06/03/2012- Nick Bennett

06/03/2012- Nick Bennett Nick Bennet gave us a lecture on Education Policy and Further Education. He said that further education can be a second chance for many people as they may not have got the grades they needed in school when they were younger, so they can go back and redo certain qualifications and then go on and be able to do a course that is more suitable for them. Further education can help students fulfil their full potential, make job applicants look more advertising to future employers and provide courses which suit the students’ needs and potential. Since 1993 further education has been run by governors and are independent corporations which receive funding from the Department for Education and Skills. The programme has many goals for Further Education in Wales, such as: • Establish a new funding system. • Provide financial support for students. • Cap tuition fees. • Create jobs. • Increase the number of apprentice opportunities. I found this lecture very interesting and appropriate to me as I furthered my education by starting a degree course as I want to progress and become a teacher. I feel that the goals for the further education system are good as it will create more jobs when I finish my degree and it will support me throughout my degree with funding and financial support.

28/02/201- Mike Day

28/02/2012- Mike Day Mike Day is a cabinet member for education. He spoke to us about the role of Local Education Authorities, policy and politics. Why is educational policy needed? • It is needed to “guide operational decisions and actions.” • It is the guidelines within education. Who should develop it? This is the argument between Politicians and Practitioners. Politicians: • They are elected to represent the people. • They “hold the purse strings” • They are not subject experts. Practitioners: • They know how it works. • They see it in action. • They are unable to take the wider view. • They cannot get the overall picture. Stake holders are also important in developing educational policy as their engagements leads to the meeting of minds. Where is Educational Policy Developed? • Welsh Government • Local authorities. • School and Governing body level. • UK level. • Where do regional groups fit in? UK levels: • Compulsory school ages. • Teachers pay. • Responsibilities of Local education authorities, parents and schools. Welsh Government: • Welsh medium. • Foundation phase. • No academies, we have free schools. • Higher education tuition fees. • Pupil deprivation grant. Local authorities: • Organisation of the number of schools and places. • Improving standards. • Advice and guidance to schools. • Making arrangements to identify children and young people of the compulsory school age, missing within their area. School and Governing Body Level: • Uniforms. • Start and finishing times. • School Improvement Plan. • Policies on personal and social education, child protection, equal opportunities and Special Educational Needs. Where do regional groups fit in? • We have four in Wales. • SWAMWAC- South West and Mid Wales • Improving schools. How is it developed? You can either borrow ideas or learn ideas. Clear aspirations: • Aspirations are there to raise standards of achievement and attainment. • Improve quality of the learning environment. • Make the best of the resources given. Key Principals: • Stakeholder’s engagement. • Coherence. • Flexibility. • Objectivity. • Cost effectiveness. • Resources. For educational policy to develop in schools we need all the key principals listed above. I really enjoyed Mike Days lecture as he brought up many interesting points about educational policy and I learned a lot from it such as how different groups develop educational policy.

23/01/2012- Steve Gullick

23/01/2012- Steve Gullick Steve Gullick gave us an insight to what the role of a Governor was and how they help in education. What do Governors do? • Governors conduct the school with a view of promoting high standards of educational achievement. • They set appropriate school targets for pupils achievement. • Governors should decide if your school is a uniform school, or a non-uniform school and start and finishing times. • They manage the schools budget. • Every child that attends a school is worth money to the school, the governors are the ones who decide how to spend the money, whether it is on resources or school trips for example. • Most of the money gets spent on the teachers’ salaries and things that the school needs to run such as water and electricity. The rest of the money then gets spent on the pupils. • Governors have to produce a report which has to show the schools results, funding, attendance and where the students and teachers go after school such as after school clubs. • They also have to decided how many teachers the school has, governors interview the staff, and they also regulate staff conduct and discipline. • Governors also draw up an action plan after an inspection has been carried out. Who is the Governing body made up of? • Parents • Teachers • Local education authorities • Staff • Community • Head teacher The governing body is mostly made up of parents, the head teacher has a choice if they want to be a governor or not. Who are the Governors? • Governors should be experts on how a school is run. • Should be people who live local to the school, and want the school to do well. These two points are different views on who should be governors, many people think that the governors play a very big part in the school as they make all the decisions therefore they should be experts. On the other hand you have an opinion that governors should be people who want the school to do well and people who actually care about the school, because they will put more passion into their work and actually want the school to succeed. There are also two other opposite views about governors, them being: • Governors should be paid because It is a very important job. • Governors shouldn’t be paid as it may attract the wrong type of people. These two opinions are very important as they are both very valid points as the role of being a governor is a very important job and people should be paid for it ,however it may attract people who don’t care about the school and just want the money. How do you become a Governor? Governors are elected by the people in the same categories as they want to be in for example, parents are elected by parents and teachers are elected by teachers. However the Local Education Authority governors are elected by the council. How do they do it? Governors must meet once a term and they bring along an agenda of what topics they are going to discuss. Every individual governor has their own Clarke who writes down what is happening so they have notes to reflect back on. What topics will be on the agenda? • Apologies for absence, for governors who couldn’t make it. • Minutes of previous meeting. • Matters arising. • Head teacher’s report. • Report of Finance Committee. • Progress on School Development Plan. • Change of School Uniform. • Report on Governors Conference. • Any other business. • Date and time of next meeting. All of the issues raised in the agenda are very important points for the governors as they help the school to run and progress. There are different governing committees such as finance, health and safety, pupil discipline, staff disciplinary and staff appeals. All of these committees are crucial as a school needs them to be able to run and they have specifically trained governors for each committee. I really enjoyed the lecture with Steve Gullick as I found the topic of governors very appropriate and interesting. And hopefully when I become a teacher, I can also become a governor and have a say in how my school is run.

