FURTHER EDUCATION STAFF ASKED TO HELP DEFINE THEIR SECTOR

Further education staff asked to get involved in unique online experiment

Further education staff are being invited to contribute to a new collaborative glossary for their sector, available exclusively through the Excellence Gateway. 

The glossary makes use of a ‘wiki’ system, most well known in the form of the online Wikipedia encyclopaedia, and allows anyone working in further education to contribute their views on how common terms are described so that, over time, a set of sector-driven definitions will emerge.

This is one of a number of new features on the quickly-developing Excellence Gateway, a web-based portal developed by the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) to enable staff find and share ideas that will help them in their day-to-day work.

Barry Kruger, Director of Knowledge and Intelligence at QIA, commented:

“The diversity of the further education sector means that terms like ‘self-regulation’, ‘peer review’ and even ‘further education’ can mean different things to different people, so we are providing a means of people getting together to decide what these and other terms really mean.

“The glossary will have a variety of uses: as well as being a talking point for current staff it could also come in useful for those individuals who are new to the sector and are looking to quickly get up to speed on frequently-used phraseology.

“By putting this glossary onto the Excellence Gateway we are encouraging further education staff to take collaborative responsibility for how their sector is defined both now and as it evolves in the future.”

Anyone working in the further education system can contribute to the glossary by registering for the Excellence Gateway free. Registration also unlocks all of the other resources and features of the Excellence Gateway from effective practice case studies through to interactive teaching materials and lively forums where practitioners can discuss the sector’s hot topics.

About the Excellence Gateway

The Excellence Gateway is the main online service for all those working in the further education system, including leaders, managers, teachers, tutors, trainers and support staff in further education colleges, sixth form colleges, school sixth forms and work-based learning, adult and community learning and offender learning organisations. By bringing together and showcasing a wide range of good practice resources from across the sector, the Excellence Gateway gives staff the opportunity to improve their own skills and professional knowledge by learning from others in the further education system. 

About QIA

The Quality Improvement Agency for Lifelong Learning (QIA) was established in April 2006. It was set up by the government to accelerate quality improvement, increase participation and raise standards and achievement in further education. QIA’s role is to create a strong strategic focus on improving quality in further education and training. In addition to developing Pursuing Excellence, the national Improvement Strategy for the further education system, QIA helps education and training organisations respond to the government’s strategic priorities. Its key role is to commission a range of programmes and services provided and delivered by other organisations. For more information about QIA read Pursuing Excellence.