North East Practice Development Groups

The aim of the PDG programme is to create an expansive learning environment amongst FE providers, which will facilitate professional growth and development through participation in a community of practice.

PDGs will consist of action learning sets of practitioners who will meet and work together on a short-term, small-scale project to improve an aspect of their teaching, learning and assessment.

The projects can cover any programme of study in the FE sector but need to develop an aspect of teaching, learning and assessment which enhances the teaching of English or the embedding of maths or English into that area.

The North East Practice Development Group will consist of sets of five to six practitioners (ideally across different FE organisations in the region) who will meet online monthly over the course of four months.

The practitioners will support one another as they develop their mini projects, supported by trained experienced group facilitators. The groups will use an action learning set (ALS) approach which provides an equal space for every voice and will enable participants to bring ideas to action.

The participants within each round will start with an online launch event, facilitated so practitioners can get to know each other and collaborate with other regional groups. All participants will receive training on the ALS approach at the launch event; which will be of huge benefit to participants and their organisations following the project. 
This vibrant practitioner-led community will also occupy a shared online space for further discussion, collaboration and support. 

Each action learning set will have a specific focus. When signing up to be part of the PDGs, you will identify which action learning set you wish to be part of. These are outlined below:

1. Approaches to remote delivery of English – Audience – Curriculum Managers / Teachers
2. Approach to the delivery of contextualised English across an organisation – Audience – Curriculum Managers
3. Approach to the delivery of contextualised maths across an organisation – Audience – Curriculum Managers
4. Developing disciplinary literacy within Construction – Audience – Teachers
5. Embedding of and development of maths skills within Sport and Uniformed Public Services – Audience – Teachers
6. Improving engagement in English and maths within Creative Arts – Audience – Teachers
7. Developing maths skills within the delivery of Health and Social care study programmes – Audience – Teachers
8. Developing verbal communication skills within Digital Technology / IT – Audience – Teachers

The PDG rounds will end with a face-to-face sharing* of projects at the North East collaboration events.

*Face-to-face events are planned to go ahead in line with government guidelines at the time of the event.

The groups are for all teachers and trainers working in further education and no experience is required. You simply need a desire to work with other educators to improve an aspect of your teaching, learning or assessment!

We have 40 places available per round and organisations can have multiple participants taking part. You can only apply to be involved in one of the rounds provided you are part of an ESFA funded organisation.

Each applicant must complete an individual application form and should declare the support of their senior management team.

The aim of the Practice Development Groups are to focus on improving specific areas of teaching and learning and solving some of the common issues that we all face in the sector.

By taking part in the PDG, you will be able to share ideas and best practice, learn from others in a new community and facilitate your own professional growth and development.

In return for your time and participation, you will also benefit from:

• Access to a bank of co-curated resources: webinars, videos, articles, newsletter, guides and resources which link to PDG members maths/English projects.
• Access to a wider national community of peers curious about developing maths/English
• High quality training on action learning sets which can be brought to and developed by your teams.
• Signposting and support to access The Education and Training Foundation’s latest CPD offers, including other opportunities across the diverse FE sector.

There are two rounds available to join: October 2020 to January 2021 or January 2021 to April 2021.

You must be able to commit to the following:

- A half-day online launch event in the first month of your round

- Four monthly online meetings (one each month) at a time agreed by all participants. These meetings last around 1.5 hours.

- A half-day face-to-face collaboration event in the final month of your round.

Your organisation must be able and willing to allow to you to attend the above. 

To apply for a place on either of the available rounds, simply complete an application form here. You must be able to confirm that you have the support of your senior management team.

If you have any questions / queries in relation to the project please contact Jonathan Rees, Head of TLA on jonathan.rees@ncl-coll.ac.uk