Developing Professional Practice

Week 5 – Professionalism, Quality and Accountability

To do list…..• Recap last week, identify key themes and

contested ideas.• Define “quality systems” and explain elements of

an institutional quality cycle that apply to your teaching

• Explain how you (the professional) fit into the quality process

• Explain the relationship between quality and accountability

• All above in reference to the presentation

Recap: John Giddins UCU

In groups of 3……

What where the main “themes” of John “UCU” Giddin’s lecture?

• Produce a bullet point list

A Definition

Managerialism • organisations have more similarities than

differences• performance of all organisations can be

optimised by the application of generic management skills and theory.

• there is little difference in the skills required to run a college, an estate agency or a factory.

• experience and skills pertinent to an organisation's core business are considered secondary.

Times Higher Education Supplement (2001)

"New managerialism" usually refers to practices commonplace in the private sector, particularly the imposition of a powerful management body that overrides professional skills and knowledge. It keeps discipline under tight control and is driven by efficiency, external accountability and monitoring, and an emphasis on standards.

FE and the New Managerialism.Randle and Brady 1997

Professional Paradigm Managerial Paradigm

Lecturers stressed:

The primacy of student learning and the teaching process.

Managerialism stressed:

The primacy of student throughput and income generation.

Loyalty to students and colleagues. Loyalty to the organisation and its new mission statement.

That lecturers were funds of expertise and knowledge.

That lecturers were “flexible facilitators”.

That resources should be deployed on the basis of educational need. A social dimension to educational provision.

That resources should be deployed on the basis of market demand and income generation.

Professional autonomy. Line management using performance indicators such as student attendance, retention and achievement.

References if needed for Essay

Times Higher Education Supplement (2001) Outbreak of 'new managerialism’ infects faculties [Online] Available http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=164003&sectioncode=26 [20 Oct 2009]

Randle, K. and Brady, N.(1997)'Further Education and the New Managerialism', Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol. 21, No.2, p232

The History Boys (2006) Film. Directed Nicholas Hytner. UK: Free Range Films

IfL - Defending Professionalism?

Does the ifL support or undermine your professionalism? •registering teachers and trainers in FE and skills•keeping an overview of teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD)•conferring the professional status of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) and Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS) through the Professional Formation process

IfL Task - the debate

In pairs: Read & highlight article

•Agree a summary of main points and a clear statement of the ‘argument’

•You will put forward THAT argument- irrespective of what you really think

Quality AssuranceQuality Assurance, Quality Quality Improvement, AccountabilityImprovement, Accountability

• Do these phrases leave you cold or do you get hot under the collar?

• What do they imply for the professional teacher?

• What is your experience of these in your work?

• What are your responsibilities?

Initials exercise

LLUK, NIACE, LSIS, QAA, DFE, QCA, QCDA, QIP, SAR, OFSTED, ALI, IV, EV, EE…….

• These are a list of common acronyms connected to quality procedures or organisations…..do you know what the letters stand for?

• Can you add one of your own

Who are the ‘stakeholders’

1. You2. Your colleagues3. Your current learners4. Your future learners5. Your institution6. The funding bodies7. The Government8. Society and humankind in general

State specifically how each of these might benefit from quality systems

State specifically how each of these might benefit from quality systems

What does each stakeholder want from the quality system?

What does each stakeholder want from the quality system?

Why is all this quality stuff so important?

• To assess the effectiveness and relevance of the education you are carrying out.

• To give you information to help improve your educational provision.

• To give your participants the opportunity to say what they think about the education they have been involved in.

• To make the best use of resources • To compare your programmes with how other

students and institutions perform (management level)

Your Role

• As a teacher, your principle responsibility is to evaluateevaluate your courses, teaching, student learning

• Standardisation is an example of Quality Assurance (QA)

• Action Planning based on end of year reviews is an example of Quality Improvement (QI)

Evaluation is an attempt to judge the value of an activity or event.

“Evaluation is the collection of, analysis and interpretation of information about any aspect of a programme of education and training, as part of a recognised process of judging its effectiveness, its efficiency and any other outcomes it might have”

(Mary Thorpe Open University 1998, online)

“Evaluation is the collection of, analysis and interpretation of information about any aspect of a programme of education and training, as part of a recognised process of judging its effectiveness, its efficiency and any other outcomes it might have”

(Mary Thorpe Open University 1998, online)

All of this evaluation at ‘teacher’ level should inform quality systems at institutional and other levels

Quality info sources

• SPOCS• Student questionnaires/ focus groups/ course

committees• Self reflection• Statistics- e.g. learner achievement• Standardisation meetings• EV/IV input• Comparison (Benchmarking)• Quality of work• Tutorials

Quality cycle

Examine the chart• Sit in pairs- pair up with someone from a

similar curriculum area• Interpret the chart between you (you can

note ideas separately if you wish)Annotate the quality cycle chart as follows:• Stakeholders (label them)• Quality processes (specify if you can

whether QA or QI or both)

The big question

• Does all this quality stuff make you more of a professional?

Presentations – Planning In your pair make notes in response to…….•State your topic and very brief outline of your premise. •State why/how it is linked to quality and/or accountability. •Critically examine key issues using examples where possible•Consider alternatives and potential solutions

Grading is based on CONTENT not presentation skills.

Presentation is only an issue if we can’t understand what you are saying

Next time

Ofsted are visiting the most “iconic” quality body in education……

•Do they do QA or QI?

•Do you feel they do a good job in making education professionals accountable?

Also Presentation workshop………