Still no education post for a while, but a book plug here for my friend Simon Hall. His new book, 1956, the World in Revolt was reviewed in yesterday's Observer and is available to order.
All posts by john
Self note: Canon All in one printer with scanner
Used this answer to get my Scanner working on my Canon MG5650 all in scanner/ copier/ printer.
Am I a qualified teacher in UK higher education? Bog snorkelling through the swamp of HESA recognised teaching qualifications
Universities throughout the UK are trying to increase the numbers of academics who hold a teaching qualification. There are many good reasons, but the expectation that the Teaching Excellence Framework will use this as a metric has focused minds on the subject.
As universities our provision is usually based around PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher courses and Higher Education Academy Fellowships. This is where clarity ends as far as recognised teaching qualifications are concerned and there is whole bunch of other stuff that 'counts', even if it is not directly related to teaching in higher education. This is not an opinion piece of the strengths and weaknesses of various teaching qualifications, but an opportunity to put on your wet suit, snorkel and face-mask to travel through the swamp of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) recognised teaching qualifications.
What follows is purely my own work. It is not authorised by the University of Brighton, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Higher Education Academy or anyone else.
Am I a qualified teacher in UK higher education?
As someone who teaches on a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and supports staff preparing their HEA Fellowship applications, I am increasingly asked 'Am I (already) a qualified teacher in UK higher education?' Does my X certificate count as a teaching qualification? Does my accreditation as a Y count? I was a secondary school teacher; does that count? I'm an accredited member of the pedagogic branch of the Guild of Advanced Basketweavers- does that count?
The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects data on the numbers of academic staff at each university who are qualified HE teachers.
Some universities publish their data online. I've rummaged extensively around the HESA website and as far as I can see there is no place where all data is published. Moreover I can't even find a copy of the actual definitions of HESA teaching qualifications on the HESA website. The only places I can find them are on individual university websites (example from Newcastle here).
So the categories which 'count' as a qualified teacher are as follows.
01: Successfully completed an institutional provision in teaching in the higher education sector accredited against the UK Professional Standards Framework.
This includes PGCerts and similar university provision for new lecturers which in most cases leads to accreditation at D1 or D2. At Brighton completion of a PGCert will also give you D2 (Fellow of the HEA-- category 03)
02: Recognised by the HEA as an Associate Fellow (AFHEA, D1)
03: Recognised by the HEA as a Fellow (FHEA, D2)
04: Recognised by the HEA as a Senior Fellow (SFHEA, D3)
05: Recognised by the HEA as a Principal Fellow (PFHEA, D4)
These are the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowships. A higher fellowship supersedes a lower one. I received my Fellowship in 2008 and my Senior Fellowship in 2014, so my category is just 04 (rather than 03 and 04)
06: Holder of a National Teaching Fellowship Scheme Individual Award.
This is competitive Scheme scheme which has run since about 2000. According to the HEA website there are 643 fellows as of 2015. I don't know whether this includes those who have retired or died, but there will be only a handful of these in each university anyway (there are currently 132 members of UniversitiesUK).
Categories 01-06 are clear. You have them or you don't. Moreover, they are all designed for the purpose of teaching in UK higher education. Now for the bog-snorkelling where we head into the realms of other sectors, equivalences and interpretation.
07: Holder of a PGCE in higher education, secondary education, further education, lifelong learning or any other equivalent UK qualification.
Now we are into the territory of teaching qualifications designed or other sectors/ age groups. Note that primary PGCE does not appear in this list. Is it 'any other equivalent UK qualification' though? If it was it would be in the list though, surely?
08: Accredited as a teacher of their subject by a professional UK body.
The definition of professional body is important here: "A professional body is a group of people in a learned occupation who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the legitimate practice of the occupation." For example, the Higher Education Academy describes itself as a 'professional institution', rather than a professional body. It might have some degree of oversight into teaching in higher education, but it does not have control.
The University of Newcastle's guidelines offer 'Subject-discipline accreditation of any kind (e.g. Member of the Academy of Medical Educators (MacadMED)'. While the example may be correct, the 'subject discipline accreditation' description may not be as HESA intended.
In terms of subject discipline a holder of CELTA, DELTA or MA TESOL (or teaching English to speakers of other languages would be a qualified teacher), but as far as I can see there is not a professional body that regulates and controls the teaching of English as an additional/ second language, but there are professional organisations in the field of English teaching. I'm not a lawyer(!), but there seems to be a clear legal distinction between a professional body and a professional organisation. However, it may be that those who wrote the original guidelines were not using a legal framework. I suspect the spirit rather than the letter of the law was intended here, but I may be wrong abut this.
