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Bradford College - Case study

Context:

Within the college’s Post-Compulsory Education and Training (PCET) provision (which features both City and Guilds provision and Higher Education – HE – courses), the project focused on three part-time HE courses: the two-year PCET Certificate in HE and the PCET PGDip/MA, and the one-year ‘Fast Track’ course.

 

The student body on these PCET courses consisted of around 135 part-time students. They were a very diverse group in terms of the subject areas and the level of the courses they taught. About two-thirds of them were either part-time or full-time staff of the College; the others worked in a range of agencies, varying from private sector training organisations to the Health Service.

 

All students are required to have a mentor who, alongside course staff, is involved in the observation of their mentee’s classroom practice.

 

Key idea
"We would listen to the student voice in order to critically appraise the structures and processes used in the observation of classroom practice by course staff and mentors. The findings would be used to develop strategies to create a coherent approach across observation and mentoring processes for the developmental aspect of the course for individual students, as well as for the assessment structures."

 

The project’s aims and outcomes

A number of influences helped to decide the nature of our project. Alongside recognising national drivers for change to initial teacher training for the sector, there had been analysis of the college’s annual programme monitoring and evaluation and a recently published Ofsted report on the college’s PCET provision to consider In addition, during 2005–06 the programmes were due for a five-yearly Course Continuation Review [CCR] and revalidation by Leeds Metropolitan University. All these factors created an environment in which staff wished to review provision and address national and local issues that had been raised. Consequently, the project was set up to feed into the review process and to achieve the following aims and outcomes.

 

Aims

• to critically appraise the structures and processes used in teaching observations in relation to the extent to which they meet the needs of the course, individual trainees and their observers
• to develop strategies for the more effective integration of the observation of teaching into the teaching assessment structures of the course and the personal and professional development of the individual trainees.

 

Outcomes

The aims of the pilot were to be achieved through the following outcomes:

 

• reporting on a critical appraisal of the needs and expectations of those involved in the observation of trainees’ teaching, including trainees, mentors, course tutors, external examiners and senior managers of trainees and mentors, to clearly inform the development of associated structures and processes
• the development of clear and concise documentation and systems which support those involved in carrying out teaching observation and which enable effective identification of trainees’ strengths and those areas requiring further development
• the development of an Individual Learning Plan and review system to include on-line options
• the development of indicators of good practice to be provided to trainees, mentors and observers, designed to inform effective moderation and high-quality feedback and to support trainees in developing higher-order teaching skills
• the further development of the current mentor training programme to address issues specific to mentors of further education trainees.