Leading Change - 18-19 March 2010
Thank you to everyone that attended the 2010 Annual Governance Conference on 18 and 19 March 2010. This was the third annual conference combining a wide range of governing body members, including; chairs and vice chairs, governors (including staff and student governors) and clerks. The main event sponsors were Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, with Navigate sponsoring the evening dinner and Becta provided a very popular internet cafe for delegates.
Following the very successful two days in Birmingham, we have gathered here, all the presentations, after dinner speech and handouts that were used at the conference. There are also some photos to remind you of the engaging and positive two days we spent together.
Over the next month, we will also add the conference evaluation feedback, some reflections from Professor Bill Lucas, our conference chair, and some open space hosts have offered to write up the notes from the discussions, so we will add these as well. Feedback from the breakfast briefing session is available under Professor Bill Lucas' biography on the speakers page already; Mark Kaczmarek from BIS has answered some questions/concerns raised about possible differences between how Ofsted measures VFM and a proposed VFM measure in the Framework for Excellence (FfE).
Information about the conference speakers is available and materials and presentations from the workshops are listed below.
Don’t forget to let us have any additional reflections or thoughts you have had about the conference that may help us in the designing of next year's event, and definitely don’t forget to put next year’s Annual Governance Conference dates in your diaries, 24 and 25 March 2011.
We look forward to welcoming you again in 2011!
For additional comment on the 2010 conference please email governance.events@lsis.org.uk
New online learning resource - e-ffective governance
We would like to invite you to help evaluate the pilot of the e-ffective governance online product launched at the conference. There is a flyer at the back of your delegate pack describing the product. If you are interested in taking part in the pilot, please could you email Katy Shannon Katy.Shannon@lsis.org.uk with your first name, last name, email address, organisation name, and position (Governor or Clerk).
You can also visit the www.fegovernance.org website to find out about upcoming development opportunities from the Leadership Skills for Governance programme.
Workshop materials
A list of all workshops that took place along with workshop materials to download is provided below. More detailed descriptions about each workshop is available to download here : 2010 AGC workshop descriptions
Thursday 18 March 2010 14.10-15.10
To what extent do governors understand the Ofsted common inspection framework (CIF) for further education and skills (2009) as a guide to promoting effective governance?
Paul Curry, HMI OfSted
The role of college governors in relation to HE in FECs
Penny Blackie and Anne Thompson, HE in FECs Expert Programme project team. A HEFCE Leadership, Governance and Management Fund project.
Download the Higher Education in Further Education Colleges guide here.
FE colleges within a local public service coalition - the total place experience
Caroline Mager, Executive Director, Policy, Research and Strategic Intelligence, LSIS and Richard Dimbleby, Total Place Project Co-ordinator, AoC
Review of governance in English further education
Allan Schofield, Lead researcher, Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
Embracing learner voice: legal compliance and opportunities
Stephen Coole, Development Worker, NUS
How effective information advice and guidance supports organisational success
Ann Ruthven, Head of Learner and Learning support, LSIS
Preparing for Ofsted inspection of college health and well-being provision
Sam Mellor, Head of Healthy FE Programme and Peter Chell, FE Adviser, Department of Health
The duty to promote economic and social well-being
Peter Munday, Head of Consultancy Services and Resource Utilisation, LSIS
Reorganisations - the anatomy of change
Ben Wood, Eversheds
Safeguarding your learners, securing your future
Marianne Green and Ann Hughes, BECTA
Lloyds TSB’s view of the current funding and economic environment
Richard Watt, Director and Head of Education, Keith Norman, Relationship Director, Education and Simon Cossey, Associate Director, Wholesale Markets, Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets
Friday 19 March 2010 10.10-11.10
Review of governance in English further education
Allan Schofield, Lead researcher, Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
New perspectives on governing your board
Jenny Garrett and Mark Outhwaite, LSIS
Recruiting a leader for change
Jo Johnston, Association of Colleges Management Services,Sally Dicketts, Chair of the Women’s Leadership Network and Principal of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, Robin Landman, Chief Executive of the Network for Black Professionals
Framework for Excellence
Sue Parker, LSC, Mark Kaczmarek/Lynne Robinson, BIS
The annual audit cycle – leading effective controls in times of change
Graham Briscoe, Audit Committee Chairman, City of Bath College
How is bureaucracy generated during change? How can it be minimised?
Tony Craven, Chair, FE and Skills Bureaucracy Reduction Group
Testing models of governance
Ron Hill and Ian James, Governance associates, LSIS
Leading and building Capacity to Improve: the role of governors
Kevin Finnigan and Thalia Marriott, LSIS facilitators and Carolyn Watkinson, Director of Partnerships and Consortia Leadership, LSIS
Equality, diversity and governance
Chris Rose, Equality Consultant, LSIS
Whither University Centres? Approaches and understanding of ‘the ability to deliver’ in models of governance in existing and emergent University Centres
Dr Bethan O'Neill, Project manager and lead researcher on governance projects, David Jenkins, Chair of the Association of Collaborative Providers of HE in FE Colleges
Lloyds TSB’s view of the current funding and economic environment
Richard Watt, Director and Head of Education, Keith Norman, Relationship Director, Education and Simon Cossey, Associate Director, Wholesale Markets, Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets
Demonstrating the use and benefits of Generator, Becta’s Technology Improvement Leadership tool for assessing and benchmarking organisational use of technology and e-maturity
Evelyn Nichols, Chief Executive, BDP Learning and Chris McLean, Vice Principal, North Hertfordshire College
A new activity for 2010
Open Space (OS) Thursday afternoon
In response to feedback from last year, many governors wanted more time to talk with fellow delegates and share experiences. This year at the conference we have designed in a time to do just that, using the 'open space' technique. Below is an explanation of open space, and an opportunity for you to start adding to the agenda. We already have several requests including, a chance for experienced clerks to get together, sharing the experience of running paperless meetings and a discussion group on how to be a critical friend.
Created by Harrison Owen, OS is a method of running largely self-organised meetings to ensure maximum engagement and discussion about issues that matter to those present. The approach is most distinctive for the way it encourages participants to create the agenda for themselves in the first 30 minutes or so of an event.
Typically, an OS event begins with a short introduction by the facilitator who explains the "self-organising" process called "Open Space”. Then those present create a working agenda, with individuals posting their issues in bulletin board style. Each individual "convenor" of a breakout session takes responsibility for describing an issue, posting it on a bulletin board, assigning it a space and time to meet, and then later, “hosting” the conversation, and taking notes to be shared with other delegates.
Where in a typical conference the principle of organisation is that topics are decided and timetabled in advance with known presenters, in OS the approach is deliberately more fluid.
In OS there are four “principles” and one “law”.
The Principles
1. Whoever comes are the right people
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
3. Whenever it starts is the right time
4. When it’s over, it’s over.
The Law
If, during the course of the gathering, any person finds him or herself in a situation where they are neither learning nor contributing, they must use their two feet and go to some more productive place.
So at the 2010 LSIS event we will be using a version of the OS process which will be clearly explained by our conference facilitator, Professor Bill Lucas.
Free one to one confidential coaching
You may like to explore a concern or issue you have in your governance role that you feel would be difficult to explore with other members of your Governing Body.
This year LSIS is offering free one hour one to one coaching sessions for delegates. These will happen during the workshop times, so if you would like to take advantage of this offer, please email the Governance Events team at governance.events@lsis.org.uk with the time that suits you. There are three professional coaches from the LSIS team available, offering a total of 10 free sessions. These will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the conference or your booking please contact the Governance Events team at governance.events@lsis.org.uk or 020 7929 8763.