With Lou Mycroft ADVANCED PRACTITIONERS CAN TRANSFORM OUR WORK


I’ve had the privilege recently of attending conferences organised by Advanced Practitioners, one north and one south. It’s always good to be out and about meeting people, rather than jabbing away at Twitter on my phone. The experience reminded me how subtle and ingenious actual human beings are. If you survey the education landscape via Twitter


you could be forgiven for imagining a Game of Thrones scenario – warring factions, each claiming ‘their way’ is best. The philosopher Bernard Williams referred to this as a ‘fetish of assertion’ – taking up a position, then defending it to the death. Advanced Practitioners are uniquely placed to work


in more complex and effective ways. Three years ago I hadn’t heard of Advanced Practice – had you? Then the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) commissioned research (see link at the end) into how the ‘AP’ role might be used for improving teaching, learning and assessment. Soundings were good and the Developing Advanced Practitioners Programme was born. Disclosure: it has been my pleasure to work on this for the past two years. Advanced Practice is an engine room of change in FE.


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Skills and Education Group Annual Conference and Awards. Leicester. www.skillsand educationgroup. co.uk


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Natspec National Conference 2020. Hinckley Island, Leicestershire. conference. natspec.org.uk


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UCU Congress 2020.


Bournemouth. www.ucu.org.uk/ Congress2020


JUNE 10


APs have wriggle room. They draw on evidence-informed approaches to support improvements and they make space for new thinking. They are excellent teachers, balancing up-to-date subject knowledge with effective pedagogies, and working across all dimensions of learning – a possibility that escapes Twitter’s either/or dialectic. Specific roles and job titles vary from provider to


provider. APs can be subject-specialist or generic (the research shows that for maths and English subject- dedicated Advanced Practice is useful, for other subjects generic works equally well). They can do great stuff on a few hours’ remission a week or be part of a dedicated team shouldering responsibility for quality improvement. What they have in common is a dedication to FE and a belief in their capacity to transform. If you don’t have APs, it might be a great idea to lobby for them. Read Understanding the Role of Advanced Practitioners in English Further Education at bit.ly/APReport


Lou Mycroft is a writer, teacher, independent thinker and thought-provoker. She is currently working on two Education and Training Foundation projects: the PDNorth Professional Exchange and #APConnect, a programme for Advanced Practitioners. Join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #pedagogue


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AELP National Conference, London. bit.ly/ AELPNational Conference2020


JULY 6


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Sixth annual Education and Training Foundation (ETF) Practitioner Research Conference and inaugural International Practice- Focused Research in Education Conference (IPFREC). Sunderland. bit.ly/Research Conference2020


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Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education international conference. University of Oxford. arpce.org.uk/ conference-2020


inTUITION ISSUE 39 • SPRING 2020 39


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