Your guide to CPD 3

Guide to declaring CPD 4

Effective CPD activities 5

On a murder trail 6

Fourth plinth 8

It’s your career… … It’s your story 9

www.ifl.ac.uk

CPD

eDition

Issue 2, Summer 2010

Supporting the CPD of teachers and trainers in the further education and skills sector

How do I declare?

CPD tips!

IfL launches CPD application for iPhone

and iPod touch

The Institute for Learning (IfL)

has launched i-REfLECT, a mobile

application that supports the use

of REfLECT, the online personal

learning space that IfL provides

for its 200,000 members – teachers

and trainers in further education

and skills – to record, reflect on and

share their continuing professional

development (CPD) activities.

Message from the chief executive

No teacher or trainer can stop learning. We regularly hear from IfL members how important your continuing professional development (CPD) is and that CPD means developing subject and vocational expertise and teaching methods, your dual professionalism and crucially improves the experience of your learners.

This edition of InTuition focuses on CPD, including the IfL declaration process. As part of remaining in good professional standing and like other professional bodies, IfL members are required to declare the number of CPD hours completed each year. Information on how to declare your CPD is explained on page 4. You can declare your CPD between 1 June and 31 August 2010.

As your professional body, IfL is committed to supporting your CPD as an integral part of your practice. In our 2009 member survey, 74 per cent of respondents expressed a desire for more hints and tips on CPD. In addition to the case studies and tips in this edition, we suggest further resources to support you in your personal and professional development:

■ listen to our CPD podcast on the IfL website

■ access resources, tips and ideas about CPD from other members, and share your own ideas through our Slideshare page

■ take a look at the 2008-09 IfL review of CPD for information on IfL’s approach to CPD

■ login to REfLECT where you can record and reflect upon your CPD.

Thanks to all those who have renewed their IfL membership for 2010–11. If you have not already renewed you may still do so. Renewing is quick, easy and will only take a few minutes, for full details see page 9 or login to the IfL website.

Finally, many of you will recall the Skills for Growth white paper produced in November 2009 that outlined the expectation for IfL to become self-financing. We will continue to keep you informed of any changes, as they develop through InTuition, our enewsletter On the Agenda and our website at www.ifl.ac.uk/nextsteps

It is critical to us that, throughout any changes in membership funding, you will carry on receiving valuable benefits and services from IfL, your professional body. We will go on communicating with members, partners and government to ensure that we continue to represent the interests of our members effectively.

Toni Fazaeli Chief Executive

www.ifl.ac.uk2 InTuition Issue 2, Summer 2010

Your guide to CPD

What is CPD?

CPD is any activity that contributes to your learning and development. It can be as diverse as having a conversation with a colleague, reading a magazine, watching a TV programme or taking a course or qualification. So much can count as CPD as long as you have reflected on the learning you gained from your activities and it has an impact on your practice. Page 5 has examples of members’ CPD and the range of activities that can count.

Why do CPD?

Members often tell us “I’d soon be out of date without CPD”. Your commitment to CPD is a part of your professional status and enhances your teaching or training and the learner experience.

Why declare?

Professional bodies that give status expect members to carry out CPD. We ask members to keep a note of your CPD and let us know what you have done, using a simple online self-declaration form or REfLECT, IfL’s online personal learning space.

This is not a bureaucratic exercise; by declaring your CPD, you provide evidence of remaining in good professional standing. IfL is also able to share an overview and examples of effective practice with other members.

How and what do I declare?

It’s really quick and easy to tell us about your CPD. You only need declare the CPD hours you have completed and provide a few brief details (see page 4).

Issue 2, Summer 2010 InTuition 3www.ifl.ac.uk

How much do I need to declare?

IfL members are required to undertake a minimum of 30 hours CPD a year (pro rata for part-time teachers and trainers). The guide below is a rough calculation that might be helpful if you change your teaching hours or if teaching/training is just part of your role in an organisation.

As your professional body, IfL is committed to supporting continuing professional development (CPD) as an integral part of your professionalism. As the period for the declaration for CPD (starting 1 June 2010) approaches, we answer members’ frequently asked questions in our quick CPD guide:

Average teaching hours per week

Minimum CPD hours

0–4 6

5–8 10

9–12 14

13–16 18

17–20 22

21–23 26

24+ 30

When do I declare?

You declare your CPD between 1 June and 31 August each year.

Take control

It’s your CPD. Think creatively and don’t forget that informal learning and self-directed activities often lead to the best CPD.

Who needs to declare?All members need to declare their CPD: Fellows, Members, Associates and Affiliates.

