APL: Developing more flexible colleges


Book Description

The keystones for provision in the new era of Further Education will be flexibility of response, open access, equality of opportunity, and valuing and accrediting alternative ways of learning - all linked together within the concepts of providing life-long learning opportunities. The provision of APL, along with the support services needed to ensure its success, can be used as the `acid test' of whether a college is truly open and accessible to a variety of learners. Written by an experienced manager, this book offers invaluable advice for other managers and senior staff engaged in transforming their colleges to meet students' needs.




Managing Further Education


Book Description

The incorporation of the further education sector in 1993 was followed by a period of extreme turbulence. Colleges plunged into the complex task of managing huge organizations while under pressure from cuts in funding and a steady expansion in the number and range of students. While financial scandals may have attracted attention, the success of the further education sector in continuing to provide a vital educational service for millions of people has been less recognized. Despite the significant contribution of the sector to education and training, practitioners struggle to find adequate research evidence on which to base reflection and practice. They need material relevant to the specific situation of managers working w




Managing People in Education


Book Description

`Aims to enhance management practice in education by presenting research findings and theory from a wide range of contributors′ - Skills and Enterprise Update ′This is indeed a book which could be useful to a much larger readership than the normal closed circle of those working in education′ - Managing Schools Today The book presents relevant research and theory in order to enhance management practice in education. The editors′ intention is to articulate good practice on the basis of evidence in educational settings. The ideas presented here are derived from international research and practice and apply to all phases of education, with the emphasis on applying research findings to improve practice in schools and colleges.




Curriculum Change in Secondary Schools, 1957-2004


Book Description

This book is about curriculum change in secondary schools and shows how the quality of education has been affected by increasing intervention from central government. Following the story of one secondary school between 1957 and 2004, Norman Evans looks at: * the school before and after the introduction of the National Curriculum * the changing role of LEAs and governors * the characteristics since 1992 of school inspections responsible for policing the operation of the national tests * predictions of results and examination results * nationally set targets * compliance with detailed prescription of school curricula. This is the back-story of today's educational climate, as seen through the eyes of seven successive head teachers and long-serving assistant staff who worked at the school during this momentous forty-year period. How did the changes affect what they sought to do as professionals? Where have these changes taken us, in terms of what happens in classrooms and what happens in the school as a whole? And what can be learned from the development of the curriculum over this time to inform future practice?




Key Concepts in Adult Education and Training


Book Description

As adults, we are all continually involved in learning, with increasing numbers of us engaged in more formalized forms of learning; that is, in education or training. All those involved in the broad field of adult education and training will come into contact with many specialist ideas or concepts. It is often assumed of students that they already have a general understanding of these concepts, their meanings, applicability and inter-relationships. This is not always the case. This book examines in detail over forty of these key concepts, ranging from community education and experiential learning to competence and access. It presents a clear, analytical discussion in jargon-free language. It is, therefore, indispensable to all students and practitioners of adult education and training.




The Power of Technology for Learning


Book Description

In today’s dynamic global business environment where knowledge is a main asset and learning becomes the most important process, Business Education needs to employ the right practices to develop future leaders. Businesses require graduates that become true experts. But can business schools indeed create learning experiences that address the needs of the global marketplace? Can they teach students to build learning organizations? The articles in this volume detail successful approaches developed by business educators and researchers. The approaches have been implemented to solve real problems and to provide students with the ethical and analytical abilities they will need to both compete and contribute to the betterment of others. The thematic part of this volume focuses on the potential of interactive on-line activities to promote business and economics education. They demonstrate the benefits that learning technologies can bring and show how to overcome potential problem issues.




How to Assess the Vocational Curriculum


Book Description

Using case studies from schools and colleges, this book outlines different forms of assessment, highlights their purposes, and provides practical guidelines to their implementation.




Making Sense of Lifelong Learning


Book Description

Making Sense of Lifelong Learning looks beyond the rhetoric about lifelong learning (LLL), and asks long overdue questions such as, Who is actually in need of LLL? What are the motives of institutions, employers and the Government in promoting LLL? And, who says what is and what is not LLL? In the context of the previous government attempts to enhance the economic strength of the country, the author also makes suggestions as to what might be done to encourage wider participation in LLL, particularly with regard to the increasing economic and social gaps in today's society. The considerable demographic changes to the workplace have affected the entire population, and yet employers, the government and the individual all have very different expectations from LLL. It is this previously unchallenged 'mismatch' that is one of the central themes of the book.




Introducing APEL


Book Description

The fact that learning accumulates and exists outside an education or training environment cannot be disputed. Yet traditionally, it is only institutional, certificated learning that carries any status. Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning systems seek to give positive credit for all learning, by placing it within a recognised accreditation framework. In the light of recent legislation, APEL systems offer the key towards more flexible and open delivery systems for futher education. Maggie Challis offers a detailed, practical introduction to the skills and processes of implementing an APEL system, exploring the seven key stages through which learners progress: * initial counselling * recognising and identifying skills * relating these skills to an agreed set of outcomes * gathering evidence of these skills * documentation of the evidence * assessment of the evidence * accreditation Detailed guidance is provided on setting up and monitoring services and tutors and managers alike will find advice on identifying appropriate learning programmes for students; access to higher education; redundancy counselling; and the transfer of professional qualifications gained overseas. Most importantly, Maggie Challis shows the potential for APEL across a wide range of learning contexts, in all areas of education and training.