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Wise Wales is looking for a new Chair for its steering group…

Wise Wales is looking for a new Chair for its steering group. Wise Wales’ steering group is responsible for monitoring and advising on the work of the project throughout the year.

For further information, and for copies of documents such as Wise Wales’ Annual Report 2015/16 and the 2016/17 project overview, please contact Jessica Rumble by emailing: Jessica.rumble@nus-wales.org.uk or calling 01625 413252.

If you are interested, please send a CV and cover letter to Jessica.rumble@nus-wales.org.uk by 6 March 2017. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an informal interview with a few current steering group members.

Please note: we are unable to consider applications from employees of the organisations that fund Wise Wales (with the exception of the HE institutions).

Download the PDF here

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Being a Course Rep

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Download the Resource Here

At universities and colleges up and down Wales, course and student representatives are being selected and trained to ensure that both students and the institutions they attend are able to work together, putting learner voice at the heart of the development of the education sector in Wales.

Being a representative of your fellow students is a hugely important task. Wise Wales is here to make sure that both students and institutions know how to manage the partnership effectively, and we will be hosting events and training representatives through the year to make sure that our universities, colleges and sector as a whole are working together as effectively as possible. 

Key Date
Course Rep Conference – 8th February

In early 2017, we will host a conference aimed at course representatives and the staff who support them. Workshops will focus on developing course representatives’ skills and knowledge, along with opportunities to network and share experiences and ideas. It is essential for the Welsh education sector that student voice is as effective and cohesive as possible, and this is a perfect opportunity to ensure this aim is met.

Wise Wales works with students, learner voice practitioners and others in the sector to ensure that partnership is being practised as effectively as possible. Keep up to date with our latest news and course representative resources by checking our website and signing up to our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cjM7L1 for more information!

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Further Education Project 2015/16

Launch of Pathways to Partnership for Further Education

Welsh Government Funded – December 2015

Background to the project

FE Project 2010-2013

To support the launch of the Learner Involvement Strategy Guidance from Welsh Government in 2010, National Union of Students (NUS) Wales delivered a three-year FE Project within Wales. This was funded by the Welsh Government to support institutions to embed this guidance. This involved supporting development of learner voice structures including course representative systems, student councils, students’ unions and development and training of student governors. The project also created the Learner Voice Practitioners Network for Wales which brings together staff with responsibility for learner voice to share good practice, network and run relevant training sessions. This was the first UK network of its kind.

The project ended in 2013, and there has since been cross-sector recognition that there is no national framework to support colleges with progression of learner voice and learner involvement strategies and to support parity of experience of learners across Wales.

Project Activity

The new Pathways to Partnership for FE project is being funded by Welsh Government and aims to help create a national structure to further support learner voice within Welsh institutions.

It is being carried out by the Wise Wales project for student partnership, supported by NUS Wales. It will be focussed on supporting colleges within Wales with self-assessment of learner involvement activities with a sector-wide development toolkit.

The project will be carried out in two stages:

First stage – Self assessment toolkit

  • A student partnership consultant will visit all colleges to support the self-assessment of learner involvement activities. The focus will be on current internal processes, quality cycles, and feedback mechanisms to provide key themes for improvement. These could include: course representatives, surveys, student council/students’ union, online feedback systems, and other feedback mechanisms such as complaint systems.
  • A lead in document will be sent beforehand to support the visit; including who will need to be present and what documents they will need. It will involve meeting with the lead for learner voice and student representatives. The project is designed to be mindful of busy schedules and seeks to avoid burdening colleges with extra work.

Second stage – Tailored support

  • The second stage of the project will centre on working with up to 8 colleges to map themes and create a tailored pathway to partnership report.
  • The report will include areas of satisfaction and recommendations of how to improve learner involvement activities and structures at the institution.
  • The purpose of the report will be to support the embedding of self-assessment within learner voice as a live process and used to form part of the quality cycle within the institution, and will inform college self-assessment. A key part of the process is for college corporations to own and sign off this reporting document to agree a ‘live’ ongoing self-assessment / action plan for learner voice in the college.
  • At both stages the development toolkit and report will remain anonymous. The data is for internal analysis and development of internal processes.

Timescales:

  • First stage visits to be completed: December 2015 to February 2016
  • Second stage to be completed: March – June 2016

Support for the project

This project has cross-sector support.