For REfLECT users

REfLECT is your online personal learning space, a benefit of IfL membership (see page 9 for further details). REfLECT users can declare their CPD hours straight from REfLECT.

For guidance on recording and declaring CPD details in REfLECT, click the “?” icon on any screen in REfLECT, or visit www.ifl.ac.uk/reflect to access REfLECT tip sheets and the quick start guide.

declaring your CPD

www.ifl.ac.uk4 InTuition Issue 2, Summer 2010

You only need to declare your completed number of CPD hours and provide a few brief details; you will only be asked to send in evidence of your CPD if IfL contacts you.

Using the online self-declaration form

This simple process is available online between 1 June and 31 August 2010:

1. On or soon after the 1 June 2010, you will receive an email from IfL with a direct link to enable you to declare your CPD online

2. click on the link to the ‘online self-declaration form’

3. follow the simple step-by-step process to inform IfL of your completed CPD hours and the other brief details as requested.

If you do not have access to your email when you wish to declare, login to the members’ area of the IfL website and follow the link to the ‘online self-declaration form’.

We look forward to receiving your completed CPD declaration by 31 August 2010.

For further information on this process visit: www.ifl.ac.uk/declareguidance

‘I will just keep on learning; there is always something to learn and I have not yet reached the day when this is not the case.’Ian Wolstenholme MIfL Football Coach, Football Association and External Verifier, 1st4Sport

All members need to declare their CPD to IfL between 1 June and 31 August each year. This process takes a few minutes through a simple form on our website or, if you are a user, through REfLECT.

Step-by-step guide to

‘I’ve just been nominated for a Beacon award for my approach to inclusive communication, and I think it just goes to show how amazing CPD can be.’Andrea Slade MIfL, QTLS Epping Forest College and Newham College (see page 7)

Issue 2, Summer 2010 InTuition 5www.ifl.ac.uk

Effective CPD activities

Updating your subject or vocational specialism • gaining further qualifications

in your subject or industrial expertise through accredited courses

• industrial updating through visits, placements, secondments or shadowing

• reading the latest journal articles on your subject

• being an active member of a special interest group or other professional body linked to your subject or vocational area.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it may give you some ideas for activities you can include in your CPD, and help you realise how much CPD you normally do in your daily life. For a full list of effective CPD activities, visit: www.ifl.ac.uk/cpdactivities

‘Don’t be forced into using a model that is not right for you. Have confidence to do something that fits with the way you work.’Trevor Tolhurst Science Technician, Thanet College

Your CPD is unique to you; it’s the story of your development, specific to your needs and area of subject specialism. Many members do not realise the extent of the CPD they undertake and what they can count as development. Here are some ideas.

Following the first full year in which our members declared CPD, IfL published a review of CPD, which highlighted some exciting and innovative areas of practice and interesting examples of effective CPD activities. These were broken down into the two parts of your dual professionalim:

Results so far

Teachers and trainers have shown an impressive

commitment to CPD. In

2008-09, 98 per cent of

teachers and trainers exceeded the required number of hours of CPD.

Updating your teaching

and learning skills

• peer coaching

• mentoring new colleagues

• peer observation and review

• work shadowing

• curriculum design, development

and validation

• reading and reviewing books or

journal articles.

www.ifl.ac.uk6 InTuition Issue 2, Summer 2010

On a murder trailBy Kate Hilpern

When students at North Warwickshire College recently turned up for class, they got more than they bargained for – the sight of a severed head in the bushes. As if that wasn’t enough drama for one day, they watched in amazement as tutors ran around panicking that the Crime Scene Investigation team wasn’t available. There was only one solution, they said – the students would have to do the investigation themselves.

Welcome to CPD (continuing professional development) of the future. Well, the present, actually. Whereas CPD used to mean going along to a course, conference or workshop, often rife with yawns and surreptitious watch-checking, teachers and trainers are finding increasingly original ways to develop themselves and ultimately improve the way students learn.

“It wasn’t like the recent case of a pretend shooting in a school, where students thought it was real,” assures lecturer Paul Barlow. “We set the scene as being fictional from the outset, with things like film style music in the background.”

Next up, the students got five-minute lessons in skills ranging from lateral thinking to how to

negotiate a crime scene and, armed with the theory, they were left to apply it in order to solve the crime. “We set up an office, complete with actors, which we pretended was the workplace of the victim. We had other actors pretending to be witnesses to the crime and then the students were put in groups where they were given the opportunity to do everything from forensics like finger printing and footprint checking to interrogating,” says Barlow.

