Transforming Rural Education
Rural Employer Engagement Development Network
REEDNetLydia Arnold & Liz Warr
Transforming Rural Education
What is REEDNet?
• HEFCE Project to:– expand provision– build a coordinated approach to provision– raise higher level & transferrable skills within the sector.
• 3 year project • £4million HEFCE development funding• Recruitment Target of 450 FTE’s (Full Time Equivalent
Students)– Basis for sustainability beyond the 3 year initial funding
period
2
Transforming Rural Education
• A network of England’s land based colleges led by Harper Adams University College in Shropshire and the Royal Agricultural College in Gloucestershire.
• “a framework to encompass the Landex colleges which will offer mutually transferable, accredited, demand-led CPD programmes.” … “broaden the range of specialist skills and knowledge available, and expand the available base of training choice and accessibility.”
• Rural Employer Engagement Network • 2 HEI’s• Landex Colleges• Geographically distributed network
What is REEDNet?
Transforming Rural Education
4Geographically distributed network of trainers
Landex College distributionLANDEX; a member-funded
company committed to continuous improvement in the collective quality of provision to the land-based industries. Working closely with the Sector Skills Council (Lantra) the 33 English members of LANDEX deliver 85% of publicly funded FE and 70% of all HE in land-based subjects, together with a substantial portion of work based training for the sector.
Transforming Rural Education
5
• Lambert, Leitch and Burgess – – Align provision with the need of business– Strengthen accredited provision particularly at level 5+– Progression and opportunity
• Beliefs: – Excellent learning is occurring in the work-place.– Knowledge is ‘out there’ (colleges, employers, private training
providers).– Business knows what it needs.
Developing provision (General drivers)
Transforming Rural Education
• Land based studies review – “Land-based studies were identified by a HEFCE advisory
group as one of several subjects that were strategically important to the nation, but which might be vulnerable because of a mismatch between supply and demand”.
• Protection for strategic reasons• Recommended joint working – 2007 review
• Limited opportunity to respond within full-time model.
• Building on existing strengths of WBL and collaboration.
Developing provision (Specific drivers)
Transforming Rural Education
7
• Protect, integrate and sustain specialist provision
• Playing geographic features to the advantage of the sector.– local delivery, national networks of expertise.
• Accreditation quality assurance (building on professional qualifications).– Specialist validation and QA.
• Innovation – identifying and developing.
• Non-competitive (collaboration rules!).
• Access to shared curriculum expertise and resource.
Why a network ... ?
Transforming Rural Education
8
• Common approaches to validation, credit recognition & transfer.
• Share in best practice across the network (curriculum design, delivery, support).
• Develop robust and consistent approaches to meeting employer need.
• Gather feedback on co-funding and willingness to participate.
Project (wider) aims
Transforming Rural Education
9
Structural capital
Learner & Employer
Experience
HEI
Structural
capital“The organising and structuring capability of the organisation as expressed in formal instruments, policies, regulations, procedures, codes, functional business units, task groups, committees or less formal networks and practices” (Stewart, 1997 cited in Garnett et al, 2008, p18).
Transforming Rural Education
Some industry partners
Transforming Rural Education
11
• Validation (EEAVC)• Course committee and Subject
boards• Module and programme design• External evaluation (including
external examiners)• Needs recognition• Expertise and reflection • Culture and joint-working • Technology: learners & staff
• Credit currency• Client management protocols• Funding model• Evaluative approaches • Marketing
Making it work: REEDNet structural capital advances
Transforming Rural Education
Needs recognition12
• Business development managers
• Local learning networks, sector events, speculative meetings
• Liaise between academics, business, finance, university solicitor, employer, private training organisations, sector skills councils.
• Backgrounds in relevant subject areas vs. background in educational design.
• Wider events to develop feeds from wider staff body (REEDNet Rendezvous).
Transforming Rural Education
13
• Employer Engagement Accreditation & Validation Committee – To approve modules and awards up to the value of 80
academic credits at any level. – Meets 10 times per year. – Primary purpose - swift validation of employer engagement
initiatives.
Focus: Validation
• Breaking new ground.– Revising procedures.– Changing cultures:
• Developing understandings and norms.• Personal cultures.
– Establishing reference points for subsequent initiatives.
Transforming Rural Education
14
• Employer Engagement Courses Committee – Mirrors EEAVC in that responsibility falls for employer
engagement up to the value of 80 credits.
• Employer Engagement and REEDNet Assessment Board – To deal with partner college results and employer
engagement results, where there are no existing arrangements.
Committees
Transforming Rural Education
15
• Side by side – Quality Assurance manuals have been reviewed and
adapted. – Development of a programme specification templates
for work based learning awards to scaffold employer engagement developments.
• In full collaboration– Creation of ‘Guidance for the Creation of Employer
Engagement Modules and Descriptors’. – Shared staff e.g. Director, Curriculum Advisor
Focus: Module development
Transforming Rural Education
16
• Develop some underpinning systems/infrastructure for joint working.– Huddle– Contact management
• Develop understandings about the respective roles of collaboration and competition, information sharing and geographic ‘common sense’.
• Grow personal relationships to facilitate joint working.
• Identify topics for which it would be useful to undertake joint development days.
Focus: Culture and joint-working between 2 HEI’s
Transforming Rural Education
17
High success, low culture
High success, high culture
Low success, low culture
Low success, high culture
Joint working possibilities
Transforming Rural Education
18
Cross institutional Boundary free
Transforming Rural Education
19
• Curriculum advisor as key facilitator of opportunity – (experience, networks, sector knowledge).
• Consistency of support
• Curriculum development assistance
• Development of structures
• Tie in with other initiatives (e.g. Knowledge network, Aspire CETL) – Requires internal widespread confidence.
Focus: Joint-working between LANDEX partner colleges
Transforming Rural Education
20
Establishing provisionThe establishment of infrastructure and staffing arrangements. Securing new developments and building upon existing arrangements.
Operational Stage Business generation and the formation of new modules. New challenges presented to Harper e.g. funding combinations.The growth of partner relationships. The revision and improvement of infrastructure.
Towards MaturationBusiness generation activity. Improvement of existing provision, development and evaluation. Research and dissemination. The development of joint working.Systems refinement.
Transforming Rural Education
Challenges • Staff skills balance. • Boundaries of expertise. • Disparate credit: A shell framework.• Collaboration vs. competition: A long history.• Staff buy in. • Brand : REEDNet, Harper Adams or RAC. • Boundaries of acceptability. • Technology and physical capacity. • Assessment. • Administrative infrastructure. • Funding – how much will the market stand. • Funding quirks.• Continuation strategy.
21
Transforming Rural Education
Contacts• Project website : www.reednet.org.uk
• Lydia Arnold
Work-based learning developer
www.lydiaarnold.net [email protected] 01952 815277
• Liz WarrCurriculum [email protected]
22