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Vocational Project Resources

Seminars - Background and materials

A number of seminars held in 2007-9 as part of the LONCETT vocational project centred on the exploration of the concept of subject specialist pedagogies and the development and evaluation of a curriculum and set of mentoring resources for those who enter teaching. The resources downloadable below document the discussions on subject specialist pedagogies and their results and also contain valuable examples of practice.

Seminar 1 - 2nd November 2007

At the start of the LONCETT vocational project, a seminar was held at Lewisham College to explore the concept of vocational pedagogy and to discuss how an investigation to develop a subject specialist mentor curriculum might be carried out. The seminar brought together a panel of experts (two professors, a former HMI, an author of a best-selling ITT textbook and two national consultants) and vocational teachers. Video footage and documents downloadable via the links document the day's proceedings and outcomes.

Seminar 1 - Programme, briefings and background documents

DownloadSeminar 1 Programme/Speakers
DownloadSeminar 1 Participant Briefing

DownloadSeminar 1 Pres Subject Pedagogy Petty
DownloadSeminar 1 Pres Work Based Learning Perry
DownloadSeminar 1 Pres Challenges Vocational Learning/Teaching Stanton

Seminar 1 - Vocational specialists' responses to issues raised in morning session

The three vocational groups represented (construction; hair and beauty; and hospitality and catering) addressed the following questions:

What specifically they recognise and identify with?
What specifically they disagree with?
What they think has been left out?

Vocational specialists' responses to what the speakers said (Morning Plenary Session) - video


Seminar 1 - Vocational specialists' responses to afternoon's exercises

In the afternoon session each group was asked

  1. To identify two or three procedures that are absolutely central to their vocational specialism.
  2. To select one such procedure and to identify what  are the most effective ways to teach it, including the teaching of any underpinning knowledge.
  3. To consider more broadly the wider occupational and cultural characteristics of which they are conscious when they teach the procedure and whether they convey these practically.
  4. To reflect on whether this aspect of their vocational area is changing? If so, how? How, for example, are changes in technology impacting upon their teaching of knowledge and skills.

Afternoon Plenary with vocational specialists' feedback on questions - video

 

Seminar 2 - 29 February 2008

In February 2008 the team of the LONCETT vocational project held a second seminar. Mentors and mentees from colleges and work-based learning providers from three occupational areas, construction, catering and hospitality, and hair and beauty therapy had been asked to keep diaries and logs of a) how they taught a specific procedure and b) how mentors supported new teachers to teach the procedure. Presenting to a panel of researchers about how they taught a particular aspect/procedure within their area the aim was to make explicit tacit or taken-for-granted aspects of their pedagogy and to identify common features. Via the links below you can download seminar materials and view examples of practice in the three areas which were at the heart of the day's discussions.

Seminar 2 - Programme, briefings and background documents

 

DownloadSeminar 2 Programme/Briefing

Seminar 2 - Vocational consultants' feedback and discussion

 

DownloadSeminar 2 Consultants' feedback

Seminar 2 - Post-seminar work

After the seminar, members of the project steering group met with Professor Lorna Unwin to discuss how the seminar findings should be analysed. The group decided to collate the findings under the follow headings:

  • Vocational pedagogy
  • Subject specialism
  • Mentoring.

This led to further work by the vocational specialist groups, who applied these headings to their own findings. Both the documents relating to the meeting with Professor Unwin and those produced by the vocational specialists are available via the links below.

 

DownloadSeminar 2 Presentation meeting L. Unwin
DownloadSeminar 2 Analysis Construction
DownloadSeminar 2 Analysis Hospitality
DownloadSeminar 2 Analysis Beauty

Seminar 3 - 13 June 2008

In June 2008 a third seminar was held by the team of LONCETT's vocational project to discuss the development of a subject specialist mentor curriculum and resources, based on the evidence and experiences gathered in seminars 1 and 2. At the seminar experienced vocational teachers explored and reflected upon what they had discovered about supporting a new teacher. New teachers attending the seminar gave reflections on their experience of being supported.

Seminar 3 - Programme, briefings

 

DownloadSeminar 3 Programme/Brief
DownloadSeminar 3 Investigative brief
DownloadIntroduction Seminar 3

DownloadSeminar 3 Construction Flipchart AM
DownloadSeminar 3 Hair Beauty Notes AM
DownloadSeminar 3 Hospitality Notes AM

Seminar 3 - Vocational specialists' advice on mentoring and mentor training

 

DownloadSeminar 3 Construction Notes PM
DownloadSeminar 3 Beauty Notes PM
DownloadSeminar 3 Hospitality Notes PM

Seminar 4 - 27 February 2009

A draft guide / resource for professionals who mentor new teachers has been produced collaboratively between providers participating in the LONCETT vocational project, based on evidence from mentors and mentees in three occupational areas. In February 2009 a fourth project seminar was held at Westminster Kingsway College to gain feedback from mentors and mentees who piloted the new guide / resource. In addition to the seminar an on-line questionnaire was also sent to all mentors and mentees in participating providers who had piloted the guide.
 
The PowerPoint slides downloadable via the link below were presented by Tony Nasta as an overview of the project and to give an introduction to and set the context for Seminar 4.

 

DownloadIntroduction Seminar 4 / Project Overview