Shaping Success
On behalf of The Education and Training Foundation (ETF), between 2014 – 2021 we have written/ co-written a wide range of CPD courses and resources to support Maths and English delivery. The courses were for practitioners at all levels and stages of their development.
Our nationally-renowned team of course designers, sector CPD specialists, and marketing, recruitment and programme delivery specialists have worked across the ETF’s maths and English initiatives since its inception, leading/ co-designing programmes that include Maths and English ETF Online Learning modules, Assessment for Learning EPGs, English Enhancement Programme, L5 GCSE English/maths and Functional Skills CPD. Teachers tell us that the training we provide helps them to develop their knowledge and skills and also, through the modelled approaches we use, provides them with approaches that they can take into their practice. Managers say they feel confident that teachers attending the training we provide come away with an understanding of the pedagogies on which to base decisions about planning, not simply 'how to use a certain tool/ resource’.
We have written/ co-written and led courses and national development/ research with ETF since 2014 and met/exceeded every programme target to the highest standards, as testified by programme assessors, teachers and the organisations they work for. The courses were for practitioners at all levels and stages of their development. We planned and lead high-quality courses and responded with timely flexibility when required. Our success is attributable to the excellent CPD approaches/models we developed, based on years of experience responding to sector needs and supporting the ETF/ its predecessors and other professional bodies to achieve their aims of professionalising the workforce.
We have extensive experience working with, and producing, research that is both academic and practitioner led. Our CPD design draws on an evolving body of research about Maths and English development, as well as cognitive science, general effective learning and about issues faced by many learners in the post-16 sector, e.g. confidence, motivation, relevance and self-belief.
Our ever-evolving team of superb PD Leads have prior/current experience of teaching/training/managing in all parts of the sector, including ACLs, prisons, FE colleges and ITPs, as well as schools and HE institutions. They also bring experience with Awarding Organisations, Maths and English development/research programmes and national initiatives. This diversity of expertise helps us to meet the wide range of learning needs in the teaching workforce and take on board critical issues that the sector needs to address, such as summative assessment developments. It also helps us to cross-pollinate, e.g. effective training approaches and (emerging) research findings.
As a team, we are embedded in the FE sector and have been working on FE development programmes for nearly 20 years (since 2003) and bring a deep commitment to developing effective CPD approaches and constantly improving what we do. Our iterative CPD design processes are shaped by academic studies and the support we provide for practitioners research. The sector recognises and trusts us to develop and deliver high-quality professional development for their staff which best fits their organisational needs. We can respond quickly and imaginatively to help the sector address its professional development needs. For example, we responded rapidly to the Covid 19 pandemic to shift a full-day collaborative development course to an online model in two working days, then proceeded to plan a full programme of CPD open courses. Participant feedback was excellent with feedback they had learned so much and had the added value of learning how to deliver effective TLA remotely in these challenging times.
By delivering CPD in a way that acknowledges the expertise of many participants, and through feedback from them, the approaches demonstrated, and materials used were continually developed/ updated. We are part of a culture that celebrates teacher professionalism and expertise, and we know that this requires engaging people in many different forms of communication, community building/ activating and professional knowledge sharing.
Statistical information drawn from the ETF’s Booking system between 2017 and 2021:
74 course programmes were written/ co-written by our team
716 courses were delivered across the sector by our team
10,436 particpants attended these courses
