Partnerships, Administration in the School of Education

1. Partnerships & Administration in the School of
Education
AUA Partnerships Conference
26 October 2015

2. 30 November 2015 2
Case Study of an Administration Team’s
journey and how the kaleidoscope of
partnerships were essential to its success

3. School of Education: Context
• School of Education delivers Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and
Undergraduate & Professional Education (UPE) courses
• Over 1800 students across UG, PGT, PGR & CPLD courses
• Works in partnership with over 300 primary and secondary schools
• Works in partnership with Lead Academies and with School Centred
Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) partnership arrangements
• Works in partnership with a range of internal departments and
partners
• Kaleidoscope of partners: Brightly patterned and constantly
shifting!
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4. Changes to the School: Team structures
First major shift of the kaleidoscope…
• Careers & Employability incorporated Placements administration
• Case made for the Partnerships Administration team (inc ITE
Placements) to remain in the School
• Partnership changes: School colleagues now working in partnership
with ‘central’ staff who were previously part of the School team
• Integration of Partnerships Admin team with School admin team
• Establishment of a Recruitment team working with Head of
Partnerships and Partnership Managers
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5. Changes to the School: Academic management
Second major shift of the kaleidoscope…
• Head of Partnerships role established
• Partnership Manager roles
• Partnership Liaison team
• Communication challenges
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6. Changes to the School: Government policy
Third major shift of the kaleidoscope…
• Shift to School-centred delivery:
- School Direct (working with Lead Academies)
- School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)
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7. Changes to the School: What did this mean for
our Partnerships?
• Partnerships with Schools changed, esp with the introduction of
School Direct
• Partnerships with academic colleagues evolved
• Partnerships with internal departments even more key to deliver
this ‘non-standard’ delivery
• Partnership with internal commercial team became more important
– new business models required
• Partnership with School Direct Trainees (applicants and NQTs)
evolved
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8. Changes to the School: What did we do?
• Inclusive approach
• Workshops with all Admin staff affected
• 1:1 sessions with all key admin and academic managers
• Programme of change agreed with School Executive and clear action
plans implemented
• Reviewing each stage of change (and being prepared to listen and
modify changes as a result)
• Communicated all the way!
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9. Changes to the School: Lessons learned
• Partnerships within our own team were vital. Admin Co-ordinators
took an active role in managing the change and informed changes
to change! Really listening to Admin staff was essential;
• Partnership with our key academic colleagues and good
communication was essential. As academic roles adapted, we
adapted to working differently, looking at using different tools eg
piloting CRM on mobiles, using InPlace;
• Partnerships with Schools had to evolve. An approach we initiated
was establishing partnership with key admin counterparts in the
Schools (Partnership Managers were already partnered with Heads
etc);
• Partnerships with internal departments became even more key to
deliver this ‘non-standard’ delivery; eg Student Planning, Academic
Office (for enrolment), Estates (for timetabling), Careers &
Employment, IS (for IT developments) etc.
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10. Changes to the School: Good partnerships
begin at home…
• Importance of nurturing and building on our internal networks; time
invested in making these work, yields more time for our Trainees
and external partnerships
• Importance of avoiding the ‘them & us’ syndrome, wherever it
might occur
• Importance of communication to internal colleagues – clichéd but
true!
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11. If time allows…
• What has been the experience of delegates in effecting change
through partnerships in their own institutions?
• Any advice or comments from personal experience?
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