins, 2010) and awareness of metalearning about threshold concepts (Ward and Meyer, 2010). The session supported the teachers, as learners, to move from seeing threshold concepts simply as ‘troublesome knowledge’ (Meyer and Land, 2005; Land et al 2005) towards something that was transformative and that could usefully be integrated into their practice. The session, which presented threshold concepts as a threshold concept itself, challenged both our own and the teachers’ assumptions about curriculum design in subject teaching encouraging a greater understanding of how to embed threshold concepts within subject pedagogy and learning activities (Davies and Mangan, 2006).

scholarly journals WorldSkills UK Training Managers: Midas Touch or Fool's Gold?

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Wilde ◽  
Susan James Relly
Keyword(s):  
Further Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Full Cohort ◽  
Training Managers ◽  
Further Education Colleges

This article focuses on the role of training managers (TMs) in UK participation in WorldSkills Competitions (WSC). The TM role is outlined, according to the perceptions of the TMs, and there is analysis of the benefits to them of participation, as well as the barriers they face, and the benefits and barriers available to participating further education colleges and employers. The article is based on analysis of semi-structured interviews with almost the full cohort of UK TMs preparing competitors for WorldSkills Brazil 2015, and concludes with reflections on the vision and purposes of UK WorldSkills participation.

Staff Development in Professional Education—Cooperation in a Competitive Environment

1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 383-387
Author(s):  
Sue Browell
Keyword(s):  
Staff Development ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Academic Responsibility ◽  
Professional Body ◽  
Further Education Colleges

This paper considers the development of course tutors within further education colleges and universities in the North East of England who have academic responsibility for managing professional courses approved by the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD). It therefore discusses the link between several educational institutions and the collective relationship between the educational institutions and a professional body It details the Institute's policy on continuing professional development and, in particular, the implications for course tutors. The reasons why it was necessary for further education and higher education institutions to cooperate in the first place are examined within the context of the professional institute – the collaboration is driven by the local branch of the professional body rather than by the educational institutions themselves. The challenges initially facing such an innovative project are explored and current challenges are reviewed. Finally, the achievements of the group are discussed and future objectives are outlined.

scholarly journals College higher education in England 1944–66 and 1997–2010

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Parry
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
History Of Higher Education ◽  
History Of ◽  
Further Education Colleges

As a contribution to the history of higher education in English further education colleges, two policy episodes are sketched and compared. Both periods saw attempts to expand courses of higher education outside the universities. In the first, ahead of policies to concentrate non-university higher education in the strongest institutions, efforts were made after 1944 to recognize a hierarchy of colleges, with separate tiers associated with different volumes and types of advanced further education. In the second, soon after unification of the higher education sector at the beginning of the 1990s, all colleges in the further education sector were encouraged to offer higher-level programmes and qualifications, with a reluctance or refusal on the part of central government to plan, coordinate, or configure this provision. The two episodes highlight very different assumptions about what types of institutions should be involved in what kinds of higher education. They are a reminder too of how short is the policy memory on higher education within modern-day governments and their agencies.

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