Board of Studies Report and Review

It has been another successful year for the Midwheb Partnership, MA Education Programmes. We have grown to over 200 participants, and a further 100 in the associated MA distance and MA Teaching awards. In the last year further school based programmes have developed at for example Salisbury School, and Haselbury Infants. The Teaching and Learning, Foundation Stage, and Leadership modules continue to be an important foundation. These have been enhanced by a growth in MFL Primary, and the “International Dimension” programmes.

In addition, to the stalwart partner of Enfield LA, there have been significant develops of the partnership in Haringey, and Barnet with more joint work developing. New partners have emerged in the form of schools, the SSAT and Core-Ed Ltd leading modules.

The online community now has over 110 members who have joined themselves and now represent half of those eligible. Some modules have useful and exciting online discussions, and some of the Action Enquiry group have been using their portfolios to share work and receive feedback.

The success has been in the face of some trials. The need to move the online community disrupted temporally the online work for some weeks at Christmas. The six weeks of the programme leader having his computer repaired has not been insignificant. Similarly, moving office accommodation disrupted the partnership further. The visit of the CUREE evaluation team and its TDA research on impact, although helpful and informative was another unusual distraction. Similarly the restructuring of the University has also created some turbulence this year but may lead to a wider development of CPD across education, and the possibility of further research projects and contracts, which will enhance the partnership.

The assignments continue to show some excellent development work in schools and impact upon the learning experience and outcomes of pupils.

1.    Participants - How should we further
a.    Raise the number of participants in the Midwheb partnership?
b.    Improve the marketing/promotion of modules?
c.    Make the programme more attractive?
d.    Involve teachers from further afield for example in Barnet and Waltham Forest?

2.    Assignment Completion - How can we further,
a.    Remove the barriers to assignment completion?
b.    Root assignments in practice?

3.    Shared Learning - How can we
a.    Encourage more people to publish their assignments online, in papers and presentations?
b.    Ensure greater dissemination and impact of assignments?

4.    Online Community Midwheb partnership
a.    A larger number being members?
b.    A larger number using the portfolios to place work and receive feedback?
c.    A larger number contributing to conversations as useful learning?

5.    Research – How can we
a.    Improve the quality of research methodology and methods used?
b.    Improve the account?

6.    Core- Research Programme: How can we
a.    Improve attendance at the Core Days?
b.    Develop more shared experience of assignments?