16/01/2012- Dr Russell Grigg

16/01/2012- Dr Russell Grigg Dr Russell Grigg gave us an insight to what ESTYN was and what did it do for education. He is the Head of the South West Wales Centre of Education. What does ESTYN do? • ESTYN inspects quality and standards in education and training. • It inspects many different educational settings such as nursery schools, primary schools, secondary schools, independent schools and specially equipped schools. • They have pupil referral units and help to further education. • They organise things such as adult and community learning. • They supply local authority education services for children and young people. • They work with offenders to develop their learning. • They organise work based learning and career companies. ESTYN also: • Provide advice to the Welsh Assembly Government on quality and standards in education and training in Wales. • Promote the spread of good practise in education and training. Three Fold Purposes. • Provides accountability to the users of the services and other stakeholders through the public reporting on providers. • Promote improvement in education and training. • Inform the development of the national policy by the Welsh Assembly Government. ESTYN is mostly known for their inspections, inspections are good as they are set up for the school and the community to improve. ESTYN covers the whole of Wales for inspections. What is an Inspection Like? Inspectors Learners Teachers, Parents and Governors The diagram I just created shows that the inspectors are the main importance of the inspection, then it comes down to the learners as they are the secondly most important when it comes to an inspection. The least important people in the inspection are the teachers, parents and governors as they are the ones that are being inspected. When an inspection is being carried out they have two different viewpoints which are achievement and attainment. Achievement is how well you are doing yourself, it is your OWN capability. Attainment is how well you are doing against someone else for example, someone may have a higher grade than you, however you are doing well for yourself. After taking the whole elements of the learning setting into account the inspector makes a judgement which may be: • Excellent • Good • Adequate • Unsatisfactory I found the lecture with Dr Grigg very interesting as he explained to us what ESTYN was, what they did and how they carry out inspections. He also gave us the ESTYN website so we could take a look for ourselves which I found very helpful in understanding how ESTYN works. http://www.estyn.gov.uk/english/

Sketch Book

I have decided to also create a sketch book of other things in my life where i feel a sence of place. I thought it would be a good idea to create a mind map of all the places where I feel a sence of place. I came up with a few different headings, which were: - At Home - University - When with my Friends - Work - Nanny Rose's House I then decided to create a few sketches,collages and images that relate to each topic. I organised my sketch book in different headings so that you can see how I feel a sence of place in each place.

Project Inspiration

For my Visual Communication project I had to create something that was based on my very own'Sence of Place'. I decided that the place where I feel that I belong is down my nanny Roses house. The items that remind me most of my nans house are cushions,this is because as a child when my nan used to put me to bed she would put cusions and pillows all around me so that I would be safe and wouldnt fall out of bed when I was sleeping.I made the decision that for my final piece I would create a cushion, but personalise it by putting photos of people that mean alot to me on it. I felt that this idea was good to show my very own 'sence of place' as I have an item that used to make me feel safe as a child and I have personalised it so that it includes the people that mean the most to me on it. To create this piece I had to create a collage of images that I wanted to include on my cushion, the I had to send it away so that it could get printed professionally.

I decided to include the Keep Calm and Carry On logo in my collage as that is one of the sayings that keeps me going if I ever have a down day or I am upset about something. Hopefully the collage looks good when it has been printed on to the cushion..