Welsh Government

“Involving learners in decisions that affect them is as much a priority for the Welsh Government as it was five years ago when we published our Learner Involvement Strategies Guidance. Learner involvement has been proven to be beneficial for individuals, organisational and communities. It can help learners improve their self-esteem and motivation, gain important personal, social and organisational skills, all of which can help them become learners for life. 

That’s why we are pleased to support the Wise Wales project at NUS Wales to deliver the new Pathways to Partnership for Further Education project. It will help our FE Institutions assess the progress they have made towards embedding learner involvement in their quality cycles and identify what more they can do to go beyond this to develop truly inclusive and mutually beneficial relationships with their learners that lead to quality improvements across the whole learning experience.”

ColegauCymru

“ColegauCymru is pleased to support the Pathways to Partnership project that will be led by Wise Wales with funding from the Welsh Government. 

The Pathways to Partnership project is being launched at an opportune moment.  The sector has embraced the principle of partnership and student leadership and there have been some important developments in the area of sports and physical activity in particular.  A number of colleges are establishing student management teams in order to create structured opportunities for peer-peer leadership, development and learner voice in the area of sport.   The Pathways to Partnership project will give colleges an opportunity to pool expertise and develop and improve on good practice that is emerging in different colleges and in different areas in a more holistic way.

We look forward to realising the purposes of the project.”

National Union of Students Wales

NUS Wales Deputy President, Ebbi Ferguson, welcomed the launch of the statement as “the first step” towards building a stronger FE students’ union network.

“Students’ unions are pivotal in making sure the student voice is central to learning,” she said. “We know that strong, embedded relationships between institutions and learners lead to a higher quality experience and higher student satisfaction. We want this to be the ethos in further education, as well as higher education.“We want this new partnership, bringing together all the key players in the future of FE in Wales, to be a catalyst for greater collaboration – and the creation of a shared vision promoting learner voice in Wales.” 

Contacts for the project

Project Manager: Graham Henry: graham.henry@nus-wales.org.uk

Student Partnership Consultants:

Heather Ferguson: heather.ferguson@nus-wales.org.uk @Wise_Wales

Jessica Rumble – jessica.rumble@nus-wales.org.uk @Wise_Cymru

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Annual Report 2013-14 Published

Wise Wales’ 2013-14 year was a launch pad for several student partnership initiatives. Main events in 2013-14 included: the launch of the online hub for students’ unions and institutions; giving them to access material to support their partnership working, two Wales-wide conferences and the launch of a Partnership Statement. More details about the Partnership Statement and the rest of our work in 2013-14 can be found in the annual report here

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Ideas, experiences and challenges: Wise Wales Partnership for Wales Conference 2015

Wise Wales held its second annual Partnership for Wales Conference in Neath on Wednesday 3 June. Over 50 delegates from the higher and further education sectors in Wales came together to exchange ideas, experiences, and challenges.

The conference marked the launch of the first stage of the Pathways to Partnership toolkit, a resource developed by Wise Wales to enable students’ unions and institutions to map their current partnership activities and identify ways in which they can develop.

A higher education partnership staff network was also launched, and held its inaugural meeting at the conference. The network will run throughout the year and is intended to be forum for staff to support one another and share good practice and experiences.

Delegates at the conference had the opportunity to hear Professor Jo Smedley of the University of South Wales talking about ‘the learner journey’. They also took part in a number of workshops.

We were pleased to welcome Will Page and James Smith from the University of Exeter and Exeter Students’ Guild respectively, who spoke about their experiences of student engagement. Zoe Pulling from Warwickshire College spoke with FE delegates about student engagement and the multi-campus institute. In addition, Tom Lowe, VP Education, and Cassie Shaw, a Student Fellow and Student Engagement Assistant, both from Winchester Students’ Union spoke about enhanced collaboration and shared their ideas for inspiring students to be agents of change.

As well as all of these interesting and engaging workshops, delegates had the opportunity to come together in Good Practice and Ideas Sharing Showcases, one each for the HE and FE sectors. These sessions, led by Wise Wales’ Student Partnership Consultants, saw students, partnership practitioners, and others, sharing their experiences of how partnership has worked well in their institutions, and building relationships with each other.

NUS Wales Deputy President Ebbi Ferguson also launched the Further Education Media Toolkit, which aims to support students and officers in FE with media relations and campaigning.

Ms Ferguson closed the conference, calling on delegates to define what activism means to them, and to use their power and influence to effect real change on the matters that they care about.

The Wise Wales team extends its thanks to all external speakers for their inspiring words throughout the day, and all the delegates who joined us in Neath.