The result was astonishing. Low-ability students who have a history of being disaffected by education were not only utterly engaged, but they demonstrated over 100 skills ranging from self-directed learning to delegating to team-working – all so-called “functioning skills” that

the Government has emphasised young people desperately need. No wonder Barlow has run the project, now called Murder Trail, again with students of varying abilities and other colleges and universities have done so too.

“Murder Trail started out as a new teaching theory developed by myself and Sandra Goodman,” explains Barlow. “The theory was that taking students out of the traditional classrooms that had turned them off learning and expecting something completely different of them – but in a very structured way - we could immerse them back into the learning environment. These were students who we were warned had short attention spans and yet they literally didn’t leave college for two days out of choice. Although not a traditional form of professional development, it would be hard to argue that the Murder Trail project is anything else.”

CPD in action

Extract from The Independent, Further Education Supplement, 22 April 2010. The full article may be viewed at: www.ifl.ac.uk/independent

Paul Barlow, MIfL is a freelance Biology lecturer who regularly runs Murder Trail for Leicester College and other organisations.

Issue 2, Summer 2010 InTuition 7www.ifl.ac.uk

Extract from The Independent, Further Education Supplement, 22 April 2010. The full article may be viewed at: www.ifl.ac.uk/independent

By Kate Hilpern

“I teach students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. We prepare them for both life and work. It was with this in mind that a colleague told me about a sharing day, run by a local project called Inclusive Communication Essex (ICE). It was about finding ever-more inclusive forms of communication. They work with agencies ranging from social services to the NHS across Essex. I decided to go along for the day as part of my CPD and I was so impressed with what I learned that I immediately embedded it into my work. I’m now co-ordinating inclusive communication for my whole department for two hours a week.

Among the tools I now use is what’s called an ‘object of reference bag.’ One student who has no form of communication has traditionally found it impossible to use symbols or communication boards. But this bag has three balls in – green for ‘yes’; red for ‘no’; and yellow for ‘I don’t understand.’ He is able to use them to respond to questions directly.

Perhaps the most useful concept I learned during the day was the communication passport – something I came back to college

saying I wanted everyone to have. It’s an A4 ring-bound book that is all about the person and their views and preferences, with an emphasis on communication. It says everything from ‘I have problems understanding X’ to ‘The best way to ask me questions is X.’

Next, I got involved in a project called the MoLeNET project, which focuses on mobile learning. As part of my CPD, I learned about how to get students using mobile technology like flip camcorders to create photo albums and I’ve even got students to use the technology to transfer their communication passports to become computerised and therefore more accessible wherever they are.

I’ve just been nominated for a Beacon award for my approach to inclusive communication and I think it just goes to show how amazing CPD can be. You never stop learning and although people in FE have always known that, now it’s at the forefront of our minds all the time. Because we have to record what we’ve learned, it’s something that’s embedded into our everyday work and that has a massive effect not only on our job satisfaction but on students’ learning.”

Andrea Slade MIfL, QTLS works for Epping Forest College and Newham College, and received a grade 1 in a subsequent observation.

‘I was so impressed with what I learned that I immediately embedded it into my work.’

My CPD in action

www.ifl.ac.uk8 InTuition Issue 2, Summer 2010

I found out about the ‘One and Other’ project when I attended a lecture by Antony Gormley at the Hay on Wye Literary Festival. I was in awe! He spoke so enthusiastically about his work and his new venture. So, like Charlie trying to get into the chocolate factory, I applied for and got my golden ticket, and took my place on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Antony Gormley invited people to apply to appear on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square from June to October 2009. A different person appeared each hour for 100 days, without a break. Over 35,000 people applied for the honour for 2,400 places.

I love art that is interactive or part of its environment, so the One and Other project really excited me, and to take part was life-changing. It’s been incorporated into my teaching and has become part of my CPD.

To be involved was amazing. For my hour, I took the opportunity to thank the teachers who had inspired me, then made it an interactive experience with the use of a whiteboard. I announced I was an expectant father and asked the crowd to suggest names for our new arrival. I recorded my thoughts and what I could hear, smell and see and placed them around the plinth.

I have incorporated this experience into my teaching. It’s a unique way to grab students’ attention and give them a glimpse into the excitement of the art world. Showing them the

As a dual professional, it’s important to be a working artist as well as an art teacher. This experience has spurred me on in both my teaching and art, encouraging me to do an exhibition of my work in Telford later this year and to undertake further work in the community.

Andrew McIntyre, MIfL is an Art Lecturer at Telford College of Art and Technology.

‘… the One and Other project really excited me and to take part was life-changing.’

footage (archived for posterity by the British Library) I ask them what they would do. The results are astounding and inspired debate that can often be difficult when discussing art.

