March 2011
Contents
Countdown to Conference - FACE 2011 - a message from Alan Foster
Speakers Corner - Steve Kendall on the problem with the changes to HE funding
The FACE delegation at NADE 2011
What else is in the News? Other sources of education news online
Countdown to FACE 2011 at the University of Glasgow
“Lifelong Learning and Community Development”
Wednesday 29th June – Friday 1st July 2011
A message from Alan Foster.
Colleagues are reminded that the closing date for abstracts is now upon us. We have received intimations from a number of colleagues who, clearly combating the pressures that face us all, have not yet submitted their abstracts. These can be in the form of papers or roundtable discussions and in both cases may be research-based, practice-based, or a combination of the two. Abstracts of up to 200 words (in the case of roundtables up to 1000 words) should be sent via the submission form. We can accept abstract submissions up until Wednesday 6th April, so hurry!
The Conference Ceilidh on Thursday 30th June will have music provided by our own Rusty Nail Ceilidh Band (audio samples) with the dances being called for those unfamiliar with Scots Ceilidh Dancing. An enjoyable time is guaranteed! So we suggest that your enjoyment will be enhanced by getting the abstract in and clearing your conscience! If you would like to discuss a potential submission, please contact 01413301833 or cradall@educ.gla.ac.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.
Conference Registration
Take advantage of the Early Bird reduction - Register before 30th April!
Download Full details and registration form (pdf) Registration for the conference can be paid for by cheque or credit card/debit card.
Speaker's Corner
As a member-oriented organisation FACE would like to invite individual colleagues to have their say on any issue of concern in UK education policy and practice. This is a purely personal point of view and should not be thought to represent any institution, organisation, or official body. To have your say, email James.Tate@uwe.ac.uk
This month's contribution is from Steve Kendall, who asks, What is the problem with . . . the changes to higher education funding?
The headline news about HE funding has been the level of the tuition fee for University level study, and the protests against it, fuelled by the perception that it was dishonest for some politicians to say that they would abolish the tuition fee and then participate in raising it to a maximum of £9,000 a year. This has been accompanied by murmurings of concern as to whether higher education is worth the price of the ticket.
To take the last point first – of course it is. Participation in higher education brings enormous benefits - improved life chances, broader horizons, improved employment prospects, higher prospective income, advanced skills, personal growth, a wider social circle, increased knowledge and the excitement of intellectual enquiry. (This is why its uneven distribution between social groups and classes matters – why we seek to widen participation, to redress the imbalance - and why we have to be careful not to ‘talk down’ its value).
Yet none of this is the real story. The issue is not the price, which has not in fact gone up, nor the value, which is clear, but rather who will now pay the price and who will now decline to invest in the development of a highly skilled workforce, to lead the nation beyond recession and into prosperity. The students will pay and the government, by and large, will not. That, notwithstanding the debates about whether there will be more or less ‘public’ money (tuition fee payments involve public money because they take the form of government loans in the first case) available to higher education, is the key issue. Government is in the process of sidestepping its responsibility for the future and is, it appears, not the least shamefaced about it.
What the effect of all this will be is not yet clear. Some impacts seem easy to predict – electoral damage in the constituencies of those perceived to have reneged on their promises seems likely at this stage, although four years and two months (not that I am counting!) is a very long time indeed in politics. The impact on demand for higher education of the change and its associated uncertainties is less easy to forecast. Demand for higher education has tended to continue to rise despite changes to funding arrangements. What will be of particular interest and, perhaps, concern will be the way in which the social contract has been redrawn around higher education, shifting it from the sphere of social production into the sphere of private consumption, making it a transaction between the individual learner and their University (or other HE provider) as distinct from the present state of affairs where it is at least a partnership between the citizen, the University and government.
I wonder how this ‘individualisation’ of the transaction will impact on the higher education experience: whether it will make it more personal, more tailored, better fitted and more responsive to the needs of the learner. I hope so.
Steve Kendall
University of Bedfordshire
National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) Conference 2011
This years NADE Conference, which took place in Washington DC included three members of the FACE Executive. John Storan (Chair), Michael Hill (Secretary) and Tony Acland (Executive member) formed the FACE delegation to a successful and enjoyable conference.
As FACE’s sister organisation in the USA, the NADE annual conference attracted over 1,500 delegates from all parts of the United States as well as a small international delegate group, including the FACE trio.
As well as giving a seminar, meeting with the NADE Executive Council and chairing the Executive Committee, the group also ran the FACE information stand.
Each year, the FACE presence grows stronger, and this year the stand attracted an enormous amount of interest. Based upon the high level of interest shown, it is highly likely that a number of NADE members will be making the journey to Glasgow in the summer to be part of our annual conference.
The FACE delegation were all well looked after throughout the conference and the hospitality and kindness extended to the group was warmly acknowledged. The meeting with the NADE Executive Council during the conference not only resulted in a full agreement on a plan of co-operation going forward between the two organisations, but also re-affirmed the mutual value of the partnership between the two organisations.
We would also like to recognise the extra-special contribution that Tony Acland made in transporting the pop-up FACE banner all the way to America for the conference and all the way back again. You're our hero, Tony!
Other Notices
Association of Colleges conference
HE in FE: New landscape, new opportunities?
Thursday 31st March 2011 - London House, Goodenough College, London
Increased student contributions from 2012 will be accompanied by significant changes to the higher education landscape. QAA is supporting this Association of Colleges conference, which asks delegates to discuss the implications of these policy changes. David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science, will deliver the keynote address. Other speakers include QAA Chief Executive Anthony McClaran, and Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
For further details see the QAA website
Request for information, data, research or literature about male student retention and success in Higher Education.
The Equality Challenge Unit has commissioned the University of Sussex in partnership with Edge Hill University to undertake research on male student experience in higher education (HE). This is prompted by concern about the emerging gender differences in HE retention and achievement rates, and because of the limited amount of information in the public domain relating to why men withdraw from their studies more often than women, and achieve less good degrees when they complete their courses. The aim of the project is to develop an evidence base and understanding of the experiences of male students in higher education in relation to engagement with academic development and pastoral support services in comparison to female undergraduate students.
Academic development and pastoral support services include:
• Access funds and bursaries
• Student advisors, counselling and well-being services
• Disability services
• Careers and employability services including volunteering
• Chaplaincy
• Financial advice
• Study support – academic advisors/personal tutors/student
mentoring schemes
• Dissertation, revision and assessment workshops
• Research and IT skills
Despite increasing concern about male participation and success in HE, there is a paucity of data, research and literature on this topic. If you have any information, data, research or literature related to this issue, we would be very pleased if you would send it to us to inform this study – liz.thomas@edgehill.ac.uk. Alternatively, if you would like to be kept informed about the findings and outputs of this study, please contact gender@ecu.ac.uk.
What else is in the News?
For the latest UK Education headlines and stories go to the FACE News Feeds page where you'll find the online news feeds of several of the sources listed below gathered together on one page for easy access.
The Department of Education news page http://www.education.gov.uk/news
The Guardian http://education.guardian.co.uk
The Independent http://news.independent.co.uk/education
The BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/default.stm
The Times Higher Education http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
This is the March 2011 eBulletin from FACE (the Forum for Access and Continuing Education), offered to practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and others with an interest in access, widening participation and lifelong learning. The eBulletin is sent to colleagues in the sector, members and non-members alike. If you would prefer not to receive it, please contact James.Tate@uwe.ac.uk and your details will be removed from the circulation list.
If you wish to respond to anything in this eBulletin or contribute to the April 2011 issue, please email Jim at James.Tate@uwe.ac.uk