We were unsure whether our primary school teachers could fit into category 07, but they would definitely fit into this category 08 if they were teaching primary education as they would be members of the General Teaching Council (in England), the professional body for teachers… but wait... the GTC was abolished in 2012! The Teaching Agency took over some functions of the GTC, but is the Teaching Agency a professional body? The Teaching Agency has “...responsibility for the supply, quality and regulation of the education workforce”. The phrase 'professional body' does not appear, but looks like a duck, waddles like a duck etc. Perhaps the definition of a professional body is not important after all. Does your head hurt? To confuse matters further the Teaching Agency is England-only, so the answers may be different for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
So if we accept primary school teaching qualification in this category, this would only apply if the qualified primary school teacher was teaching primary education and not if the qualified primary school teacher was teaching French. But if a qualified secondary school teacher were to teach primary education, they would qualify as an HE teacher under category 07.
09 Other UK accreditation or qualification in teaching in the higher education sector.
I'm not sure what goes into this category. There might be some older (pre-late 90s) qualifications or accreditation out there. I suppose the English Teachers might come into this category if they are ruled out of Category 08, but only if their qualification was primarily concerned with teaching in higher education as opposed to other sectors/ age groups.
10 Overseas accreditation or qualification for any level of teaching.
This could mean anything as long as it wasn't done in the UK. My wife is qualified as a pre-school and primary school teacher in the Province of Quebec. She's not entirely sure the extent to which the accreditation is recognised in other Canadian provinces but were she to get a job in a UK university her Brevet d'Enseignement places her firmly into the qualified HE category, whatever subject she was teaching. Some while a UK-qualified primary school teacher might not be recognised under 07 or 08, with a non-UK qualification there is no ambiguity whatsoever.
Additional questions.
So what should I do if I can't work out if I'm a qualified teacher in HE?
Do your fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
I am a qualified teacher under HESA, but I don't think my qualification has prepared me well for teaching in a university. What would you advise?
Do your fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
I'm not a qualified teacher in higher education. What should I do?
Do your fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
New: Half a million unsatisfied graduates? Increasing scrutiny of National Student Survey’s ‘overall’ question.
Canning, J. (2015 ) Half a million unsatisfied graduates? Increasing scrutiny of National Student Survey’s ‘overall’ question. Educational Developments has now been published. It is only available in the printed version at present.
First paragraph...
Question 22 (Q22), ‘Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course’ stands alone in the National Student Survey (NSS). University league tables include it more than any other question. It covers a multitude of sins. It is the litmus test of a course. However good or bad the assessment, the facilities, the course organisation, this overall question can condemn or redeem a course. Like checkmate in chess, a boxer’s knockout punch, a judge’s verdict it does not matter who tried hardest, made the best moves or made the best arguments. In many respects it is the only judgment that counts.
Book review: 53 interesting ways to assess your students, 3rd Edition.
B
ook review 1 Victoria Burns (2015 ed.) 53 interesting ways to assess your students. 3rd Edition. 2 Newmarket: The Professional and Higher Partnership £19.81 (RRP) ISBN 978-1-907076-52-7
I wouldn't usually start a book review with a personal point of context, but when the first edition of this book by Gibbs, Habeshaw and Habeshaw was published in 1986 I was still in primary school. While many early 21st century books look decidedly dated the '53 ways' series is sufficiently enduring that 30 year-old copies of the various '53 ways' books remain on the shelves of our Centre for Learning and Teaching library and are still consulted by early career lecturers taking the PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education course.
Each '53 ways' book consists of 53 'ideas' of 2-3 pages each. For example in 53 interesting ways to assess your students way 1 is actually an introduction to choosing assessment methods, way 2 is 'the standard essay', way 20 is 'writing for the Internet' and way 36 is the 'seen exam'. These ways are grouped together in chapters ; for example Chapter 1 (ways 2-4) is called 'Essays' and Chapter 9 (ways 33-38) is 'Examinations'. Each assessment way is then described and explained and the strengths and limitations of each form of assessment is briefly considered. Strictly speaking there are more than 53 assessment ways as many ways have variations on the theme.
As with other '53 ways' this volume can be read from beginning to end, flicked through or dipped in and out of at the reader's pleasure. New and experienced lecturers alike will find treasures here; I thought the 'learning archive' (way 29) whereby students are set the same question in years 1, 2 and 3 and are given the opportunity to reflect on their intellectual development particularly interesting. Framed in the context of the 2010 Equality Act, Way 51 on inclusive assessment and equal opportunities is useful for UK readers, but will no doubt be helpful to others too. It was also positive to see a chapter of ways devoted to feedback as well.
