Ofsted verdict

From Peter--

Following an intense week of inspection by Ofsted, Post-Compulsory Education scored '2', 'Good' in all areas of its provision.

We are particularly pleased with this result as under the new inspection framework for Teacher Training the 'bar' for standards and quality has been raised significantly.

Inspectors were complimentary about the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and the strength of the Post-Compulsory partnership through the College Network of centres. The lead inspector for PCE described the provision as being "in the Premier League".

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this result, not only directly by being observed or taking part in focus groups or providing files for inspectors to read, but also through your participation in the general on-going life of the programme which has led Ofsted to recognise its quality.

Learning Resources created in Interest Groups

One of you has requested photos of the Learning Resources from the Study Day on 24 April; the file proved to be too big to email directly, but it also occurred to me that others might like it to add their group's contribution to their Unit 4 files, so I have up-loaded it to SlideShare as usual. On this occasion it is available to download, too.

Learning resources

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Video from last Study Day (24 April)

Now available at the above address. Higher quality DVDs may be available to Centres.

Latest from Frank Coffield

Yes, but what has Semmelweis to do with my professional development as a tutor?

"This report asks the poignant question of teaching professionals - 'What changes do I need to make to those aspects of my professional thinking and practice which I suspect are doing more harm than good?' This was the central question posed by Ignaz Semmelweis, a young Hungarian doctor who, as a result of painstaking research, reduced mortality rates in childbed fever to less than 1% by challenging the practices of his contemporaries in 19th century Vienna. Now, more than 150 years later, Professor Frank Coffield, Emeritus Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, examines how we can use this remarkable story to challenge and improve some current professional practices in teaching and learning." (From the publisher's blurb)

Free download (pdf) from the Learning and Skills Network

Results from 24 April 2nd Year 1 Study Day evaluation

These results are based on 150 completed questionnaires. I have processed the write-in questions through Wordle, to give some impression of the priorities attached to some of the comments and requests (there is no significance to any of the arrangement other than the relative size of the words).

Evaluation results from 24 April

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Presentation on Threshold Concepts from Study Day 24 April 2010

Here is an annotated version of the Study Day presentation, without the bells and whistles!

But the video can be seen embedded in here (part of a series of pages on TCs, coming at them from different angles--if you didn't get the idea at the Study Day itself, we hope they will help).

The video of the presentation, including the part after the break, will be around soon--we'll notify you via this blog.

The evaluation report should be available by the end of the week, but no guarantees. Introducing Threshold Concepts

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And I'm kicking myself--I refrained from mentioning a very important TC indeed. I didn't put it in the first part because I hoped one of you would come up with it, but no-one did and I forgot. It's the evolution of species by means of natural selection (Darwin 1859, and of course Wallace 1858), the threshold concept which revolutionised and underpins modern biology. And it is still being argued about!

A couple of people asked about the references; the major TC publications are;

• Meyer J H F and Land R (eds.) (2006) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge London; Routledge.
  
  
• Land R, Meyer J H F and Smith, J. (eds) (2008) Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines Rotterdam; Sense Publishers

and I also referred to;

• Hattie, J (2009) Visible Learning; a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement London; Routledge.

The pages on the Doceo site also includes links to further reading beyond the site.

Many thanks to everyone for their contributions to a really good day.

Briefing for Second Year One Study Day

Click on the heading to download the Briefing Paper for the next Study Day on 24 April.