Recognition route is well under way.

With a couple of weeks left before final submission I have now completed the draft version of 3 sections. A slow start due to the amount of evidence I have and the requirement to thin this down. Its not easy I have been teaching for over twenty years in both HE and FE and some things have to be shared.

The IFL is now SET (The Society for Education and Training) and the route to QTLS requires a teaching qualification. Strange enough having started teaching well before the requirement for a teaching qualification I have never felt the need to get one or felt I would benefit in any way. I am already a practitioner, a Fellow of the Higher Education, an OU Tutor and a Senior lecturer. My CPD is current and having  technical qualifications in the shape of an Honours Degree and HND and a Masters in Online Distance Education I felt I was just about qualified enough. Next step was a PHd rather than a step backwards and two years on DTLS which I was dreading.

Thankfully the route to QTLS includes a recognition route to allow old and experience educators an opportunity to demonstrate competence. An easy route you may think, but it has not been for me.

So off I go then.
I started with a breakdown of the requirements, the following mindmap or spider diagram identifies the sections where evidence is required. Click on it to see it in more detail.

The next stage involved collating evidence to support each of the sections, no easy feat and I still think I may need to thin this down more but a useful exercise involved putting evidence on post its. They could then be moved around to the different sections.

Getting organised - Post-its identify evidence.

I can now focus on the write up and referencing although the guidance is very vague. No idea of word counts although it is clear that a reflective piece of writing is required linked to evidence loaded into the e-portfolio on Reflect.

  

Got there !!

A fun day in London with the family.

Shaking Hands with Martin Bean OU VC, this guy has so much enthusiasm!!

E856 - Ends

Another Module comes to an end, its been a hard slog this year, too much happening at work to really get my teeth into the project as i wanted too. I still consider it a success but I had more ambitious ideas - still time will tell.

It's been a strange year one way or another a lot has happened this year many family successes and as I write A'level results bring good news to one young man who now starts off on his Higher Ed journey. Whilst mine is coming an end, this completes my Masters and will probably be the last formal qualification I push myself towards (Well that's what I said last time).

Time for a treat I think and welcome a new gadget, enter the Nexus 7 with a priority to start reading non technical stuff for a while.

Professional Development | Changes in School Leadership

Professional Development | Changes in School Leadership

This resource is from the series Need to Know. New models and new routes into headship. Mike Baker helps clarify the new landscape of school leadership, including hard and soft federations, and the new NPQH. Finding creative ways of addressing the difficulties faced by a shortage of prospective school leaders has become one driver for new models of headship. For example schools can now share heads, from informal arrangements through to formally binding legal federations. The flexibility is encouraging if you're considering leadership, but now prospective heads must also ensure they hold the NPQH - as from April 2009 only NPQH graduates will be able to apply for the top jobs. Produced in 2008.

One profession to another.

Is there really a difference in professional values from one profession to another?

As an academic I am a member of the IFL HEA and IET all professional institutions so what ethical values or pprofessional values do I follow. When considering all three institutions I read word such as Integrity, Fairness, confidentiallity Professional competence are there really any differences 

The following table just serves to highlight some of the quotes from each of these institutions' professional codes of practice. Not a great deal of difference really especially between the IFL and HEA. As an engineer the professional values strive towards excellence in engineering whereas the IFL and HEA both strive toward excellence in education be it at HE or FE level.

Taking a completely different perspective though looking at the professional values in the counselling and psychotherapy profession of which I know very little. It is interesting to see the same words being used in the interest of striving 'Towards an emotionally healthy society'.

Values of counselling and psychotherapy. British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (n.d.)

The fundamental values of counselling and psychotherapy include a commitment to:

• Respecting human rights and dignity
• Ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships 
• Enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application
• Alleviating personal distress and suffering
• Fostering a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned
• Increasing personal effectiveness
• Enhancing the quality of relationships between people
• Appreciating the variety of human experience and culture
• Striving for the fair and adequate provision of counselling and psychotherapy services

All four institutions strive for excellence, improvement of standards and actively encourage the self improvement and continual professional development of its members. To say actively encourage is not strictly true as failure to provide evidence of this could well mean the withdrawal of membership. It is reasonable to say though, that all memberships aim to improve standards and the overall experience for the customers, whether these customers are students, patients or clients.

Higher Education Academy (HEA)	Institution for Learning (IFL)	The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Our vision is for students in UK higher education to enjoy the highest quality learning experience in the world	The Institute for Learning (IfL) is the professional body for teachers, trainers and assessors across further education (FE)	Sharing and advancing knowledge throughout the global Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) community to enhance people’s lives around the world.
1. Respect for individual learners 2. Commitment to incorporating the process and outcomes of relevant research, scholarship and/or professional practice 3. Commitment to development of learning communities 4. Commitment to encouraging participation in higher education, acknowledging diversity and promoting equality of opportunity 5. Commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice	1. Professionalism Strive for excellence in teaching and learning, and high levels of subject or vocational expertise, placing the interests and progression of learners at the very heart of their practice. Members have dual professionalism. Development Continually develop their expertise, individually and within communities of practice Autonomy Should be trusted to exercise informed judgement Integrity Use their skills and knowledge wisely to benefit all learners, the public and their organisation and are respected, trustworthy members of society. Equality Are celebrated for the diversity of their backgrounds and as positive role models for learners and colleagues, and should have fair opportunities for success in their career, whatever their background	Honesty How do you take advantage of business opportunities whilst making sure you are as honest as possible with your customers?  Integrity To what extent should your own moral views about war and warfare affect your professional judgement as an engineer in the defence industry? Fairness What is the fairest way to approach the allocation of a resource such as radio bandwidth? Confidentiality In what situations can a claim of "whistleblowing" justify the disclosure of confidential information? Competence How do you know whether you, as an engineer, are competent to make a particular decision which might have important personal consequences for people? Objectivity How do you give objective professional advice, whilst making sure that you don't disclose confidential information? Environmental sustainability How do you handle public and commercial pressures when called upon to provide expert advice?’ Health, safety and risk How do you ensure the safety of a workforce whilst respecting the autonomy of workers and maintaining a comfortable working environment?
Higher Education Academy (2006)	IFL (2009)	IET (2009)

References

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (n.d.) Ethical Framework (online). Available from: http://www.bacp.co.uk/prof_conduct/ (accessed 19 August 2009).

IET (2009) 'Professional ethics and the IET'. (online) Available from: http://www.theiet.org/about/ethics/ (accessed 05 December 2009).

IFL (2009).'IfL Vision and Strategy'. (online) available form http://www.ifl.ac.uk/about-ifl/ifl-vision-and-strategy (Accessed 5 December 2009).

Higher Education Academy (2006). UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education, Higher Education Academy, UK. Available from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/professional/ProfessionalStandardsFramework.pdf (accessed 01 December 2009).