SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) reforms

The Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014, in force from September 2014, places new statutory duties for inclusive approaches and person-centred planning to permeate all practice. The reforms will require significant changes to policy, procedure and practice in supporting disabled students in further education colleges. Do your staff and governors know about these duties and are they ready to meet them?

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Integrating and embedding E&D in workplace learning

Are Apprenticeships a growth area in your organisation? Do you use subcontractors to deliver provision? Is there a tendency for staff to take a ‘tick-box’ approach to E&D in progress reviews and assessment visits? Are there opportunities to better engage employers in the E&D agenda? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to make sure someone from your organisation attends my one-day workshop on integrating E&D in workplace learning, which I am delivering on behalf of the AoC at the end of January

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Shared parental leave – are you ready?

New rights for shared parental leave become available to employees expecting a child on or after 5 April 2015. Are you ready? Here are 5 steps you should take.

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Transphobic bullying – a reactive or preventative approach?

In the last eight weeks I have supported three colleges to deal with quite serious incidents of student transphobic bullying. Could such incidents happen at your organisation? Do you know what to do if they did? What are you doing to prevent such incidents? Are your staff aware of the implications of recent research on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying?

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Traveller, Gypsy and Roma students

A recent research report highlights that negative stereotypes, prejudice and misunderstandings persist with these groups of students. For example, many assume that Travellers spend a large proportion of the year on the road. In reality, approximately 75-80% of people who identify themselves as Travellers either live in static caravans, social housing or private housing. What prejudice and misunderstandings do your Traveller, Gypsy and Roma students encounter?

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