Inevitably, every reader will identify omissions. Many of our PGCert participants write about Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), and although a fairly specialist assessment discipline-wise they are probably worthy of a place in the book, and could fit nicely into the chapters on authentic assessment or problem-based assessment. Similarly field trips/ visits might have been included, but perhaps they didn't sit well in a publication aimed at a general academic audience, or may have made the '53' difficult to achieve. '53 ways' books are not and do not purport to be in-depth theorisations of their subjects and when introducing assessment and feedback I like to 'drill deep' with the principles and purposes of assessment with other texts; I see '53 ways' as a good quality accompaniment to a module on assessment and feedback rather than a core text.
For the benefit of readers familiar with previous editions the publisher's foreword (p. ix) helpfully outlines the connections between Burns' editorial work and the previous work of Gibbs and his colleagues. A balance has been nicely struck between producing a work which is fit for purpose in the second decade of the 21st century while maintaining the approach and appeal of the earlier editions which lies in the accessibility, diversity and brevity of the 53 ways. A balance has also been struck between maintaining content from previous editions while introducing new material, the most notable development between the second and third editions being the small matter of the World Wide Web! Not only have new assessment ideas such as 'Writing for the Internet' and 'Designing Multimedia materials' been added a substantial amount the material is actually new material developed by Burns and her team.
In conclusion I highly recommend that lecturers at any stage of their career take time to look at '53 interesting ways to assess your students'. Although I suspect many of its readers will be academics at the beginning of their careers I particularly hope it will challenge experienced lecturers who have long relied on traditional staples such as unseen exams and set essays to see the rich possibilities of assessment.
Coventry maintains Number 1 position on the NSS Canning list
I've just calculated the 2015 for the Canning list. The full data will be uploaded soon.
The top 10 institutions for average score are a mix of large and smaller providers, perhaps demonstrating that insitutations of all sizes can score well (or badly). Among the larger providers (minimum 20 programmes) Coventry maintains its number 1 position.
Top 10 universities for National Student Survey (2015) Minimum 10 courses
| Institution | Number of courses | Mean WSSS |
| City College Plymouth | 11 | 1550.1 |
| Coventry University | 51 | 1502.4 |
| The University of Surrey | 36 | 1489.7 |
| North Lindsey College | 11 | 1456.9 |
| Doncaster College | 14 | 1446 |
| The University of Leeds | 72 | 1432.9 |
| The University of Keele | 34 | 1427 |
| Bangor University | 44 | 1423.8 |
| Solihull College | 13 | 1423.4 |
| University of Ulster | 57 | 1421 |
Top 10 universities for National Student Survey (2015) Minimum 20 courses
| University | Number of courses | Mean WSSS |
| Coventry University | 51 | 1502.4 |
| The University of Surrey | 36 | 1489.7 |
| The University of Leeds | 72 | 1432.9 |
| The University of Keele | 34 | 1427 |
| Bangor University | 44 | 1423.8 |
| University of Ulster | 57 | 1421 |
| Loughborough University | 34 | 1419.1 |
| Edge Hill University | 29 | 1415 |
| Nottingham Trent University | 47 | 1410.8 |
| Bath Spa University | 22 | 1410.4 |
Linux Mint 17.2 booting problem seemingly solved by installing gdm.
I installed R and R-studio onto my Linux Mint 17.2 installation last night – I have no idea if this related to my present problem. All seemed to go fine with the installation of the packages, but when I turned the computer on this morning it would not boot up. Stubborn as I am I have sought a solution high and low. Whenever I turned on the computer the boot-up sequence would freeze at the Mint logo.
I initially thought I had some sort of graphics driver problem but the solutions mentioned did not work for me. I inadvertently found a solution on an Ubuntu forum (Mint is actually a fork of Ubuntu), by installing gdm (Gnome desktop manager) on Mint.
While the computer was booting I got into the command line. Exact procedures for reaching the command line on boot-up may vary by in my case.
1. Pressed Esc repeatedly on start up
2. Selected Mint recovery mode.
3. Selected reboot to get into the command line:
4. Hold down CTRL+F1
Probably a good idea to make sure everything is up to date
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
To install and configure Gnome Desktop: In the terminal type
sudo agt-get install gdm sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm
Then reboot
E.g.
sudo reboot
The Computer then booted up the Gnome rather than the Mint desktop. You should see a list of the users for the Mint installation.
If you login with the default the desktop appears for a micro-second then goes back to the login screen. Instead you need to click the settings icon (it looks like a cog) and select 'Mate'. (I'm using Mate rather than Cinnamon).
Go make to the command terminal to install mdm (Mate Desktop Manager).
Probably a good idea to make sure everything is up to date
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
To install mdm
sudo agt-get install mdm sudo dpkg-reconfigure mdm
At this point mdm was installed and there was no complaint from the computer that it was not installed.
I'm starting to suspect that mdm got installed for some reason I don't understand. (If this is the case I suspect I could have installed and configure mdm directly in the boot-up command line stage without having to install gdm!)
