Reaching the parts: encouraging support staff development in HE Jude Carroll 8 June 2004

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Reaching the partsencouraging support staff
development in HEJude Carroll8 June 2004
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Supporting the supporters so, what is
support? and who are support staff? and
who are you supporting?
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and development some aspects

• Proactive and/or reactive
• Personal and/or professional
• Skills and knowledge
• Feeling different, acting different, being
  different
• Recognition by self / others
• Cashing in for benefit

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Brief personal audit

• Where on the sliding scale do you fit?
• Do as few or as many as make sense for your job.
• Paired discussion what did that brief exercise
  confirm in your own mind about your development?

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Why develop?

• Change Even if you are on the right track, if
  you dont move the train will flatten you.
• Shark thinking If I stay still, I die.
• the Hair colour case Because Im worth it
• High hopes
• Better intros What do you do? Im a ..

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Whats encouraging staff development in HE
nationally?

• HEFCE Human Resources funding
• Institutional audit
• Requirements for appraisal schemes that work
• Job evaluation
• Blurring of job boundaries, changing teaching
  contracts, hybrid roles
• The Academy Associate membership
• more from Sally

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Local effects of national activities

• HR funding more money around for Staff
  Development
• plans, strategic targets
• checking up, need for explicit evidence,
  outcomes
• LOTS more staff development units in HE
• Audit asking questions, seeking evidence for
  statements paper trails
• appraisal that works
• Job evaluation interviews up-to-date job
  descriptions
• documenting and ranking
• explicit duties, real responsibilities
• Blurring job boundaries gaining new tasks or
  higher value tasks
• Associate membership of the Academy

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Other encouraging factors

• Tried and tested methods
• in-house training
• piggybacking on students provision
• conferences and networking
• sometimes recognised qualifications
• New structures being added
• modern apprenticeships
• SEDA professional accreditation
• IiP Investors in People
• LTSNs!!
• New methods
• Learning sets, mentoring, on-line learning,

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Whats special about HE for development?

• No careers but lots of chances
• Relatively loose structures and systems
• Relatively short hierarchies
• Relatively secure funding
• Many ways of demonstrating competence, authority
  and leadership.
• Widely varied job roles within one organisation

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Whats getting in the way? Time

• Pressure more tasks
• job intensification
• no slack time . 12 months revenue from
  facilities etc
• long-hours culture in some jobs
• own time tasks flexible learning in private
  time
• IT access at home
• Carving out private time at work

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Getting in the way? the entrepreneurial model

• .your progress is your responsibility
• Wait to be discovered and you will wait forever
• may be changing IiP, appraisal, audit,etc.

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Getting in the way? Mindsets

• Opportunistic job seeking in HE
• Wanting quick returns for effort Whats in it
  for me?
• Lack of insight into ones own gaps, weaknesses
• Anger from previous experiences being ignored,
  discouraged, overlooked

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Continuing professional development

• Individually Think back five years
• What do you know now that you didnt know then?
  
• What can you do now that you couldnt do then?
• In 3s tell each other HOW you leaned these
  things. Now what but HOW.
• Be ready to tell others about those methods in 5
  minutes.

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Widening your thinking about methods

• Mentoring
• Placements
• Shadowing
• Project work
• Having a go
• Joining a group to do something
• And?

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Getting your learning validated

• NVQs
• Work based learning
• APEL
• On-line courses
• Portfolio-based assessments
• Action learning sets
• Courses (especially postgrad) that use and build
  on practice

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Getting in the way? Getting started

• Having a goal. Writing it down..
• Having a plan. Writing it down, talking about it
• Getting it into your diary..doing it. Not
  allowing the urgent to crowd out the important
• Bite sized chunks

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Cashing in

• Grow your current job
• Seek a new one in your university or college
• Seek outside

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Tailoring this thinking

• Move to the part of the room suggested.
• Form small groups of 4 with others.
• Spend five minutes talking through how this
  presentation fits with your own job.
• Be prepared to continue the discussions over
  lunch and afterwards.