EPPING FOREST COLLEGE: LEARNING LEADS AWAY DAY

AGENDA

1. IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
What can we do to maximise learner success over
the next few weeks?

At the CLT away day on Friday, the CLT made some

individual and collective commitments to action that will
be taken to do all they can to push for achievement. This
item will summarise those commitments, and ask for a)
your support of them by actions you can personally
and/or collectively commit to; and b) any additional
actions of your own (individually or collectively) to support
this final push

2. PLANNING FOR NEXT YEAR

What can we do as a team to deliver an outstanding
start to the new term?
A lot of the work completed since Ofsteds report has been
reactive, in response to a Grade 4 verdict. Whilst much of
this is of continuing merit, it is important we take stock,
and over the summer, decide what we need to do to
become an Outstanding College by 2020. So again, at
their meeting on Friday, the CLT decided what actions
needed to be taken over the summer, to put us in an ideal
place for achieving that vision. At this meeting the CLT
would like you to endorse the actions they have
committed to; decide what you can do individually and
collectively to support those decisions; and offer any other
action-based ideas of your own

3. WORKING EFFECTIVELY AS A LL TEAM

The LL is a new team; this is an opportunity to decide
what you want to work on as a team, and how separate
from your individual curriculum roles

4. LEADING YOUR TEAMS

We are keen on consistency: what principles of good
practice (if any) do you want to establish as a LL team: for

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 example building and leading your teams, chairing
meetings, running 1-1s; Performance & Development
reviews, observation feedback, blind spot feedback.

5. 5 MINUTES OF FUN
Each of you will have a dedicated 5 minute session to
present anything to the rest of the team; anything at all,
so long as it provides engagement, stimulation and fun.
You will get 1 minutes notice of your turn, so always be
prepared.

Its up to you, as a team, to decide how you organise this

agenda (apart from the 5 minutes).

Arnie will facilitate the session. His role will be:

Keep the team on track, to order, and on time
Take a record of the decisions and actions agreed
Intervene if its necessary
Offer contributions as a critical friend
Offer feedback on team dynamics
Manage the 5 minute slots!

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WHAT WILL MAKE THE LL TEAM EFFECTIVE?

1. Appreciating that we all have different stresses

2. Clarity
3. Sharing good practice
4. Embedding support networks as a team
5. Talk to each other formally and informally
6. See the future and not the past
7. Own our decisions and challenge where necessary as a
team
8. Regular meeting - once a fortnight with agenda
9. Sharing of ideas to cross pollinate
10. Critical friends
11. Understand the challenges each department has
12. Realising we have a collective voice
13. Being the champion/role model of and for our teams
14. Push back to senior/other decision makers where we
feel it is justified.
15. Good admin support
16. Being a driving force
17. Team bonding and forming relationships
18. Buddy system/support
19. Meetings to be minuted then 15 minutes afterwards
20. Avoid conflicts of interest moving a student on to
someone else
21. Be human and not draconian
22. Effective communication
23. Willingness to experiment take risks
24. Quality external CPD learning for the team

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POTENTIAL AGENDA ITEMS

Buddying up lets sort that today within this team

Subject leads might welcome this too.

Change our title, from LL to managers/head of department

Deciding on main goals

Resolving learner on wrong or inappropriate course

Conflicts of interests/resolving differences

Keeping track of changes in employment (preparing for an

unknown future)

Team leadership?

Director role too operational.too directive

Not being listened to.upwards

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AREAS WHERE WE WANT TO HAVE CONSISTENCY

Decide common language

Clarify roles of course leaders, subject leads, etc

Sharing good practice

Sharing context information (eg changes in business,

technology) (futurewatch)

Be humane

Be as focused on relationships as on task

Policies especially changes

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TEAM VALUES

Respect & trust

Open and transparent; integrity

Sharing between the team

Future focused

Personal and collective ownership

Collective responsibility

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DECISIONS/RECOMMENDS

Change our title to Head of Department. We have good

reasons for this:
Learners and staff understand it
It reflects our status better
Other issues beyond learning will come to us, naturally
Others understand/get a fix on our role easier (external
agencies, at conferences)
May give us more credibility
We feel collectively happier/more positive with this
Aids career progression understood on CV
Reflects what we are doing
Future applicants better understand this role

Will consider Head of Learning (E&M, etc)

Buddying up as follows.:
Rowan - Alison
Toni Kerry
Pam Kim
Hayder Kevan
Lee Arsenul

We will have/decided to have a process for resolving learners

on inappropriate course

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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Short term:

We are committed to high performance teaching and

achievement.

We have a responsibility for this, as much as anyone.

Graded observation is having a negative effect on everyone

fear, panic, impact on morale

We recommend for the rest of this term, observations stop

Hold any progression with 3/4s until the new September term

This will have the most significant effect on improving

achievement

Next term:

In the longer term, observation and LW should be

developmental and not graded

May be an issue with quality of observers, toosome might

benefit from coaching, mentoring or training.

Make sure everyone realises it is the teaching session that is

being graded, not the teacher

As your LL team we will propose another option that we feel

would meet Ofsted, management, and staff needs.

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IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

What we would most value, and think would be most effective

in delivering the achievement required, is to leave us each to
be in and manage our departments, and reduce (to nil) the
need to attend meetings, do LW, etc. We would like it best if
we could do that, and know we can call on you to support when
we feel the need/benefit. That would be up to each of us to
arrange as we see fit, with our own Directors. The action plan
is fine; when LLs are mentioned we are doing them anyway.

Fundamentally, we feel we are over-managed downwards, and

we would prefer to manage upwards. To move from a more
directive style to one which is more empowered: whatever
should have happened earlier is now water under the bridge;
we do know how serious it now is, and what we need to do in
our departments; let us do it.

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PREPARING FOR AN OUTSTANDING START NEXT TERM

As with earlier point we can get on with this.

A helpful, non-contentious document. We are very supportive

of it

We are happy with the content makes sense, and a useful

guideline/reminder

We would happily work with the named contacts to make it

happen

Agree some of this will be corporate for consistency

We have some questions/suggestions which Arnie has captured.

We would like there to be timelines and outcomes etc to

SMARTen it

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