Quality Assurance Improvement Strategy

Chesterfield College Proposals on Quality Assurance Improvement Strategy Help Us to Develop a UCU Response:

Please let us know your views by this Friday, 5 October.

All staff will have received an email containing the college’s proposals for a Quality Assurance Improvement Strategy. This contains proposals on formal graded observations. These are vitally important for all teaching staff at the college.

UCU both nationally and here at the college have long campaigned for changes to the observation policy arguing for policies that support staff and which are not punitive.

The Chesterfield College UCU branch is seeking the views of our members on the issues raised by the college’s proposals.

Please contact one of your union officers, Paula Alsop, James Eaden, Allister Mactaggart, & Sam Parker and feedback any views that you have about the college’s proposals.

Already a number of concerns have been raised by UCU members. Your UCU branch officers will be meeting with the college in the week beginning October 8^th to feedback members’ views.

Some of the issues raised so far by UCU members at Chesterfield College include:

·        The policy calls for “at least “ one graded observation per year. UCU members have said that there should be one observation unless staff either request a further observation or if they are re-observed following a grade 4.

·        The policy suggests that there should be a pre- meeting between the observer and members of staff to be observed one week before the observation. Some UCU members have commented that this a positive step, however they believe that this meeting should clearly identify the session to be observed.

·        Some members have stated that there should be a right to “turn down” a particular observer and opt for an alternative from the panel of trained observers.

·        However by far the most serious concern raised by UCU members who have read the policy documents is the link between a grade 3 and the college’s formal capability procedure. This raises the possibility of staff being sacked as a result of getting a grade 3 - a grade that OFSTED suggests is a lesson where “teaching strategies ensure that learners’ individual needs are usually met”.

The issue of lesson observations is being addressed in FE Colleges around the country and the latest edition of the UCU’s FE News contains some very useful examples of agreements reached in other colleges over lesson observations. Please take a few minutes to read through the extract below.

Graded observations on the way

out?

Following on from news that The Manchester

College is scrapping the use of graded

observations agreement ending a dispute has

now been reached at the College of North West

London to also stop the use of grades within

their lesson observation scheme. Momentum

appears to be growing against the use of

graded observations and toward genuinely

supportive and developmental lesson

observation schemes with Bournemouth and

Poole College also scrapping grades in their

recently revised scheme.

UCU to commission research into lesson

observations

UCU is commissioning a piece of research to

investigate the role of lesson observation in the

Further Education (FE) sector. The research will

explore and evaluate current models of lesson

observation and their perceived purposes and

effects on FE lecturers’ professional practice

and development and seek to identify best

practice. The findings of this research together

with other activity around UCU’s lesson

observations campaigning are likely to be

presented in a seminar later in the 2012/13

year.

Win at City College Brighton and Hove

 

UCU City College Brighton and Hove branch

have succeeded in negotiation significant

improvements to their observation scheme

including:

• removal of Grade 3 link to unsatisfactory

performance procedures

• observation windows announced at start

of the year

• minimum 3 days notice of specific

observation

• temporary reductions in teaching loads

for staff to undertaking training