conferenceSPECIAL


Conference marks coming of age for FE teaching profession


More than 300 delegates, speakers and exhibitors attended the inaugural SET annual Conference in Birmingham last month. Alan Thomson was there to write a sketch of proceedings.


(335 TWEETS AND 329 RETWEETS)


MENTIONS OF HASHTAG


642


The theme for the day was Pride in Professionalism and delegates attended from across the FE and training spectrum, including independent training providers, adult and community learning, colleges, the Ministry of Defence and the secure estate. A strong programme blended keynote and panel sessions covering some of the ‘big issues’, with workshop sessions that helped delegates drill down to core teaching matters, including maths and English, digital technology, technical and vocational education, well-being and SEND. Following a welcome by Dan Williams, chair of the SET management board, David Russell, chief executive of the Education and


Training Foundation (ETF), delivered the morning keynote and promptly invited delegates to play a game of ‘guess the report’, which was more fun than I’ve just made it sound. David didn’t call it this, of course, but he did invite delegates to consider a seemingly contemporary quote about Germany being better at technical education than Britain. As we each searched our memories for the likely


An excellent inaugural #SETConf18 full of essential discussions that need to continue


26 ISSUE 34 • WINTER 2018 inTUITION


source of this frequently heard – and, let’s be honest, slightly galling – observation about German technical education, David revealed it was actually from the 1884 Samuelson Report on Technical Instruction. I’d got as far as the 2011 Wolf Report on Vocational Education. David neatly summed up FE as a sector that: had come far


since Samuelson in 1884, and yet had not progressed much; is feeling the squeeze of austerity; is defined by its diversity; is key to meeting national education and training needs; is facing lots of challenge and change; and is growing in professional confidence. A panel discussion on the question ‘What does excellence look like?’ followed. The panellists – Harriet


Harper, an Ofsted inspector and ETF adviser; Nafisah Graham- Brown, head of life skills and community at grade 1 community learning provider ELATT; and


350K


POTENTIAL REACH 143 TWEETERS


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40