At this point a message comes up to say that you cannot have two desktop managers. Selected the mdm rather than gdm.
I've rebooted a few times and everything seems fine (so far). Disclaimer: I'm not a Linux expert and my job is not in software or IT! don't know why it worked or if it will continue to work.
Just thought I'd share it here anyway.
New publication: Teaching in twenty-first-century higher education: reading Chekhov’s ‘A boring story’ to stimulate reflective practice
'Teaching in twenty-first-century higher education: reading Chekhov’s ‘A boring story’ to stimulate reflective practice' has been published online in Reflective Practice.
Questionnaires in LaTeX using the paperandpencil package
I've been using the paperandpencil (.pdf document) package for creating questionnaires in LaTeX. 1 I thought the package worked very well, but just a couple of notes to myself which others may find useful. I've found it works well, but a couple of things were unclear. The .pdf version of the manual displays but the homepage linked from other sites no longer appears to work. However I have just found a download page on the QDDS website.
- The file paperandpencil.sty needs to place in the same directory as the .tex file. I had trouble finding it, but found the code over on Github. I pasted this into a text editor, saved it as paperandpencil.sty, and put it in the same directory as my .tex file.
- The document class needs to be {scrreprt}. This is in the first page documentation, but I managed to miss it.
- To set page numbers \pagestyle{plain} is required and the \pagenumbering and \setcounter options need to be set.
A minimal code example here:
\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt]{scrreprt}
\usepackage{paperandpencil}
\usepackage[top=2.5cm,bottom=2.5cm,left=2cm,right=2cm]{geometry}
\pagestyle{plain}
\begin{document}
\pagenumbering{arabic}
\setcounter{page}{1}
\section*{Title goes here}
\end{document}
Notes:
- Produced by the Questionnaire Development Documentation System, based at the University of Duisburg-Essen ↩
New Lib Dems leader Tim Farron will face tougher attacks from other evangelical Christians than he will from his political opponents.
I don't write about politics except when it pertains to the world outside UK education policy, but I read this morning on twitter that the new leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron is 'openly' an evangelical Christian, the first major party leader since Gladstone according to Gillan Scott writing on the Premier Christian website.
If being the leader of the Liberal Democrats at the present time isn't thankless enough, the people who will hurt him most will be other evangelical Christians. For the first time ever I actually felt moved to put God and politics into one post.
I admit I had to search the internet to check I'd spelt time Farron's name correctly and to see what what he actually looks like; this itself is a pretty miserable incitement of how disengaged from current politics I have become. I'm not sure if Tim Farron identifies himself as evangelical or that is a label given to him by others and I don't know the ins and outs of his voting record and theology. In fact I've written this blog post in deliberate ignorance of these things to keep my point as clear as possible.
As someone who identifies as an evangelical Christian ( details of what this might or might not mean are far beyond the scope of this article) I thought this post might provide an 'outsider guide' to the sorts of opposition he'll face from evangelical Christians and a warning to 'insiders' to think carefully about what they say. Those outside evangelical 'community' (community is far too strong a word) might not know what I'm taking about, but having been labelled an 'evangelical Christian', Tim Farron will face as many attacks from other evangelical Christians than he will from his political opponents. Emotionally, I suspect these attacks will hurt him a lot more than anything his political foes (or friends) in Parliament might say or do to him.
Here are some of accusations and scrutiny other evangelical Christians will level at him from pulpits, Christian websites, and newspapers: I'm not naming names, but to save time I'll write all this stuff down now. I've put evangelical in square brackets as the goal of many evangelical Christians is to ensure the label applies to as few people as possible. I've put Christian in square brackets as if he doesn't qualify as an evangelical Christian many Christians would say there is no other kind.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he voted for or against this or that bill.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he is a member of the Liberal Democrats who put, X, Y and Z in their manifesto.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he doesn't accept this, that or some other doctrine. Perhaps he's only a four point as opposed to five point Calvinist. Perhaps his theology is Arminien rather than Calvinist. Perhaps he agrees with infant baptism, female clergy, open theism or conditional mortality. Or not.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he didn't say X when asked about Y on Question Time.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he does or doesn't subscribe in full to the Westminster Confession, the Thirty-Nine articles, the doctrinal basis of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches etc.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he says nice things about Catholics, Muslims, gay people he's met.
- He can't be an [evangelical] [Christian] because he accepts evolution, believes the world's is more than 6000 years old etc. If he turns out to be a Young Earth Creationist just go back the top of the list and start again.
No doubt many of those giving him a hard time will say it is their responsibility to hold him to an exceptionally high standard or warn others about a wolf in sheep's clothing. Whether Farron makes his mark on history or lives on only in obscure footnotes, I suspect much ink and bandwidth will be spent in bad grace. Now I've written this post I've must make sure I heed my own warnings.