My employer, Telford College of Art (TCAT), fully supported me in this project and are very proactive in encouraging us in our professional development and in recording and reflecting upon our CPD.

Now, when I look back on my CPD record, I feel proud of what I have done. Through reflection, I now think more about what I do, what I might change in class and what I collect through this experience on the fourth plinth.

My golden ticketCPD in action

‘Reflective practice and using REfLECT helps the instructors to understand what development they have done and how they achieved it.’Bill Saunders MIfL, QTLS Learning and Development Manager Carillion Training Services

Issue 2, Summer 2010 InTuition 9www.ifl.ac.uk

It’s your career… It’s your story… It’s your REfLECT

At the heart of REfLECT is a reflective approach to improvement – identifying new opportunities for CPD and enhancing your learners’ experiences. REfLECT is designed by teachers, for teachers, to meet your professional needs and save you time.

More than 92,000 members are already using REfLECT, IfL’s online learning space. It’s not just there for you to declare your CPD (see our step-by-step guide on page 4), it can do so much more. REfLECT can be accessed at any time and anywhere: from your PC, laptop or mobile, including an iPhone application, i-REfLECT.

Critical and meaningful evaluation of professional development is not easy but REfLECT is a system that enables you to do this. We ask that professional development activities are evaluated through the answers to the following questions:

What?

■ What professional development activities have you undertaken this year?

■ Have you reflected on the learning you have gained from these activities?

■ Have the activities and the reflection made a difference to what and how you teach or train?

So what?

■ Can you show any evidence of what the difference has been and the impact it has made on your learners, colleagues or the organisation in which you work?

Visit www.ifl.ac.uk/reflect to access a wealth of resources on REfLECT, including webcasts and tip sheets, and view our new poster, It’s your career… It’s your story… It’s your REfLECT.

Renew your membership

Thank you to all those members

who have already renewed their

membership for 2010–11. If you

have not already renewed you may

do so up until 31 May. It’s quick

and easy to do, just login to the

members’ area of the www.ifl.ac.uk

and follow the instructions.

We worked hard to ensure that

the process was quick and simple

for you to complete. To carry on

improving our service to members,

we have created a short survey to

find out more about your experience

(open until 18 June). Please take

the time to share your thoughts

so that we can continue to make

our services better for you. Visit:

www.ifl.ac.uk/renewalsurvey

www.ifl.ac.uk10 InTuition Issue 2, Summer 2010

The great CPD escapeWorking in a prison, we have restrictions on the use of information and communication technology (ICT). This has led to innovative developments and made our continuing professional development (CPD) all the more important.

Learning and skills in prisons have significant restrictions in the use of ICT, compared to mainstream further education provisions. For example, email, internet and online experiences are almost exclusively unavailable to offenders in many prisons. Our CPD this year (and subsequent reflections on it) has helped us to drive forward opportunities for offenders to engage with technology, without compromising the security of individual establishments.

As a training prison, my key purpose is to provide offenders with the necessary skills and qualifications to find sustained employment on release, with the prospect that this will reduce re-offending. Increasingly, competent ICT skills are becoming a necessary requirement by employers, so anyone lacking such skills would be disadvantaged in finding employment.

I attended an event on the Virtual Campus, a web-based learning and resettlement system, which is intended to allow offenders in custody to search for training courses and apply for jobs. This system means that we also have the opportunity to bring a secure version of e-learning to many who currently don’t have access. The response from the team has been very positive, in terms of improved

resources for learners, but also the related CPD opportunities to develop their own teaching and learning techniques.

I also attended the LSIS e-leadership initiative which brought together people responsible for delivering learning and skills in prisons and probation to develop information and learning technologies (ILT) strategies and share good practice. Through peer-to-peer review, colleagues demonstrated how resourceful they had been in finding and using available and permitted technological resources to support teaching and learning.

The impact for our team has been to further develop our ILT strategy and draw together key people responsible for its implementation.

This CPD has not only guided my direction to improve the provision we offer but by sharing with

colleagues, there has been a ‘ripple effect’ which has maximised the benefits of the experience.

CPD declaration

Last year I used REfLECT to log my CPD. It took a little while to find out how to use it, however once I did the standard format was helpful. In particular, assessing every piece of CPD by the same criteria has made comparisons more reliable. This year I have updated REfLECT more regularly as opposed to entering CPD for a full year during July and August. Apart from the workload, which can sometimes tempt rushing the task, I was surprised and interested at how many I altered and adjusted them as my thoughts and reflection shifted over time.

