Helping HE in FE

Staff at Chichester College have a greater understanding of what their higher education (HE) students expect, thanks to a pilot in-house programme.

Chichester College was looking for a separate ‘voice’ to work with their HE teaching staff, staff who worked mostly with FE students. With their higher education provision viewed as part of a ‘learning ladder’ a high proportion of the college’s HE students (around 80%) are learners who were progressed from their FE provision. The ‘separate voice’, was provided by a pilot module run by LSIS to help the college think about and identify the expectations of their HE-specific learners. It was one of the first of seven curriculum planning and development in-house training offers from LSIS, developed to create a more responsive and flexible curriculum to meet the needs of learners, employers and the wider community.

Chichester College was looking for support with preparing for the Integrated Quality and Enhancement Review (IQER) replacement, preparing for new funding streams and the strategic objective to ‘refresh’ the college’s HE provision. They were provided with an in-house training module, which included a workshop for five of their HE course leaders. As a result of undergoing the module, staff conducted a review of the student experience and supported the development of improvements in that experience. Staff gained a better understanding of the demands of HE, how it should be delivered, and improved relations with their Higher Education Institute (HEI) partners and external examiners.

Gerry Griffith, Quality Manager and HE Coordinator at Chichester College said: “Value for money is very important for HE students, so it is essential to understand HE students’ needs. However, value for money means different things to different students, for example, science students will ask for one copy of a textbook each, because the textbook is so heavy they don’t want to keep visiting the library to borrow a copy.

“Following the programme, staff now realise that HE students should be viewed as individuals. If a student has childcare needs their tutor shouldn’t think that it is someone else’s problem, but that there is a need for ‘wraparound’ care. Career outcomes are very important for HE students, so success should not be viewed as just passing exams but progressing towards employment.” For further information about these and other Curriculum planning and development modules email LSIS.