John Parkinson MIfL is the Education Manager for Lincoln College at HMP Ranby.

Issue 2, Summer 2010 InTuition 11www.ifl.ac.uk

“After joining IfL in 2008, I took on the role of implementing the first ever Professional Formation process for teachers and trainers in the FE and skills sector. Two new awards were introduced: Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) and Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS). Having worked in FE for many years, I felt that we had not received the recognition we deserved. This status might finally give us this recognition, as part of the continuing professional development for our members.”

So why do QTLS or ATLS?

Members who joined the sector since September 2007, are required to gain the QTLS or ATLS award (within the first five years of appointment in the sector). However a large proportion

of our Professional Formation candidates do so voluntarily for a variety of reasons, such as keeping up to date with new teaching and learning practices and demonstrating their dedication to employers to updating their skills, or even just wanting to get recognition for what has been learnt professionally.

Sue says “I gained QTLS in the first round so that I could experience the process at first hand. It’s simple and straightforward, and can be a rich and fulfilling experience. Once you get into the flow, you find how much evidence you already have to hand. Everyone’s evidence is different – it’s your personal story of your teaching journey, but the secret is to be selective about this and not include it all! I am not an expert in technology and feared

‘Through gaining the QTLS award I increased my confidence in my ability to teach and it re-inforced my need to be up-to-date on current teaching initiatives and practice. As part of the process, I also gained my first numeracy qualification. Going through Professional Formation has been truly rewarding.’Helen Wales FIfL, QTLS Self-employed, education and training consultant

Professional Formation

that I may not be able to use technology such as REfLECT. It was a challenge, but I was thrilled with my achievement at the end of the process.

“We have used my experience and those of the other candidates to refine the procedures, including the development of a new webfolio, now available online. Your next chance to express your intent is until 31 May, with a further opportunity in September (see the IfL Calendar on page 12 for further details). For those members who have already gained their QTLS and ATLS, congratulations. These awards raise the standing of the profession as a whole, so join us and gain the recognition you deserve.”

Visit www.ifl.ac.uk/qtls-atls for further information.

Gaining professional status of QTLS or ATLS

Sue Colquhoun (CPD strategic adviser at IfL), manages Professional Formation and talks to InTuition about why she applied for QTLS.

Keep up-to-date and share your views online

Follow us on Twitter

Find us on Facebook

Find us on LinkedIn

Keep up-to-date with the IfL blog

More informationYou will find a lot of information conveniently and quickly by visiting www.ifl.ac.uk – for everything you need to know about CPD, REfLECT, Professional Formation, IfL Connections, membership, member benefits and much more.

Contact us Tel: 0844 815 3202 Membership team: enquiries@ifl.ac.uk CPD team: cpd@ifl.ac.uk Professional Formation: pf@ifl.ac.uk

Involve yourself

Written contributions and photographs

Please send us your articles for our website or publications, photographs, blogs or resources for future editions of InTuition and let us know what interests you.

Visit www.ifl.ac.uk/yourinput or email communications@ifl.ac.uk

Become an IfL Volunteer Connection Join the IfL Connections network and play a pivotal role in supporting peers and colleagues in the effective use of REfLECT as part of their CPD.

www.ifl.ac.uk/connections

Share your research on the IfL Research Hub

IfL’s research and policy hub provides a forum for members to share ideas and comment on the developments within the FE and skills sector.

www.ifl.ac.uk/researchandpolicyhub

IfL Calendar 2010

MAy

31 Professional Formation: applications close for the Winter 2010 cycle of QTLS and ATLS

JunE

1 You can start declaring your CPD now

30 Professional Formation: deadline for sending in evidence for the Summer 2010 cycle (for members who applied December 2009 – January 2010)

AuguST

31 You need to have declared your CPD by now

SEPTEMBER

1 Professional Formation: applications open for awards for the Spring 2011 cycle

OCTOBER

12 IfL Advisory Council meeting

31 Professional Formation: applications close for Spring 2011 cycle (evidence to be sent by 28 February 2011)

31 Professional Formation: last day to send in evidence for Winter 2010 cycle (for members who applied April–May 2010)

Watch out for your copy of On the Agenda, your monthly IfL e-newsletter and your new IfL News and Policy Digest coming soon.

For further information and updates on events (including development dates for IfL Volunteer Connections) visit: www.ifl.ac.uk/newsandeventsVisit www.ifl.ac.uk for further details

The Institute for Learning (Post Compulsory Education and Training) is a company limited by guarantee.

Registered in England and Wales. No 4346361.

Registered office: First Floor, 49-51 East Road, Old Street, London N1 6AH

Published: May 2010